SanDisk Cruzer Titanium (512MB, silver)

Pros: Durable, sleek exterior

Cons: Fragile internal circuitry - DO NOT BUY THIS DRIVE

Summary: My 2GB, Titanium drive died after 4 weeks (right I could have received a full refund). I purchased this drive on the very high recommendation of CNET and with the expectation that the drive would be extremely durable and long-lasting. While the exterior is quite sleek and durable, the internal circuitry is "fragile" according to SanDisk.

I was told by the first SanDisk technical support technician not to plug a Titanium drive into USB ports on any monitor as they do not provide enough energy for the drive and probably lead to the "short-circuit" I experienced. I was told to only plug the drive into USB ports on the PC itself. I did some research into the energy output of my (Gateway) monitor's USB ports and called SanDisk back. This time I was told not to use the monitor's USB ports because they provide "too much" energy for the drive; a direct contradiction of what the prior technician had told me. The real kicker was when he added that I should not plug the drive into USB ports on any Dell computers (my PC is a Dell). So, in effect, I was told not to use the drive on any equipment I currently own. When I asked where I could successfully use the drive, they said "any non-Dell PC USB port."

I spoke with yet another, very forthright, SanDisk technical support technician, who told me that the Titanium series drives have been found to have "fragile internal circuitry," especially those with serial numbers ending in 'KI', which mine did. He told me that the Titanium drives "have a durable exterior but very fragile internal circuitry." I was also told that I use the Titanium drives "at my own risk" and that I "should not store any valuable information on the drive." WHAT! Given this knowledge, I asked that they replace the Titanium drive I sent in with a different drive. Each support technician told me that the micro and mini drives were much more reliable than the Titanium drives.

I selected as my replacement a 2GB, Black, Micro, retractable drive. Only later was I informed that this replacement drive is not yet being distributed, but that it would be distributed "sometime in April 2006." So I wait.

Moral of the story: the Titanium drives are worthless and SanDisk technical support are not much better.