SanDisk Extreme Cruzer Contour

The humble USB port is no longer a fixture found only on desktop and notebook computers. Today it’s possible to find this port on TVs, printers, digital photo frames, gaming consoles, cars and more. This means you, potentially, have a lot of data to carry and it’s this thought that has prompted manufacturers to release flash drives with larger storage capacities.

Our test sample SanDisk Extreme Cruzer Contour offers 32Gbytes of storage capacity like the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX USB stick (reviewed below). Another similarity between these two massive memory sticks is that they both feature retractable USB connectors. This makes both of them safe to travel with as there’s less risk of the port getting bent or worse.

With a name like Extreme Cruzer Contour, we were expecting the SanDisk to be something of a speed demon but unfortunately it wasn’t quite up to par. While it was much faster than A-Data’s 4Gbyte memory stick (also reviewed on ITP.net), the Cruzer trailed Kingston’s offering in all the tests by small but nevertheless present margins. As it is then, the Contour isn’t for speed freaks.

On the value front, the SanDisk is a solid deal because it looks and feels its asking price and also packs in a fair few extras. You get the company’s U3 Launchpad software, which gives you access to a number of apps and utilities on SanDisk’s website. The software also allows you to password protect the drive, so you needn’t worry about sensitive data falling into the wrong hands.