SanDisk cruises in with a new flash drive, but USB 3 is MIA

Remember when you needed to rely on floppy disks? Most of those memories have been pushed to the backs of our heads, and we’re now more reliant on the much bigger and more useful flash drives, and if you needed another reason to get a new one, SanDisk hopes to convince you of, well, U.

Heading to stores this week is the Cruzer U, a new flash drive which reminds us of a lock, and yet is apparently a U-Clip attached to a USB drive.

Students are apparently the main aim here, with 16 and 32GB storage sizes for the backpack clipping drive, and prices that keep the Cruzer U under $30, with change to spare, sitting the 16GB at $13.95 and the 32GB at $25.95.

“The SanDisk Cruzer U offers a practical yet ‘cool’ solution designed with mobility in mind, which aims to keep all information safe,” said George Saad, SanDisk’s Country Manager for the Australia and New Zealand region.

“With ample space it complements today’s busy yet outgoing lifestyle of Australian students and professional users.”

We have one bone to pick with SanDisk on this one, and that’s the omission of USB 3.0, which is something we can imagine students would want out of a USB drive. While USB 2.0 isn’t terribly slow, it’s also not terribly fast either, and now that USB 3.0 has been out for a number of years, and it’s practically impossible to find a new computer sold without the technology, we’re surprised to see the faster transfer speeds are missing in action on these student-aimed drives.

We’re checking with SanDisk to find out why that is, and we’ll let you know when we hear more.