SanDisk Unveils ‘Cruzer’ Flash Drive with Online Backup Capability

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SanDisk Unveils ‘Cruzer’ Flash Drive with Online Backup Capability

5:45 am on January 4, 2008 | Category: Web Services, Mobile Devices, Multimedia

SanDisk Corp., a Milpitas, California-based manufacturer of digital memory products, has unveiled a new flash storage drive that automatically backs up data on the internet.

When users load documents and digital media onto SanDisk’s Cruzer Titanium Plus USB flash drive, the device will upload the files to a web service operated by a company called BeInSync, which stores data on Amazon.com’s S3 servers.

The Cruzer, which SanDisk believes to be the first USB drive of its kind, is the most recent in a wave of products that link to the internet to offer new features that would have been impossible on offline, stand-alone devices. After initial registration, when the user is online and the device is plugged in, the Cruzer will sync automatically with the online storage account whenever new data is added.

The 4GB Cruzer drive will go on sale in March, at a retail price of $59.99, which includes free online backup for six months. After that period, customers must pay $29.99 a year to continue using the online storage feature.