SanDisk recently launched the Cruzer Blade flash drive, the company's smallest flash drive now available with four available storage capacities.
The new line of flash drives are the size of a paper clip and weigh about the same as a penny.
"The drive lets users transfer their digital data quickly between computers, and delivers a storage boost to devices such as netbooks that often need additional memory but are difficult to upgrade easily," said Kent Perry, SanDisk marketing director, in a statement.
The SanDisk Cruzer Blade isn't the smallest flash drive available, but is the smallest released by SanDisk. Smaller and highly customized flash drives are often released by lesser known companies to gain attention from consumers unfamiliar with the products.
SanDisk now has 2GB ($14.99), 4GB ($21.99), 8GB ($38.99), and 16GB ($77.99) models of the drive currently available.
I think this is an ideal product for netbook and tablet owners looking to increase the amount of storage data available. I attach a 500GB external HDD to my netbook when backing up large amounts of data, but a flash drive is obviously way more convenient when traveling.
As flash memory technology continues to slide in price, manufacturers have increasingly turned to modified and customized USB flash drives to differentiate in a crowded market. I honestly think regular sized USB flash drives are small enough, but can see the market for even smaller drives. It's likely flash drives will get even smaller in the future, which is fine as long as transfer speeds, storage capacities, and price remain competitive.
Do you simply want a cheap flash drive with increased storage, or are you more interested with these niche USB drives?
