SanDisk cutting the hard drive down to size

Miniature hard drives that fit on a key chain are all the rage among techies. They have greater storage than 1.4-megabyte floppies and don't require you to burn CD-Rs to share MP3s, JPEGs and documents between computers.

The big downside is that most have a fixed amount of storage.

SanDisk has solved the fixed-storage problem by giving users the ability to switch out the flash memory card inside its Cruzer for a higher-capacity card.

The Cruzer ships with a Secure Digital card but can use MultiMediaCards, as well. When you're ready to load it with your favorite music, plug it into a Universal Serial Bus port. For most operating systems - Windows ME, 2000, XP and Mac OS 9.1 or greater - you can let the operating system install drivers for it.

A CD-ROM with drivers for other operating systems is in the Cruzer box. Software for encrypting files is included, too.

The device can be purchased with four different capacities. In addition to the 32 MB SD card for $50, the 64 MB card is $75; 128 MB card $100, and the 256 MB card $200.

Information: 800-977-5427 or www.sandisk.com