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Thread ID: 111871 2010-08-15 03:43:00 Card Readers Driftwood (5551) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1127857 2010-08-15 03:43:00 Regarding all-in-one card readers. Do you have to pay big dollars to get a good one or do the cheap ones work just as well. Driftwood (5551)
1127858 2010-08-15 03:48:00 If you mean memory card readers, there's nothing wrong with the cheap ones. I'm using an internal Apacer reader. Only cost $25 I think it was. It may not read every card but it supports SDHC (high capacity cards). And has a spare USB port. So depending on what you get (if you want it to read high capacity cards, make sure it supports SDHC). Or it cant / wont read them

The printer here has a card reader too, but I think I'll change it. It uses too much ink
Speedy Gonzales (78)
1127859 2010-08-15 04:21:00 This type of thing. Driftwood (5551)
1127860 2010-08-15 04:38:00 Are you going to get internal or external? Either should work fine Speedy Gonzales (78)
1127861 2010-08-15 05:18:00 External, then I can use it anywhere. Driftwood (5551)
1127862 2010-08-15 05:21:00 Good point. Altho dont plug it into a hub. It may not work properly Speedy Gonzales (78)
1127863 2010-08-15 05:50:00 the same really for most people. unless you are a photography enthusiast (bit like a gamer with their video cards :confused: and the like).

some of the very expensive readers can take full advantage of the expensive cards - think Sandisk Extreme Memory Cards equipped with a Extreme Series memory card reader. Or be it Firewire.

I was told that readers minimise wear and tear and battery, but more impt, if your camera runs out of battery you could corrupt and lose your photographs.
Nomad (952)
1127864 2010-08-15 07:13:00 I like buying new gadgets but they always seem to have different memory cards. Driftwood (5551)
1127865 2010-08-15 08:09:00 Something like this will suit I believe:

www.ascent.co.nz

Takes 48 different cards.
Snorkbox (15764)
1127866 2010-08-15 08:30:00 I have a rather cheap card reader, but it works well . Uses a chip from Alcor Micro . You can install a driver to get some custom icons but I found the driver would cause BSoD after resuming from hibernation, and it's not needed to use the reader so I got rid of it .

It supports SD\MMC\CF\MD\SM\XD\MS\MSPRO . (Out of those, I've only ever used CF and SD so far . . ) - not sure about SDHC support .

It's got a USB port at the front as well, which is nice .

I only have two issues .

1) The PCB and enclosure are designed in a very stupid way, where one of the bare metal supports for the PCB is right over the pins for the 'Busy' LED .

Their answer: hot glue .

Because the PCB moves around when you plug things in, eventually the glue wore away, shorted one of the pins to ground and the LED stayed on all the time . While it wasn't a problem electrically, it was clearly a stupid design .

I solved it by replacing the glue with a few layers of electrical insulation tape .

2) The compact flash slot is mounted so far forward that they snap the side guides off . This makes it quite hard to line the CF cards up with the pins so you don't screw something up .

I'm used to it now, but definitely not something most people will want to play with .

Other than that it was very cheap ($10 or so) and has worked well for several years . Even with its design faults it still works well, and is definitely worth it (to me) for that price .
Agent_24 (57)
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