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SimpleTech CompactFlash Reader (Mass Storage Compliant)

SimpleTech CompactFlash Reader (Mass Storage Compliant)

List Price: $29.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Satisfied
Review: At first I was kind of worried about compatibility. My homemade machine has a rather old motherboard (ABIT BH6) with only two USB ports. I had to buy a USB hub (Xircom 7-port) to accommodate all my USB devices: joystick, racing wheel, web cam, scanner, PDA, digicam, etc. Also, I'm running Windows 98 (not even SE). People have complained in the reviews for some other USB CF readers here at Amazon about trouble with hub and Win98. Although I do plan to upgrade my machine and also upgrade the OS to Windows 2000 in the summer, I certainly don't want to buy a reader that wouldn't work right away or even crashes my machine with buggy driver.

I'm happy to report that none of my worries happens. It works smooth with my hub and Windows 98 after a 1-minute driver installation. It's faster, though not overwhelmingly, than directly going through my Canon PowerShot S30, and much more convenient (which is the point). The USB connector on S30 just looks so fragile to me that I'm afraid it'll give up with constant plugging in and out. I have a Viking 128MB and a SimpleTech 256MB CF. Both posted about 1MByte/s when I did drag-n-drop copy using Explorer. Consider that USB max out at 1.5MB/s, that wasn't too bad. Canon's imaging program, Canon ZoomBrowser EX, recognizes the reader immediately and treats it just like the camera, i.e., it marks images already downloaded and shows the original exposure settings. Of course, with the reader I have the freedom to use Explorer or anything else for downloading and managing images, but I'll probably stick with ZoomBrowser.

The only glitch I encountered was with Norton Utilities 3.0. Norton Disk Doctor, a utility for checking and fixing your disks, crashes when the reader is plugged in. It's probably because Disk Doctor does not understand the new logical drive created for the reader. Just unplug it, and the new drive is gone and Disk Doctor runs as usual. NU 3.0 is rather old, too, and it wouldn't surprise me if Norton has fixed the problem.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good, but missing USB2.0 Support
Review: I have owned three USB CompactFlash readers before, and this one has served me well. Its slim form factor and detachable USB cable make it easy to fit most anywhere; In my case, my camera bag.

I have used it flawlessly with Windows 2000, XP, and Macintosh OS X. I have but only two gripes with it:

First and foremost, its only USB1.1 compliant, rather than 2.0. The transfer speed is much higher with 2.0, and although your CompactFlash card cannot transfer at this maximum speed, there is a definite speed increase using a USB2.0 CompactFlash reader (for instance, the SanDisk SDDR-91 ImageMate, which is also nearly as small a form factor).

My second issue, is that the connection cable is a USB Type A Male to USB Type A Female (commonly known as a USB extension cable). While this makes it easy to plug the device directly to a laptop with USB ports open, spare cables are nearly all USB Type A to USB Type B (Male/Male). I find myself almost never using its "cableless" feature at any rate.

Overall, its a solid product that I've never had a (technical) problem with, and has always performed like a star. With the addition of USB2.0 and a slightly less wide shape, it would take this product in a class unto its own.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: versatile
Review: This inexpensive reader has worked great on many computers and provides a great way to transfer digital pictures to various computers without the need to hook up my camera (avoids hassels of carrying wires and possibly the programs to install). Can't beat it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: hallelujah
Review: Oh, wow. In terms of devices that make me happy, this ranks way up there.

I bought this CF reader to use with my Canon Elph S200 digital camera. Although the Elph comes with software and cables to download via the USB port of my computer, and this CF reader also connects to the USB port, for some reason downloading via the CF reader is far, far faster. You plug the CF reader in, it shows up in Windows as a new drive letter, and you can access the files on your CF card (open them, copy them, delete them, etc) the same way you'd access files anywhere else on your computer, and just about as quickly.

You can also use the reader to transfer data between computers, any kind of data. I have one networked computer (with no CD-R or zip drive) and one non-networked computer. With this tool I was suddenly able to transfer up to 256M of data (the size of my CF memory card) from the networked computer to the non-networked one, easy as pie. Hallelujah!

The reader is very simple to install. On some operating systems you just plug it in and it goes. On others (like Windows 98) you have to go to the SimpleTech website, download a driver (6.5M for Win98), install it and then plug it in. Either way it was very quick.

Overall a very satisfying little tool.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cool new USB CompactFlash card reader
Review: Talk about convenient. This reader is very small, fits in your pocket and can even detatch from included cable, so you can plug it in to your USB hub or notebook like a key to transfer data to and from type I and II compactflash cards. Plus this reader is really fast and mass storage compliant, so no drivers needed if you have Windows 2000 or XP installed on your computer. If you have Win98, just load the included driver once and then you never need to load it again. This product is great and I recommend to anyone wanting to read and or write to compactflash cards.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Doesn't work with all cards...
Review: This reader works with my SanDisk 128mb card, but does not work with my newer Lexar Media 256mb 12x card. Go figure.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Another card that's not compatible...
Review: This reader does not work with my PNY 128mb card on Windows 2000.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works in Linux!
Review: I buyed the Reader because my Minolta Dimage S414 camera currently does not have Linux support. :-(

I use the reader with Linux Fedora Core 1 and it is fast and very easy to connect. The USB cable included is good because allow to connect the reader in the vertical USB port of my notebook.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simple and Works Great!
Review: I'm running Window XP. I just plug it in, XP recognizes it and I was downloading files in seconds. No software to install, no need to plug in my digital camera. Can't get easier than this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If only EVERYTHING worked as well as this!
Review: It works, it is cheap, it is well made for it's purpose, it is cute. I bought a SD version for my son's camera too! Just buy it, for god's sake.


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