SanDisk ImageMate External SmartMedia Drive (SDDR-55-01)

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Summary: Kristen in Greenville, SC
Review: Excellent product. Used it to move files to new computer. DEFINITELY DOWNLOAD THE NEW DRIVER IF USING XP. I crashed a half dozen times for no reason. Once the new driver was in place, I was able to move my old files to my new computer no sweat.

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Summary: Perfect for portable storage
Review: Picked one of these up to take advantage of the 128 MB SM card I got for Christmas, and I love it. It's amazingly small. Fits in the palm of your hand so you can take it anywhere. Installation is a snap (download the latest drivers from Sandisk.com if you're on XP), and read/write speed is much faster than the Zip disk I was using before to sneakernet stuff between home and work. So far, the only gotcha I've encountered is the way you insert SM cards into it. Cards go in "face down" (gold contacts facing down) unlike other devices where SM cards are inserted with the gold contacts facing towards you.

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Summary: Good experience
Review: The SanDisk SDDR-55 installed easily and worked well from the start. Within 15 minutes I was downloading images from my new camera. The documentation is not impressive, but the performance is. My only real complaint is that the driver software can only be installed on the computer's C: drive. Mine is nearly full, so I like to install new programs on the D: drive. Otherwise, I easily recommend this product.

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Summary: A pocketful of convenience
Review: There is a lot to praise in this little pocketful. Setting it up is a breeze, even with the terse documentation provided, and I got started using it within 10 minutes. Read and data transfer rates are good enough for home or amateur, even office use, though a multimedia professional may want quicker times. The small footprint means you can easily fit it on crowded desks and carrying it around is easy too. And carry it you will - the reason for buying this gadget of course is to ease the load on your digital camera. Using the camera to transfer images to a computer is a waste of battery time and even if you use the adaptor, you really don't need the camera's electronics to run the transfer. Instead, leave the camera in its case, slip the card into this reader and you are on your way. A small precaution: As with all USB devices, this reader draws power from the computer so before you unplug, check that no read/write operation is under way or you may lose data.

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Summary: Handy gadget
Review: This is so much easier than trying to hook a digital camera to a PC to download pictures and videos. Once it is installed you use it like a disk drive.