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SanDisk USB Imagemate CompactFlash Card Reader (SDDR-31-01)

SanDisk USB Imagemate CompactFlash Card Reader (SDDR-31-01)

List Price: $29.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Can't get it to wrok with Win98.
Review: I've tried everything to get it to work with Win98, including Sandisks instructions on their website. I have tried to contact their technical support, but have gotten no answer. This has been very frustrating and I am returning this product!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Product
Review: A great product at a great price. Just slip your flash card into the reader to view & upload your digital pics on your computer. No need to use your digital camera to upload images and waste your batteries.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Nice with Windows XP
Review: I bought the SanDisk card reader out of frustration trying to get my Polaroid PDC 1100 to work with Windows XP. To install, all you have to do is turn off the computer, plug in the USB cable, and turn the computer back on. W-XP recognizes it and there's nothing else to do. Unfortunately, the instructions don't tell you this (it's on the SanDisk website) and you don't use the CD that comes with the product. Once the card is inserted, you can view the thumbnails in Windows Explorer, drag and drop to other folders, etc. A lot easier than downloading from the camera.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Works beautifully... after some major complications
Review: I started out loving the SanDisk reader immediately, then absolutely hating it and getting ready to return it, and finally, accepting it as a terrific, supremely useful alternative to the surprisingly slow old-style [9-pin] serial connection of my new Vivitar ViviCam 3500.

To say that the installation process turned out to be difficult would be an extreme understatement. When I first got my reader, I was running Win95 OSR2 - not even Rev. B, but I had gotten Rev. B's USB drivers from a friend - and an add-on USB card. I had already installed the drivers for both the USB card and the reader in anticipation of getting the reader.

So, with the necessary drivers already having been installed, I was not surprised when the reader was recognized immediately the very first time I plugged it in. Yes, this reader can and does work with Win95, given the proper drivers, which are available on SanDisk's web site [sandisk.com]. The reader transferred a few test shots VERY quickly, and I was quite pleased with it.

Then the whole thing went down the toilet. The reader stopped working, would not read, would not write [this device writes too], was not detected by my system, and would not show up in my Device Manager no matter what I did. The USB diagnostic utility included with the drivers suggested upgrading to Win98 for its full USB support. I had a Win98SE CD which I had never bothered to install, but now I finally had a good excuse to do so.

SERIOUS complications ensued, most of which were eventually found to be Win98's fault, but some of which were caused by the SanDisk drivers themselves. Suffice it to say that fixing one problem always seemed to create another - not just with the reader, but with my USB card and with other devices as well. It was a LONG night and a long morning after. No matter how many times I installed and uninstalled and reinstalled the Win98 drivers for this reader, no matter what I did in Device Manager, Win98 refused to fully recognize it. Win98 could see that the reader was plugged in, but that was the extent of it - that little red 'X' in Device Manager is rarely a good sign.

After a total of about 14 non-continuous working hours trying to stabilize my new Win98 setup and the SanDisk installation, I determined that the mere presence of the old SanDisk Win95 drivers - even though I was explicitly telling Win98 to use the Win98 drivers - was causing all sorts of PnP problems with the SanDisk. Win98 absolutely insisted on using the Win95 drivers because they were "newer and better." [Newer FILE DATES, that was all! There had apparently been a recent revision by SanDisk, giving the Win95 drivers newer dates than the Win98 drivers.] After an expedition deep into the guts of my registry and my C: drive, in which I completely eliminated every last trace of every copy of the old Win95 files and every reference to them, and after finding that Win98's "IRQ Steering" setting was the cause of a great many problems including the malfunctioning of my USB card, AND after following some rather involved instructions from SanDisk's site, I FINALLY got the drivers to install. FINALLY, the reader worked, and worked like a charm.

I've had no problems with it since then, and the sheer speed of it - and of USB in general - never fails to amaze me, but what should have been a simple "load the drivers and plug it in" installation turned into major OS version upgrade and an extremely frustrating debugging process.

Granted, my case is probably the exception to the rule, and most users will not, or at least SHOULD not, have any difficulty installing the drivers and getting this simple device to work. Most of my problems were caused by Windows itself, not by the SanDisk drivers, but it seems that under the right circumstances, those can be just a little bit stubborn as well - something which has been reported by other reviewers here. I REALLY like my SanDisk reader now, but for several long hours there, I was ready to give it a delicate adjustment with a sledgehammer.

In summary... It's a GREAT reader when it works, but if it doesn't work on the first try, you might be in for a severe headache trying to make it work. Other readers' drivers may not be so balky.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Works like a charm in Windows XP
Review: I bought one for use with a Coolpix 775, and I'm quite pleased with the way it is supported in Windows XP. XP recognizes the reader and installs its drivers without the need for a driver disk. The reader is then treated as a removable disk drive. When you pop in a compactflash card, XP executes a wizard that copies/moves your photos over to your hard drive, so the camera's software is also unnecessary. Pretty slick.

I have no major complaints about the card reader itself. It's fairly fast, it's small, and it's heavy enough not to slide off the back end of your desk. I have to admit, though, that the activity light confused me at first. It is lit solid when a card is inserted, and it blinks when the card is being accessed. Because the light remains lit while the card is inserted, I initially was unsure of when it was safe to eject the card. Speaking of ejection, it would have been nice if the reader had an ejection mechanism that worked in tandem with the 'eject' command of Windows Explorer. However, that is a minor quibble that is offset by the reader's low price.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Life Saver for Linux Users!
Review: I bought the SanDisk flash reader out of desparation: my digital camera is completely unsupported under Linux. I'd come this close to buying one of the supported cameras (all expensive), when someone pointed out the flash reader. It was a real life saver!

The flash reader works perfectly under Linux. My camera's compact flash memory appears like a normal DOS floppy disk, and I can copy pictures to my hard drive, delete them on the flash, etc. And best of all, it's faster than downloading from the camera, even using the USB cable under Windows.

I highly recommend this for anyone using digital cameras under Linux. The convenience is unbeatable--but best of all, it means no more hunting for compatible cameras, and no more messing with unstable USB drivers.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: No problems on Windows ME
Review: I installed the SanDisk on my PC which has the Windows ME upgrade from Windows 98. The installation was smooth and without any problems. The SanDisk read my compactflash card in seconds verses minutes using a serial port. Overall, an excellent product.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fast and works with XP
Review: Transfers files very fast. Works with Windows XP. Installed with 0 problems.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works with Windows ME
Review: I bought the card reader and installed it without any problems on Windows ME. Maybe I have the most recent drivers but I was amazed at the speed in which my images were transferred from my digital camera. I was using the serial cable for my HP C200 which took several minutes compared to seconds on the Sandisk. Overall, a great product at a reasonable price.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Windows ME users beware
Review: This product will not work with Windows ME. I have tried everything that tech support had to offer. Do NOT install drivers from the CD. Put it on my wife's older computer with 98SE and it worked fine. But if you are a Windows ME user get ready to be frustrated.


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