Pocketreader indeed (MULTI-SLOTS 6-in-1 Card Reader)

Member Name: isvikthere

Product:	MULTI-SLOTS 6-in-1 Card Reader
Date:	14/10/03 (1536 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: versitale, affordable, easy installation

Disadvantages: do you really need to be able to read six types, bigger than 4in1 cardreaders

Introduction

Those of you that have been following my september review output will maybe have noticed that there is a certain system to my madness as I've reviewed here recently both an add-in USB2 controller card and my digital photocamera, the minolta dîmage 2300. If you put two and two together you'll agree with me that to combine the use of both devices a six-in-one multislots memorycardreader can be a big help.


What is it ?

This is a very small external USB-device, made by Pocketreader (I haven't managed to find anmore information on this manufacturer) - and the device does easily fit in a breastpocket - that can read all kind of flash memory cards currently available on the market:

-Compact Flash (CF1),
-Multimedia Card (MMC)
-Memory stick,
-Secure digital (SD),
-Smart media (SM),
-Microdisk (CF2)


What am I using it for ?

As the said Minolta Digital photocamera came with no power adapter of its own, each time I wanted to transfer my photos, it was a hit and miss thing to transfer the shots from the camera to the PC, depending on the charging state of the camera's batteries.

As I'm currently using the Minolta with a 128 Megabytes Compactflash type I-card to store the images, mostly there are more often than not over a hundred photos to transfer, so this takes a while using the cameras's onboard USB-connector that only supports the slow old USB 1.1-transfer speeds. On one or two occasions I had the camera giving an alarming 'battery low' warning while the transfer was in progress. As powercuts during file transfer can put my precious pictures at risk this was a situation I was looking to avoid.

Also the proprietary transfer software that came with the Minolta is only certified to work with Windows98 so as since a while I switched to Windows2000 I obviously was in a fix and had to look for other ways of getting my photographi
c "masterpieces" safely onto the PC.

So in comes this 6-in-1 cardreader that without the need for any external power source connects to one of your PCs USB-ports. As both my computer (with the controller card upgrade) and this cardreader support the USB2-technology a maximum transfer rate of up to 480 Megabits per second is possible. In fact the cardreader takes its power from the USB-Bus itself, limiting the cables to a bare minimum. The reader is sold with the correct USB-cable, that is however not too long, around two feet (60cm), so you have to keep the PC and the cardreader near to one another.


Why did I buy it ?

Being aware that a cardreader that supports only four types of memorycards was the cheaper option, I did lay out a bit more money on this device which can read 6 types of memorycards thinking that maybe it would be a bit more futureproof and if ever someone called upon me to transfer some files I wouldn't have to be embarassed by saying that I can't oblige because his type of memorycard wouldn't be recognised by my cardreader.

However as in this crazy hardware world there are new technologies jumping out of the woodwork (or so it seems) every other day it could be that just tomorrow yet another type of memorycard will be launched so one is never safe from the harm that comes out of the dark hardware laboratories.


Installation

Installing this litle wonder couldn't be easier as you just plug the USB-cable in a USB-port and you're in business. Windows2000 and the other MS-Windows operating systems recognize this device almost instantly and add four more drives in the Windows explorer window, so that's one drive for each slot on the reader. "Hey!" I here you say "why only four drives and not six, thought this was a 6-in-1 reader?". The answer is simple : some types of cards use the same slot. And physically, as you can see from the pictur
e, there are only four slots that however do take six different types of memorycards.


Conclusion

All in all this type of external cardreader could be an alternative to the fancy portable USB-storage solutions you now see everywhere in the form of keyholders and other dongles, pluggable in your USB-ports and that can hold various amounts of data according to the price you are willing to pay for them. I have to agree with you that the combination of this cardreader and a memorycard is both less sexy, more vulnerable, and bigger than those dongles. But it is more flexible as the dongle can only hold a predefined quantity of data whilst in the reader you can plug in just any memorycard you like. And, as a bonus, the litle Pocketreader's looks aren't that bad either.

Cheers,
Vik

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