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#1
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-card readers(capacity) ?
Regarding those multi-card readers (SD, Compact Flash, etc) that slide
into a 3.5" drive bay, I know that the first generation of those couldn't read SD cards larger than 2 or 4 gb. I'm assuming that those are all off the market by now. (?) What gets me is that in looking at what are being sold today, nobody prints the specs in terms of what capacity they're capable of. I'm looking at 64 gb to 256 gb SD flash for a high-end digital camera, and I don't want to play any more games with getting a reader that can't read these cards. Any ideas about this situation? Anyone with some hard facts? |
#2
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-card readers(capacity) ?
On 2014-07-14, PC Guy "PC"@Guy wrote:
Regarding those multi-card readers (SD, Compact Flash, etc) that slide into a 3.5" drive bay, I know that the first generation of those couldn't read SD cards larger than 2 or 4 gb. I'm looking at 64 gb to 256 gb SD flash for a high-end digital camera, and I don't want to play any more games with getting a reader that can't read these cards. You still need to be slightly careful, especially if you are one of those that naturally buys the cheapest thing off Amazon or whereever for odds and ends like this. SD has been through a few IDE-style capacity bumps through its evolution. If something advertises itself as SD you're only really guaranteed 2GB. SDHC should be good for 32GB and SDXC for 2TB. Those description often appear in even basic specs even if the exact capacities are not listed. Even if not away from the bargain basement stuff manufacturer names and model numbers are usually listed and further details are only a Google away. -- Andrew Smallshaw |
#3
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-cardreaders(capacity) ?
Andrew Smallshaw wrote:
I'm looking at 64 gb to 256 gb SD flash for a high-end digital camera, and I don't want to play any more games with getting a reader that can't read these cards. If something advertises itself as SD you're only really guaranteed 2GB. SDHC should be good for 32GB and SDXC for 2TB. Those descriptions often appear in even basic specs even if the exact capacities are not listed. Even if not away from the bargain basement stuff manufacturer names and model numbers are usually listed and further details are only a Google away. So here's an example: http://www.ultraproducts.com/applica...&Sku=U12-40529 Ultra U12-40529 Aluminus 3.5" Internal Card Reader with USB and eSATA - 3 Port USB 2.0, 1 Port USB 3.0, 1 Port eSATA, 6 Slot Card Reader I can apparently buy that for $35 at a local TigerDirect outlet store. But can't get any real info on SD compatibility. Ultra no longer makes this item: http://www.ultraproducts.com/applica...?EdpNo=8210281 ULTRA 3.5" Internal Media Card Reader & Writer - 5 Slots, SDHC / USB, Black/Grey (U12-42951) But TigerDirect sells it for $12. It shows this compatiblity: MS/CF/MD/SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC/XD/MICRO SD But in the specs it shows only this: SDHC This looks interesting: Sabrent CRW-FLP2 Floppy Drive w/USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader & Writer (SDHC & Vista ready) http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...5642&CatId=630 But again lists SDHC. SDHC is rated up to 32 gb. Beyond that is SDXC (up to 2 TB). So I guess what I'm looking for is an internal bay-mounted card reader that is SDXC capable - and has a USB-2 interface connection to the motherboard. Maybe this one? http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820130013 StarTech 35FCREADBK3 USB 2.0 Supports CompactFlash type I/II, SD/miniSD/microSD/SDHC/SDXC, MMC/RS-MMC/HS-MMC/MMCmobile/MMCplus/MMCmicro/HC-MMC, MemoryStick, and xD Picture card. 22-in-1 Card Reader |
#4
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-card readers(capacity)?
PC Guy wrote:
Andrew Smallshaw wrote: I'm looking at 64 gb to 256 gb SD flash for a high-end digital camera, and I don't want to play any more games with getting a reader that can't read these cards. If something advertises itself as SD you're only really guaranteed 2GB. SDHC should be good for 32GB and SDXC for 2TB. Those descriptions often appear in even basic specs even if the exact capacities are not listed. Even if not away from the bargain basement stuff manufacturer names and model numbers are usually listed and further details are only a Google away. So here's an example: http://www.ultraproducts.com/applica...&Sku=U12-40529 Ultra U12-40529 Aluminus 3.5" Internal Card Reader with USB and eSATA - 3 Port USB 2.0, 1 Port USB 3.0, 1 Port eSATA, 6 Slot Card Reader I can apparently buy that for $35 at a local TigerDirect outlet store. But can't get any real info on SD compatibility. Ultra no longer makes this item: http://www.ultraproducts.com/applica...?EdpNo=8210281 ULTRA 3.5" Internal Media Card Reader & Writer - 5 Slots, SDHC / USB, Black/Grey (U12-42951) But TigerDirect sells it for $12. It shows this compatiblity: MS/CF/MD/SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC/XD/MICRO SD But in the specs it shows only this: SDHC This looks interesting: Sabrent CRW-FLP2 Floppy Drive w/USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader & Writer (SDHC & Vista ready) http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...5642&CatId=630 But again lists SDHC. SDHC is rated up to 32 gb. Beyond that is SDXC (up to 2 TB). So I guess what I'm looking for is an internal bay-mounted card reader that is SDXC capable - and has a USB-2 interface connection to the motherboard. Maybe this one? http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820130013 StarTech 35FCREADBK3 USB 2.0 Supports CompactFlash type I/II, SD/miniSD/microSD/SDHC/SDXC, MMC/RS-MMC/HS-MMC/MMCmobile/MMCplus/MMCmicro/HC-MMC, MemoryStick, and xD Picture card. 22-in-1 Card Reader I can give you my selection algorithm. You're going for SD, so SD is a must have. A 52-in-1 reader is not an absolute necessity. First, I hit up Wikipedia, to get the latest defined specs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_digital I scroll down, and notice UHS-I and UHS-II. Of which, the second standard has yet to appear. I notice that Card Readers have USB2 and USB3 interfaces. Selecting USB3 selects for more recent designs (always being careful to check for transfer rate reports above 35MB/sec, as proof there is an actual USB3 chip present). I go to Newegg and enter "card reader" as a search term, which brings back hundreds of hits. Then, I type in "USB3" as a search term, then "UHS" as a search term. Then, look for something with proper specs. I can get something for $7. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820208939 Even if the computer has only USB2 ports on it, you can still use the USB3 adapter. Of the nine pins on the USB3, only four pins touch when plugged into a USB2 port. The device "throttles" to the max rate that the USB2 packets can transfer the data (around 35MB/sec or so). The reviews for that $7 one, covered up to 128GB. The person who tested 128GB, noted it was formatted exFAT as received. And he installed the exFAT patch into WinXP (I did that too). As for speed, someone tested with something relatively fast, and got 77MB/sec. That offers indirect proof it really uses a USB3 chip. Several reviewer note the adapter gets warm, which is... not good. Maybe it's got a processor inside the chip or something, as otherwise 50 to 100 mW should handle the high speed I/O. So my selection algorithm is: 1) Go with the fastest specs on either end of the adapter. USB3 and UHS. 2) Use the customer reviews to vet the device. The sample device for $7 does 128GB and 77MB/sec. Stuff without reviews, then you'd visit the manufacturer site. And many of those manufacturers offer nothing for specs. So let's try an "expensive one" at $21. I picked this because it had 70 reviews, so we can get some specs. Kingston FCR-HS3. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA52Z1JK1606 For the Kingston, we know it's using an internal processor, because you can get a firmware update for it. http://www.kingston.com/us/support/t...Firmware_v0131 The Kingston also comes with a datasheet, which is why I selected it. (I would have selected Startech brand, if there was one, because they sometimes report the actual chip used in a product, making it easier to track down real specifications.) http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/fcr-hs3_us.pdf They give no capacity information. Secure Digital - SD - SDHC - SDHC UHS-I - SDXC - SDXC UHS-I So then I have to go back to the Newegg reviews for proof. "75MB/sec randomly drop from the file explorer... try a new cable, and everything started working not UDMA7 (for CF) " The general flavor from the other reviews, is these new adapters can have significant differences between read and write. Perhaps more of a difference than can be accounted for in the flash chips themselves. I have a Transcend USB2 adapter for SD, and given the constraints of USB2, haven't been disappointed. But only tested with a 32GB SD, formatted FAT32 and not exFAT. And when there are only a small pool of products of this type, there might not be that many underlying USB3 chips used in the designs. If there was a wider selection of chips, there would be hundreds of these things. The selection terms only uncovered 26 products. Paul |
#5
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-card readers (capacity) ?
PC Guy wrote:
I'm looking at 64 gb to 256 gb SD flash for a high-end digital camera, and I don't want to play any more games with getting a reader that can't read these cards. Any ideas about this situation? Anyone with some hard facts? Just look for "SDHC" (32 GB) and "SDXC" (to 2 TB) in the specs. Big difference may be the ability to read the exFAT file format on the SDXC cards. While you're at it, make sure it's USB3, not USB2... http://www.differencebetween.com/dif...c-and-vs-sdxc/ |
#6
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-card readers(capacity) ?
On Monday, July 14, 2014 9:46:17 AM UTC-4, PC Guy wrote:
Regarding those multi-card readers (SD, Compact Flash, etc) All you really care about these days is SD, micro SD, and Compact Flash. And as long as you have a micro SD to SD converter, you don't even need that one. Just make sure you get a USB3 version, with good reviews, and you'll be all set. -- // T.Hsu |
#7
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-card readers (capacity) ?
On Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:46:17 -0400, PC Guy "PC"@Guy .com wrote:
Regarding those multi-card readers (SD, Compact Flash, etc) that slide into a 3.5" drive bay, I know that the first generation of those couldn't read SD cards larger than 2 or 4 gb. I'm assuming that those are all off the market by now. (?) What gets me is that in looking at what are being sold today, nobody prints the specs in terms of what capacity they're capable of. I'm looking at 64 gb to 256 gb SD flash for a high-end digital camera, and I don't want to play any more games with getting a reader that can't read these cards. Any ideas about this situation? Anyone with some hard facts? The only thing in this regard I have noticed is a matter of the acceptable formats. I have an old one that reads SD fine but won't deal with my SDHC cards. Somewhere around here there's one that can do SD and SDHC but not SDXC--but neither can my DSLR. Just because the cards look the same doesn't mean the old hardware can read the new versions. |
#8
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-card readers(capacity) ?
So I'm noticing that people here are giving generic advice about looking
for USB-3 interface - without even considering at all if my PC even has USB-3 ports. Which it doesn't. Most of my PC's have 2.5 to 2.8 ghz P4 CPU's on i865 motherboards with 1 or 2 gb ram - running Windows 98 with kernelEx API enhancement. So I picked this up at a local computer parts sto http://www.ultraproducts.com/applica...?EdpNo=8210281 ULTRA 3.5" Internal Media Card Reader & Writer - 5 Slots, SDHC / USB, Black/Grey (U12-42951) Ultra says it's a discontinued product, but I picked it up locally for $12. I plugged it into a motherboard USB port and my win-98 system detected it and loaded the drivers - I wasn't asked to supply or locate any files. I plugged in a few low-capacity SD cards (2 and 4 gb) to make sure it works, and then I plugged in an ADATA Premier Pro 64 GB SDXC card. And yes - my win-98 system was able to see it just fine. Drive properties says 64,592,150,528 bytes, FAT32 file system. http://content.hwigroup.net/images/n...DXC_U1-001.jpg I copied a 1.8 gb mkv movie to it from one of my SATA drives. It took just under 3 minutes, which worked out to 10.8 mb/sec. The ADATA package says this SD card is rated for 95 mb/sec read and 45 mb/sec write. I played the movie from the SD card (using VLC) just to make sure the copy was ok, and it played very well. So here we see that SDXC memory cards and card readers are fully compatible with win-98. I'm going back to buy a few more of those readers for all my other win-98 systems. The wikipedia entry for SDXC says: "SDXC adopts Microsoft's exFAT file system as a mandatory feature." Which I think I've just proven to be bull****, as I've discovered my first (and so far only) SDXC card to have come from the factory formatted as FAT32. I've also plugged the ADATA SD card into an HP netbook running Windoze-7 and under properties it also reports the file system as FAT32. Can anyone confirm that win-7 will report a volume that has been formatted as exFAT as exFAT and not FAT32? Also - I've been reading all over the net of SDXC cards being formatted (or re-formatted) as FAT32 to solve all sorts of compatibility issues with phones and tablets, so my guess is that to avoid these issues some/many/most SDXC cards are sold preformatted as FAT32. The only real issue with FAT32 is the file-size limitation of 4 gb, which is probably only very rarely encountered in most use-case situations. |
#9
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-card readers(capacity) ?
PC Guy wrote:
So I'm noticing that people here are giving generic advice about looking for USB-3 interface - without even considering at all if my PC even has USB-3 ports. Which it doesn't. You're forgetting that we're selecting for the *most modern* chips to read the SD cards. USB3 is backward compatible with USB2. Plugging a USB3 purchase into your USB2 system, the only consequence of that is a cap of ~35MB/sec transfer rate. Even if you use a UHS SD capable of 70MB/sec or higher, it will still transfer at 35MB/sec over USB2. You can select for USB3, knowing that the USB connector with that plugs into the back of the computer, will also plug into USB2, and work properly with it. By using an externally enclosed device (USB-key-format-reader or USB-box-type-reader), the idea is to avoid any "motherboard header" entanglements. If you go with internal devices, mixing a 2x10 style USB3 internal header with a 2x5 motherboard, would create an adapter hassle. If attempting to get a "tray" solution for the reader, more thought has to go into the connections required. If you go with external devices, you already have nice USB2 ports sitting there, waiting for your new USB3 purchase. The first time I purchased a USB3 product, I too was concerned about compatibility with my USB2 ports, but I needn't have been so worried about it. It worked. This is one reason I use a USB-key-format-reader for the SD card from my camera. No worries about a cabling nightmare inside the computer. And the solution is portable when I take camera and adapter to foreign places. Paul |
#10
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What is the current situation with drive-bay multi-card readers (capacity) ?
Paul wrote:
USB3 is backward compatible with USB2. Plugging a USB3 purchase into your USB2 system, the only consequence of that is a cap of ~35MB/sec transfer rate. Even if you use a UHS SD capable of 70MB/sec or higher, it will still transfer at 35MB/sec over USB2. You can select for USB3, knowing that the USB connector with that plugs into the back of the computer, will also plug into USB2, and work properly with it. By using an externally enclosed device (USB-key-format-reader or USB-box-type-reader), the idea is to avoid any "motherboard header" entanglements. If you go with internal devices, mixing a 2x10 style USB3 internal header with a 2x5 motherboard, would create an adapter hassle. If attempting to get a "tray" solution for the reader, more thought has to go into the connections required. PCIe USB3 cards are cheap also, and can be had with internal headers, external ports, or a combination. |
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