Sandisk 8-in-1 USB 2.0 Memory Card Reader

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=jasondunn-20&path=tg/detail/-/B0000AKVHF/qid%3D/sr%3D1-11%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Delectronics%26n%3D496918' target='_blank'>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=jasondunn-20&path=tg/detail/-/B0000AKVHF/qid%3D/sr%3D1-11%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Delectronics%26n%3D496918</a><br /><br /></div>Many months ago Sandisk sent me their USB 2.0 6 in 1 memory card reader, and I immediately starting using it. It worked so well that I forgot that I was supposed to review it! :oops: And now it seems that they've replaced the 6 in 1 with an 8 in 1 model, because Amazon lists the 6 in 1 as being discontinued. At any rate, here's a Quick Look review of the product that I have combined with some of the specs from the newer version. Hopefully that doesn't confuse you too much. ;-)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=jasondunn-20&path=tg/detail/-/B0000AKVHF/qid%3D/sr%3D1-11%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Delectronics%26n%3D496918"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/sandisk-reader.jpg" /></a><br /><!><br />The newer 8 in 1 device can read the following formats:<br /><br />• CompactFlash Type <br />• CompactFlash Type II <br />• Memory Stick <br />• Memory Stick PRO <br />• SmartMedia <br />• xD Picture Card <br />• SD <br />• MultiMediaCard<br /><!><br />The 6 in 1 that I have can read everything except xD and I believe Memory Stick Pro. I don't mourn the loss of either of those. :wink: Setup was completely painless: with Windows XP, no drivers are required. If you're using anything other than Windows XP, save your money and upgrade your OS first before buying this memory card reader.<br /><br />I connected it to the front USB port on my <a href="http://www.shuttle.com">Shuttle</a> and within a few seconds I had new drive letters for my removable storage slots. One thing I'd like to see is custom icons for each type of storage, or an icon to indicate that there's a card in the drive. As it stands now, unless the card is formatted with a name (I have a tip on that coming up this week), you can't tell which drive letter has the card you inserted. I realize this might require a software download to change the icons, but I think it would be quite helpful from a usability point of view.<br /><br />In terms of speed, because the card reader uses USB 2.0, it's fast - very fast. Beyond that, what more can you ask of a memory card reader, right? It's priced at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=jasondunn-20&path=tg/detail/-/B0000AKVHF/qid%3D/sr%3D1-11%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Delectronics%26n%3D496918">$25.74 USD from Amazon.com</a>, which I consider pretty cheap.<br /><br />So how much faster is USB 2.0 than USB 1.1? On paper, USB 1.1 is 12 megabits per second, while USB 2.0 is 480 megabits per second. In rea life, the difference isn't quite as large, but it's still quite dramatic:<br /><br /><span><b>USB 1.1 eMagic Memory Card Reader</b></span><br /><br /><i><b>1 GB Sandisk CF card (READ)</b></i><br />4K block size: 590 KB/s<br />256K block size: 1024 KB/s<br />1 MB block size: 1024 KB/s<br /><br /><i><b>1 GB Sandisk CF card (WRITE)</b></i><br />4K block size: 562 KB/s<br />256K block size: 972 KB/s<br />1 MB block size: 1024 KB/s<br /><br /><i><b>256 MB Sandisk SD card (READ)</b></i><br />4K block size: 576 KB/s<br />256K block size: 1024 KB/s<br />1 MB block size: 1024 KB/s<br /><br /><i><b>256 MB Sandisk SD card (WRITE)</b></i><br />4K block size: 424 KB/s<br />256K block size: 870 KB/s<br />1 MB block size: 920 KB/s<br /><br /><span><b>USB 2.0 Sandisk 6 in 1 Memory Card Reader</b></span><br /><br /><i><b>1 GB Sandisk CF card (READ)</b></i><br />4K block size: 778 KB/s<br />256K block size: 1792 KB/s<br />1 MB block size: 1740 KB/s<br /><br /><i><b>1 GB Sandisk CF card (WRITE)</b></i><br />4K block size: 642 KB/s<br />256K block size: 1432 KB/s<br />1 MB block size: 1432 KB/s<br /><br /><i><b>256 MB Sandisk SD card (READ)</b></i><br />4K block size: 1960 KB/s<br />256K block size: 982 KB/s<br />1 MB block size: 1536 KB/s<br /><br /><i><b>256 MB Sandisk SD card (WRITE)</b></i><br />4K block size: 476 KB/s<br />256K block size: 896 KB/s<br />1 MB block size: 1536 KB/s<br /><br />About the only complaint I have regarding this memory card reader is, ergonomically, it's a bit strange. As the photo above indicates, it's designed to be mounted on a vertical stand. But if you're like me, you might not have the right right kind of space for it. The stand is removable, but the USB connection cable is very short. My solution is to store the drive near my computer, and only connect it when needed. It's actually not a bad solution, but I would have preferred to see Sandisk come up with a more efficient horizontal storage solution for those of us who can't or don't want to store the drive vertically.

[David Horn]

My Sandisk CF reader showed an icon of a CF card with no additional drivers, but I guess Microsoft implemented that. Couldn't be too difficult to do though. My 6-in-1 reader drives me up the wall cause I can never remember which letter is which!

[ctmagnus]

If you go into Device Manager, you can disable the drive letters for the slots you don't use/need. I did this for my Lexar 6-in-1 and now it only indicates the CF and SD slots in My Computer when I plug the reader in.

[Russell]

I have had the 8 in 1 or months and I love it...but I don't love that the drive letters are different on every computer I put it on.

[mcsouth]

Any feedback on the durability/build quality? I just bought some USB2.0 6in1 readers for work, and ended up buying the cheapest thing NewEgg had - about $15 a unit. They seem to work okay, but sure don't look that sturdy. I'm hoping that they last okay, but am starting to regret not spending a bit more for a better-appearing quality unit.

Thoughts?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Cheap is good. I bought the cheapest USB 1.1 multi card reader 3 years back, and only recently did it give problems. It's been replaced with the cheapest USB 2.0 multi card reader.. Doesn't read Mini SD and that new format that'll be used in phones though. Cost me about US$15 as well.

[Suhit Gupta]

I have had the 8 in 1 or months and I love it...but I don't love that the drive letters are different on every computer I put it on.
Same here and I agree. Four extra drive letters is annoying.

Suhit

[Jason Dunn]

Any feedback on the durability/build quality?

Quite solid - looks good, professional. No complaints here!

[Neil Enns]

I've had my SanDisk 6-in-1 for quite a while. It does exactly what I need: slurp data of my CF cards onto my PC. Rock solid, very useful.

The drive letters aren't too bothersome to me since I know that g:\ is the CF slot and that's the only one I use.

Neil

[Anthony Caruana]

I've used external readers for a while. However, when I bought my last desktop PC I went for an internal readers (This one from Apacer (http://www.apacer.com/apacer_english/product_html/embedded_card_reader20.asp)). Given that I no longer use a floppy drive I thought that this was a much better use of the 3.5 inch bay. I carry a little 6 in 1 for use on my iBook for when I'm on the road.

But I dig the funky look of this device.

[alanjrobertson]

I got my 6-in-1 USB2 reader from 7dayshop - non-branded, but works darn fast, is nice and compact, and only cost £9! :D (http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=&products_id=8375)

Similar problem drive letter wise, however 2 things that make things better:

1) Windows default AutoPlay when I pop a card in so I don't even need to go to my computer

2) I tend to place drive letter shortcuts on my desktop anyway, and you can pick different icons for each drive when you create those.

Cheers

Alan

[mcsouth]

Lot of folks commenting about the drive letter issue - I didn't mention that the cheapo USB2.0 card readers I bought came with a mini-CD in the packaging. I happened to read the manual on it, and discovered that while WinXP doesn't need drivers for you to use the device (which I knew), it did have a "driver" for WinXP that adds card icons to each drive letter that WinXP assigns, along with the card name.

Wonder if that little utility/driver/whatever would work with the Sandisk reader? Let me know if you want the "driver" emailed to you to find out.....

[Godsongz]

I bought one of these Sandisk 8-in-1 readers today along with a USB 2.0 PCI card (yeah, 1.1 only in my computer until now) and WOW! Can't believe I waited this long. I finally decided to make the jump a few weekends ago after holding up friends and family who wanted to see a slide show of pictures I had taken that day at my daughter's 8th grade "graduation". I had about 240+ shots averaging about 2.5mb each coming out of a direct connection from my 300D to a USB 1.1 port on my computer. SNORE! With the new reader the speed is just amazing!

Let me slip a Picasa question in here, not too off-topic since it does deal with my new card reader. Picasa would automatically rotate pictures coming straight out of the camera that were shot in the 90° or 270° orientation, but when Picasa pulled shots from my CF card in the Sandisk reader it did not rotate the pictures even though the orientation information is embedded in the pictures themselves. I assume that my 300D was "instructing" Picasa to do the rotation, how do I get Picasa to do this automatically when pulling images through the card reader?

[darrylb]

Lot of folks commenting about the drive letter issue - I didn't mention that the cheapo USB2.0 card readers I bought came with a mini-CD in the packaging. I happened to read the manual on it, and discovered that while WinXP doesn't need drivers for you to use the device (which I knew), it did have a "driver" for WinXP that adds card icons to each drive letter that WinXP assigns, along with the card name.

Wonder if that little utility/driver/whatever would work with the Sandisk reader? Let me know if you want the "driver" emailed to you to find out.....

The CD that comes with the Sandisk card reader has drivers for Win9x. The drivers also change the icons for the drives - I haven't tried, but it might be possible to pull these into XP - I assume they are just somewhere in the registry.

[piperpilot]

I have two SanDisk 8-in-1 card readers--one at work; the other at home. I just love them. I record several radio shows every day using Applian's Replay Radio and transfer the resulting MP3 files to a SanDisk 1GB SD card to play on my iPAQ H5455. The card readers make the transfer process very quick and very painless. Before I got the card readers, it would take approximately an hour to transfer three hours of recordings. With the readers, it takes only 2 minutes.

[Jason Dunn]

Let me slip a Picasa question in here, not too off-topic since it does deal with my new card reader. Picasa would automatically rotate pictures coming straight out of the camera that were shot in the 90° or 270° orientation, but when Picasa pulled shots from my CF card in the Sandisk reader it did not rotate the pictures even though the orientation information is embedded in the pictures themselves. I assume that my 300D was "instructing" Picasa to do the rotation, how do I get Picasa to do this automatically when pulling images through the card reader?

Nah, I'm 99% sure the rotation data is in the EXIF data of the file. I have a 300D as well and I've never had the rotation happen automatically. So I'm not sure how you managed to get it to rototate them the first time...

[Godsongz]

Auto-rotation will be a import feature for Picasa 2.

It was the 300D itself that provided the automatic rotation when I pulled images through a direct connection to the camera. Now that I'm pulling from a cardreader, I seem to have to use Canon's Zoombrowser software instead of Picasa to get the auto-rotation, at least until Picasa 2 comes out.