Internal Media Readers

[Janak Parekh]

Ever since I built my awesome 2GHz P4 box at home in a full-tower housing, I've been looking around for a good <i>internal</i> media reader, so that I don't need a device sitting on my desk. However, internal multiple-media readers are fairly rare. I've purchased an <a href="http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/internal_dd.asp">Addonics Internal USB Digidrive</a>, but I've had mixed results with it; in particular, the USB 1.1 device I had didn't support SD cards larger than 256MB (perhaps the new USB 2.0 reader does). They also have an <a href="http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/ide_digidrive.asp">IDE reader</a> that works a little better, but PPCT reader rfischer also found out about <a href="http://www.soyousa.com/products/select.php?producttype=Sigma%20Box">Soyo BayOne products</a>, which look pretty cool. I like this unit that has two USB 2.0 ports as well:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/news/20030411-Soyo-BayOne.gif" /><br /><br />Unfortunately, it doesn't seem the reader itself supports USB 2.0, just the ports. They also have one with firewire, but I have a <a href="http://www.soundblaster.com/products/audigy/">SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum</a> which takes care of that. So, for those of you who build your boxes or tinker with them, have you found internal reader nirvana? ;)

[craiglud]

The best solution that I have found is to use an internal PCMCIA card reader then get a pcmcia adapter to fit the sd/ms/mmc/cf card that you have. Mine has always worked great. It is a little more expensive in the long run but it is fast and gives a lot of flexability.


Craig

[Janak Parekh]

Yeah, I might end up doing that. It's just not as "neat", you know? :)

--janak

[Solarix]

I've been looking at getting one of these things for a little while, and was kinda curious about their functionality myself. The best place I have found to get em is from NewEgg.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=card+reader

[kwerner]

Great thread. I've been looking for the ultimate media reader/front panel that fits in 3.5" bay. If anyone finds one with all these features, please let me know: reads all the memory cards, has usb2 interface, has usb2 and firewire pass-through ports on the front, available in white and black models.

[yschang]

That's one good thing being in Taiwan.
Going to the computer market in Taipei, I can find no less than three different types of internal card readers.
I'm planning to start building a server in June...
I think by then, the price will be down even more probably to just the cost of a floppy drive...

[Foo Fighter]

The only flaw I see with this design is that there is no flip cover over the ports. Those open ports are going to attract dust, fuzz, and pet hair quickly. Better have a can of air nearby at all times. :?

[Janak Parekh]

The only flaw I see with this design is that there is no flip cover over the ports. Those open ports are going to attract dust, fuzz, and pet hair quickly. Better have a can of air nearby at all times. :?
Well, that's because you have a pet. ;)

BTW, most readers, internal or external, I've worked with have no covers, and I've worked with a huge variety of bands.

--janak

[bdegroodt]

The only flaw I see with this design is that there is no flip cover over the ports. Those open ports are going to attract dust, fuzz, and pet hair quickly. Better have a can of air nearby at all times. :?No self respecting moder would leave an exposed bay. Cover it up with your own "creation"

[sycamore]

The one SOYO makes goes for about $25 at Fry's electronics (SF Bay Area); it installs easily and it looks pretty sleek (you can change the face plate between beige, silver, and black). The internal media drives only support USB 1.1 as mentioned, but nothing else is out there as far as I know. No problems with dust or fuzz yet--they probably seal it so that there's no air intake on them. I considered the PCMCIA solution but didn't find any in the right price range.

I had the internal media reader made by OnSpec http://www.onspecinc.com/ and I had an annoying problem with the drivers affecting the performance of Windows Explorer. It would take about 45 seconds to perform a 'right click' (context-specific menu) on any of the drives, including my hard drives and CD/DVD drives! It'll be going up on ebay soon if anyone wants a cheap one! :wink:

[kagayaki1]

The best solution that I have found is to use an internal PCMCIA card reader then get a pcmcia adapter to fit the sd/ms/mmc/cf card that you have. Mine has always worked great. It is a little more expensive in the long run but it is fast and gives a lot of flexability.


Craig

I agree with this idea. It seemed no matter where I looked, there wasn't anything out there that really satisfied all my needs, especially since I have a 5GB PCMCIA HDD. The biggest problem with a PCMCIA reader is you can't transfer directly between cards. If you do a lot of intercard transfers, I woudl recommend something else.

However, for those interested, I've had great success with the Addonics Internal PCMCIA IDE Drive.

PCMCIA Drive without adapters (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10327035&loc=101)

PCMCIA Drive with adapters (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10327129&hdwt=30421&loc=101)

-Jason

[jizmo]

All keyboards should be made USB and have SD slots.

At work, outside my house and school I'm stuck with the damned floppy drives that don't work, and have limited capacity. At the same time I'm carrying a 256mb SD in my pocketpc that I can't use anywhere.

*Sigh*.. :roll:

/jizmo

[bdegroodt]

...I'm stuck with the damned floppy drives...

:?: floppy drives? Please explain. Is this some sort of new technology yet to reach the mainstream? :twisted:

Seriously, that's not too far off from happening. Some of the servers and devices for our hosting center are coming with CF drives that allow for booting...Cool stuff.

[klinux]

I will not get an internal card reader until they can connect at firewire (my current reader) speed or higher (USB 2.0 or PCI)!

[questionlp]

Y-E Data seems to have a combination floppy drive plus 6-in-1 memory card reader that fits into a single 3.5" drive bay. The memory reader ports themselves connect via an internal USB plug and the floppy is connected to the standard floppy cable. Quite interesting but not exactly what I would call inexpensive though (at USD $89.95 list)... mostly when the USB only supports USB 1.1 and not USB 2.0 :(

http://www.yedata.com/products/cardreaders/internal7-in-1.shtml

[Rondjones54]

Go to TigerDirect.com
Do a search for media readers. They have several different configurations including USB 2.0 and Firewire.

[SVX]

I have the YEdata 7 in 1 reader ( http://www.yedata.com/products/cardreaders/internal7-in-1.shtml ) and must say I am quite impressed with it. It takes my Microdrive without an ounce of problems and has a good transfer speed imo. Here is a picture of what it looks like installed:

http://www.isv-knights.org/Roster/SVX/Pix/rd1.jpg

You can get it at Compusa new for $69 or Newegg new I think for $79. Newegg also sells the oem white box for $59. Really is a good deal if you are looking to consolodate as I have.

[ox]

Apacer makes a 6-in-1 card reader with an internal USB 2.0 connection and an extra black faceplate:

Card Reader with 2 USB 2.0 ports (http://www.apacer.com/apacer_english/product_html/embedded_card_reader22.asp)
Card Reader with no front ports (http://www.apacer.com/apacer_english/product_html/embedded_card_reader20.asp)

Newegg has the one without the front ports (http://www.newegg.com/app/Viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&bop=and&submit=advance&description=Apacer+USB+2%2E0+6+in+1+Embedded+Card+Reader&searchdepa=0&srchFor=) for $28.00

[ruddn]

I recently puchased the IOI Inc. reader from NewEgg. For $17, I decided I could do without the USB 2.0 pass-though since I would still have one port available in front and 4 in back. This this works great, true plug and play - no drivers to mess with, looks good, and is availbale in white or black.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=69&manufactory=1845&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

[Master O'Mayhem]

Funny thing.. I was looking for these yesterday :) I like the ATECH one
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-Details.asp?sku=A128-2000 because it has Firewire as well... Here are 4 others at reasonable prices


Http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=internal+card+readers

[jgallen23]

ruddn- for the IOI inc reader, where does it plug in? on the motherboard? if so, how do I know if my motherboard is compatible?

[kwerner]

This one might do it for me...
http://www.legitreviews.com/Reviews/abit_mediaxp_2.shtml

A little expensive, $76 at
http://www.zones.com/cgi-bin/zones/site/product/index.html?id=262264

It doesn't have SmartMedia, and doesn't mention micro drive but should work since it's CF2(?). It's kind of ugly and doesn't have a black faceplate option either though.

Hmm, will it work with non-abit motherboards???

[cdcooker]

I have the Soyo BayOne. But the card reader doesn't work very well. I have the ECS K7S5A mobo and which has only two extra USB ports on board. It works great for the BayOne USB ports. But the USB card reader hang my computer. Any body has the same problem? Also, not many mobo, at least those cheap one, comes with 3 USB ports on board.

[deVBuzz]

This is a topic near and dear to me. I use SD and CF cards extensively and you need to be careful about how you insert cards into the external readers - you really need to use two hands. The internal ones are great BUT I originally went for the Addonics and this has some IDE issues if you use Norton Ghost. I have a 2nd drive in my system that I periodically Ghost my entire primary drive to - NOT with the Addonics installed. I tried everything - changed it from master to slave on channel 1, swapped in other drives in case it wasn't compatible with my primary drive etc etc. Bottom line it works well but not with Ghost. If you try and Ghost your PC with this IDE hw installed you end up not being able to boot without a boot disk. Not pleasant.

I've just ordered the Soyo - it will be interesting to see how that works in comparison.

Some urls:
Soyo
http://compactflash-card.net/12235.asp
29.99

Addonics
http://compactflash-card.net/33220.asp
47.01

9-IN-1 FLASH AND PCMCIA HARD DRIVE READER/WRITER
http://compactflash-card.net/47328.asp
84.30

[DrtyBlvd]

The only flaw I see with this design is that there is no flip cover over the ports. Those open ports are going to attract dust, fuzz, and pet hair quickly. Better have a can of air nearby at all times. :?No self respecting moder would leave an exposed bay. Cover it up with your own "creation"

...or, just swing the door on your Lian Li shut :lol:

[GoldKey]

This is a topic near and dear to me. I use SD and CF cards extensively and you need to be careful about how you insert cards into the external readers - you really need to use two hands.

I like the seperate reader option simply because I don't keep my PC on my desk. It is tucked back in the corner. Like you, I use SD and CF quite a bit and had the same problem with needing to use two hands. UNTIL, I found this reader

http://www.leaddata.com.tw/image/trislot.jpg

It is made by Lead Data and top loads for easy 1 hand inserting and removal. What is also cool is that it has two different lights built in that illuminate the outside of the case (hard to explain, but it is like an aluminum tube inside a clear plastic tube and the light on the bottom indirectly lights up the clear plastic). The colors change depeding if there is a card inserted or not. Plus it has two USB ports built in. Even better, I got it for $15 at Wal-mart.

[rmasinag]

OK..guys. this is not an internal reader, but it's Firewire. Ive had a USB2 reader too, but somehow Firewire seems to have a faster thoroughput. I've got this Synchrotech(from taiwanese Carry) Firewire reader and it's worth the expense! Can't read stupid xD format though.

FW6EMUL....weird name, but its fast[/quote]

[DrtyBlvd]

Has anyone any URL's for 'readers' in the UK? I'm having problems finding Internal readers at all :!: :?:

[craiglud]

The best solution that I have found is to use an internal PCMCIA card reader then get a pcmcia adapter to fit the sd/ms/mmc/cf card that you have. Mine has always worked great. It is a little more expensive in the long run but it is fast and gives a lot of flexability.


Craig

I agree with this idea. It seemed no matter where I looked, there wasn't anything out there that really satisfied all my needs, especially since I have a 5GB PCMCIA HDD. The biggest problem with a PCMCIA reader is you can't transfer directly between cards. If you do a lot of intercard transfers, I woudl recommend something else.

However, for those interested, I've had great success with the Addonics Internal PCMCIA IDE Drive.

PCMCIA Drive without adapters (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10327035&loc=101)

PCMCIA Drive with adapters (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10327129&hdwt=30421&loc=101)

-Jason

I actually put together a new system with an internal bay, USB 2.0, media reader by abit that connects to the motherboard. It is noticebly slower and I am considering moving the pcmcia reader to the new system. It is not as neat looking but it is FAST! If you are working with cards of 1Gig or greater I would go with speed over looks.



Craig