Page 1: Reader
<B>Intro</B>:
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While card readers are nothing new, there is a problem with today's choice of digital media; How many there are. If you think about it, there are many people with different medias, and once and awhile, you'll need to be able to access more than just what you own. Enter the Crucial 7 in 1 card reader. Is it worth your money? Let's find out.
<B>Box</B>:
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The ever venerable box! Gaze at the splendor. This is the typical Crucial box that most things from them come in.
<B>Stuff</B>:
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What's in the box? You get the reader, a USB extension cable, a manual and a driver CD. What is good about the reader is that it has a short USB cord built into it and then the extension is just that. It isn't required.
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Here is the bottom of the unit, notice that the cord is very small. This is perfect for laptops... or front USB ports. Regardless, if you don't have either of these, the extension is there for your use. It is also very long, longer than the Lexar one. It actually fits on my desk with the computer on the floor.
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Crucial's reader is silver, a good combo with a black of silverish type case. All the doors on card readers open down, which is weird to me. They should open up so it can sit on the desk correctly.
<B>How it works</B>:
I've done informal testing on the unit against a Lexar 7 in 1 reader. Both readers are USB 2, both the 7 in 1 deal. Well, it really isn't 7 cards, you have the microdrive both CF types, both memory stick types, SD and MMC and smart media. I only had memory stick and CF to test on the units, both are from digicams. Transferring from the camera to the computer is slow and painful.
On the other hand, the Crucial reader was much faster. Even though it is USB 2.0, the reader is limited by the transfer speed of the media. Both readers are pretty much the same. Transfers never actually reach 2.0 speeds, but are faster than USB 1.1
The driver situation is great though. With Windows 2000 SP4 on most of my machine, it worked with no drivers. With XP and XP SP1, no drivers. This is great news if you want to move the reader around to different places. It is light and easy to carry.
<B>Conclusion</B>:
<a href="http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.asp?imodule=CTR6ACPU2&cat=">Priced at $26</a>, the Crucial card reader is a good buy. You get the Crucial name to back you up, USB 2.0 and 7 cards to be able to read. If you need a card reader, consider Crucials.
<center>
</center>While card readers are nothing new, there is a problem with today's choice of digital media; How many there are. If you think about it, there are many people with different medias, and once and awhile, you'll need to be able to access more than just what you own. Enter the Crucial 7 in 1 card reader. Is it worth your money? Let's find out.
<B>Box</B>:
<center>
</center>The ever venerable box! Gaze at the splendor. This is the typical Crucial box that most things from them come in.
<B>Stuff</B>:
<center>
</center>What's in the box? You get the reader, a USB extension cable, a manual and a driver CD. What is good about the reader is that it has a short USB cord built into it and then the extension is just that. It isn't required.
<center>
</center>Here is the bottom of the unit, notice that the cord is very small. This is perfect for laptops... or front USB ports. Regardless, if you don't have either of these, the extension is there for your use. It is also very long, longer than the Lexar one. It actually fits on my desk with the computer on the floor.
<center>
</center>Crucial's reader is silver, a good combo with a black of silverish type case. All the doors on card readers open down, which is weird to me. They should open up so it can sit on the desk correctly.
<B>How it works</B>:
I've done informal testing on the unit against a Lexar 7 in 1 reader. Both readers are USB 2, both the 7 in 1 deal. Well, it really isn't 7 cards, you have the microdrive both CF types, both memory stick types, SD and MMC and smart media. I only had memory stick and CF to test on the units, both are from digicams. Transferring from the camera to the computer is slow and painful.
On the other hand, the Crucial reader was much faster. Even though it is USB 2.0, the reader is limited by the transfer speed of the media. Both readers are pretty much the same. Transfers never actually reach 2.0 speeds, but are faster than USB 1.1
The driver situation is great though. With Windows 2000 SP4 on most of my machine, it worked with no drivers. With XP and XP SP1, no drivers. This is great news if you want to move the reader around to different places. It is light and easy to carry.
<B>Conclusion</B>:
<a href="http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.asp?imodule=CTR6ACPU2&cat=">Priced at $26</a>, the Crucial card reader is a good buy. You get the Crucial name to back you up, USB 2.0 and 7 cards to be able to read. If you need a card reader, consider Crucials.