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I knew I was in trouble -- not so much with my wife, who always forgives me for the dumbest memory lapses, but with myself.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

USB memory-card reader saves the day


June 23, 2002


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2002, The Post-Standard

   Iíve had to admit that I just plain donít know how to pack for a trip. When my wife, Nancy, and I took off for a week on Cape Cod in early June, I left behind the USB cable that connects our digital camera to our laptop computer.
   That meant I wouldnít be able to copy our pictures to my H-P OmniBook notebook PC. If youíre a digital photographer, you probably know what a stupid mistake that was. Most digital cameras run out of storage space in one way or another, and the best way to get that space back when youíre traveling is to "dump" your pictures onto another storage device. Ordinarily, I simply plug in the USB cable that came with the camera, plug the other end into one of the USB ports on my laptop computer and copy my new photos onto the laptopís hard drive. I then erase the cameraís storage cards and take more pictures.
   My Sony camera uses a single Memory Stick for internal storage. I have four of them so far -- I keep buying new ones when I see them on sale -- but four memory sticks won't hold enough photos for a week of picture-taking at such a scenic place as Cape Cod. So I knew I was in trouble -- not so much with my wife, who always forgives me for the dumbest memory lapses, but with myself.
   I was blaming my advancing age and overworked synapses -ñ a sure sign of a healthy American male, right? -- when I grabbed hold of my common sense and realized what I had to do. We headed for the nearest store that sold computers and peripherals. We found a Staples store in Hyannis, on our way to the Nantucket ferry, and bought a USB Memory Stick reader made by SmartDisk. The $32 we paid was a small price for a rescued vacation.
   The SmartDisk reader is small, cute and almost weightless. It needs no power supply of its own (the USB connection provides the juice) and comes in versions for CompactFlash, MultiMedia and SmartMedia cards in addition to the Memory Stick version I bought. I'll describe how the SmartDisk reader works in generic terms, because all four versions are nearly identical except for the size of the slot where the memory card plugs in.
   You must have a USB-equipped computer to use the card reader. (All Windows and Apple computers made since 1996 should be OK.) If you have a Windows 98 or perhaps Windows ME PC or an older Apple computer you'll probably have to install software for the card reader, using the CD that comes in the package. Newer Windows and Apple computers know how to deal with the reader already; they don't need any extra software. (My Apple G4 computer worked perfectly with the card reader immediately.)
   To use the card reader, you plug one end of the supplied USB cable into the reader and the other end into a USB socket on your computer. To copy the contents of a memory card, you slide the card into a slot on the reader's sloping front panel so that it latches in place. The computer automatically installs a new "drive" (the memory card) that shows up either in My Computer (on a Windows PC) or on the desktop (on an Apple computer). Double click the icon for the new "drive" to access the image files on the memory card.
   (An oddity I noticed in the Memory Stick version was the way it let me plug in a Memory Stick both right side up and upside down. Hard as it is to believe, the correct way is to plug in the memory stick upside down.)
   The SmartDisk USB reader transferred image files noticeably faster than my camera's built-in USB transfer system, and it was easier to use. Once I had all my Memory Sticks full of photos, I was able to slide in one Memory Stick after another and copy their contents without a fuss.
   Uner Windows, I simply pressed the F5 function key when the "drive" contents changed (after I inserted another Memory Stick) to force Windows to show the new contents. (Your version of Windows might be newer than mine, and might refresh the list automatically. if it does not, try the F5 method.) Apple's computers usually show the changed contents automatically.
   Using the word "reader" to describe the SmartDisk device is misleading. It's not just a way of "reading" (transferring from) a memory card; you can just as easily copy files in the other direction, treating the memory card as if it were, indeed, a "drive."
   But my experience left me wary of doing that sort of thing with Sony's Memory Sticks. I found that Memory Sticks I had left unlocked (by keeping a tiny sliding gate open on the Memory Stick) copied fine but gave my camera fits when I tried to use them again. I had to reformat each Memory Stick before the camera would accept it -- an easy thing to do, for sure. It was a reminder that no one should copy files to a memory card without testing the procedure thoroughly. You don't want egg on your face -- and an uncooperative memory card in your camera ñ- on the night you're photographing the 6th grade concert.
   I also found it was safer to copy image files instead of moving them. On both Windows and Apple computers, you copy files by dragging them from one drive (or device) to another one without holding down any modifier keys. You can then do a mass erasure of a memory card by formatting the card in your camera. Formatting wipes out the card's table of contents so that it is ready to store more images.