Customer Reviews

SanDisk USB SmartMedia Reader (SDDR-09-01)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Mine works great. I have transferred thousands of photos to my PC without a hitch. It is so small it sits on top of my monitor and is known to my system as device G. All the folks that have reported problems with installation undoubtedly had those problems. I didn't. And I have a Zip drive, a CD/RW drive and 4 devices total hooked up to my USB ports, including a printer and DSL modem. Before this mess would work on my 2 year old Dell, I had to download new BIOS for the machine. Anytime you add stuff to a PC, there may be conflicts that need resolving. But I don't believe this SmartMedia card reader is the total cause of anybody's problems.

There have been previous reports of conflicts with this product and CDRW drives, and Zip drives, but I had absolutely no trouble at all and I have both. I also have a USB scanner, but have had no trouble at all. It only took about 2 minutes to install the software, reboot my system and plug in the reader. It is very easy to use. Just insert the smartmedia card and click on the reader drive icon, the pictures just pop up, no load time at all. I am very pleased with this product.

I installed the San Disk Smart Media Reader USB version (they call it the ImageMate) on my computer with Win98. Installation was a snap by following the instructions, and I was uploading pictures from my 32meg smartmedia card in less than 5 min.

The directory acts just like another removable-disk drive (assigned F: on my computer) and is labeled USB when viewed after clicking on My Computer icon.

It sure beats uploading from the camera.

I am a Macintosh user using an older Macintosh 7300 with a PowerPC processor. I am running OS9. I have a MacAlly PCI to USB interface card installed and have the SanDISK plugged into that. I found that the driver that came with the SanDisk reader needed to be upgraded (easily done over the Internet) before I got the reader to work reliably.

After that, things went very well. I have used the reader several times without a hickup. It is very, very fast compared to either the serial cable approach or the Flashcard Floppy Disk reader that I have been using. I would recommend this to anyone with a digital camera using SmartMedia.

I have 2 of these SanDisk USB readers (they will read only 1 type of memory card, so if you have devices with CompactFlash, MultiMediaCard memory, SmartMedia, etc., you'll need 1 reader per format). They can be difficult to set-up, as the software (in both cases) required an update from their website (nice site, user-friendly) and, more importantly, there are known conflicts with other device drivers you may have on your computer (such as CD-RW drives and Zip drives). While these conflicts are mentioned on the SanDisk website, the solutions they offered were not always helpful. Once solved, this device is great. I have since purchased the Viking reader and have encountered no conflicts at all.

I finally ordered the SmartMedia ImageMate, even after reading some pretty horrific reviews (and some very good ones). The SanDisk web page says to check the CDW EasyCreate, and mine was OK (3.5c, "c" makes it OK). Received the reader, installed the software, plugged it in to an empty USB port, stuck in a half-full SmartCard from my Olympus 360L camera, clicked on the "G" drive, and there it was - all of it! Downloaded 40 images in 15-20 seconds (not 20-30 minutes!), played around with uploads, deletes, any old files (not only images) - WORKS LIKE MAGIC! (**FAST** magic...) I have Windows 98, Pentium III at 733 MHz, a Costco USB splitter, 3 or 4 other USB devices, shut down & restart each day,and the system still crashes once a day or so. Pretty standard setup, I think. Good luck to all!!!

I own a Canon Digital Elph camera that uses CF cards. I purchased this reader so that I wouldn't have to hook up my camera to the computer (and run down the batteries) each time I wanted to download photos.

The drivers installed easily, and I haven't had a single problem with it. I suspect that the other guy just has some weird software incompatibility issue that could happen with any device or software.

I was a little leery of this product since it was getting some poor reviews...but some people had no problems so I took a chance. I am using Windows 2000 Professional and I do have a CD-Rewriter as well.

I went to the SanDisk website and got the latest software, installed it, plugged in the lil' beastie, and was downloading and uploading images at unbelievable speeds (my only previous experience was with the dog-slow serial interface on my Olympus D-340R).

I can only speak for myself, but I am 100% satisfied with this product. It is a huge time-saver, super easy to install and operate, making it great for novices and experts alike.

There are currently NO drivers available for this product for Windows XP.

The SanDisk web site simply says "this device is not supported in Windows XP" There is no promise for creation of new Windows XP drivers.

Followed the given instructions and the device installed without any problems (Win98 SE, with CD-R, Zip, Jaz drives). The device, referred to as the ImageMate, appears as a removable drive, and can be dragged to and from like any other drive. Very easy to use. Two LEDs indicate power and if the SmartMedia card is inserted properly. Its design is aesthetic, has an approximately 3.5" diameter footprint, and has anti-slide material on the bottom. The cord is about 3 feet long.