SimpleTech CompactFlash Reader (Mass Storage Compliant)

by SimpleTech

Product Details

Product Manual [601kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000633DU
• Item model number: STI-UCF100
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 2, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

SimpleTech FlashLink is the perfect tool for quickly and easily transferring data between a PC or Macintosh and your CompactFlash digital media cards. You can move images, MP3 music files, and other data, all with transfer rates up to 30 times faster than you'd get from a standard serial connection. FlashLink requires no external power source and has a sleek, compact design, giving you hassle-free portability.

FlashLink offers true plug-and-play capability with USB technology. Simply insert your digital media card into the FlashLink and it will automatically appear as an additional removable drive, letting you drag and drop files with ease.

This FlashLink reader is mass-storage device compliant, meaning it does not require the installation of driver software when used in Windows 2000, Me, or XP environments. Simply plug the device into the USB port of a PC or Mac and be ready to instantaneously download digital images or data by dragging and dropping the contents to any folder.

The SimpleTech FlashLink is compatible with all brands of digital media cards and gives you a true high-speed USB interface of up to 1.5 MBps, supporting the maximum data transfer rate of the media. An LED indicates power status and activity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hallelujah, November 19, 2002

By 

BookWoman - See all my reviews

This review is from: SimpleTech CompactFlash Reader (Mass Storage Compliant) (Personal Computers)

Oh, wow. In terms of devices that make me happy, this ranks way up there.

I bought this CF reader to use with my Canon Elph S200 digital camera. Although the Elph comes with software and cables to download via the USB port of my computer, and this CF reader also connects to the USB port, for some reason downloading via the CF reader is far, far faster. You plug the CF reader in, it shows up in Windows as a new drive letter, and you can access the files on your CF card (open them, copy them, delete them, etc) the same way you'd access files anywhere else on your computer, and just about as quickly.

You can also use the reader to transfer data between computers, any kind of data. I have one networked computer (with no CD-R or zip drive) and one non-networked computer. With this tool I was suddenly able to transfer up to 256M of data (the size of my CF memory card) from the networked computer to the non-networked one, easy as pie. Hallelujah!

The reader is very simple to install. On some operating systems you just plug it in and it goes. On others (like Windows 98) you have to go to the SimpleTech website, download a driver (6.5M for Win98), install it and then plug it in. Either way it was very quick.

Overall a very satisfying little tool.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good value and easy to use, April 24, 2002

By 

"etlon" (Västerås Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SimpleTech CompactFlash Reader (Mass Storage Compliant) (Personal Computers)

The reason for why I bought this item was that I did not want to connect my camera always whenever I wanted to transfer pictures from my digital camera to my computer. Why? Just a bit more flexible at the same time as I spare the batteries of my camera, and for this price, I think it is worth it.

There are a lot of CF-readers on the market but this one I feel comes with a good price. Paying more for a thing like this would be a waste of money. I feel that as long as the functionality is the same, there is no need for spending more cash. This CF-reader is also very flexible since it allows you to detach the cable from the reader. If you have "easy to reach" USB connections you can connect the reader directly which in combination with usage on Windows 2000/XP (requires no special drivers) makes it a very small and portable solution.

There is only one thing you should remember before buying this CF-reader if you are a user of older versions of Windows, e.g., Windows 95/98. Then you need to install some drivers before first usage on a computer. So, it is not possible to just connect it to any computer without first installing the drivers (for example connecting it to your friends computer to share pictures). This is however not a big problem but it removes some of the flexibility of being able to connect it anywhere.

An alternative for Laptop users with a free PC Card-slot can be a PC Card CF-reader. These also come with a good price (cheaper than a USB-reader) and usually (the ones I have used) do not require any special drivers.

Once you are ok with what I have mentioned above, I recommend this as a buy. I have used the CF-reader on several computers with no problem at all. Good value and easy to use.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool new USB CompactFlash card reader, March 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: SimpleTech CompactFlash Reader (Mass Storage Compliant) (Personal Computers)

Talk about convenient. This reader is very small, fits in your pocket and can even detatch from included cable, so you can plug it in to your USB hub or notebook like a key to transfer data to and from type I and II compactflash cards. Plus this reader is really fast and mass storage compliant, so no drivers needed if you have Windows 2000 or XP installed on your computer. If you have Win98, just load the included driver once and then you never need to load it again. This product is great and I recommend to anyone wanting to read and or write to compactflash cards.