Sony MRW620/U1/181 Internal 17 in 1 Memory Card Reader/Writer

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1.5 x 8 inches ; 12 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001AI6CNK
• Item model number: MRW620/U1/181
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (116 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #20 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Accessories > Memory Card Readers
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 16, 2008

Product Description

Transform your obsolete 3.5" floppy bay in your Windows desktop PC into a useful memory card reader. With the ability to read and write 17 popular memory card formats including Memory Stick/Duo/Pro/Micro, SD, MiniSD™, Xd™, Compact Flash (types I/II), MicroDrive™, MultiMediaCard™, RS-MMC™ and SmartMedia™, the MRW620/U1/181 internal reader/writer enables you to access memory cards used in electronic devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones, camcorders, MP3 players and digital picture frames. This reader/writer connects to your PC via internal USB connection and adds a standard USB port on the front panel. It also comes with black and ivory colored faceplates so you can easily match to the casing of your PC.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works great, one slightly annoying quirk, February 18, 2010

By 

Jason McManus "FastGeek" (Sierra Foothills, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony MRW620/U1/181 Internal 17 in 1 Memory Card Reader/Writer (Personal Computers)

Ordered this card reader for a clients custom build. Card readers are always a tricky sort of thing, and there seems to be a lot of "YMMV" with just about every CR under the sun! That said, this one seemed pretty solid, and while it doesn't read every format under the sun it does read all the major ones and the extra USB connection is a nice addition.

Fits in the clients Antec Sonota III 500 case without issue.

Uses an internal motherboard USB port, which IMHO is great. Of course this means you'll want to make sure you have an open USB header prior to ordering; ESPECIALLY if you have a computer from one of the huge OEM's (Dell, HP, Gateway, etc)! The 'two cables into one plug' approach is a little sloppy - one for the USB port and one for the card reader itself - am sure the engieers could've come up with something cleaner, but it does the job.

Copying between cards works just fine. Scrounged up an old CF & SM and transferred data between them without issue. Front USB port works fine too.

So what's the quirk? When installing a fresh copy of XP I didn't notice that the card reader had been assigned drive letters C: D: E: & F: until after XP was installed. The optical drive was G: and the HDD was H:. No huge loss, just disconnected the CR, formatted and reinstalled the OS again and connected the CR later, but it's worth mentioning just in case you're installing everything from scratch. If you're adding this to an existing system you shouldn't have anything to worry about. (It's possible that a BIOS setting would've resolved this issue too.)

**** WANT CUSTOM ICONS IN 'MY COMPUTER' UNDER WINDOWS XP? ****

Despite what some folks have said, you *can* download some software from Sony and get the correct custom icons! Discovered this while browsing around the Sony support pages, saw the software listed and decided to give it a go.

Go to [...] then click on Firmware/Drivers/Utilities and download the "Drive Letter Recognition Software". Open the zip and then run the executable file. Once it's done, open My Computer and you'll now have the proper custom icons! :-) No idea why Sony doesn't include this software for the MRW620, but at least folks now know that the software mentioned above (for the MRW62E) will do the trick.

A rather long winded review for a simple card reader, but hope it's of assistance to some of you out there. Good product, does waht it says on the tin. Enjoy!

59 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Second Round, November 11, 2009

By 

M. Fernandez (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony MRW620/U1/181 Internal 17 in 1 Memory Card Reader/Writer (Personal Computers)

I am a system builder thats had been looking for an internal memory card reader. At the local Fry's, there were plenty to choose from but all were from companies I had never heard of. Most said 3.5 Drive Bay but were off in their measurements by a few centimeters. I bought this internal card reader and found that it suit my needs. To top it off, this reader/writer was licensed by Sony- a company that had a physical address that made and licensed other electronic components. This card word in Windows Xp. It still worked nicely in Windows Vista. In Xp and Vista, in the "My Computer Window" all the seperate flash drives were listed. I wished that Windows would assign the appropriate flash card icon to each drive and not that standard gray drive icon. This would allow me to tell each drive apart.

In Windows7, which this card also works flawlessly, in the "Computer" window, none of the flash drives are listed until you insert a card. This makes it easier to tell which drive is what.

If a motherboard and a computer case has only a limited number of USB ports, this card will offer one extra port. That port can become very valuable and can only increase the value of this peripheral.

I am currently building a second system and I have this reader/writer installed. When I make my rounds for a third system, I will order another reader/writer.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ***WINDOWS 7 64 BIT** 2nd Build Works Fine, September 27, 2010

By 

1st Time Reviewer - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony MRW620/U1/181 Internal 17 in 1 Memory Card Reader/Writer (Personal Computers)

I do not normally leave feedback for products or write reviews but I feel compelled to for those of you that are hesitant to buy this because you are running Windows 7 64 Bit. I purchased one of these last year for a custom build and it installed no problems at all and has been working flawlessly since. Interestingly, the box read "Works with Windows Vista" but no mention of Windows 7. I just recently finished a new build and ordered a second unit. To my surprise, the box read "Works with Windows 7" (No mention of 32 or 64 Bit). I installed the unit and it also works flawlessly. There is no guarantee that it with work on every Windows 7 64 Bit system, but so far I am 2 for 2.

Build 1:

Motherboard: MSI P55-GD80

OS: Windows 7 Premium, 64 Bit

CPU: Intel i7 860

Build 2:

Motherboard: MSI P55-GD65

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 Bit

CPU: Intel i7 870