CF card reader

Have no previous experience of card readers. Have Type One Compact Flash card to upload contents from camera to XP pc so bought a Konig USB2 reader. This is self-energized from the bus & it lights up OK. Stated to be XP compatible.

But it won't read a Fuji 256MB card. Same pin configuaration, no pins bent, card inserts perfectly. Another card (4GB) also failed. Sequence of connecting USB2 cable, inserting card, opening E-drive, all that changed to no effect. Yes, E-drive indeed appears when I open My Computer. Different USB2 ports tried.

No instructions supplied with brandnew reader as presumably all is self-evident. Plug&play and no drivers required? What am I doing wrong? Is it a dud?

I had to use a different mini usb lead as the supplied lead had a bad connection.

If you still have the packaging check what it reads as it may not read flash (CF = compact flash)

Taken from Amazon website:-

Product Description

K�NIG USB 2.0 SD/SDHC/MMC CARD READER

Portable and slim card reader to write and read to SD, SDHC and MMC memory cards. Ideal to use with a notebook or netbooks.

� Hot Swappable, Compliant to USB2.0
� Function indication LED
� Supported cards: SD / SDHC / MMC
� Supports Windows 98 / 2000 / ME / XP / VISTA / 7 / Mac OS 9.2 or higher

 
K�NIG
Compact Flash (CF)	No
Micro Drive (MD)	No
Smart Media (SM)	No
Micro SD	No
Micro SDHC	No
Mini SD	No
Secure Digital (SD)	Yes
SDHC	No
Multi Media Card (MMC)	Yes
RS MMC	No
Memory Stick (MS)	No
xD Picture Card (XD)	No
Trans Flash (TF)	No
Connection	USB2.0
No. of Ports	1
Voltage	Bus Powered
Colour	Black

I'm no expert with card readers either

How many slots does this Card Reader have?

I don't think you can have SD & CF in the slot. I have a built-in multi-way Card Reader which has 4 separate slots. The CF and SD are separate and SD is the same slot as MMC.

So I guess you bought a single SD/MMC slot one, like the one Apprentice found.

That's about all I know about these Card Readers.

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

If you still have the packaging check what it reads as it may not read flash (CF = compact flash)

Taken from Amazon website:-

Taken from Amazon website:-

If you search Amazon you can find various card readers at a minium price that will read the following;
Product Description
This card reader will also allow you to read memory cards up to 8GB.
This compact unit connects to your computer via the ultra high speed USB 2.0 lead provided. Also compatible with USB 1.1 ports
Compact Design
6 Port Construction including M2 Memory Card Port
High Capacity memory up to 8GB Card Support
Supports Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista/Mac OS V9.2 or Higher
Compatibility
CF I
CF Elite
CF I Elite Pro II
CF I Extreme
CF I Extreme III
CF I High Speed
CF I Picture
CF I Pro
CF I Pro II
CF I Ultra II
CF I Ultra-X
CF I W A
CF II
CF Ultimate
MagicStore Transflash
Microdrive
Micro M2 Stick
Micro SD
Micro SD M2 Stick
Micro SDHC / Transflash
Microdrive
Mini SD
Mini SDHC
Mini SDHC-X
Mini SDHC Class 2
Mini SDHC Class 4
MMC
MMC 4.0
MMC High Speed
MMC mobile
MMC Plus
MMC plus 200X
MMC plus HS
MS
MS Duo
MS Duo Magic Gate
MS Duo MG High Speed
MS Magic Gate
MS Memory Selection
MS MG Super
MS Pro
MS Pro Duo
MS Pro Duo Magic Gate
MS Pro Duo MG High Speed
MS Pro Duo MG Ultra II
MS Pro Magic Gate
MS Pro MG Extreme
MS Pro MG Extreme III
MS Pro MG High Speed
MS Pro MG Ultra II
MS ROM
MS ROM Super
MS ROM Super X
Premier Micro SD
RS MMC
RS MMC 4.0
RS MMC 4.5
RS MMC DV
RS MMC High Speed
RS MMC HS
SD (Secure Digital)
SD Elite Pro
SD Extra
SD Extra +
SD Extra HS
SD Extreme
SD Extreme II
SD Extreme III
SD Extreme IV
SD High Speed 150X
SD High Speed 200X
SD Pro
SD Ultra
SD Ultra Extreme HS +
SD Ultra II
SD Ultra X
SDHC
SDHC Class 2
SDHC Class 4
SDHC Class 6
SDHC Extreme III
SDHC HS
SDHC Ultra II
SMC
Sony M2
T-FLASH / Micro SD
Ultra II Micro SD / Transflash
XD
XD-H type
XD-M type

In reply to a post by scopio:

6 Port Construction

That's the key! OP's prob has 1 port only.

In reply to a post by Littleseen:

But it won't read a Fuji 256MB card. Same pin configuaration, no pins bent, card inserts perfectly. Another card (4GB) also failed.

Sounds like a dud

Also nothing when you right click the drive > Properties > Capacity?

Edited by 4M2 (Thu 19-Jul-12 23:30:53)

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by scopio:

6 Port Construction

That's the key! OP's prob has 1 port only.

The K�NIG USB 2.0 SD/SDHC/MMC CARD READER does have one port only as it is in the form of a memory stick!

Whilst other card readers are rectangular with an attached short cable and usb connector on the end. The price of each card reader being the same or a few pence difference!

I'm talking of the card ports/slots. not the USB connector!

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

I'm talking of the card ports/slots. not the USB connector!

So am I! Thats the point of having a rectangular card reader because it can accommodate several ports/slots whilst the small pen drive type can only have one port/slot! But they both are USB!

OK!

It's all very well but OP has yet to tell us / describe which one he bought.

EDIT: It was Apprentice who spec'ed the K�NIG USB 2.0 SD/SDHC/MMC CARD READER .

Edited by XRaySpeX (Fri 20-Jul-12 00:38:22)

Try Connecting Camera to PC. If not detected try going to
Accessories in Prrograms and open Scanners and Camera program.
I believe some cameras store in unreadable format on Cards..

Edited by flippery (Fri 20-Jul-12 09:19:21)

Certainly some cameras will connect over usb and the contents of a memory card can be read once the camera is powered on. This I've found with some cameras that use SD cards but with cameras that use CF cards it may also be necessary to install a driver. The driver can be downloaded or usually found on a CD that is supplied with the camera.

The reader is a Konig "USB 2.0 Hub Card Reader" --- it says it reads & writes and supports all common memory card. I regard Type One Compact Flash as being acceptable. These are the thin 'uns, the much later Type Two was slightly thicker and only when Type Two was introduced did it become necessary to dub the originals Type One. The left slot is marked CF/MD and SD/MMC whereas the right slot is marked SM and MS/MS-PRO. It also has 3 USB ports (not of value to me as it happens)

When the Konig is connected to any of my XP tower's USB2 ports it always produces the message (on exploring the detected E-drive) that I should insert a card. But a card is already in it. Same message if I fired it up empty. Inserting any of several Type One (the thin cards) to hand yields the same message. The card cannot be forced in further so I assume even a light push is engaging the pins.

I think this item will be winging its way back to that widely-known south american river

From what I understand Type 1 and 2 are electrically identical with same pin connections. A Type 1 will fit Type 2 slot but not neccessarilly the other way round. Sounds like you may have bought a dud. Have you tried other card types including CF 2, SD etc?

I do believe the reader itself is a dud but might still question its cable. However have now abandoned the need for a card reader anyway! But thanks for all your interest.

My Nikon Coolpix has "inept" Nikon software. Nikon UK told me they knew this and their CEO instructed his lab staff to prepare me a special transfer CD-ROM --- this worked but has always been tetchy, needing frequent re-installation. Hence my thoughts of a card reader.

However a friend with an identical camera (his Nikon software croaked in my XP tower) showed me how to transfer the Coolpix 256MB card's images straight into a USB2 port. Easy --- after opening DCIM then 100NIKON folders. Only caveat is that these are temporary holding "storage" which vanish as soon as camera-upload-cable is disconnected so SAVE 'em pronto.

No camera software and no card reader needed. Job done. Works for me.

A bonus of this chastening experience was to learn (from Nikon UK) that my Coolpix lacks a processor able to handle CF Type One cards larger than 256MB --- which is quite adequate for my modest needs anyway.

In reply to a post by Littleseen:

However a friend with an identical camera (his Nikon software croaked in my XP tower) showed me how to transfer the Coolpix 256MB card's images straight into a USB2 port. Easy --- after opening DCIM then 100NIKON folders. Only caveat is that these are temporary holding "storage" which vanish as soon as camera-upload-cable is disconnected so SAVE 'em pronto.

It's interesting that perhaps you don't need a camera driver to read and copy the JPEG's (?) from the CF card to another drive when the camera is connected over usb - thanks for that info regarding the Nikon Coolpix

Essentially the camera it's self is being used as a card reader and you can navigate to the folder(s) containing the JPEG's (?) in the same way that one would do with a card reader. It is possible though that a camera driver was installed on your pc from the Nikon software that you were previously using and hence the camera is recognised as a drive.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

It's interesting that perhaps you don't need a camera driver to read and copy the JPEG's (?) from the CF card to another drive when the camera is connected over usb

You generally don't! The camera's store is just mounted as a removable drive.

The software supplied with the camera is usually bloatware for doing fancy things like editing the photos.

Thanks for the clarification XRaySpeX

Generally I always use a card reader because several of the cameras that I use, e.g. Panasonics, are not recognised as removable drives by my XP machine without a driver installed which comes with bloatedware.

Camcorders over firewire allow DV video capture with XP Movie Maker by default though...for video (and still photos - RAW and JPEG) from a memory card I would always use a card reader rather than have a camera powered on and connected over usb2. However I do have one camera which doesn't require a driver with XP, that writes to a SD card, which can be powered off once it's recognised as a removable drive and it acts just like a card reader over usb2.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

several of the cameras that I use, e.g. Panasonics, are not recognised as removable drives by my XP machine without a driver installed which comes with bloatedware.

I can read my Panasonic TZ6's SD card via USB on my XP PC w/out any extra software.

Admittedly, that is the only digital camera I have experience of.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

I can read my Panasonic TZ6's SD card via USB on my XP PC w/out any extra software.

That's interesting - I'll have to hook up my Panasonics again to a laptop that's recently had a clean re-install of XP Home sp3 32bit and see if they are recognised as a removable drive. They do have some internal memory, i.e. without a memory card inserted, and if a few JPEG's can be transferred from internal memory that could be really useful

Yes, the internal memory is viewable when the SD card is absent.

But can you utilize the still camera as a webcam without a driver, i.e. live view on the pc monitor, can't remember whether I had to install software to do that or not - probably had to?

Just discovered something: deep in the sub-menus of my Panasonics is a setting for "USB MODE: PC" which I didn't have set

Yes, forgot to mention that or thought you knew.

For example the PDF for the FZ-100 contains 240 pages and I never got round to reading it all - since I primarily shoot HD video with it and didn't want to install any Panasonic bloatware (including their AVCHD decoder,) guess I ignored those sub-menus because a card reader is a better way for me to copy HD video (plus some JPEG's and RAW files) to my storage HDD. However, for some reason and confusingly, Panasonic do advise one to use their bloatware when transferring AVCHD but I would imagine that's a codec thing.

Thanks for the tip regarding internal memory > usb > pc that would be better than transferring JPEG's to a SD card, in camera, if it should ever be necessary