Antec PhotoChute3

In purchasing the PhotoChute3 for my PC I was looking for a device that would allow me to easily and quickly copy pictures from SmartMedia to my PC. The PhotoChute3 has done a great job and performs very well. Installation was no more difficult than plugging it in to an available USB port and inserting the CD ROM when prompted for the drivers. SmartMedia cards can be inserted while the PhotoChute3 is connected and while you PC is running. Files transfer quickly and without a problem. To do so you simply use My Computer or Windows Explorer and select the drive letter assigned to the PhotoChute3. From there it is standard Windows copy and pasting. I especially like the dual CompactFlash / SmartMedia feature. I know that if for some reason my next digital camera or digital picture frame uses ComplactFlash I am ready to go. Overall I would recommend this product with the warning that USB devices can cause problems on older versions of Win95.x

Dual media types, fast transfer times, no need to reboot between media changes, easy driver install

Lack of dust cover for media slots

Olympus USB

Have not needed

I have been thinking about getting a USB card reader for some time, and more recently had the requirement that it had to work under Windows 2000. Surfing about, I found that this USB card reader would work under Windows 2000. The Antec website has drivers for both the PC version and the Mac version of this reader. I bought the iMac version, for the cool translucent case. (plus I was able to find it in stock) Well, I installed the driver and plugged it in and it was recognized. However things haven't been totally flawless. I got BSOD a couple times, and messages of failed services since I plugged it in. But, the real big problem I have is that the reader won't read my SmartMedia card from the Fuji MX-700....when plugged into the SmartMedia slot. It says unrecognized format, and offers to format it (FAT, FAT32, NTFS). I'm pretty sure its none of those formats. So, I had to resort to transferring the images using serial one last time. I had read the card successfully in the past using a PCcard to SmartMedia adapter, which is how I ended up successfully reading SmartMedia cards. The Unit shows up as two removeable drives. One for the SmartMedia slot and another for a TypeII PCcard slot, so could use both at the same time. It comes with a CompactFlash PCcard adapter. Driver doesn't translate SmartMedia format to Windows recognized format. Fortunately, I only have the requirement to read SmartMedia cards and I already own a SmartMedia PCcard adapter.

Faster than serial.

- Doesn't read SmartMedia cards directly. - Wants you to eject the device before you can actually unplug it.

SmartMedia PCcard adapter