Firewire card reader

[imago57]

I decided to buy a firewire card reader to download the images from my D60.
I would like to get some feedback from people who have been using these devices and suggestions on performance/price considerations. I use both a desktop and a laptop and both flash memory and microdrive. I run once in a problem with a USB card reader that appearently wasn't getting enough power from the desktop computer and was jamming the microdrive...the problem went away after replacing the card reader (and the ruined microdrive!). So my concern is also about getting a card reader that would be powered by the Firewire bus or by an external power supply.
Thank you all in advance for the help.

[igor]

I have Lexar it work's fine with CF.
Ig®

[davefaulk]

I bought a SanDisk USB 2.0 reader and it's working great. I am not having any issues with the Microdrive, and it is very fast. It can read 6 different media types. CHeck it out at: http://www.sandisk.com/consumer/sixinone.asp

[NickC]

imago57, what kind of computer and OS do you have? I have a Mac so the Lexar FireWire reader is fine, but Lexar does not have drivers for it for my XP laptop. Also, the Lexar is a six-pin device and some PC's only have a four-pin FireWire port. And of course, stock Macs are USB 2.0-deficient, so USB 2.0 readers wouldn't work on them.

-- Nick

[defordphoto]

I have the Lexar and it works great with XP. In fact, I think it installed itself without even using the CD.

[davefaulk]

I have Win XP and an add-on USB 2.0 card. Installed itself with no problems.

[imago57]

Thank you all for the feedback. I have a Laptop running XP and a desktop running win2000. I just added a PCI firewire card to the desktop since the laptop already has its own onboard. It seems to me that all major brand readers will perform fine with my setup.
I am sooo excited that I just added a 30 GB and a 120 GB firewire drives to my desktop and I mapped them to be shared by the laptop for storage and archiving of my pictures. Now on to the task of going through 4 years of digital and start scanning about 15 years of chromes, labelling, keywording, and building a Cumulus database....ok, I guess I'd better set some time aside these coming holidays just to get started.

[stinkray]

According to this guide (http://www.pickyguide.com/computers_and_software/card_readers_guide.html), the Firewire reader is better for large transfers, compared to USB, and they have about the same compatibility these days.

[Raymate]

Been using the Lexar one for years... well it seems lie years I got one when they first come out. I now have three on my different Macs. Never had any issues with them.

I would not buy any Lexar CF cards but the reader is great.

Looking to maybe try the SanDisk firewire 800 reader when I have some spare cash.

[sartek]

Two types of connectors are generally used with FireWire; 4 pin on electronics, and a 6 pin on computers.
The 6 pin connector has the following pinout:
Pin 1; Power, 30volts
Pin 2; Ground
Pins 3, 4; B Twisted pair (-/+)
Pins 5, 6; A Twisted pair (-/+)
Cable shield
Pins 3&4 are crossed with 5&6 at the opposite ends of the cable. The transmitter sends clock on 3&4, and data on 5&6.

Pin 1, Power, is not transmitted through the cable unless the device is powered by the 1394b bus. This is part of the 1394b spec. Many electronics (camcorders) now use a mini 6 pin connector to allow for this.