Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: Imation FlashGO!
Don Bradbury looks at a digital image storage device
| Product | FlashGO! memory card reader/writer |
|---|---|
| Company | Imation |
| Web | www.imationltd.co.uk |
| Price | £70 |
| We like | All in one unit |
| We don't like | A tad expensive, potential for lost adapters |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements |
Many of us are accumulating various devices that use flash memory cards; digital cameras, MP3 players and so on. The trouble is, there are now several standards of flash memory, including Compact Flash (CF), Smart Media (SM), Multi-Media Card (MMC), Secure Digital (SD), and Sony's Memory Stick (MS). Compact Flash itself comes in types I and II, and IBM's Microdrive (a mechanical drive, not flash memory) is also in CFII format.
Some will already be well beyond the stage when we relied on the ancient serial link, or even USB wired link, for transferring our data to the PC. Flash card reader/writers are far more convenient, not to mention faster. But the proliferation of flash memory types has produced the need to upgrade our readers to cater for the latest memory cards.
That has traditionally meant multi-slot readers, and, moreover, multi-drive entries on My Computer, one for each card type. We could live with that, but Imation asked the question, "why can't we use just one reading device (hence just one new drive letter) and feed in our different cards via adapters"'? Good question, with a simple answer. Enter... the Imation FlashGO! device.
FlashGO! does just that. You get a neat little reader to plug into one of your free USB ports, complete with green LED indicating activity, and three adapters to cater for SM, MMC/SD, and MS that accept your memory cards and plug into the reader. CF (including Microdrive) fit the device without an adapter. Neat!
Installation is a breeze. Just pop in the driver CD, wait for the drivers to be transferred to your system, plug in a memory card (with adapter if necessary), plug the FlashGO device into a free USB port, wait for the initial selection of driver, and then read your files from the new "removable drive". No more wondering which drive caters for which card type; they're all on one!
Each memory card I tried was readable without a hitch, and if your USB port is out of reach there's a 4ft flying USB lead you can use to effectively bring the port round the front of your system. What more could you ask?
In conclusion
While the briefest of instructions (all contained on the presentation pack itself) don't say anything about having to dismount a card before removing it from the reader, there's an icon placed in your system tray inviting such a move. I don't think it should be necessary as USB uses a hot-plug protocol.
