Review: Scribble Flash Mate

Don Bradbury looks at a new five-way memory card reader

Product	Scribble Flash Mate
Company	Scribble and Palmtec Ltd
Web	www.scribblepda.com
Price	£47.95 incl
We like	Choice of card ports; built-in memory
We don't like	Pidgin English user leaflet
Rating	9/10
Requirements

If you have any devices that use flash memory, such as a digital camera or PDA for example, you'll appreciate the versatility that a multi-function memory card reader such as the Scribble Flash Mate can offer. That's because this one can handle Compact Flash (including, significantly, the IBM Microdrive) and 3.3volt Smart Media as well as MultiMedia and Secure Digital cards. So the only flash memory in common use that isn't accommodated is the Sony Memory Stick.

While the latter is sometimes used in non-Sony hardware, its omission might not be so important to you. The others are gaining ground, and it might be important to have a reader with the capability to handle them all.

Flash drive

This Scribble device also has built-in memory, the so-called Flash Disk. The example we were provided with had 16MB, but a range from 16 to 128MB is indicated, and since such storage capacity could be used like any other removable disk drive, it could come in handy.

The Scribble device is very small (9.5 x 6 x 1cm) and therefore portable, even coming equipped with a soft black pouch to carry it in (a vest pocket would seem suitable). That's made possible because, while the reader comes with an attached USB cable, that cable is deliberately kept very short (8cm); short enough, in fact, to tuck into a slot along the top edge of the unit during transportation.

If plugging such a short cable into your PC leaves the drive slots inaccessible, there's a USB extension cable in the box providing a 90cm stand-off. That should be more than adequate for virtually all users.

Installation

A non-circular CD is provided bearing drivers. No reason for a CD to be circular, of course, but be prepared for a change of tone as your drive spins up, presumably due to a different air flow. Anyway, it carries drivers for Windows 98, 98SE, 2000, and XP as well as Mac OS 8.6 or above. Windows ME doesn't need driver installation; you just plug the thing in and it's ready.

Under Windows 98, we had to point to the D:\Win98 folder on the CD, to install first USB_MSD.INF and then USB_PORT.INF, giving three additional drives and one new USB device in System Manager.

Hot-swappable for both cards and device, as you'd expect, the Flash Mate gives USB 1.0 data transfer rates. That's perfectly adequate for a duty such as this. Only if you had hundreds of big JPGs on a Microdrive, say, would you anticipate a noticeable performance boost from USB 2.0.

A user manual (leaflet) written in Pidgin English is hardly sufficient to put one off as using this device is reasonably simple. It comes across plainly enough that you cannot use both the flash disk drive and a Smart Media card at the same time. The former could be useful for carrying data between machines and you should make sure you buy one with sufficient capacity.

So the flash disk - should you be confused over the My Computer entries - is the first entry there provided you don't have a Smart Media card in its slot. If you look at its Properties tab, you can confirm its built-in capacity, ie not added via one of your memory cards.

In conclusion

The Scribble Flash Mate memory card reader is a neat device, if just a little awkward during card insertion, and at the price, a good buy. While the omission of a Sony Memory Stick slot will be a significant omission for some, in all other respects it's nice to have these multiple options open when you come to buy devices with variable flash memory types.

And while Flash Mate is a reader/writer - so you can copy or transfer files from one attached card to another - it's nice to have some flash memory built in as alternative storage.

Next time we'll be looking at a six-way card reader, ie all the ones covered here plus Memory Stick.

 

Don Bradbury