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FireWire CF Reader by Lexar Media
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FireWire CF Reader by Lexar Media
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Introduction
One of the reasons I got a Mac was because of it's very graphical nature and programs like Adobe Photoshop. When I recently got a Canon D30 digital SLR, I was connecting the camera to the Mac via a specialized USB cable. This was a slow and not very interactive process.
I figured since I use CF in my digital camera, a reader like this would be slick, as I use both normal CF cards as well as an IBM 1GB Microdrive. In the case of the latter, transferring a lot of images through USB would be really, really slow. The FireWire reader would bump up the rate from 12Mbps to 400Mbps... Quite substantial.
It would also allow me to access my digital camera images just like any other folder with images... With a direct connection to the camera with the aforementioned USB cable, I could only download images to the computer. Using Image Capture, I would usually just download them all at once (or some at a time) and then sort through them later. So this is also a nice improvement, saving me some time. I can pick which images I want and delete them right away and even copy images to the CF card for display on a TV through the camera, for example.
Review
Installation was a breeze. Basically all that was required was plugging the device into a free FireWire port on the Mac. For MacOS X, there's no driver required - or at least provided. I slipped a 64MB CF card into the reader and it popped up on the desktop as disk image icon and Image Capture recognized it as a floppy immediately. From there, you could navigate the CF card like any other volume on your Mac using the Finder. Just for kicks, I tested the device with an IBM 1GB Microdrive and it was also recognized just fine.
The speed as compared to a USB-based device like a direct camera connection or one of those USB CF readers was like night and day. My D30 produces some rather large images, and what would take several minutes before now happens in a minute. Very fast - which is what this is all about. If you only deal with a few images at a time this isn't as big a deal as it would be if you use, say - an IBM 1GB Microdrive which has the potential to store 1,000 images or more.
Now, the problem is - this reader does not yet work with MacOS X, at least fully! While the reader will be recognized under MacOS X, you can download images from the card, move them around, etc. But you can only do this ONCE per restart! That is, you'll put in your card, download or do whatever you want with the images, and eject. Now try putting another card in. Not only will the reader not show up - neither will your card. Image Capture and Finder both ignore the reader after you've ejected your last card.
The only workaround I've found so far is to restart MacOS X. Logging out and back in again won't help.
Update! (12/06/01)
A few readers have Emailed suggestions that may or may not be another workaround. One reader suggests pulling the FireWire cable out and plugging it back in. Another reader suggests that sleeping the Mac and consequently waking it back up again as another solution. I have tested the latter method and it works! Cycling a sleep on the Mac in between CF cards allows you to mount a new card without rebooting. I can see how these would work, as the FireWire driver probably re-scans the bus in these situations, forcing it to re-discover the device. I'll test the first solution as well and post the results... Thanks, folks!Update! (12/28/01)
Well, with the MacOS X 10.1.2 update installed, I can report that this issue remains broken. You still have to perform a sleep/wake cycle before the OS sees the next, newly inserted card. :(Update! (08/23/02)
It's finally fixed - and it took Mac OS X v10.2 (Jaguar) to do it... No more sleeping in between insertions needed!Conclusion
I've contacted Lexar Media and spoken with an online service rep, and they say that they are working on MacOS X drivers for the device. So, we'll see what happens...
It would really stink if this is not fixed as cycling a sleep wastes a lot of time and is just inconvenient. Granted, I'll more than likely not need to download a 1GB Microdrive more than once, but it would be nice not to have to do this between sessions...
To be fair, it does work just fine under MacOS 9 as Lexar Media claims, so there's nothing shady going on here. It's also not clear if this is the fault of Apple's Image Capture program and associated FireWire drivers, or if it's the product and it's drivers. In the mean time, visit their Mac OS X Compatibility FAQs from time to time.
If this situation is ironed out, this is one really neat device and if you use CF cards, I would definately recommend it.
Product Shot
