Thinkpads Forum

Hey, I was wondering if this thread should exist.
I wanted to get an on board card reader for my T60 like its sister models. Unfortunately my first foray into this has not been successful.

I purchased the Belkin Multimedia Reader & Writer ExpressCard (F5U213). And it doesn't work. I will nail down where the fault is but am starting the discussion to advised as there wasn't one I found. (perhaps wrong keywords).

I've read that some desire on board flash card reading as well so maybe there are others who can pitch in here.

As for this particular Belkin Card.
The symptoms are a tad irritating. When Card is inserted, there is a persistently repeating "USB Device Not Recognized" Bubble that pops up over and over, as I write this I lost count at 27 or so. Acknowledging the message shows a blank list of offenders, then it is right back to the repeating bubble warning.
During the waring, you can't "manually" set up the hardware in XP either, because the message bubble is probably starting-up-canceling a device install over and over. Evidence the repeated synchronized refresh of device list in the device manager. Leaving the Device Error list pane open (click on bubble for this) will stop the repeating attempts. Belkin states the device should register as a USB device so if may be a faulty unit.

I'll update or delete this message as I find out more. Currently I've decided to give the model another shot and have rezuested an exchange from Belkin.

I'm using Dazzle's "PCMCIA Digital Media Adapter" and it works just fine. It's a pretty cheap accessory (I think I overpaid for it -- about $30 -- at CompUSA).

There's no driver to install. And when there's no card in the adapter, the Thinkpad doesn't even know it's there.

I'd been looking pretty hard at the one that NewEgg.com (Linkkey & Link Depot) is selling...but the reviews are not stellar on it. I'll look up the Dazzle if this doesn't work out for me.

Side note on the cards. Silly I know but I'd advise not to be cavalier when inserting your flash card into the readers slot, you can miss. The fishing hence is not an elegant exercise in public I've come to find.

So first, buy a card that works. So much for trusting big names. Next, insert with care. Adjacent holes are not as welcoming, can lead to embarrassing repercussions...that is my tip of the day.

That last post reminded me to mention the one thing I dislike about the Dazzle reader: No "eject" button. When you're done with your SD card (the only format I regularly use), the only way to get the card out of the reader is to first eject the reader card itself, and then pull the SD card out of it. Inelegant. I miss the press-to-eject reader on my last Thinkpad, an X41, and my wife's current Z60t.

Hi All:
I picked up on eBay an SIIG ExpressCard 11-in-1 Memory Card Reader/Writer. Upon insertion, my T60 sees it as a drive. Sliding an SD Card in pops up another drive letter and I can easily access the data on the card. When done, I just push in on the SD card (there is a spring-type release) and it releases without taking out the ExpressCard. It works well, and the ExpressPort is super fast and sees my 2 gig card (I had read that some PCMCIA readers are limited to 1 gig, or not more than 1 gig per file, etc.). My only problem is that though it sees a Memory Stick Pro Duo card (which requires a Memory Stick Pro adapter, [censored] it!), it is physically impossible to remove the adapter without taking out the ExpressCard (it sits in way too tight). Because of that, I am going to try another brand (Belkin Multimedia Reader and Writer ExpressCard), that I have ordered and am waiting for from Amazon, to see if ejects the adapter any better (curse Sony and their proprietary Memory Stick!). The ExpressCard on eBay was about $20 shipped, and Amazon was just over $25 with free shipping

2 questions:
1) do you see a drop in battery life due to the PCMCIA SD reader?
2) will Vista benefit from a PCMCIA SD card inserted in?

On the SD Card for the Belkin ExpressCard, it sticks out about 3/8". Not enough to damage even toting around but can get a finger's grip. Sorry, I don't use any other media. I have a PCMCIA card dedicated for CompactFlash duty.

Belkin seems convinced this is a bad unit. There is a depot less than 10 minutes away so I'll be stopping by to swap. Will benchmark with my Kingston Elite Pro 1GB to see performance gaps when a working version is in my possession. PS, I'll be using HD Tach. If any of yall like another one, let me know. CNet uses it so I figure its worth a shot.

No clue on Rwang's Qs.

Update on Belkin ExpressCard Card Reader/Writer:
Received from Amazon today. Outstanding. Works better than anything out there, and works perfectly for Memory Stick Pro Duo (withouth adapter! Just have to insert straight in). Cards stick out about 1/8" to grab to remove (no push/eject). Highly recommend the Belkin over any other brand (at least if you need to read/write Memory Stick and/or Memory Stick Pro Duo). And of course, is flawless reading/writing to SD cards.

Looks like the first one was a fluke. Second one came is 2 days works like a charm. So, "USB Device not recognized" means bad unit yall. Shows up in Device Mgr as "Generic STORAGE DEVICE USB".

I'll run performance utility for S&G but I really don't think there'll be much difference as my cards will bottleneck.

Now about those slot dummies...

I've only tried Vista ReadyBoost on an X60 with SD Card so far so i'm not sure if it will allow the ones in the pc cards to work (i suppose it will depend on the individual card and how it is recognised) - I don't think PCMCIA will be good enough for the features but the ExpressCard slot will be.

snife wrote:I've only tried Vista ReadyBoost on an X60 with SD Card so far so i'm not sure if it will allow the ones in the pc cards to work (i suppose it will depend on the individual card and how it is recognised) - I don't think PCMCIA will be good enough for the features but the ExpressCard slot will be.

So does the ReadyBoost help speed up a lot? Has anyone tried it on express card SD cards?

Not really that I noticed, I had 1GB of RAM and the 7200rpm drive and did nothing more taxing than Office but I think it will really be of more benefit to slower systems than the current ThinkPads.