# USB Smartmedia Card Reader Problems



## goynang (Aug 24, 2003)

Hello all,

I have an old Olympus C-920 Zoom digital camera and I'm having problems getting the pictures from it onto my iBook.

As it is old it has a serial connection that works OK (ish) with my old G3 desktop and OS 9 but as I don't use that much anymore I was hoping I could get to work with my iBook.

I've got a smartmedia card reader (USB) that takes the memory cards the camera uses but my iBook refuses to recognise it. OS 9 is quite happy to see it (again on my old G3) but no dice on my iBook.

This means I have to boot my desktop up in OS 9, load on the images, reboot it in OS X, connect to my iBook (OS X) and copy the images over via ethernet. A pain!

I've looked all over the net for drivers but to no avail. I was hoping that as it  a Mass Storage thingy (?) that OS X would 'just work' with it but alas no (even though OS 9 does!).

Any help out there....?


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## baldprof (Aug 24, 2003)

I have a SmartDisk Universal reader which can read all the current removable media types, including the one you have. it will even read that Sony memory stick. If you have OS X 10.1.2 or higher, you will not need a driver. The card shows up as a disk image on the desktop.

These run $30 U.S. (approximately). the model number of the one I have is 6IN1USB. The web site is:

http://www.smartdisk.com

I have to use one because I have a serial interface IBM WorkPad z50, which runs WinCE  . It won't sync to a Mac. So I save all my docs as rich text files, and put them on the memory card. then I can easily load the files onto my Mac.

I hope this helps.


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## goynang (Aug 25, 2003)

Cheers.

I buckled and ordered it from the Apple store before you posted - great minds must think alike!

Good to hear that it should work - I was dreading that I was going to end up with two useless card readers!

I just hope the reason it wasn't being seen by my iBook is due to my current reader (a generic unbranded one) and not some weird format the camera is using on the card.

Fingers crossed..........


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## baldprof (Aug 25, 2003)

Great minds indeed! 

I purchased mine at an Apple store in Dallas, Texas. I felt that if Apple sold it, that compatability wouldn't be a problem. It wasnt.

Good luck.


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## Cheryl (Aug 25, 2003)

Some old USB equipment will not be recognized in OS X.  I have an older external floppy drive that refuses to work on my B & W G3.


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## baldprof (Aug 25, 2003)

I have found that to be true as well. My original Sandisk flash memory card reader won't work in X. But then it wouldn't always work under 9.2 or various versions of windows; sometimes Win2k would recognize it and sometimes it wouldn't.

I don't think that the USB 1.1 specs were always followed too closely by some manufacturers. That makes me a little skeptical about USB 2.0. On the other hand, I have never had a problem with Firewire devices.

Try to find a newer floppy drive that will work with X and then sell your old one to some unsuspecting Windows user.


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## goynang (Aug 25, 2003)

I just got notification from the Apple Store that my new card reader has shipped so I should know for sure if it works pretty soon......


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## goynang (Aug 30, 2003)

Woohoo!

It works - iPhoto even auto-launches when I stick in a card.

All I have to do is stump up the cash for Photoshop 7 and I'll need OS 9/Classic no more.


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## Cheryl (Aug 30, 2003)

Before you go for  Photoshop, try Graphic Converter.  There is an OS X version and it does the job. 
http://www.lemkesoft.de/en/graphcon.htm


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## themacguy (Aug 31, 2003)

Be careful about using SmartMedia cards in the readers. Under no circumstances should you permit iPhoto to erase the card. also, don't write anything back to the card. It's bad enough that OSX writes those stupid .DS_Store files. Mucking about with the SmartMedia card on your Mac's Desktop runs the risk of rendering the card unusable. Only erase the card in your camera. Don't use the card for "misc. storage" (like it's a Zip disk).

I'm not bad-mouthing SM cards for fun; I have an Olympus C2020 that's had problems with cards I use in my SmartDisk reader (and other brands, as well, so it's not a SmartDisk problem). I've "rescued" SM cards for others using some available software.

The next camera I buy will use more robust (and industry-standard) media like CF.


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## baldprof (Aug 31, 2003)

Oh, so that's why that one smart media card quit working. 

Well you are correct about compact flash cards. I have never had one of those mess up. Nice thing about that reader is that it can use five other types of media including compact flash.


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## goynang (Aug 31, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Cheryl _
> *Before you go for  Photoshop, try Graphic Converter. *



Graphic Converter is alright but it doesn't hold a candle to Photoshop. You get what you pay for IMHO.

I've used Phsotoshop loads (mainly at my previous job) so I'm spoiled now and I can't go backwards to anything else.

With regards to the smardmedia card - I kind of guessed that formatting from my Mac would be a potential bad move so I've always used the camera's format option instead. So far, no problems.

Cheers for all your input everybody !


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