Sandisk Firewire Card Reader...

[markta]

I'm thinking of getting one of these, to free up a USB port on my laptop and now that I have the 5D mark II, I'll be heading down the Extreme IV route from now on..

My question is that my laptop has a 4 pin port, the reader supports 6 or 9 pin only...

If I buy an adaptor which converts the 6 or 9 pin input to the laptop to 4 pin, will the card reader work ok?

Thanks in advance

 

[purpleclouds]

You can get 4-6pin cables anyway My DV camera uses 4pin and I use 6pin on my PC so shouldn't be a problem

 

[markta]

Excellent, cheers ...

It'll work out cheaper just buying an adaptor and using the cable that comes with the reader rather than buying a 9 pin to 4 pin cable..

Thanks again

 

[rusty]

Is your laptop a mac , reason I ask is the firewire reader will only work on a powered port , my laptop ( non mac ) wouldn"t power it .

 

[markta]

Rusty, I have Compaq Windows laptop operating on Windows Vista, about 16 months old if that helps

I'm wondering whether that could be the issue the, with Firewire 400/800 that it operates the drivers and hardware from that port, and original 4 pin firewire doesn't

Thanks

 

[grumpybadger]

I think the 4 pin Firewire doesn't support power (at least that's true on Sony VAIO)

 

[rusty]

Mines an Advent windows on Vista , cant use the reader with it , read somewhere Macs were ok with it and desktops.

 

[mho]

Yes 4 pin firewire doesnt have any power connections so wont work with the sandisk extreme firewire reader or anything else that needs power from the bus, it would need to have a power supply of its own.

 

[jpwone]

markta

I've got one (Sandisk Extreme Card Reader) and cable (standard firewire cable that come s with it) that I'm just about to put on the Buy/sell forum. Less than a year old, £35 inc. P+P. If you are interested then PM/email me.

John

Edit: just read the posts immediately above. Some people just type quicker than me Looks like it wont work for you so I'll put it on the Buy/Sell.

 

[madferrit]

I think the 4 pin Firewire doesn't support power (at least that's true on Sony VAIO)

I can confirm that.. i bought the same card reader and had the issue where I couldn't use it on my Sony Vaio... ended up selling it and sticking with the PCMCIA slot

 

[markta]

Cheers guys

Thankfully I followed my hunch and asked, there's no better place to get assistance than on this forum

Thanks again, really appreciate it

I still think UDMA Extreme 4s are the way to go now I have a DIGIC 4 camera, will help write and clear the buffer quicker, so will just have to use them for this advantage!