Recommended Card Readers

The ATAPI 741 Multislot Flash Card Reader/Writer is unavailable from everywhere that I have checked recently. Ordered from Compuapps within the last year and had to go to BBB to get them to give me my money back since they stopped responding to my emails. Originally they said it was back ordered but after 3 months and no follow up response from them I had to get BBB involved and finally had my money refunded. MPC Stuff just told me the other day that I'm on a waiting list and that they are to be in stock in 4-6 weeks. I won't hold my breath. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has tried this Addonics drive that looks to be hot-swappable, but requires a SATA to IDE/ATAPI converter http://www.addonics.com/products/aedmdisu2.php
Any knowledge anyone might have on this unit and its operability in a MPC 2000xl would be greatly appreciated.

They look like an interesting option, as would USB, if it worked in the MPC.

Possibly too high vertically out of the IDE socket, might need to use a male-female IDE cable and find somewhere else to locate it inside the MPC...

Good point. They offer another version of the conversion board that sits differently but not sure if it will fit either. It looks like this:

The cable you posted looks like a good solution as well.
I've read this post top to bottom. I know it was a long while back, but any chance you have any extra ATAPI 741 drives that you're looking to unload @SimonInAustralia?

registered just to say I have that same exact SATA to IDE converter



I am going to just order a SATA multicard reader and give it a shot, I will report back.

I have googled this issue to no end, it seems literally no one in the world manufacturers an IDE multicard anymore. you will find CF readers, and SD readers, but for some god forsaken reason, no one thinks having both and some other slots at the same time is a good idea anymore.

there is this:

http://store.compuapps.com/46d-atap46741.html

which after reading about someone not receiving it for months and having to contact the BBB I am not confident in ordering. I also just emailed them because in three different browsers I can't see an "add to cart" button for that item, which probably means their site is old as shit. they didn't bother to respond to my email, so I guess they don't care about doing business.

there's also this:

http://www.addonics.com/products/aedmdisu2.php

but who wants to pay $85 for something that is using an IDE to SATA converter anyway. I might as well try my luck with the card I have.

lastly there is this:

http://www.bignoisempc.com/akai-mpc-200 ... l/#reviews

again, for $115 and a waiting list, why bother. I would sooner hunt down old ass PCs people are throwing out or giving away on craigslist and try to find one with a card reader installed.

welp. don't bother folks. save yourselves the ~70$ after shipping.

unless I'm missing something, it doesn't work.

I have the addonics drive connected to an addonics sata to ide converter and I get "no floppy device" error

I've tried messing around with the jumpers, and if it is set to master on the sata/ide converter the screen's text gets all **** up and it doesn't work.

if I set it to slave and remove the jumper from the card reader, the mpc will boot normally but show no floppy

ive used a fat 32 formatted 8gb cf card, partitioned to 1gb, a 256mb fat 32 formatted pro duo card, a few different sd and micro sd cards, nothing has worked.

the only other thing I could think of is the OS version. I don't remember which I am on, but I was running a 250mb zip disk before this, so I assume it was the correct version for this.

shame because that was the only vendor that might work out. guess I'm going to order an ide sd card reader and hope that works.

Nebakanezzer wrote:the only other thing I could think of is the OS version. I don't remember which I am on, but I was running a 250mb zip disk before this, so I assume it was the correct version for this.

Don't assume.

Nebakanezzer wrote:shame because that was the only vendor that might work out. guess I'm going to order an ide sd card reader and hope that works.

I would try OS 1.14 and 1.20.

You can check what OS version it is running on the MPC.


You need it to run as master, not slave.

And you should try it with an older style 40wire/40pin IDE cable...



The cable should also have 2 or 3 black connectors, not black/blue/grey colour coded connectors, which I think are only on 80wire/40pin IDE cables anyway (for cable-select, which sets master/slave via the cable connectors, rather than a master/slave jumper).

checked the OS build, I'm on 1.14



that's the cable I'm using, worked with the zip drive, looks like 80



that's what I get on the mp when I set the ide to sata converter jumper to master

again, there's also two jumper pins... one on the converter and one on the drive itself. the one on the drive doesn't seem to effect anything, I think it is just to set the removable media as fixed or not, for hot swapping.

I tried it with a few different older ide cables. none worked. not really sure where to go from here except maybe try a different ide to sata converter

@ Nebakanezzer… Did you try using a "Y" molex power cable to power up the card reader and IDE/SATA convertor?
On my MV8000, I inserted the IDE/SATA Port Convertor on the MV's mother board IDE slot. The only way I got it to work with an internal laptop SATA hard drive was to get a molex "Y" cable to power both of the SATA HD "and" the IDE/SATA port convertor. It's been awhile but I remember only 1 slot on the convertor worked correctly so you got a 50/50 chance to get it right.

SimonInAustralia wrote:

JUKE 179r wrote:@ Nebakanezzer… Did you try using a "Y" molex power cable to the card reader and IDE/SATA convertor?

Yes, you need to power both devices, through their floppy power connectors, if not already.

The SATA connectors in the photos are data only, not power.

^^correct. the sata port on the card reader is a data connection, it takes a floppy style power connection, which I did have plugged in.

what's nice about that particular drive is it comes with all the cables you need. there was a y molex splitter, a really really long sata cord and another molex y splitter with one floppy and one molex on the other end.

I'm going to test the drive itself in the pc with both the sata and the usb port just to verify the drive is in functioning order. if it is, I'm going to load the 1.2 OS on a zip disk, load it on the mp, then try everything again.

if that fails, I'll look into buying another addonics ide to sata adapter. the one I have, even though they make it, is not the same one in the picture that they show bundled with the card reader. I have a hunch the boards interact with the reader differently. so I'll order that one next if all else fails.

I know this drive works though because there is a youtube video:



where a guy has a card reader installed, and has the mpc connected via usb to his computer with a switch. the only way I can see that being possible is with this card reader. you could put a switch on the usb header of the card, and run that cable out the back of the mp to the computer, then anytime you wanted to transfer data to the pc, you flip the switch, disabling the ide/sata connection, and enabling the usb, which would make the folders pop up on the pc. that's what I plan to use this for if it works. there's also a few mpcs on ebay advertising that they have "the new sata card reader" installed.

so, I am sure this will work, it's just a matter of figuring out how. for some reason, the people that have gotten it to work, aren't sharing the information. I however, will continue to update, and if I get everything working with the usb hack, I'll post a full guide.

Nebakanezzer wrote:there's also a few mpcs on ebay advertising that they have "the new sata card reader" installed.

Might not necessarily be the same IDE-SATA bridge and card reader though.

The drive in the video is obviously different to the Addonics multicard reader, do Addonics have a SATA/USB reader that looks like the one in the video?

Have you tried contacting him on YouTube, to find out exactly what drive/bridge he used, and how he hooked it up?

Is the switch on the USB power line to the drive?


The MPCs on eBay, which mention SATA, might use a different IDE-SATA bridge, like the Kingwin ADP_06?...

http://kingwin.com/products/cate/access ... adp_06.asp

SimonInAustralia wrote:

Nebakanezzer wrote:there's also a few mpcs on ebay advertising that they have "the new sata card reader" installed.

Might not necessarily be the same IDE-SATA bridge and card reader though.

The drive in the video is obviously different to the Addonics multicard reader, do Addonics have a SATA/USB reader that looks like the one in the video?

Have you tried contacting him on YouTube, to find out exactly what drive/bridge he used, and how he hooked it up?

Is the switch on the USB power line to the drive?


The MPCs on eBay, which mention SATA, might use a different IDE-SATA bridge, like the Kingwin ADP_06?...

http://kingwin.com/products/cate/access ... adp_06.asp

you are way more observant than I am. no, it doesn't look like the same drive. I imagine it has to have similar functionality though in order for that hack/mod to work.

I shot him a message on youtube, I'll see what happens.

tested the addonics drive out on my pc, it works perfectly. I will hook up a zip drive to my older backup rig and load OS 1.2 onto the mp and try the drive again.

Hi people, been going through this thread on the card readers. i should have done this earlier seen as i bought my xl in 99/2000! I'm stuck on my zip drive shit, but i want to start doing some live stuff and that is not really working for that.

so ive emailed some of these US companies doing them, but its waiting lists and pretty pricey stuff. does anyone have a definitive guide to the most recent available hotswap card readers and install process? i'm not very techy with soldering and stuff but i should learn. thanks for any help.

im UK based and rocking OG grey MPC 2000xl with MFC42 mounted above