Recommended Card Readers

Have just bought a card reader from the states so as soon as it gets here I will give updates and details on make/model if I can find out.

Currently still need to buy a CF or SD card for it tho. Anyone had any luck with cards that you can just buy off Amazon?
Or know of any cards that work that you can just get in an electronics store?

There are a few on ebay but I'm in the UK so shipping is almost more than the card itself!

BassmanSam wrote:...
Currently still need to buy a CF or SD card for it tho. Anyone had any luck with cards that you can just buy off Amazon?
Or know of any cards that work that you can just get in an electronics store?

I use Sandisk 2GB CF card, which is still available at amazon.com and other sellers. I swear by Sandisk, as they offer best compatibility (from my experience)
Again, XL can use only 1GB on the card, but Sandisk 1GB CF card (which has been discontinued) on ebay is about the same price as 2GB Sandisk CF card.

Personally I don't recommend Kingston brand.

So I put the reader in, and simply used the 4 prong plug that was going into the former floppy drive, but I noticed there are only 2 wires going to this plug whereas your drive has 4 wires. Your drive power wires look similar to the wire assembly that came with the replacement drive. However there is a smaller plug that plugs to the (mother?) board. Do I need to switch wires from the enclosed wire assembly to the plug that fits the board (sorta difficult to communicate this).

The IDE cable plugged right in to the right-hand plug on the board. After trying the MPC states no floppy drive detected. Also the upper right hand corner of the screen still reads "floppy Drive" rather than ATAPI drive as shown in your picture.

IDE CF card reader uses only 5V DC, whereas floppy drive uses both 5V DC and 12V DC, and that is why there are 2 pair of wires used for floppy drive. 12V DC is used for floppy drive's motor.
For CF card reader, it does not use 12V DC, that is why you see only one pair of connection attached to CF read's board.
In short, you can use the power plug that were connected to floppy drive, for IDE CF read reader.

Make sure to remove floppy ribbon cable from 2000XL. And, don't use connector in the middle of you r IDE ribbon cable. CF card (again, use Sandisk brand CF card) must be inserted before booting up XL.

Thanks! I'll see what happens!

BassmanSam wrote:Have just bought a card reader from the states so as soon as it gets here I will give updates and details on make/model if I can find out.

Currently still need to buy a CF or SD card for it tho. Anyone had any luck with cards that you can just buy off Amazon?
Or know of any cards that work that you can just get in an electronics store?

There are a few on ebay but I'm in the UK so shipping is almost more than the card itself!

I just replaced my zip drive with the Adonics CF reader suggested earlier and am using this Transcend 1gb 133X card and it seems to be working just fine.

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-TS1GCF1 ... B000ZO0GBO

bonecheckfoo wrote:

BassmanSam wrote:Have just bought a card reader from the states so as soon as it gets here I will give updates and details on make/model if I can find out.

Currently still need to buy a CF or SD card for it tho. Anyone had any luck with cards that you can just buy off Amazon?
Or know of any cards that work that you can just get in an electronics store?

There are a few on ebay but I'm in the UK so shipping is almost more than the card itself!

I just replaced my zip drive with the Adonics CF reader suggested earlier and am using this Transcend 1gb 133X card and it seems to be working just fine.

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-TS1GCF1 ... B000ZO0GBO

That's good for you, but those brands are hit or miss. I've tried a Transcend brand CF card before, but it did not work at all. It seems that Sandisk has higher standard for quality control (which includes ensuring compatibility.)
I still recommend Sundisk CF cards over other brands.

I use a Kingston 133x Elite Pro 8GB flash card with no problems on my 2KXL.

Sorry guys, I did start a new thread with my specific startech reader issues, I didn't see this sticky, any help appreciated.
Tone

JVC, visually, it appears you used the addonics enclosed cables to hook your CF reader to the unit. Except that the cabling my cf reader came with don't have a small plug that would fit on the board, instead it has 2 larger, molex type plugs with 4 prongs. Did you put the connector that was connected to the original floppy drive on to the larger connector?

Also I am wondering what OS should be running and how I can find the OS on the MPC. I would need to reconnect the floppy drive in order to put any other OS on there before I switch to the CF reader. I just checked.. I've got version 1.12 Found this on google rather than on this forum search to check the operating system:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7625

Also on the "XL Card Reader Drama" topic I found this:

JVC wrote:By the way, the OS version must be 1.20 in order to use CF reader.

OK I formatted a floppy on the old drive, had problems loading the 1.20 but successfully loaded 1.4. Then I tried again, formatted floppy on the mpc and loaded version 1.20 onto the floppy from my macbook. It loaded into the xl floppy so I now have version 1.20.

I then put the CF reader back in, but it is still not recognized. I am trying to format a Transcend 1gb card. I'm getting a message No Floppy Device!! I'm on my way to getting a multimeter so I can check the voltages coming from the board to the card reader, to see if they're correct for it.

If it is a bad card to use, could that cause a non-recognized card reader?

It's not the card reader -- it's the card.

You may have better luck with a 4GB or 8GB CF card than a 1GB one. Depending on the OS version you have you may be limited to a 1GB partition. I've had luck with the 8GB Kingston that JUKE 179r posted above but I went through a few Sandisk 1GB and 2GB cards before I found one that worked.

modornge wrote:If it is a bad card to use, could that cause a non-recognized card reader?

We already addressed this several times in here, OS NEEDS to be v1.20, don't lose time trying with 1.14 because is not going to work, also it looks like CF cards needs to be the Sandisk 1GB or 2GB, use Sandisk to ensure compatibility... I posted in other thread pics of the actual cards that I successfully used.

locotesmjr wrote:



I had success with this 2, also with the original Akai 128MB CF card that came with my 2500LE, I tried with the original Akai 1GB CF card and that do not work.

I asked about the card reader. I have installed 1.20 and I have the top of those two cards on order..

MPCHunter wrote:It's not the card reader -- it's the card.

You may have better luck with a 4GB or 8GB CF card than a 1GB one. Depending on the OS version you have you may be limited to a 1GB partition. I've had luck with the 8GB Kingston that JUKE 179r posted above but I went through a few Sandisk 1GB and 2GB cards before I found one that worked.

It would be a drag if the Sandisk 1gb doesn't work, but I guess patience is the byword here. You mean I could use an 8gb card? Wow.

Strangely my floppy drive had the 2 leads only on it. I measured the voltage and it is 5v coming to the (now) card reader, so I just finished the connection and closed 'er up. I used 2 metal penetrating screws to attach the Card reader front to the underside of the MPC. Maybe I'll shoot some pictures of the result so far.