Link Depot 21-in-1 Card Reader

Written by Michael Larabel in Peripherals on 30 July 2005 at 01:00 PM EDT. Page 1 of 4. Add A Comment.

Although Link Depot is a relatively unheard of company, they have taken a drastic approach to designing their card reader/writer. The model we'll be examining today from Link Depot offers support for 21 digital card formats while retaining a petite size of 65 x 65 x 13 mm. The supported types are CF-type 1, CF-type 2, CF-ultra 2, Micro drive, MS, MS (Magic Gate), MS-Pro (Magic Gate), HS-MS-Pro (Magic Gate), MS-Duo (Magic Gate), MS-Pro-Duo (Magic Gate), HS-MS-Pro-Duo (Magic Gate), SD, SD-Ultra, SDC, MMC, HSMMC, HS-MMC, mini SD, T-Flash, SM, X Card. As you can see, the 21 supported card formats aren't unique but a lot of them are revisions of the most popular memory cards. Nevertheless, the Link Depot USB 2.0 21-in-1 card reader should support almost any recent memory card on the market.

Features:

· 21-in-1 Card Reader/Writer
· USB 2.0 transfer rate up to 480 Mbits
· No external power require, powered by USB cable
· Unit Size: 65 x 65 x 13 mm

Contents:

Packaged tightly inside of the Link Depot plastic packaging is the actual USB 2.0 card reader/writer in addition to a 100cm USB connection cable, CD driver, and user's guide. Link Depot states official support for Macintosh OS X, Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows ME, and Windows 98SE. Although they state no support regarding Linux, we imagine the card reader should work with any Linux distribution as long as it utilizes the 2.4.x or 2.6.x kernels. There’s more on the Linux performance later in the article. Although not uncommon, another nice feature about the Link Depot LD-USR221 design is that no external power adapter is required as the USB cable provides all of the necessary power. Even though Link Depot states support for 21 different formats, some of the cards such as the T-Flash and MS-Duo aren't compatible with the device separate card adapter is used.


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