About 12 days ago, we reviewed a 16-GB USB flash memory drive from A-DATA. A major problem that we’ve found with it is that its Write speed is extremely slow on Macs while it’s fine under Windows XP with the same machine. As we reported, it took almost 4 minutes when we transferred a package containing several files with a total of 72.2 MB from a FireWire-connected external hard disk drive to the USB memory. This Write speed is totally unacceptable.
Does that mean all USB Flash memory sticks are slow on Macs? And what are other affordable hardware alternatives to swap files between Macs and Windows through Boot Camp?
A week ago, I went to a local electronics store to buy a video cable. And I wanted to check out USB Flash memory sticks from other manufacturers. That’s when I saw a package that said SDHC·SD·MCO Card Reader/Writer. (See Screenshot 01.)
 Screenshot 01: Source – MacHouse |
 Screenshot 02: Source – MacHouse |
 Screenshot 03: Source – Amazon.com |
Huh? What is this product? The description of the product shown at the back of the package says that I can insert an SD/SDHC card and then that I can use the card as a USB flash drive. Umm… I have an extra 512-MB flash disk. And the price for this little product was only ¥980 (US$9.50). So I decided to try it out.
This product from a company called MCO, which we never heard of before, just looks like the USB flash drive A-DATA that we reviewed before. The difference is that, again, I can insert an SD/SDHC card to this one. (See Screenshot 02.)
It looks like this product is sold only in Japan. We tried to contact the manufacturer about a week ago to ask if their products are also sold overseas. But this Japanese manufacturer never bothered to reply. Don’t worry. We’ve found a bunch of similar products at Amazon.com. (See Screenshot 03.)
So what is the Write speed on a Mac? Hold on. We’ve purchased a new 8-GB SDHC card from Transcend. (See Screenshot 04.) Transcend is a good memory brand-name. So we inserted this 8-GB SDHC card to MCO’s USB flash card reader/writer.
 Screenshot 04: Source – MacHouse |
 Screenshot 05: Source – MacHouse |
 Screenshot 06: Source – MacHouse |
As shown in Screenshot 05, I have a single video file titled MyVideo.mov on a Mac partition (internal HD). The file size is 383.41 MB. And I just dragged and dropped this file onto the flash memory drive with MCO card reader/writer + Transcend 8 GB SDHC card. The time? It took my iMac Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz about 1 minute and 32 seconds to write this 383-MB video file to the flash memory drive. (See Screenshot 06.) Hmm… Not bad… Of course, I can read this flash memory drive under Windows XP with no problem.
Documentary video
 |
 |
Please read Terms of Use for Guests before watching any of the video tutorials.
In conclusion, a USB SD/SDHC card reader may be a good choice for storing temporary files and swapping files between the Mac and Windows partitions. You can find an SD/SDHC card reader/writer for $10 or even less. That’s a price for disposable products. You can share your SD/SDHC cards between a USB card reader/writer, digital camera and other products.
References: