RDF8 USB 3.1 SD, MicroSD & CompactFlash Card Reader

Whether you love to spend your weekends 3D Printing, logging data from sensors networks, or even just chilling and taking photos of the beautiful nature that is so very prevalent here in SA, there will certainly be some point in a your life that you need to utilise memory cards, either for storing data that you can send wirelessly later, or for transferring data like photos or 3D Print files from one system to another. And while USB is a very common standard in our modern times, with almost every computer now having at least two USB ports for peripherals, Memory Cards haven’t quite seen that same level of adoption, and if you want to download, upload or otherwise transfer files via memory card, you will need a dedicated memory card reader. Fortunately, as 3D Printing fanatics, we completely understand this situation, and that’s why we always make sure to stock handy tools like these RDF8 USB 3.1 SD, MicroSD & CompactFlash Card Readers, which allow your computer or other USB-capable devices to interact with memory cards directly, enjoying the full read/write speeds of each different card and making your life as a Maker or Creative far more convenient.

In terms of functionality, this reader offers three slots, with one being for full sized SD Cards, one for MicroSD Cards, and a rather unique port for CompactFlash cards, making it quite diverse in the world of memory cards, supporting a wide range of applications from professional videography work to Hobbyist 3D Printers. In addition to the memory card slots, this device also features a micro USB port, and this can be used for accessing, uploading and downloading data to and from the memory cards, and this also provides a nice and steady 5V supply from the USB Interface to keep the device operational and working just as it should. In terms of read/write speeds, while this device does support UHS-II, it unfortunately only offers UHS-I speeds for both UHS-I and UHS-II cards. Fortunately though, this is rather negligible for most applications, and having support for both standards is certainly a benefit, and if you are using CompactFlash, you can enjoy full speeds at the UDMA 7 standard. As such, although this may not offer the fastest speeds on the market, it does offer exceptional speeds for the price range its in, and as long as you’re not looking for extreme speeds of SDXC, SDHC, MicroSDXC and MicroSDHC, then this reader is more than ready to accommodate your various memory card needs.

Of course, just to top it all off, this fancy little Memory Card Reader can also read and write to multiple cards simultaneously, and while this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the absolute ultimate in terms of functionality, but it certainly doesn’t go unnoticed, and adds a fantastic level of convenience in ensuring you don’t have to stop doing one thing just to do another. So, for example, if you are busy working on video files on a CompactFlash card, but want to quickly upload files onto a MicroSD for 3D Printing, you don’t have to go through the hassle of removing the CompactFlash safely before doing so, and in fact you could even be midway through editing photos on a full sized SD card at the same. Regardless of what you’re doing with them though, the ability to utilise all three ports simultaneously is straight up awesome, and we can’t think of any better Memory Card Companion to have at a workspace, coding station, or pretty much anywhere else.

Additional Resources:

• If you need more insights than what we’ve mentioned here, we invite you to head over to the official Transcend RDF8 Product Page, where you can find more information directly from the awesome brand that made them.
  
  
• Next up, if you want to try out uploading new firmware or want to use the RecoveRx application, then head over to the Transcend RDF8 Support Page, where you can find download links for all of the behind-the-scenes stuff.