Multiple SD Card Reader? Anybody have Suggestions?

B

Bassman2003

Veteran
Hello,

I was wondering if anybody has found a card reader that has multiple SD card slots and is not too expensive? Searching comes up with a lot of "multi-readers" but I am looking for a reader that has two, three, four etc... SD card slots. I do not need all of the ther varieties.

When I come home from multi-camera video shoots, I have a ton of SD cards to capture.

I found a Star-tech 6 card reader that gets poor reviews and costs $134!!!

Thanks for your input!
 
Yes, I already have some single SD card readers and one is kind of giving me issues. So to try and save USB ports and time, I thought it would be best to find readers that offer more cards per USB.
 
I’ve started avoiding cheap card readers. The Angelbird isn’t cheap cheap, but it’s not super expensive either.

The other nice thing about the Angelbird readers is they stack nicely and you can wrap a Velcro tie around them to make them one unit. So, if you want four slots, just stack two of them.
 
IMHO it’d be of limited use, maybe when dumping two cards via finder overnight, or checking contents of a card while another is backup up. YMMV.

My backup routine involves CCC doing a checksum, and since it can only run a single volume backup at a time I’ve rarely had need to insert two cards.
 
I use Hedge. It’s fantastic and dumps as many cards to as many destinations as you want. So, I can bring two CFExpress cards and two SD cards in and it’ll copy it to my tape holding drive, working drive, and my NAS archive all with one click. Hedge also checksums the copy.

I have dual card readers for both of my card types (SD and CFExpress) and I’d never go back to dumping one at a time.
 
I've never had a problem with Transcend card readers even though they're inexpensive. I find USB3 so fast I can copy off 128gb card in around 15 minutes. By the time I've put away my gear the first card is copied it's on to the next. I find I have plenty to keep me busy while copying.
 
jbregar said:
I use Hedge. It’s fantastic and dumps as many cards to as many destinations as you want. So, I can bring two CFExpress cards and two SD cards in and it’ll copy it to my tape holding drive, working drive, and my NAS archive all with one click. Hedge also checksums the copy.

I have dual card readers for both of my card types (SD and CFExpress) and I’d never go back to dumping one at a time.
Click to expand...

Ok I stand corrected. Sounds useful
 
Peter C. said:
I've never had a problem with Transcend card readers even though they're inexpensive. I find USB3 so fast I can copy off 128gb card in around 15 minutes. By the time I've put away my gear the first card is copied it's on to the next. I find I have plenty to keep me busy while copying.
Click to expand...

When I get home from a shoot, the last thing I want to do is screw with card dumps... so I just throw the cards in the reader, fire up Hedge with my preset loaded... and click a button. When I come back to the computer later (or the next day) all the contents of those four cards have been copied to three places. When the tape holding drive is full (or I want to archive the footage) I write a tape and then I have four copies.

My thing is, I want as little manual work in my workflow as I can muster. Manual work means human error. Swapping cards around means I might forget to dump one... or any number of other ways I can screw up. If the cards go straight from the camera to the reader and come out of the reader ready to format and use again, that’s less chance of screwup.

I’ve used a lot of those cheap Transcend readers. They’re fine, though they’re kind of disposable. I’ve killed a couple of them, most likely because of heat. One of them lives in my camera bag for an emergency. I’d absolutely checksum any data that moves through a $7 card reader tho.

The Angelbird dual SD reader was $60. Considering what the cameras and cards and such cost... and the value of the footage to my clients, $60 seems cheap for the bridge between my cards and the place where the footage becomes “safe.” I use a $200 reader for my CFExpress cards. :)

As always, your mileage may vary.
 
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