I purchased an USB 3 Insignia multi-format card reader for my new computer and it will not read it. The blue light comes on when I plug it in but it doesn't show up as a connected device. What CF card reader would you recommend? Transferring from Windows to Mac has been quite the learning curve.
I used to recommend Rob Galbraith's page for card to computer performance of CF readers. Unfortunately, it has not been updated since 2011, which is an eternity. I wish I could provide a good reference, but the best guidance I can give is to stick with name brands, down-select to a few models, and look carefully at reviews for your target models. You do want to be sure that models you select are recent, since technology changes rapidly.
I'm using a Sandisk, the model I forget, which is a just few years old and is already outdated for the fastest card technology. Hopefully some other DPCers can give you relevant suggestions for recent products.
The reader itself is probably fine. Make sure your Mac is set to show external disks on the Desktop (under the Finder menu, go to Finder Preferences and then the General tab). If the card still doesn't show up, there's a good chance it was formatted in Windows FAT32. Try a formatting a blank card (Applications > Utilities > Disc Utility) and take a couple of shots, or download your existing files onto a Windows computer and reformat the card you have.
I thought most (all) cameras want you to format the card in the camera, and that it's usually in FAT32 -- I have doubts that cameras will read a card formatted in AFS (Mac) ...
An uninformed question: does that model Mac have USB3 ports?
I thought most (all) cameras want you to format the card in the camera, and that it's usually in FAT32 -- I have doubts that cameras will read a card formatted in AFS (Mac) ...
My suggestion was taken directly from Insignia's manual.
No, probably the Mac OS is not recognizing the card.
Try going to the Apple Menu > About this Mac > More Info which will open the System Profiler app -- there you can check and see if the card reader is installed/recognized. If it is, then the problem is with the card, not the reader, unless the card is incompatible with the reader (e.g. I have an old SanDisk reader which can read a 4GB card but not a 16GB card).
Originally posted by scalvert:
Originally posted by GeneralE:
I thought most (all) cameras want you to format the card in the camera, and that it's usually in FAT32 -- I have doubts that cameras will read a card formatted in AFS (Mac) ...
My suggestion was taken directly from Insignia's manual.
Their recommendation *may* apply to using a card as generic flash storage on a Mac, not in a camera, but I'm not as familiar with DSLR specs ...
I agree with Paul that the camera almost certainly will not recognize an AFS-formatted card. Still, if you are able to format and then read/write the card in the computer, it points to the format as the issue, and rules out the reader and the reader-to-computer interface. So it is worth trying. I would also take Paul's suggestion to look at whether the reader is appearing in the list of attached devices, since if it is not, then it would seem there is some incompatibility of the reader with the system, or a hardware problem with the reader.
I agree with Paul that the camera almost certainly will not recognize an AFS-formatted card.
Who said AFS? From the card reader's manual: "If no icon appears when a card is inserted into the reader (MAC OS X), check the following:
• The card may have been formatted in Windows FAT 32 format. Using a PC or digital device, reformat the card using OS X-compatible FAT or FAT16 format."
I agree with Paul that the camera almost certainly will not recognize an AFS-formatted card.
Who said AFS? From the card reader's manual: "If no icon appears when a card is inserted into the reader (MAC OS X), check the following:
• The card may have been formatted in Windows FAT 32 format. Using a PC or digital device, reformat the card using OS X-compatible FAT or FAT16 format."
That's a red flag... if the reader only supports FAT16, that means it only supports up to 4GB cards; hardly useful today.
What software are you using to attempt to import images?
My card reader is persnickety so sometimes I'm unplugging and trying again but if it doesn't auto-mount I use LR to import and it works.
Also are you on the latest OS update?
You guys are wizards. So after confirming with apple support yesterday, I do indeed need to format all my CF cards that I've used on a Windows computer to FAT 32 or FAT 16 before my computer will read them via a card reader. This conversion has been a PITB but worth it. :)
