Friday, August 16, 2013

Product review: UtechSmart USB 3.0 Card Reader



UtechSmart card reader is SD and micro SD card reader that plugs into your USB port. The unit itself is fairly small 2.5" x 1.375" x 0.375". It does not require an external power source, it gets the power it needs from the USB connection. The unit weighs 0.5 oz.

I tested the card reader on Windows 7 and Linux. Note that it is documented to work with Windows and Mac, but I have successfully tested it under Linux as well.

I tested with microSDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card and Class 10 SD card.

Each operating system I tested saw USB memory sticks and cards plugged into all slot in the card read without problems.

To evaluate similar devices I test each by copying the same large set of mp3 files totalling 638916 Megabytes. I measured CPU time and clock time. My goal is to test that each port works, and to compare the performance relative to other card readers I have tested. Since I use the same set of files I can compare different devices in "apples to apples" comparison.

I ran each test three times to make sure the results were consistent.

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TEST #1 SD card
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1.551s (cpu) 1:48.54 (clock time)

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TEST #2 micro SD card
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1.373s (cpu) 2:24.55 (clock time)

I received this card reader for testing and review from the manufacturer. The card reader performed well in my tests. It was not the fastest card reader in my write test, a larger card reader which had external power performed slightly better (1:09.36 clock time for micro sd and 1:27.81 clock time for sd), but the small size makes this card very convenient to use. I find it especially handy to use with my laptop which does not have a built-in card reader.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

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