Digital Trends

Silverstone SDP01 Multi Card Reader

April 5th, 2004 | by Jeff Fila

The external USB 2.0 cable cleverly hides inside the reader when not in use or when plugged into the 3.5-inch dock. This keeps it out of the way and makes it easy to carry around, but doesn't allow for a long enough cable. In fact, when extended, the cable and USB plug combined are only about two inches long. This makes it extremely inconvenient to use if you only have a rear USB port on your computer. Even laptops with rear ports would benefit from a longer cable. The Compaq laptop we tested with has side USB ports and the SDP01 was convenient to use, but with only two inches of play, you'd have to reach around the screen on many other laptop designs.

The Silverstone SDP01 just dangles from a front USB port on most computers unless they are located on the very bottom of the case. As a result, this device would really benefit from a longer cable. We understand that it is kept short in the interest of its compact design, but perhaps Silverstone could include a USB extension cable in lieu of a longer built-in cable.

The internal connection for the 3.5-inch reader relies on an available header on newer motherboards. Many home-built or custom systems do have one or more of these connections available, but systems built by major manufacturers such as Dell, Compaq or Gateway may not have these ports.

The Biostar reader we compared the Silverstone to can be used as both an internal and external reader. It is a 3.5-inch device that has screw holes on the side for internal mounting, but it is finished to be used externally also, and has only a USB 2.0 connection. If you were to mount the Biostar unit internally, you'd have to route the cable outside of your case and hook it up to an external USB port. While we don't have a preference either way, just make sure that your motherboard can support the Silverstone SDP01 reader before you purchase it.

The only other issue we had was with the eject button. There is a push button on the 3.5-inch dock that ejects the portable reader. Since other readers we have used feature push-buttons to eject the Compact Flash card, we found ourselves instinctively pushing the button to eject the card. This is an easy habit to break, but if you do accidentally eject the portable reader from the dock, you may experience errors. While USB 2.0 is hot-swappable, the docked reader is not.

Conclusion

Overall the Silverstone SDP01 6-in-1 media reader performed as well or better than comparable products. It looks good, is relatively easy to install and is quite versatile. Its silver color allows it to go well with most case colors and is a welcome change from the boring old beige of other internal components.

In our opinion, the performance, portability and looks of the external device make it worth purchasing even if you are not going to install the dock internally.

While the design of the SDP01 is not necessarily revolutionary, it is a unique product that may appeal to many users of digital cameras, digital audio players and other portable devices that require flash storage. If you don't mind the rather short cables and have an available onboard USB 2.0 header, the Silverstone SDP01 is a good buy.