CiderPress Hardware Compatibility

CiderPress can access floppy disks, CD-ROMs, CF cards, hard drives, and other devices.  Whether or not it can do so on your system depends on the specific set of devices you have and what version of Windows you're running.

Most of this no longer applies and is only retained for historical reasons. Under Win2K and later, devices generally just work.

 Return to main page.

General Rules

As the saying goes, "your mileage may vary".  The only way to know for certain if something will work is to try it and see.

CompactFlash Card Reader Compatibility List

Device Win2K/XP Win98/ME
Lexar Universal Card Reader (USB, model #GS-UFD-20SA-TP) Works.  Card size in Open Volume dialog is way off. Does not work.
SanDisk ImageMate SDDR-31 Works. Partially working.  Data can be read, but writes only pretend to succeed.
ETI card reader (USB, model # unknown) (not tested) Partially working.  Data can be read, but writes fail.
SanDisk 6-in-1 reader Works. (not tested)
IBM PCMCIA card adapter Works. (not tested)
SanDisk CompactFlash PC Card Adapter (model #SDAD-38-A10) Works. (not tested)

One common problem in Win98 is refusal by the CF reader driver to allow access to unrecognized logical volumes ("logical volumes" are lettered drives, like "C:").  In such cases, the card will not even show up in the logical volume list.  Win2K and WinXP are usually better about this.

Depending on your hardware and software configuration, you may be able to open your card reader by name (e.g. "SanDisk Imagemate II Direct-access device"), rather than drive letter.  In this case you're actually using the ASPI layer to access the device, which is a little strange since CF card readers aren't SCSI and don't work like CD-ROM drives.  This does appear to work for reading, but fails for writing.  Depending on which ASPI implementation you have installed, writes may be rejected or may appear to succeed but not actually go through.

Thus far, no fully-functioning CF configuration for Win98/ME has been found.