Mini MicroSD Reader for Android Smartphones & Tablets

This is a Kickstarter project.

Project name: Mini MicroSD Reader for Android Smartphones & Tablets

Back to crowdfunding page.

History

2021-08-14: I re-created this page on my self-hosted web server.

2013-10-03: FreeBSD - when writing to the card, I get these errors in /var/log/messages:

Oct  3 20:41:28 kg-core1 kernel: (da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): WRITE(10). CDB: 2a 00 00 03 e2 c0 00 00 80 00
Oct  3 20:41:28 kg-core1 kernel: (da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
Oct  3 20:41:28 kg-core1 kernel: (da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
Oct  3 20:41:28 kg-core1 kernel: (da0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): SCSI sense: ILLEGAL REQUEST asc:21,0 (Logical block address out of range)

Doesn't look good. But the card is almost empty:

root@kg-core1# df -h /media
Filesystem    Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/da0s1     14G    117M     14G     1%    /media

Strange. According to the specs, the reader "supports MicroSDHC cards up to 32GB (max capacity by SDHC standard), and MicroSDXC cards up to 64GB (max capacity available on the market). SDXC standard supports cards up to 2TB -- this reader should support future MicroSDXC cards of higher capacity up to that, but we have no way of testing it right now.". Ok, and when I unmounted the card, my machine crashed. Not good:

root@kg-core1# cat /var/crash/info.0
Dump header from device /dev/ada0p3
  Architecture: amd64
  Architecture Version: 2
  Dump Length: 3693252608B (3522 MB)
  Blocksize: 512
  Dumptime: Thu Oct  3 22:51:12 2013
  Hostname: kg-core1.kg4.no
  Magic: FreeBSD Kernel Dump
  Version String: FreeBSD 8.4-STABLE #0 r253646: Thu Jul 25 10:12:31 UTC 2013
    root@kg-core1.kg4.no:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC
  Panic String: vinvalbuf: dirty bufs
  Dump Parity: 2974089383
  Bounds: 0
  Dump Status: good

Oh well, enough testing for today.

2013-10-03: FreeBSD - I inserted a 16 GB Transcend microSD card into the reader, plugged it into the usb adapter and plugged that into the hub connected to my FreeBSD workstation:

tingo@kg-core1$ uname -a
FreeBSD kg-core1.kg4.no 8.4-STABLE FreeBSD 8.4-STABLE #0 r253646: Thu Jul 25 10:12:31 UTC 2013     root@kg-core1.kg4.no:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  amd64

usbconfig output:

root@kg-core1# usbconfig -d ugen2.4
ugen2.4: <USB2.0-CRW Generic> at usbus2, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON

description

root@kg-core1# usbconfig -d ugen2.4 dump_device_desc
ugen2.4: <USB2.0-CRW Generic> at usbus2, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON

  bLength = 0x0012
  bDescriptorType = 0x0001
  bcdUSB = 0x0200
  bDeviceClass = 0x0000
  bDeviceSubClass = 0x0000
  bDeviceProtocol = 0x0000
  bMaxPacketSize0 = 0x0040
  idVendor = 0x0bda
  idProduct = 0x0119
  bcdDevice = 0x1981
  iManufacturer = 0x0001  <Generic>
  iProduct = 0x0002  <USB2.0-CRW>
  iSerialNumber = 0x0003  <20090815198100000>
  bNumConfigurations = 0x0001

current config

root@kg-core1# usbconfig -d ugen2.4 dump_curr_config_desc
ugen2.4: <USB2.0-CRW Generic> at usbus2, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=HIGH (480Mbps) pwr=ON


 Configuration index 0

    bLength = 0x0009
    bDescriptorType = 0x0002
    wTotalLength = 0x0020
    bNumInterfaces = 0x0001
    bConfigurationValue = 0x0001
    iConfiguration = 0x0004  <CARD READER>
    bmAttributes = 0x0080
    bMaxPower = 0x00fa

    Interface 0
      bLength = 0x0009
      bDescriptorType = 0x0004
      bInterfaceNumber = 0x0000
      bAlternateSetting = 0x0000
      bNumEndpoints = 0x0002
      bInterfaceClass = 0x0008
      bInterfaceSubClass = 0x0006
      bInterfaceProtocol = 0x0050
      iInterface = 0x0000  <no string>

     Endpoint 0
        bLength = 0x0007
        bDescriptorType = 0x0005
        bEndpointAddress = 0x0001  <OUT>
        bmAttributes = 0x0002  <BULK>
        wMaxPacketSize = 0x0200
        bInterval = 0x0000
        bRefresh = 0x0000
        bSynchAddress = 0x0000

     Endpoint 1
        bLength = 0x0007
        bDescriptorType = 0x0005
        bEndpointAddress = 0x0082  <IN>
        bmAttributes = 0x0002  <BULK>
        wMaxPacketSize = 0x0200
        bInterval = 0x0000
        bRefresh = 0x0000
        bSynchAddress = 0x0000

from /var/log/messages:

Oct  3 20:27:40 kg-core1 kernel: ugen2.4: <Generic> at usbus2
Oct  3 20:27:40 kg-core1 kernel: umass0: <Generic USB2.0-CRW, class 0/0, rev 2.00/19.81, addr 4> on usbus2
Oct  3 20:27:40 kg-core1 kernel: umass0:  SCSI over Bulk-Only; quirks = 0x4000
Oct  3 20:27:40 kg-core1 kernel: umass0:6:0:-1: Attached to scbus6
Oct  3 20:27:42 kg-core1 kernel: (probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 00 00 00 00 00 00
Oct  3 20:27:42 kg-core1 kernel: (probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): CAM status: SCSI Status Error
Oct  3 20:27:42 kg-core1 kernel: (probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): SCSI status: Check Condition
Oct  3 20:27:42 kg-core1 kernel: (probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): SCSI sense: UNIT ATTENTION asc:28,0 (Not ready to ready change, medium may have changed)
Oct  3 20:27:42 kg-core1 kernel: da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus6 target 0 lun 0
Oct  3 20:27:42 kg-core1 kernel: da0: <Generic- SD/MMC 1.00> Removable Direct Access SCSI-0 device
Oct  3 20:27:42 kg-core1 kernel: da0: 40.000MB/s transfers
Oct  3 20:27:42 kg-core1 kernel: da0: 15079MB (30881792 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 1922C)
Oct  3 20:27:42 kg-core1 kernel: da0: quirks=0x2<NO_6_BYTE>

Is the card formatted already?

root@kg-core1# ll /dev/da0*
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    0, 158 Oct  3 22:27 /dev/da0
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    0, 159 Oct  3 22:27 /dev/da0s1

Looks like it. Let's try:

root@kg-core1# mount -t msdosfs /dev/da0s1 /media

worked. But nothing on.

root@kg-core1# df -h /media
Filesystem    Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/da0s1     14G     96k     14G     0%    /media
root@kg-core1# ll /media
total 36
drwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel  32768 Dec 31  1979 ./
drwxr-xr-x  21 root  wheel    512 Jul 25 22:56 ../

That's it.

2013-10-03: I picked up the package at my local PIB, RIMI Trondheimsveien. The package contains: the reader, a snap hook and a ring, and usb adapter (USB A to microUSB).

2013-09-16: I got a shipping notice - my reader has shipped.

2013-05-14: the reward survey was out. I selected "Carbon Black" as the color.

2013-05-14: a project update told about a brand name Meenova.

2013-05-05: the project was funded. Estimated delivery is July 2013.

2013-04-09: I backed the project with USD 12.- which gives me "One card reader, standard world-wide shipping included." as a reward.