Akasa Baymaster S USB 3.0 Card and Drive Reader Review

We always try to review every aspect of computing and all the likely additions you are going to add to your computer. Today is a turn of a Drive and Card Reader.

Akasa have such upgraded a popular model, the Akasa Baymaster and while it doesn’t look like they have made many changes, there is one big difference. It now takes advantage of USB 3.0 Superspeed, giving up to 10* faster data transfers when compared to USB 2.0.

There are lots of varieties of card readers, drive readers and fan controllers out there which offer you the chance to upgrade your standard case with lots of extra features. Some come in 5.25″ bay size and others, like the Akasa Baymaster come in the smaller 3.5″ bay size. This does unfortunately mean it is less compatible with cases, however it is possible to get adaptors to fit a 3.5″ drive into a 5.25″ bay.

Akasa have tried to fit in lots of very popular features into quite a small 3.5″ bay, this includes compatibility with 3 of the major memory card types: SD, Extreme Digital, and Memory Stick. While being compatible with nearly all of the varieties that are based around these 3. On top of that the Akasa Baymaster S has a 2.5″ drive reader, allowing you to plug in the laptop HDDs or SSDs that you might have.

Specifications:

[TABLE=class: product_text]
[TR]
[TD]Application[/TD]
[TD]3.5″ PC bay[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Memory card slots[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Memory card types[/TD]
[TD]Memory Stick (MS Pro, MS Pro Duo, Magic Gate, Extreme, Ultra)
Secure Digital (SDXC, SDHC, SD, Ultra, Extreme, Elite Pro, High Speed, MMC, MMC Mobile)
Extreme Digital (X card, Type H, Type M)
M2 (Memory Stick Micro M2)
microSD (microSDHC, High Capacity)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=width: 250, bgcolor: #F0F2F4]Interface[/TD]
[TD]HDD Docking: USB 3.0 ( 2.0/1.1/1.0 compatible )
Card reader: USB 2.0 (1.1/1.0 compatible)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=width: 250, bgcolor: #F0F2F4]Data transfer rate[/TD]
[TD]HDD docking: up to 5Gb/s (USB 3.0) and 480Mb/s (USB 2.0)
Card reader: up to 480 Mb/s[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=width: 250, bgcolor: #F0F2F4]LED indication[/TD]
[TD]Power On, Card In & Data Transfer[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=width: 250, bgcolor: #F0F2F4]Power mode[/TD]
[TD]USB powered[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=width: 250, bgcolor: #F0F2F4]PC connection[/TD]
[TD]Internal USB motherboard header, USB3.0 A male connector[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=width: 250, bgcolor: #F0F2F4]Supported OS[/TD]
[TD]Windows 2000 / XP / VISTA / 7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=width: 250, bgcolor: #F0F2F4]Plug & Play[/TD]
[TD]Supported[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD=width: 250, bgcolor: #F0F2F4]Product code[/TD]
[TD]AK-ICR-10U3[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]