Dang it!
The Anker AR200 is an excellent SD reader. It is fast – with USB 3.0 – compact and offers reading/writing an SD and a micro-SD at the same time (two drives)… And it can handle single data line mode - which is why it is recommended for reading/writing console NAND via hardmod (I can confirm this is working from own experience with a DSi). I even recommended it myself for the NAND reading task.
So why did I start the blog entry with "Dang it!" despite I was so satisfied with this card reader? I was satisfied until: Write protection. Something inside must have been damaged because of… ?No idea? No matter what SD or micro-SD in an adapter, no matter which position the write protect switch is on, the Anker AR200 decided to treat everything in the full-sized slot as read-only (which would be catastrophic for NAND restore attempts if I hadn't known about the defect before). Nothing interesting could be seen from the outside. Gently poking around with a pointed plastic tool gave nothing. No haptic feedback of some switch inside, no change.
"This device is write protected." said the computers. No, it is not, you dumb %&§/!
Time to pop this open! Literally. Screws are so 1990s. Every modern thing has to be clicked together or even glued. Well. I got it open without too much damage.
Looking at the solder joints immediately shows that the two rightmost points on the SD reader are smaller than the rest. Measuring showed no continuity between them. Held in a piece of metal to short them while inserting the card reader with an SD → Bang! Not write protected anymore.
Now… I decided to just bridge the two points with an ugly blob of solder. Makes the write protection go away forever. Better than always read-only.
Thanks for reading.
The Anker AR200 is an excellent SD reader. It is fast – with USB 3.0 – compact and offers reading/writing an SD and a micro-SD at the same time (two drives)… And it can handle single data line mode - which is why it is recommended for reading/writing console NAND via hardmod (I can confirm this is working from own experience with a DSi). I even recommended it myself for the NAND reading task.
So why did I start the blog entry with "Dang it!" despite I was so satisfied with this card reader? I was satisfied until: Write protection. Something inside must have been damaged because of… ?No idea? No matter what SD or micro-SD in an adapter, no matter which position the write protect switch is on, the Anker AR200 decided to treat everything in the full-sized slot as read-only (which would be catastrophic for NAND restore attempts if I hadn't known about the defect before). Nothing interesting could be seen from the outside. Gently poking around with a pointed plastic tool gave nothing. No haptic feedback of some switch inside, no change.
"This device is write protected." said the computers. No, it is not, you dumb %&§/!
Time to pop this open! Literally. Screws are so 1990s. Every modern thing has to be clicked together or even glued. Well. I got it open without too much damage.
Looking at the solder joints immediately shows that the two rightmost points on the SD reader are smaller than the rest. Measuring showed no continuity between them. Held in a piece of metal to short them while inserting the card reader with an SD → Bang! Not write protected anymore.
Now… I decided to just bridge the two points with an ugly blob of solder. Makes the write protection go away forever. Better than always read-only.
Yes, I need to clean off the flux before putting it together.
No, I didn't put that yellowish-brownish epoxy on there – it was there from factory on.
No, I didn't put that yellowish-brownish epoxy on there – it was there from factory on.
Thanks for reading.
