Egghead.com has 48 mg Sandisk CompactFlash cards for $98.88. There is no mention of Mac compatability (I'm not sure this is even an issue with CF cards). Egghead will charge me a 15% restocking fee if I return a CF card based on imcompatibility.

I called Sandisk and was informed that the cards will work on the Mac Platform, IF I save my (edited) photos in a PC (vs Mac) format on the computer when I recopy them to the CF card.

What do I need to know about using CF disks in this manner? Are CF disks formatted for a particular platform (like Zips or floppies)?

I want to edit photos in Photoshop and use the CF disk to transport the selected, edited photos to another (Mac) computer for printing. I may also want to send a CF disk to a photo lab. Which formats should I choose?

-- Bruce Burke (altemir@earthlink.net), August 18, 1999

Answers

This question is a bit old, but I'll answer some of it, in case someone else reads this for info. Yes, Sandisk CF cards, as well as other brands of flash cards, work with the Mac. It's not a matter of compatibility with particular drives. You attach the camera, via a serial or parallel cable to the computer, or you use a card reader. In that case, you remove the card from the camera and insert it into the reader. For SCSI computers, you'll need a SCSI card reader. For a USB computers, you'll need a USB card reader. SanDisk and Lexar CF card readers are now being sold on Internet sites for as low as $35. The card reader is about 30 times faster than a serial cable download.

Most Macs, at least those manufactured in the last several years, have ethernet ports. For transferring image files from one Mac to another, attach an ethernet cable from one Mac to the other, and then use the File Sharing control panel and the Chooser, to set up yo

-- John Bachman (jack_xyz@tcac.net), February 24, 2000.