Use & Performance

Considering that the Mirrorbox CR is a USB 2.0 device, the interface itself will become the limiting factor with modern cards like Compact Flash. To test the overall performance of such a unit and compare it to other, similar devices can only be done with one criteria: Is it able to utilize the complete speed of the USB 2.0 interface? To test this, we take a UDMA Compact Flash card, capable of over 50 MB/s read and 40 MB/s write speed. Sure, we won't see these speeds with a USB 2.0 interface, but this gives us a method to check if the card reader can perform as fast as possible. The unit is compared to another USB 2.0 based card reader, an ExpressCard 34 based CF and a Firewire 800 based reader.
Another area of interest for this review is the comatibilty to unlisted formats. Considering that the Mirrorbox CR is advertised as an "All-in-one" unit, we want to check if SDHC and XD cards also work with the Mirrorbox.


To get that one question out of the way, SDHC cards work with the Mirrorbox. The cards in the bottom row need to be inserted upside down, as the slots are attached to the underside of the PCB, while the top row is attached on the upside of the PCB within the card reader.


As you can see, the card reader is on par with other USB 2.0 based readers. It manages to tickle around 12.7 MB/s out of the Compact flash card. While this may not seem like much compared to other options and interfaces, it is to be expected. The Vizo Mirrorbox CR is a normal, no frills card reader for your home or office.