There has been a lot of fuss over the use of the Duel Systems Duel Adapter (PC-express to PCMCIA card adapter) in conjunction with the Mac Book Pro. New users and others migrating up from their older PowerBooks with a built-in PCMCIA slot have posted many entries expressing frustration with the integration of the Duel Adapter with the Mac Book Pro. Mostly this comes from failure of P2 cards to mount on the desktop after a previous card has been ejected. Users experience this problem whether or not they are using a program like HD Log or P2 CMS, or just plain old drag and drop for offloading. This might lead one to believe that the problem lies with the adapter itself and not with the P2 workflow, but my experience is that this is probably not the case.
As with other steps of a good P2 workflow, managing P2 media and P2 cards is often about knowing the little tricks and best practices for managing data in a solid-state workflow. Just the same as it is always a good idea to flip the protection switch on your card before inserting it into any computer so that any directory files the computer rights don’t corrupt or “overfill” the card, it’s also a good idea to take a look at how cards and card adapters interface with the computer. My experience is that most problems with P2 cards and the Duel Adapter where the P2 card won’t mount, isn’t recognized by the computer, or where inserting the P2 card causes a kernel panic or a system freeze/crash are simply a matter of user error.
User error? How can this be? If a card is ejected and the new one is inserted, what could be more simple than that? Well, as with many other things in life this is an issue of timing. Let me give you an example. When you start up a FireWire drive, will the drive always mount if you simply turn it on and plug it a cable immediately into the back? No. It’s always a good idea to wait until you hear the bridge reset (a series of fast-paced clicks about 5-10 seconds after the drive is powered on) before inserting the FireWire cable. It appears that it’s the same problem here with the Duel Adapter.
So, try this simple solution: next time you eject a card, wait 20 or 30 seconds before inserting the next card. I’m not exactly sure why this seems to make a difference, but my suspicions are that it gives the computer time to reset the buss and this makes all the difference in the world. Since pausing between cards I have not had one system crash or card that failed to mount. And, by the way, this works whether or not you are using HD Log or P2 CMS or drag and drop.
If you think about it, this is probably a good thing too. It gives you an extra minute to go over your P2 workflow checklist and to make sure that everything is as it should be.
Good luck!
Posted by: Noah Kadner on Apr 18, 2008 at 5:30:36 pm
There has been a lot of fuss over the use of the 
