But that looks so easy! There must be a catch. Didn't I read about somebody in this thread trying to shave a couple of millimeters off his card and breaking it?
Can anybody else confirm that this is working well?

Ola, Transcend cards definitely cannot be shortened, as the circuit board sits almost flush to the border of its plastic case. I tried and bricked one that way.

It's shocking that Sandisk is so different.

I guess I'll order one and try shortening it!

Somebody try that with a Transcend card - they're cheaper!

Ronn,
As just mentioned above, you can not shorten the Transcend.

And apparently only a rumor...
You can actually buy these right from Kensington for $40 USD:
7-in-1 Media Reader for ExpressCard® slot

They are in stock. They listed these out of stock a couple weeks ago.
So, it sure appears they are still building these cards.
In anything, if they notice an increase in sale orders from their dealers, they may just keep making them. I'm sure they've seen the sales boost on this card.

I spoke with eXpansys AU a couple of days ago. The Kensington adaptors are now in the USA. Significant numbers will be in Australia shortly.

Apparently the San Disk cards are not all the same. Not only are my 16 GB cards not translucent, like the card on the demo video, but when I chopped the end off of one of them the cut went thru what looks like a brittle bakelite circuit board. So, that's all kind of hanging out in the breeze now. The card still works fine- plays the files already on the card, will record, camera says its got 58 min, etc. but I'm thinking- one drop of moisture on the cut end may well do it in.

Robert, Peter Kraft's link (page 64 of this thread) shows photo of the Sandisk card's intestines, and clearly there's some kind of shiny board inside.

The guy in the video insists it can be cut without any effect on functionality.

If so, Robert's concern still stands: how do we deal with the open end where the cut was made?

I'd seal the cut with something non-conductive, like hot glue or alike.

Glue might do it, but I think I'll just leave the door open and not cut any more cards for the time being. I have a feeling a more suitable solution is percolating around out there. Just a matter of time.
Actually, I just used 3 coats of clear fingernail polish (Sally Hansen, Hard as Nails) and it looks nicely sealed- should be fairly durable too. We'll see.
Jeez... Sony must be watching all of this in horror.

cutting it is just perfect, why would you wait for a more suitable solution? actually what would be a more suitable solution? a new door perhaps?
maybe just wait a week for the new Sandisk Ultra II Nano

That's very odd Robert, that your sandisk is different. It wouldn't happen to be the 30mb/s version would it?


The translucent card I halved was the Sandisk Ultra II SDHC 15MB/s 16GB. Which is still working awesome by the way. As for sealing up the end, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's literally some solid state chips and the conductors on the outside of the card. There's a reason people accidentally put these things through the laundry and they still work fine! Sealing it up is still probably a good idea though, never know what could get in there.

Herminio
Somehow, after actually cutting it, this solution seems less than ideal. The open door is not a critical problem for me, but the integrity of the recording media is. Maybe cutting and sealing as I have done will not effect longevity, or resistance to moisture, dust, etc., but I don't know that right now. A very nice solution would be Kensington making a card reader that is a couple of mm shorter, or San Disk making the SD card a little shorter. At some point the actual Express Cards will be as cheap as the SDHC arrangement.

Jon
It's the 16GB card.
All the imprint info on the front of the card is identical to the one in the video, but it is absolutely opaque black plastic, and what I can see thru the cut end looks like a circuit board. It is actually working just fine in the EX, but does seem different from the one that was demo chopped in the video

Well that sure is strange, it would be nice to get to the bottom of this to prevent any future circuit board chomping. So you're sure that your card is not the 30MB/s version? Also, does your card have a circled 4 on it? (might be the revision number)

Robert, you are a doctor which brings me to the idea,
why not x-ray the sdhc card(s) and only shorten it/them
if possible.
I asked at my othopaedic doctor's and they'd be willing
to do me that favor. Why not?