Since it seems that everyone has abandoned the FireWire 800 port when it comes to card readers, i went ahead and made my own.

Mac doesn't seem to be interested in USB 3.0 the new MacBook Pros have the FireWire 800 port, and well, I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit there and wait for USB 2.0 to transfer my canon 7d photos to my hard-disk...

Step 1: What You Need

So its really quite simple.

You need:
1. FireWire 800 2.5 inch HD enclosure
2. a CF to SATA converter

both of these things are easy enough to find on the inter-webs.

in my case, I have an extra LACIE drive and I picked up an adapter in Akihabara (i live in Tokyo) you can get an adapter on Amazon

Step 2: How to Do It

The LACIE drive looks more or less like a sealed enclosure, but all you really need to do is stick in a credit card or point card of some kind so unstick that glue and pull the case off. its super easy to remove the drive. two screws, and a rubber brace at the end that cleverly keeps everything in place.

seperate the drive from the board and then attach the CF to SATA converter.

BAM! its a CF card reader that's recognized as a drive on you computer.

Step 3: In Practice

Soon I will be making a special case for this. As it is, it holds tight, does its job and transfers images and video fast. about 2 gigs a minute.

what's nice about the LACIE is that you end up with a 500GB drive to use for whatever you want and a built in USB 2.0 cord, just in case you run unto a computer that isn't FW800 friendly.

all in all its a simple, useful, and easy hack that can stand to be perfected.