How to Use Extra SD Slot

Just purchased an Acer Aspire and see that there is a second slot for an SD card (in addition to the memory card slot). How do folks use this extra SD slot? Are there gadgets (besides an SD card) that plug in here?

 

I use it for saving stuff that I may need to take to another computer and for backup of critical data in case the SSD fails. I have never heard of any gadgets that plug into the SD card slots.

 

Wouldn't it be easier (and more universal) to just use a USB-Flashdrive for this?

 

IMO Most of those stick out too much.

 

Those of us with the 8GB SSD version might use the primary SD slot for applications, etc making the primary SD slot critical, and not easily removable. And some people have actually set their machines up as dual boot, with the OS itself being selected by which SD card is installed in the primary, so it is not removable AT ALL.

The second SD slot comes in handy when you want to drop in an SD card with data on it (e.g. camera's memory stick), as you don't have to remove the very application that you may use to open the pictures. (Of course, the Canon Rebel I use stores pics on a CompactFlash card, so I can not take advantage of this feature...)

If you have the 8GB machine, that second slot is actually quite handy. Not quite as handy when on the HDD version, still...you have more than one USB connector! Why not have more than one SD card connector?