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Today (7/7/20), Windows updated the RealTek USB Card Reader driver from version 2.0 to 3.0. Can anyone shed light on what's in the new version. I'm not interested in obvious generalities. In particular I need to know if the update addressed the issue of unwanted disconnects (ejects, dismounts) of a storage device.
[Skip to my jaygourley July 10 post: The new RealTek card reader driver probably has the same Surface integration problem as the old one.]
I and many other users on this community had persistent problems with the card reader in several successive generations of Surface Pro (including my 4 and 6). Windows would spontaneously disconnect (eject, dismount, etc) a microSD card. For those of us who were using the cards as mass storage for critical files, this was a crippling defect that could cost hours each time it occurred.
The unwanted storage drive disconnect problem was easily "solved" by replacing RealTek driver with the Windows USB Mass Storage Device driver (see https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/sd-card-still-randomly-disconnects/e2f4b3f2-954b-4b1b-8a02-81029880edd0 for details). I switched to mass storage driver a few months ago and can assure people with the same problem that it solves the problem.
Now Windows Update has replaced the mass storage driver with a new version of the RealTek driver. So I am faced with a difficult choice between reverting back to the known safe mass storage device driver and taking a chance on the new RealTek ver. 3.0 driver.
I assume Microsoft would not distribute the specialized RealTek driver for the RealTek card reader unless it had some advantage over Microsoft's generic mass storage device driver. On the other hand, the Microsoft Surface folks left the RealTek Version 2.0 card reader driver for years even though it clearly did not work in the Surfaces for any application that needed reliable access to a microSD card. I do a lot of work on battery power. So if the specialized RealTek driver saves energy, then I want to try it.
Further complicating my dilemma is that the failures of the old RealTek card reader driver were not simple to diagnose. I would typically get two or three failures per week but would often go two or three weeks without a failure. In other words, it would take weeks for me to be certain that the new driver was safe to rely on. And the inconvenience of a failure is not trivial. It can take hours for the Surface to rebuild corrupted databases.
If I can get some assurance that the new RealTek card reader driver solved the disconnect problem and that it has some meaningful advantage over the generic mass storage device driver, then I'll leave it in place and hope for the best. Otherwise, I'll have to switch back to the known-safe mass storage device driver without ever knowing if the new version would have been better.
So in summary, What's new in the Ver 3.0 RealTek card reader driver?
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
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There is no such thing as version 3.0 update.
Realtek makes 2 different sd card reader chips --- one chip is connected to the motherboard's USB 2.0 circuit (and thus usb 2.0 speed) and a second (and more expensive) chip is connected to the motherboard's usb 3.0 circuit (and thus faster usb 3.0 speed).
Both chips share the same driver (and thus confusing label you encountered) --- the actual driver version is something like 10.0.18362.31260.
The latest driver is 10.0.18362.31260, go to Microsoft Update Catalog, search for 10.0.18362.31260 and download the larger 1.7mb version as that is the 64 bit driver.
Unzip the downloaded cab file, copy all files into a brand new empty folder, then update your driver using the "have disk" button.
Thanks, JosephT71. You're right. I left the 31247 in place. I mistakenly assumed Windows Update would use the current driver. Still confused about why it didn't. Which one of the 64-bit 7/8/20 drivers should I use? I assume it's the last one highlighted
yellow. I'll wait for your answer before applying it to the USB 2.0 card reader in Device Manager. I'm using Windows 10 Education Ver. 1909 Build 18262.900. Also, I think I need some guidance on where to place the files in the .cab download so that they
show up as alternatives in Device Manager.
Thanks, JosesphT71. But now I'm more confused than ever. Please provide a little more help.
As you can see from the attached update history, Windows updated the RealTek driver today.
After the update, which required an Windows restart, I went to Device Manager to check. I don't recall exactly what led me to believe there was an updated RealTek USB 3.0 Card Reader driver. What I feel sure of is that when I checked the available update drivers on my computer, there were three alternatives. One was "RealTek USB 3.0 Card Reader". But now when I check (just a few hours later and with no obvious reason for the change) I see only two. The screen below looks exactly like it did before the update. Only two drivers, a RealTek driver and a generic Windows driver.
I don't know if the RealTek driver shown is new or old. I suspect it's a new driver, but that's just a guess. Before the update the driver I had installed -- the one that worked reliably -- was the USB Mass Storage Device driver. I think the update changed that back to the RealTek Card Reader.
So I'm still in the same quandry. Which driver should I use.? The only two things I'm sure of at this point are (1) that the old RealTek Card Reader driver that I replaced a few months ago was associated with unwanted drive disconnects (ejects, unmounts) a few times a week costing me hours of wasted time and affecting at least dozens of other users through a variety of Surface Pro generations going back at least a couple of years; and (2) the USB Mass Storage Device driver has not caused an unwanted disconnect once since then. So until today, the choice was a no-brainer.
But something happened today. Which driver should I use now? I think I need to know what's new in the new RealTek driver.
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