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Card readers

(15 posts) (11 voices)

Started 3 years ago by nau
Latest reply from PB PM
Related Topics:
1. Speed of SD cards
2. CF Cards that do not work in the Nikon D4

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nau

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what card reader do you use (for CF cards)

recently was trying to test few cards that I collected over time and realized that
- max speed Im getting from the card is 8-9mb\s (and we are talking about (400x Sandisk card)
- difference between 2 gen and 4 gen cards is about 10%

tested on 2 card readers
-one is cheap sh!t usb one that I use as a travel one)
-build-in in to monitor connected with USB cable

I dont really care about benchmark tests I was just wondering if thats normal (I do understand whn they 60mb/s on a card its more or less theoretical speed in a perfect world) but almost 10times difference makes me thing that its me : )

whats yrr thoughts on that?

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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Yea, cheap USB readers are SLOW.
The card ratings are correct in my experience. I use a FW or PCMCIA adapter.

Posted 3 years ago #
Willis

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If you have a fire wire 800 port, that's probably your best bet. Honestly though, I'd just get whatever is cheapest unless you are a photojournalist and time is money or you are one of those 1k+ per shoot types. If I have to wait for my photos to upload I just check email or somthing.

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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Correction / clarification for my above:
Cardbus PCMCIA, not the old 8Mhz PCMCIA standard. All laptops being used today should be cardbus, but figured I'd mention it.

Posted 3 years ago #
jonnyapple

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Willis said:
If I have to wait for my photos to upload I just check email or something.

ditto, but substitute nikon rumors forum for 'something'.

Posted 3 years ago #
nau

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Willis said:
If you have a fire wire 800 port, that's probably your best bet. Honestly though, I'd just get whatever is cheapest unless you are a photojournalist and time is money or you are one of those 1k+ per shoot types. If I have to wait for my photos to upload I just check email or somthing.

same BUT whn u have 16gig card full and kinda on a hurry (coz you know 16 gig is never full....until its full)
it kinda makes a difference :)

jonnyapple said:
ditto, but substitute nikon rumors forum for 'something'.

:) so true

Posted 3 years ago #
bernard

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Mine is a cheap Targus (USB) and it fits my needs. It is slow but I just carry on with some other task during the transfer, just as I do when burning CD's and DVD's because I use the slowest possible speed.

Posted 3 years ago #
adamz

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Joined: Mar '09
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I use the build in reader from my dell screen, it's fast enough for me - or should I rather say, I can't justify to spend over $100 on a sandisk FW reader. Also, the largest cards I'm using are 8gb, so time is not a problem.

As for the current version of PCMCIA it's called Express Card

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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adamz said:
As for the current version of PCMCIA it's called Express Card

Though ExpressCard is the latest standard from the PCMCIA standards committee, most people call the earlier PC-Card standard simply PCMCIA, and that is what I was referring to.

The PC-Card standard, which I was less than crystal about, came in two variants:
The old variants were 8mhz, 16 bit, while the later CardBus ones were 33Mhz, 32 bit and allowed transfer rates up to 132MB/s.

CardBus is your fastest cheap way to go - as you can find cardbus readers for pennies at garage sales and used computer dealers. They should match if not smoke even FW readers.

ExpressCard readers are also inexpensive (~$20) and easily available new. Like CardBus adapters they are not as handy as a FW adapter (in that you have to eject the entire adapter to get your CF card out) but they, again, match or smoke FW readers for a fraction the price.

Your speed limit with a CB reader should be your hardware - as it is a straight-through dumb connection. Your speed limit with a EC reader /should/ be your hardware but I see a lot of people claiming they're only getting transfer rates in the high teens. I don't understand why this should be, but I'm throwing it out there. (PCI bus saturation limiting speeds???)

Posted 3 years ago #
shivaswrath

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I use the Hoodman RAW USB 2.0:
http://www.adorama.com/HNRU2CFCR.html

lol, I even wrote a review on adorama for it. . .it's very fast if you have a UDMA enabled card, but even otherwise, pretty fast and conveniently sized for transport. . .

Posted 3 years ago #
soap

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shivaswrath said:
I use the Hoodman RAW USB 2.0:
http://www.adorama.com/HNRU2CFCR.html.

That's one of the fastest USB readers I've seen at such a price. Nice.

Posted 3 years ago #
mb

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PCMCIA stands for People Cant Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms right? ;)
I must say that I use SanDisk exclusively for it speed and quality, and I find USB card readers more versatile.

Posted 3 years ago #
5stringz

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mmm, I bought the Hoodman RAW Firewire reader and am VERY happy. This thing clips right along emptying a 16 GB card in no time.

I would suggest this to anyone that has firewire capabilities.

Posted 2 years ago #
kanuck

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I was told the Transcend TS-RDP8K was the best that money could buy so I bought it. Salesmen will tell you anything obviously for a sale. It has not disappointed me so far. Its very fast, doing 8GB in about 5 minutes. If you go cheap you get the speed you'd expect same thing goes for a x133 memory card. PAINFULLY SLOW no thanks.

Posted 2 years ago #
PB PM

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I use a Sandisk Image Mate USB2 reader (CF, SD/SDHC, mini SD etc), it reads my Extreme III cards, and Lexar 300x cards fast enough for my use.

Posted 2 years ago #

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Card readers

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