Copying files from memory card to computer

[tasadam]

I use a camera that has Compact Flash memory cards, specifically I use thew 16Gb variant of these -
http://www.sandisk.com/products/dslr/sa ... flash-card
When it's time to copy into the computer, I used to just plug the CF card into a USB2 card reader. The typical copy speed was about 3Mb per second. That's very slow when you're looking at up to 16Gb.
I got a new USB2 CF card reader and managed to get the copy speeds up to 8Mb per second.
Still pretty slow.

I got myself a dedicated photo computer with the latest greatest hardware, including USB3. Wouldn't you know it, I'm ahead of the game... I buy Windows 7 64 bit, and they don't even have drivers for USB3 yet, let alone USB3 CF card readers.
So... On to eBay.
I bought one of these.
Shop clever and you'll get it for less than $5. (pic)

I took out the hard drive from an external USB 3.5" SATA case, and installed this. Put the card in, and away it copies at typically 25Mb per second.
Better, but the card is rated up to 90...
I tried hooking it straight up to the SATA port on my motherboard but it cannot detect drivers for it, so I will try that on my XP computer next time the cover is off.

So.
I connected it to one of these. $3.74 delivered.
Then I hooked it up to the internal IDE cable. It needs a reboot to detect it, but it will then copy at an average 50Mb per second.
But the connection is a bit dodgy, easy to break little bits of plastic.

I now have one of these and am yet to do some testing.
I do not know how they can do them so cheap. It sure saves me some time when copying files after a shoot.
Ask away if you want to know more.

[Ent]

Hi

I use the PCMI adapter on the laptop and that appears as fast as the card or the receiving disk.

Cheers Brett

[north-north-west]

Speed isn't everything.
I've always just connected the camera to the computer and gone away and done something else while the transfer is underway. Cheap, and efficient, 'cause I'd probably never get some of those niggly little chores done otherwise.

[Singe]

Odd that it's not getting picked up when connected directly to SATA. That would be ideal; faster bus speed than you need and hot-plug.

Drivers are always an issue on 64-bit systems...

[timmy_pete]

I wholeheartedly agree about USB or USB2 readers not being up to the task for big files (my camera averages 17-23mb per RAW shot, two weeks of shooting = huge transfers). I can remember trying to copy a card when at work and an old USB1 unit was all that was available. It took 3.5hrs for approx 3gb.

I've got a Firewire 800 Sandisk reader for a laptop that is advertised as 45mb/s. It seems to get pretty close to this when downloading, though I'm only using midrange CF cards rather than the professional speed ones. I'll look into SATA-IDE-CF adapters if I ever get round to making the desktop photo editing rig I've often contemplated.

[tasadam]

OK I just hooked up one of the USB to SATA cheap gadgets in my XP machine, and it was detected no problem, hot pluggable.
Copied 4.6Gb of data at an average speed of 15.3 Mb oer second. That was on one of my older 133x 8Gb CF cards so it's quite promising. Going to get a 900x card now...

[tasadam]

It doesn't seem to like my you-beaut memory card when hooked direst to SATA bus, but it detects it when connected via an external SATA hard disk case with the gadget installed as a replacement to the SATA disk. Keeps getting a device I/O error.

[whynotwalk]

Hi Adam - this is probably both late and rather cheeky, but ...

My iMac has a built-in SD slot. Apple quotes a maximum speed of 240 Mbit/s for SD media using the SD card slot. I'm not sure if that's fast enough for you. But if it is, consider me to be having a little gloat

cheers

Peter

[tasadam]

OK, I'll bite...
My camera takes CF cards, not SD.
Now, a "quoted" maximum speed of 240 megabits per second? That's only half the maximum transfer speed reported possible with USB2 as per Wiki...
I'm waiting for USB3 that will do 5 gigabits per second...
Now, quoting what I said earlier -

It needs a reboot to detect it, but it will then copy at an average 50Mb per second.

That's what I can achieve now, megabytes, not megabits... 8 bits in a byte means about 400 megabits "actual", not "reported".

So you just gloat away there with your Apple stuff...

[whynotwalk]

Hehe Adam - that's not just a bite, that's a megabyte!

It's all a bit techie for me. But if it all gets too slow for me, i'll know who to ask,

cheers

Peter

[davidmorr]

OK, I'll bite...
My camera takes CF cards, not SD.
Now, a "quoted" maximum speed of 240 megabits per second? That's only half the maximum transfer speed reported possible with USB2 as per Wiki...
I'm waiting for USB3 that will do 5 gigabits per second...

Just because the interface is theoretically capable of 5Gb/sec doesn't mean the computer can supply or receive data that fast. Very few gigabit Ethernet-equipped computers can match even that speed......

[tasadam]

Just because the interface is theoretically capable of......

Yeah I know, it was more a come-back at Peter than anything else. Sure would be nice to get those speeds though wouldn't it!

[wildlight]

Folks,

We could always put the film in the little yellow bag and wait 10 days for it to come back... and I'm guessing many readers here will remember those days vividly. When I first started with the 1gig micro drive it took an hour per gigabyte- I couldn't even correctly write up the job bags to the lab in that time- so I was thrilled!

Safe Steps

WildLight