Firewire CF Card Reader?

[Mills]

Does anyone know if there is such a beast? USB is way too slow.

[Belmondo]

It seems to me that USB 2.0 should be almost as fast, and I know they're readily available.

[PacAce]

belmondo wrote:
It seems to me that USB 2.0 should be almost as fast, and I know they're readily available.

Just make sure that your PC supports USB 2.0, otherwise, the card reader will only work at the slower USB 1.x speed.

[Belmondo]

Of course you are right.

Actually, IEEE 1394 and USB 2.0 are very close in rated speed. The main difference is that USB will slow down if it's handling a lot of things at the same time.

[deztoys]

Yes. there are 2 that i know of. the lexar FW reader, can be had for about $39, and the Sandisk Ultra, which can be had for about $69. I've had both (Lexar died on me). Both work fine. I'm not sure why the lexar died. it just gave up mounting the CF card as a removable disk. No real reason I can think of. I could use other utilities, they would see the disk, but not be able to accesss them. I have to admit, the Sandisk one is a bit cooler. its shaped like a puck, and the FW cable is removeable, so it packs well. And it comes with a carry bag, very well thought out. The lexar does not disconnect from the reader, and its purple.

Scott

[defordphoto]

I have had the Lexar for 8 months or so. No probs. Works awesome. USB 2.0 would be just about as fast. I have a USB 2.0 reader on my other computer but have never run time trials as I don't pick speed-nits that close. USB 2.0 or firewire is a toss-up in my book.

[pwagner]

Practical transfer speed (in megabytes per second):

USB 1.1: 1.2 MB/s
USB 2.0: 45 MB/s
Firewire: 45 MB/s
Firewire 800: 90 MB/s
CompactFlash memory card: 2 MB/s to 4 MB/s
Hard disk: 10 MB/s to 20 MB/s

When you are moving the pictures to your computer, the data is read from your CompactFlash memory card, transferred through your USB or Firewire, and written onto your hard disk. Whichever is the SLOWEST device in your "read, transfer, write" chain dictates the speed.

This means that if you use USB 1.1 you are constrained to 1.2 MB/s. A 256 MB card should take 256 / 1.2 = 213 seconds to move to your hard disk. (This is approximate, as other factors could have some minor additional delays.)

USB 2, Firewire, and Firewire 800 are all MUCH faster than your memory card. In fact, they are quite a bit faster than your hard disk! So, if you have any of these, you are constrained to the speed of the camera's memory card. If you have a "slow" card that goes 2 MB/s it will take 256 /2 = 128 seconds to move the card to your hard disk. If you have a fast card it would take 256 / 4 = 64 seconds.

Note that USB 2.0 requires that your card reader, operating system, and motherboard are ALL USB 2.0; if not, then you will slip back to the slow USB speed.

So, two conclusions:

(1) Moving from USB 1.1 to any of the faster technologies will not give you 40x speedup. Expect 2x to 4x speedup.

(2) USB 2, Firewire, and the new Firewire 800 are all so much faster than the memory card that they are essentially equal in speed, since everything is going to slow down to the speed of your memory card.

[Morden]

I have been using the Lexar firewire copmpact flash reader/writer for a while, with no problems. I was sick of the slow USB 1 transfers!

[Erin]

I acquired a lexar firewire cardreader 6 weeks ago, recently (last week) it crapped out and disabled my computer from booting up.

Once I isolated the cardreader as the root of the problem and sent it back to the importer (via the pro retailer I purchased it from) it was replaced within 3 days and the new one is working ok so far.

Have heard that it is not that unusual for the Lexar firewire card reader to fail.

Oh yes it is about 4 times faster transfering images from my 12x Lexar cards than usb 1

You also need to have an IEEE 1394 firewire card with firewire port connected to the motherboard if you are a PC user

Erin.

[dbarthel]

And you need a 6 pin firewire connector WITH power supplied. Most laptops and pcmia adaptors do not supply power, even if they have 6 pins.

[justme_dc]

I've got the Lexar FW reader and after 4 months I have no complaints......

[deztoys]

Not sure about PCs (windoze boxes) but Macs do supply power in their FW ports from what I've experienced (multiple laptops and desktop machine). I don't know as I've actually heard of a FW port without power, but I only use Macs so I don't really know what some of the other vendors do.

BTW -
I got hold of Lexar regarding my reader that failed. They are going to replace it no questions asked. Appearently theve seen this before.

Scott

[Morden]

And you need a 6 pin firewire connector WITH power supplied. Most laptops and pcmia adaptors do not supply power, even if they have 6 pins.
If it helps anyone, I can report that the firewire port present on many recent Creative audio cards works perfectly with the Lexar firewire CF reader.

[evilenglishman]

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[Morden]

stupid question maybe but do both of those support microdrives?
I have only used the Lexar one, with which I use 1 GB Microdrives. I have had no problems at all.

[evilenglishman]

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[pwagner]

>>> there are some wierd price differences in the UK for the lexar.

[Morden]

there are some wierd price differences in the UK for the lexar.
I bought mine from MyMemory ( http://www.mymemory.uk.com ).

[brianf01]

I am looking to getting an Eos D10, with a 1 gig flash memory card.

Is the Lexner 1 gig USB 2.0? I want to get this one, but I'm new to the digital realm. My cpu has USB 2.0, which seems fine as far as speed.

How can you tell which memory cards can be used with USB 2.0, does it even matter (does the card determine if it is 1.0 or 2.0 USB, or just the other components?)

Thanks!

-Brian

[scottbergerphoto]

brianf01 wrote:
I am looking to getting an Eos D10, with a 1 gig flash memory card.

Is the Lexner 1 gig USB 2.0? I want to get this one, but I'm new to the digital realm. My cpu has USB 2.0, which seems fine as far as speed.

How can you tell which memory cards can be used with USB 2.0, does it even matter (does the card determine if it is 1.0 or 2.0 USB, or just the other components?)

Thanks!

-Brian
Consider the Sandisk Ultra and Ultra 2 1GB memory cards. I use the Ultra. It's very reliable and rated near the top of the ratings for CF cards on Rob Galbraiths test.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-6111
Check it out.
Scott