Firewire card reader

[w10d]

I've decided I need a Firewire card reader, anyone want to recommend a make (or one to avoid)?.

Thanks.

[Jerry Eisen]

I use the Lexar, had'nt had any problems.

Jerry

[defordphoto]

Lexar for a year. No problemo.

[Webster]

Another vote for Lexar. Fast and reliable.

[justme_dc]

Ditto here with the lexar. It works great and it's purple. How could ask for more?

[ajmcdo]

Mine's a Datafab. Good price and not a problem in 12 months.

Wombat

[Jesper]

You can also use an USB 2.0 card reader, that's just as fast as firewire. Just make sure the USB port in your PC is also USB 2.0. Firewire and USB 2.0 are both much faster than any CF card can handle, so the read / write speed will be limited by the CF card.

Firewire: max. 400 megabit / second = 50 MB/s
USB 2.0: max 480 megabit / second = 60 MB/s

I have a Sandisk USB 2.0 CF card reader. Works perfectly, you don't even need a driver when you use Windows XP.

[ce900a]

there is a pmc card that is an adapter for cf cards. I think they are just as fast as fire wire. If you work on a laptop (one less thing to carry around) . I am still thinking of which to buy, if anyone has advice about the pmc card adapters I would like to here about it.

link to pmc card : http://www2.warehouse.com/product.asp?pf_id=EX12115&blind=no&BCID=14365667
pcmcia card adapter for cf 1 and 2


thanks ce900a

[w10d]

Thanks to everyone for the comments, looks like the Lexar is a safe bet, though I see they have brought out a new model with a detachable cord....

I was asking about FW because both my desktop and laptop have 2 powered FW ports, and I always have one free, unlike the USB ports. The laptop only has USB 1, so a USB card reader on that would probably be no faster than using my old G2 as a card reader (which as I mentioned in another thread is exactly twice as fast as using the 10D - strange but true).

[samdring]

Jesper wrote:
You can also use an USB 2.0 card reader, that's just as fast as firewire. Just make sure the USB port in your PC is also USB 2.0. Firewire and USB 2.0 are both much faster than any CF card can handle, so the read / write speed will be limited by the CF card.

Firewire: max. 400 megabit / second = 50 MB/s
USB 2.0: max 480 megabit / second = 60 MB/s

I have a Sandisk USB 2.0 CF card reader. Works perfectly, you don't even need a driver when you use Windows XP.


Agree with your figures but despite apparent advantage of USB 2, read recently that in real world use Firewire is faster

[Plexiprs]

Also, Firewire 800 (IEEE-1394b) is out and PCI cards are available for both Mac and PC platforms. As of yet, no CF Readers I've found support this new protocol.

It is rated at 800 mbps but requires a different cord. This was the response to USB 2.0 passing the original FW (IEEE-1394) speeds.

[RichardtheSane]

USB 2 is cheaper though :D

[defordphoto]

RichardtheSane wrote:
USB 2 is cheaper though :D

And has better availability too. I use Firewire on my main computer and USB2 on my laptop. There's no discernable difference in speed.

[MiG82]

Hmmm, we're comparing a 480 Mbps to a 800 Mbps link when being used with a memory device that can be only be read at approximately 40 Mbps (high speed CF card)...

Same goes for USB 2.0 being slower in real life than fire wire.

[defordphoto]

mig82 wrote:
Hmmm, we're comparing a 480 Mbps to a 800 Mbps link when being used with a memory device that can be only be read at approximately 40 Mbps (high speed CF card)...

Same goes for USB 2.0 being slower in real life than fire wire.

If you're talking the new firewire 800. The standard firewire, which I am sure all of us have since FW800 is so new is actually slower than USB2. But yes, you are correct. Your reader is only as fast as your CF card.

[MiG82]

Somebody else mentioned firewire 800 (or whatever the correct name is).
If you buy a good computer now (as opposed to a budget model) there's a reasonable chance that the motherboard will have a firewire 800 port on it, so it's not *that* rediculous (like say, an eight drive raid array :) )