D60 USB Rate Improvement?

[Ron Black]

I prefer to keep my 1GB IBM drive untouched in my D60, and use the USB cable for downloading images. The system works, but gives maybe 0.25MB/sec data rate, which is only half the speed I have when using the Canon Pro90 with the USB cable.

Has anyone found an improved USB data rate solution?

Thanks, Ron.

[SteveCliff]

I must admit, I was hoping that the D60 would be a bit more speedy on the ole' USB link. I wanted to try connecting it to my Dell portable and let the pictures download while I was taking them. I wasn't expecting a realtime download, but passing a RAW file to the portable is painfully slow!

Anybody know how to squeeze a Firewire card in to the D60 please ;-)

[Laupi]

Agree fully - I noticed a similar problem - very slow downloads - finally the battery died on me - so I guess its better to be close to a plug and download close to civilization......

A fire-wire would be great - but technically impossible to install retroactively.....

I guess we have to live with it and wait for the next generation camera - D 90......

Other than that I like the camera - even though mine broke already (sensor defect - wrong colours - only black and white is okay....).....

[SteveCliff]

Laupi wrote:
I guess we have to live with it and wait for the next generation camera - D 90......



Unless Santa loves me very dearly or I win the lottery, I think my D60 is going to have to last me quite a while! :)

[mowensmd]

Here's a naive question:

Is USB 2.0 something that firmware could update on the D60?

Mike

[Ron Black]

I heard a response today from Canon about my complaint:
My USB download rate is about 0.25MB/sec = quite slow. Any improvements available?

The Canon support rep, Dan, at Canon eCare said:
Thank you for your inquiry. I apologize for the slow download speed.

Unfortunately there are no updates for the D60 camera to improve
transfer speed. You may be able to use a faster CF card reader to
download images from the CF card. This will eliminate the need to
download images from the camera.
___

Thus, those who said we must wait for another newer model to obtain faster USB speeds are probably right.

Did the newly announced new D60 driver software at http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/driverdown.html
promise any benefits to D60 users? I'll probably install the latest drivers and see.

I'm staying with my USB download method to avoid unnecessary handling of the IBM MD.

Cheers, Ron.

[dhardin3]

Ron,

Why Canon chose to implement USB 1.0 in such a great camera instead of a USB 2.0 or Firewire connection is anyone's guess. Your best bet to speed up transfers is to obtain an external card reader.

If your PC supports USB 2.0, get a USB card reader. Make sure that the card reader supports USB 2.0. Another option would be to install a Firewire PCI card in your PC and obtain a Firewire PC card reader.

I've installed a Firewire card in my PC to support my Apple iPod. To transfer about 5.0 Gb of songs takes about 5 minutes. Translating this rough estimate to a 1.0 Gb IBM microdrive (full of pictures, about 400+) means a transfer of about one minute.

Hope this information helps.

Don

[Ron Black]

Don,

I am aware of the big speed increase available if I move the memory card to a card reader, but I still prefer to avoid unnecessary handling of the microdrive to keep from having an accident. It is a shame that this interface slowness is the main complaint about this very excellent camera design. The other capabilities of this D60 far outweight the USB 1.0 limitations.

My previous Canon Pro90 also used USB 1.0 and had twice the data rate via cable (0.5MB/sec) ... anyone know why we have to suffer the slower data rates (0.25MB/sec) with the D60? Oh well....

Regards, Ron.

[grobyn]

Of course the USB is going to be slower because the camera is not a powerful device for processing and has limited internal memory and processor, so of course that will never change.

If you plan your work are just right like I do, there will be no accidents. I use a USB CF reader and have my camera on a padded mat on my work area so if I open the camera and accidentally drop the microdrive chances are nothing is going to happen. I know someone who dropped his microdrive about 5' on a cement floor and it still works like a charm.

So you want the fast transfer, use the card reader.

[Ron Black]

grobyn wrote:
Of course the USB is going to be slower because the camera is not a powerful device for processing and has limited internal memory and processor, so of course that will never change.

If you plan your work are just right like I do, there will be no accidents. I use a USB CF reader and have my camera on a padded mat on my work area so if I open the camera and accidentally drop the microdrive chances are nothing is going to happen. I know someone who dropped his microdrive about 5' on a cement floor and it still works like a charm.

So you want the fast transfer, use the card reader.
________

Yes, there is logic to that advice. I may do that when there are say 200+ images on the card, but knowing the dangers of handling the drive is causing some hesitance on my part. Electrostatic discharge susceptibility, plus the "bent pin" situation that cycling the connectors can cause are two types of problems that can be avioded by not handling the drive. We all know about the main mechanical damage weaknesses... shock and squeezing are high risk.

Let us hope the next version of this DSLR has USB 2 capability!

Cheers, Ron.

[kd6lor]

Best speed I have gotten with CF cards and my computers is on my laptop with a CF card adapter in a PCMCIA slot. Was doing about 1.5 or just under with Chris Breeze's downloader program. Still takes a while, but I remember how much data is flying about my hard drives and I am patient.

Real bugger is how long it takes to convert the images. Makes fooling around with the conversion settings, then reconverting a pain.


Paul