Card Reading Solution - MAC ?? Check it out

[PhotoJourno]

I need a Card Reading (CF mostly, some SD) solution, as what I currently have really blows.
Macbook pro, standard USB 2.0 Card Reader (OEM), and the CFs are 2x4Gb Extreme III, and 2x4GB Extreme IV.
Still, transfering 200 10mpxl photos to the HD took well over 20 mins.
I know they should be able to go at least twice as fast.

Any Card Reader model or settings suggestion?...

Thanks in advance for the comments.

[modemanual]

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(2015)-SDDRX4-CF-901-SanDisk_Extreme_FireWire_Reader.aspx

Its Firewire 400/800, but its only for CF.

[tonylong]

Make sure (if using USB) that it's a true USB 2.0 reader! That makes a huge difference. Also, if you're using a hub, make sure it's USB 2.0, and, if there are any USB 1 devices sharing your USB hub make sure that it has external power and is spec'd to deliver full speed to USB 2 devices under those conditions.

Any of these things off will slow your port to a USB 1 speed, which is excruciating when moving gigabytes of files! And it sounds like that is exactly what's happening you!

As modemanual says, firewire is another option that doesn't share the above problems with USB -- and has the new 800 which should nicely outperform USB 2.0.

Hope this helps!

[Screamer]

I too use the Extreme FireWire reader with my MBP...works really well and isquality built. But, like mentioned lacks SD, which is okay by me. Even though my bodies take both CF and SD, I rarely use SD.

[PhotoJourno]

Thanks so much folks, for the longest time I used USB 2.0 on my PC, and a Sandisk PCMCIA on my laptop, which always was faster than any truly external device (for the time). Now that I have Firewire 800, I think it makes sense to research (meaning save, drool, and purchase) that Sandisk Firewire Reader, at 800, it should outperform 2.0. At any rate, all I care about is going back to my old PC download rates or better, since I am waiting way too long for a regular jpg (4-6mb) to download.

And thanks for the tip on USB speeds, I am checking to make sure that both readers I do have are USB 2.0, as well as a USB hub, which may be 1.0 and therefore slow anything down. The Macbook Pro does have USB 2, FireW 400 and 800.

Thanks again, Phil, Tony, and ModeManual.

[cdifoto]

I have two of these because I use my SD slot too:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/446771-REG/Sandisk_SDDRX3_3IN1R_Extreme_USB_2_0_Card.html

[Tdragone]

Also; look into cardbus -> CD adapters. The cardbus interface is WAY faster than 'standard pcmcia' even though the two are the exact same shape.

If you look on ebay and it's less than 10.00; even though it says cardbus.. It' probably isn't.

*disclaimer. I'm not sure if cardbus is compatible or avaliable on a mac; but I mention it since pcmcia was mentioned here.

-Tom D

[PhotoJourno]

Will check it out, Tom. This Mac has an Express slot, which I have no idea what it can house. Went to the local stores today, and they all offered -actually one tried to sell over and over- the USB 2.0 version of the card reader, but frankly, with such a large amount of memory (this last trip I came back with close to 16Gb of image files, most raw 10mpx) I would rather spend my money towards speed, Firewire 800.

I am now about to call the Mac store next town over, and see what they have to offer.

As soon as I get one, I will be glad to report how it worked out, and time the same download (transfer of files, I guess) in USB, USB2, and Firewire 800. Theory always dictates huge increases of speed, while reality does not often back it up with facts.

Cheers,

[Screamer]

Also; look into cardbus -> CD adapters. The cardbus interface is WAY faster than 'standard pcmcia' even though the two are the exact same shape.

If you look on ebay and it's less than 10.00; even though it says cardbus.. It' probably isn't.

*disclaimer. I'm not sure if cardbus is compatible or avaliable on a mac; but I mention it since pcmcia was mentioned here.

-Tom D

Actually MacBook Pros use the ExpressCard, like most newer laptops it uses the narrower ExpressCard 34 size rather than the full width ExpresCard 54.

The sexy solution would be a CF ExpressCard adaptor that would fit flush...but, because of CFs size, only two options exist. The wider ExpressCard 54 (which won't work on most laptops), or using a card reader that sticks out to accomodate the CF card. I would not favor this solution, it's just asking for a broken card at some point.

It's a realy shame because the ExpressCard 34 width is only a couple of mm narrower than a CF Card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExpressCard