How fast should card reader download your pictures?

[lukasgunar]

Hello folks,
I've just bought my second card reader. My first one was PCMCIA card for my CF card (SanDisk Extreme III). As downloading of 2GB card takes more than 30 minutes and my 4GB card almost an hour, I was really disappointed. So I decided to buy USB 2.0 card reader. I've just got it I tried to download almost full 2GB CF card. It takes about 12 minutes. I'm just wondering if it's OK time because I think that downloading images directly from camera takes about the same time if not less, so I'm again little bit disappointed.
Please share your download times.

thanks

[Anke]

Haven't got mine to hand to test but you are better of with a card reader rather than connecting the camera straight to your computer, which has been known to damage cameras.
Remember that the speed is also card dependent as well as reader dependent.

[vincewchan]

2GB of pictures took me about 10minutes to transfer onto my comp with a cheap USB reader (5 years old). I'm thinking of upgrading it to,

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(1145)-SDDR-89-A15-SanDisk_ImageMate_12in1_ReaderWriter.aspx

or

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(2012)-SDDRX3-3in1-901-SanDisk_Extreme_20_USB_Reader.aspx

I'm not sure which one is faster though.

[lukasgunar]

Haven't got mine to hand to test but you are better of with a card reader rather than connecting the camera straight to your computer, which has been known to damage cameras.
Remember that the speed is also card dependent as well as reader dependent.

Thank you Anke. I know that it's card dependent, that's why I mentioned my type of card and I think it's pretty fast one.

2GB of pictures took me about 10minutes to transfer onto my comp with a cheap USB reader (5 years old). I'm thinking of upgrading it to,

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(1145)-SDDR-89-A15-SanDisk_ImageMate_12in1_ReaderWriter.aspx (http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item%281145%29-SDDR-89-A15-SanDisk_ImageMate_12in1_ReaderWriter.aspx)

or

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(2012)-SDDRX3-3in1-901-SanDisk_Extreme_20_USB_Reader.aspx (http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item%282012%29-SDDRX3-3in1-901-SanDisk_Extreme_20_USB_Reader.aspx)

I'm not sure which one is faster though.

Thanks Vince. So maybe yours doesn't need upgrade as mine is brand new (maybe it was staying somewhere in the warehouse for 5 years as well as it takes even more time to mine than to yours :)).

Please anybody else, if your card reader downloads pictures much faster, just reply e.g. 5 minutes 2 GB or so. All your answers are welcome.
thanks

[TeeJay]

....but you are better of with a card reader rather than connecting the camera straight to your computer, which has been known to damage cameras....

How does connecting your camera to a computer via a USB cable "damage your camera"?

TJ

[Lotto]

First time ever for me to time the card/reader speed: 1.98 GB of RAW and a 4 GB 266x CF card---write to CF card from PC -> 3 min 30 seconds, download from card reader to PC ->2 min 10 seconds.

[lukasgunar]

First time ever for me to time the card/reader speed: 1.98 GB of RAW and a 4 GB 266x CF card---write to CF card from PC -> 3 min 30 seconds, download from card reader to PC ->2 min 10 seconds.

Many thanks Lotto.
Now I know that my speed is really bad so even my second card reader is not what I was expecting.
Can you tell me what card reader do you have?

And once again thanks for measuring this for me.

[tommykjensen]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=4279352&postcount=5

[Lotto]

I have 2 of these CF readers made by "iDOTConnect", $7 each at store give-away days, but d/l speed is the best I got out of my 5 CF readers.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1621517&CatId=942

[lukasgunar]

I have 2 of these CF readers made by "iDOTConnect", $7 each at store give-away days, but d/l speed is the best I got out of my 5 CF readers.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1621517&CatId=942

Excellent information.
Many thanks, I do really appreciate all your effort with this as probably nobody else is having card reader or they're just too lazy to write 4 words :D.

[tommykjensen]

Excellent information.
Many thanks, I do really appreciate all your effort with this as probably nobody else is having card reader or they're just too lazy to write 4 words :D.

Hmmm I linked to a post I made previously. No point in repeating the same information when a link will do ;)

[Anke]

How does connecting your camera to a computer via a USB cable "damage your camera"?

TJ

Not sure how, but there have been cases I have read of cameras being fried from doing so. So I don't take the risk.

[ChasP505]

Please share your download times.

I just read through this thread and it's got me wondering what kind of poor PC's and USB card readers are you all using! My home PC has a multi-card reader built into it, connected directly to a Belkin USB 2.0 card on the motherboard. At the office I use a SanDisk ImageMate 9-in-1 USB 2.0 cardreader (about $35 USD) plugged into a Linksys USB hub. In both cases as soon as I insert a full 2gb SanDisk Ultra II card it's recognized immediately and downloading photos from the card to the PC is about as fast as moving files from one folder to another on the main hard drive. I'm talking less than a minute.

[lukasgunar]

Hmmm I linked to a post I made previously. No point in repeating the same information when a link will do ;)

Hey Tommy,
I haven't considered yourself as the one without card-reader or the one being lazy.
Of course I'm grateful to the info you've provided. Thank you!

[René Damkot]

According to Rob Galbraiths tests (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8462), the Sandisk Ultra 2 is capable of about 11 MB/sec max. That would give a transfer time of around 3 minutes. (I get about 4 minutes with my USB2 card reader)

One of the fastest card readers (AFAIK) is the Sandisk FW Extreme card reader (http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(2006)-SDDRX4-CF-SanDisk_Extreme_FireWire_Reader.aspx). Capable of about 40MB/sec with the proper cards. That would give a transfer time of just under a minute if my math is correct.

[lukasgunar]

I just read through this thread and it's got me wondering what kind of poor PC's and USB card readers are you all using! My home PC has a multi-card reader built into it, connected directly to a Belkin USB 2.0 card on the motherboard. At the office I use a SanDisk ImageMate 9-in-1 USB 2.0 cardreader (about $35 USD) plugged into a Linksys USB hub. In both cases as soon as I insert a full 2gb SanDisk Ultra II card it's recognized immediately and downloading photos from the card to the PC is about as fast as moving files from one folder to another on the main hard drive. I'm talking less than a minute.

Hello Chas,
many of us use notebooks so that's why external card readers ;).
This is exactly the info I was looking for. I needed to hear that the downloading time I'm getting is really miserable. At least I know that there's something better on the market which I won't buy in the near future as I already bought 2 crappy ones :D and my GF wouldn't be very happy to see me bying the third one :D.

Thank you all for your responses.
All are much appreciated.

cheers

[ChasP505]

OK... for a change I actually shot something other than real estate photos this morning. The migrating water birds are passing through New Mexico so I went down to the Rio Grande Nature Center and shot some ducks and geese, almost filling my 2gb card. I didn't put a stopwatch on it but the photos downloaded to my hard drive in about one minute.

[ChasP505]

According to Rob Galbraiths tests (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8462), the Sandisk Ultra 2 is capable of about 11 MB/sec max. That would give a transfer time of around 3 minutes.

Huh... go figure! Well, I grew up in New York City. Ever hear the expression "a New York minute"? ;)

[samsen]

Many thanks Lotto.
Now I know that my speed is really bad so even my second card reader is not what I was expecting.
Can you tell me what card reader do you have?

And once again thanks for measuring this for me.


Make sure you have noticed the OP's card speed i.e. 266x CF card So make sure you compare orange with orange and not pumpkins.

[lukasgunar]

Make sure you have noticed the OP's card speed i.e. 266x CF card So make sure you compare orange with orange and not pumpkins.

Hey Samsen,
I've intentially mentioned my CF type when I started my thread. It's SanDisk Extreme III which is not slow card at all. So the problem is in my card and not in the speed of card.
But your point is correct.

[Vortex99]

Hey Samsen,
I've intentially mentioned my CF type when I started my thread. It's SanDisk Extreme III which is not slow card at all. So the problem is in my card and not in the speed of card.
But your point is correct.

What are your computer specs?

[Wilt]

Do not forget that it is also dependent upon the speed of your computer (processor, harddrive and its controller, bus), and is not solely dependent upon the input device (reader)

[Stump]

It takes me about 4 minutes with a Lexar card reader from walmart and a 2gb Lexar CF card thats full. According to Vista its transfers about 6-7mb per second.

[Grentz]

Using a Atech flash USB 2.0 Card Reader connected directly to my mainboard it transfers at around 2.5 MB/sec acording to Vista. This is with a Sandisk Ultra II 2gb CF card.

I am looking for a new card reader :p but for now it works fine, just put it in and do something else for awhile :)

[lukasgunar]

What are your computer specs?

I've recently tried it on 2 laptops.
One of them is Dell Latitude D620, Intel Pentium Dual 2.0 GHz Core2, 2GB RAM, 80GB HDD (I'm not sure what rpm).
Definitely it's not a crappy computer and the download speed is not the best.

[Vortex99]

I've recently tried it on 2 laptops.
One of them is Dell Latitude D620, Intel Pentium Dual 2.0 GHz Core2, 2GB RAM, 80GB HDD (I'm not sure what rpm).
Definitely it's not a crappy computer and the download speed is not the best.

True!
Sometimes its the obvious that is overlooked.... ie usb 1.1 are the type of speeds you are getting.

Can't see that being the case here....

Hope you figure it out! Cause thats a lot of wasted time.....

[cfcRebel]

I have a USB2.0 card reader and the transfer speed/rate i get from my 2GB card is similar to Lukas'. However, my hard disk is an IDE ATA100, 7200rpm. I suspect Lukas' laptop has similar hard disk or lower 5400rpm disk. If I upgrade to SATA disk, i think it would help the transfer rate from CF to HD via the same exact card reader.

[KirkHMB]

I have the Kingston 15 -1 card reader as reported in the Galbraith report linked above. Mine can do a Sandisk 2Gb extreme III in about 3 minutes, with a 3 year old computer on USB2.0. On USB1.1, thats 18 minutes or more. Never put a watch on the USB2.0, but the count down on the 1.1 starts average, then gets higher.

[cfcRebel]

Those who reported 3 minutes download or less, are you downloading to a SATA disk or regular IDE ATA disk? If it makes a big improvement in speed, I probably should upgrade the hard disk.

[KirkHMB]

I'm thinking mines an IDE, don't recall.

[Nightcrawler]

I tested my 8GB Transcend card. I was able to read about 4GB of RAW files at about 15 MB/s. I have a SanDisk USB 2.0 reader.