Speed of 2Gb Hitachi Microdrive vs Sandisk Ultra II?

[ingenus]

How does the Hitachi compare with fast CF cards in terms of raw speed? 2Gb Hitachi £165, 1Gb Sandisk Ultra II £150. Which is more appropriate for 20D?

[Ronin]

Compact Flash is always faster than Microdrives, aren't they?

[Boosting1Bar]

How does the Hitachi compare with fast CF cards in terms of raw speed? 2Gb Hitachi £165, 1Gb Sandisk Ultra II £150. Which is more appropriate for 20D?

Think Yugo (microdrive) vs. Ferrari (ultraII).

[nosquare2003]

If you put them on a card reader, a fast CF card will be much faster. But if you put them in a slow P&S, there may not be any difference. Check the sticky thread and choose the all the best link there. There should be a link to Robgalbraith CF card speed database on different DSLR.

[Morden]

Check the sticky thread and choose the all the best link there. There should be a link to Robgalbraith CF card speed database on different DSLR.

To save time, here is that link...

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007

[nosquare2003]

Check the sticky thread and choose the all the best link there. There should be a link to Robgalbraith CF card speed database on different DSLR.

To save time, here is that link...

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007


Thanks. I just remember a link there...and there's a lot of good sites for new guys to visit...

[lcoleman]

The new microdrives are very fast. What I think others are remembering is the 10D speed with them. The combo of 10D and Microdrive did not perform well, but it was due to a bottleneck with the 10d and not the microdrive.

The Rob Galbraith noted above does not show the specific cards asked about for the 20D in the original post, but it does show enough info to get a good guess at how the two cards will perform.

The 1D II database shows a RAW write speed for the following:

Sandisk Ultra II 1GB 3.91 MB/sec
Hitachi Microdrive 4GB 3.58 MB/sec

The 20D is not in the database yet, but Rob's review of the 20D showed that it was even faster than the 1D II in write speed. The two closest cards to the original poster inquiry are:

Sandisk Extreme 1GB 5.65 MB/sec
Hitachi Microdrive 4 GB 4.24 MB/sec

While the Microdrives are not as fast as the fastest CF cards, they are among the top performers with the new cameras. I think they are worth considering.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Indeed,..

In the 20D and MkII the Hitachi Microdrives are in the top contenders for speed in writing.. much much faster than a "normal" CF and as fast as some of the fastest CF cards.

Where MD's still trail dramtically is acces time.. this is not a concern when writing files.. but it greatly slows the "review" aspect.

If you shoot with MD drives.. make SURE you turn OFF the review mode for fastest timings.

[tommykjensen]

Just tested the microdrive again in ISO 100 and with preview off. I could shoot 53 JPEG Large fine in 20 seconds, 89 Small fine in 20 seconds and 20 RAW in 20 seconds.