How long does it take you to transfer files from card to computer?

I think it may be time for a new computer, or at least a faster hard drive. I shoot RAW & large jpeg (I don't know how to change the settings to RAW/small jpeg, so if you know, please let me know). I usually shoot about 100 images/day, so that's 200 pics to transfer. I put the card in the card reader, then sort by type, cut and paste all of the jpegs first, then do all of the RAW's last. I split them because I keep a folder for each date, then jpegs & RAW's each have their own folder.

...anyhow, transferring all 200 images (100/100) takes me around 30-40 minutes to transfer. This seems crazy long to me, but I want to make sure before I spend unnecessary cash on a drive that will produce the same results.

How long does/should it take to transfer 100/100 images?

Thanks,

~Steve

A. get a faster card or a faster reader, I don't think it has anything to do with the computer itself unless you've got a really full hard drive.

My files take ages too, but I don't care, I just let it be.

On average, I would say 10-12 minutes for my card reader to transfer via usb 2.0 into Lightroom to external drive A and backup external drive B.

I had an issue a while back.
I had a USB hub that claimed to be a USB2.0 hub. I plugged my card reader into it to transfer pictures and it took forever. I never knew it could take less time until I had to use my wife's, WAY SLOWER, PC to transfer some pictures. She had a built in multi-card reader. The picture transferred so fast I was completely amazed. I tried plugging my reader straight into the computer's USB port and WOW my pictures transferred at lightning speed.

Make sure your PC and card reader are USB2.0 or higher, and try to plug it straight into a USB port on you PC.

On a real USB2.0 card reader, your transfer rate should be fast enough to transfer 1 raw file every 1-2sec. Card performanc has nothing to do with it, at least not significantly so. Even the older cf from 3-4 years ago are at least 133x(15mb/s).

Have you tried transfering using the camera body?

Transferring from the camera body was even slower. The card reader I have is built in to my PC, so maybe I need a new one. I'm using class 10 cards (30mb/s), so the card should be good.

Changing from RAW/Small JPEG should be pretty straight forward on that camera.

As for the image transfers, if your buying a new pc, id suggest one that has a usb 3.0 port on it, i have on my laptop and a usb 3.0 connection on my hard drive and its very fast.

I use a Sandisk USB 2.0 CF reader and my 4 gig Sandisk Extreme III cards when full, take about 4 minutes to transfer over to my hard drive.

The card reader is a wonky design though as it occasionally reports to the computer as only being a USB 1.0 device and when that happens, I need to unplug it and plug it back in again to report correctly. And I have 2 of these devices and both act up in a similar fashion. Does anyone know of a more reliable external drive device?

Cheers!

I just got this from B&H and it seems to work perfectly...

Delkin Devices MEMORY CARD READER UNIVERSAL USB 3.0
$34.95 USD

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …3_0_Universal_M​emory.html

it's fast enough here that i don't worry about it. i've got a Kingston card reader.

What computer are you using? Do you know if the built-in reader is a USB 1 or USB 2? [I doubt you have a USB 3 as relatively new]

Guys and gals, when you mention your image transfer time, please include the total file size you were transferring. Otherwise, saying yours only uses 10 ~ 12 minutes does not help because 10 mins transferring 200mb of data Vs 2Gb data makes a HUGE difference.

To the OP, i have an old computer and a cheapo multi-card reader. The transfer rate is about 2.75Mb/s via USB2.0.

USB 2.0, my transfer rate is 12-15Mb/s. New-ish computer and cheapo CF card reader. I thought that was slow, but 30 minutes for 200 raws is insane (even if they are 30Mb each). I couldn't live with that.

The inbuilt SDHC card reader seems OK too with an 8Mb Sandisk Ultra card rated at 15Mb/s. Just downloaded 350Mb of raws in less than 20 s.

Sometimes computer to my USB file transfers slow down to 2-3Mb/s and I've never figured put why and if it starts doing that I usually just use my portable hard drive to move files instead.

dexy101 wrote in post #14273891
Changing from RAW/Small JPEG should be pretty straight forward on that camera.

As for the image transfers, if your buying a new pc, id suggest one that has a usb 3.0 port on it, i have on my laptop and a usb 3.0 connection on my hard drive and its very fast.

This.

I cannot stress enough just how much faster I've found USB 3.0. "Blazing" is probably an appropriate word.

My desktop computer is ancient with USB 1 built in reader. A 4gig card takes around 35 minutes to unload... My laptop - only minutes.