Need a fast card reader

[alphaod]

You guys have any recommendations on a card reader that's FAST. I mean I need it to be as fast as possible. Right now I'm using this supposedly fast card reader, but it's terribly slow. I have a ExpressCard Reader and a USB reader, both cheap generic ones.

Normally I don't care, but recently I've decided to switch to RAW files, so loading all my pics on a slow drive is very very annoying.

And I know it's not the memory card. It's an Extreme III (sure not the not a IV), but still it's pretty pathetic how the slow the reader is.

What do you guys recommend? I'm willing to spend the money if the it's worth it.

 

[Eidorian]

FireWire 800 fast...

 

[Westside guy]

An ExpressCard reader should be significantly faster than anything you can plug into Firewire 400 or 800. My Delkin ExpressCard 34 CF reader is amazingly fast.

You say it's not your card - how do you know that? Have you tried more than one card/brand in your reader?

Edit: Actually what I typed isn't quite true. ExpressCard is capable of significantly higher speed than Firewire 400 or 800. However UDMA cards can be slower than even Firewire 400, so the interface shouldn't be the limiting factor.

 

[alphaod]

FireWire 800 fast...

Looks nice, but it also looks kind of big. Thanks anyways!

An ExpressCard reader should be significantly faster than anything you can plug into Firewire 400 or 800. My Delkin ExpressCard 34 CF reader is amazingly fast.

If it's as fast as the review says, I'll try it out. Thanks!

EDIT: Amazon reviews are scaring me; says it crashes the Macs a lot. This the same one you have I'm guessing?

You say it's not your card - how do you know that? Have you tried more than one card/brand in your reader?

Yes, friends have borrowed my reader and they have complained about it's slow speeds. Many use different brands from Sandisk, to Lexar, to Transcend, etc. They also have other readers that are faster, but still no fast enough.

 

[termina3]

Looks nice, but it also looks kind of big. Thanks anyways!

Almost all of them will be around that large…*maybe a bit smaller, but not by much.

I use a Hoodman UDMA FW 800 and get ~72 D300 JPEGs across in a minute. It's slightly smaller than the Lexar reader already mentioned, but not stackable.

 

[Westside guy]

EDIT: Amazon reviews are scaring me; says it crashes the Macs a lot. This the same one you have I'm guessing?

That is exactly the one I have (I didn't buy it from Amazon though).

I haven't had any trouble with it. I followed the installation instructions, which means I downloaded the drivers from Delkin's website and installed them before plugging in the card. I also do the opposite of one of those "problem" reviewers - I have no trouble when putting the card in the reader first, then inserting the reader into the ExpressCard slot (I'm using it the way you're supposed to, in other words).

I don't want to discount the possibility that there's some real problem with this card and certain Macs. However, whenever I read about a small number of people running into problems that I don't experience, I wonder if there's some untold part of the story; e.g. they're running haxies or something else that might affect the stability of the OS, or they're running it with a version of OS X that's less than the minimum specified by Delkin.

 

[John T]

Looks nice, but it also looks kind of big. Thanks anyways!

I'm sorry but fail to see what the size has to do with anything! I thought you were after speed?

 

[cube]

I want a FireWire UDMA multireader.

 

[sonor]

I use a SanDisk Firewire card reader. I think it works out at less then 2 seconds for each 16MB RAW D200 image I pull off the card.

 

[Elektronkind]

You guys have any recommendations on a card reader that's FAST. I mean I need it to be as fast as possible. Right now I'm using this supposedly fast card reader, but it's terribly slow. I have a ExpressCard Reader and a USB reader, both cheap generic ones.

I use the SIIG Hi-Speed ExpressCard CF R/W on my MacBook Pro with no problem, and it's blazing fast with my SanDisk Extreme III 4GB cards.

Just be sure to unmount the drive before removing the card or you'll get a kernel panic.

I also use the aforementioned Lexar FW800 CF card reader on my Mac Pro. It's not too big... about the size of a mouse, really.

/dale

 

[alphaod]

I'm sorry but fail to see what the size has to do with anything! I thought you were after speed?

I guess it doesn't but the more portable the better. I am after speed, but the bigger the readers get, the bigger the bags I carry must be. The ExpressCard reader looks slim enough.

 

[Wotan31]

I guess it doesn't but the more portable the better. I am after speed, but the bigger the readers get, the bigger the bags I carry must be. The ExpressCard reader looks slim enough.

If portability is a requirement, why didn't you mention that in your original post? What are you afraid of? Don't disguise the truth. Raise your RESERVE before satan BIDS on your SOUL!!!

 

[alphaod]

If portability is a requirement, why didn't you mention that in your original post? What are you afraid of? Don't disguise the truth. Raise your RESERVE before satan BIDS on your SOUL!!!

Not a requirement, just a preference.

I'm afraid of a lot of things.

 

[Westside guy]

Okay, this morning I plugged my Delkin ExpressCard reader into the computer - and the computer locked up, then reboot. That hadn't happened before.

After rebooting, I plugged it in again and everything went fine. But I thought I should report that I've now seen the issue.

 

[alphaod]

Okay, this morning I plugged my Delkin ExpressCard reader into the computer - and the computer locked up, then reboot. That hadn't happened before.

After rebooting, I plugged it in again and everything went fine. But I thought I should report that I've now seen the issue.

Well I just ordered that one from Amazon. Hopefully it will all be good.

 

[Westside guy]

Well I just ordered that one from Amazon. Hopefully it will all be good.

I've used mine a couple more times today (I'm running a used lens through its paces before committing to it, so I'm taking a lot of test shots) - haven't run into any more problems.