Cheap Chips special of the day.

[I @ M]

The inbox had a specials list from site advertiser Cheap Chips this morning and this one caught my eye ( and credit card )

Lexar 8gb cf card and card reader.

[arthurking83]

I'm not sure of how fast your fastest card is, but the increased write speed of the card may be more of a surprise than you originally thought it could have ever been!

I recently went back to my older slower CF card, and it's hard I tell 'ya .. damned hard!

I'm waiting for them to stock the new USB3 version of Lexar's CF card reader.

[Tannin]

Cheers Andrew.

[Scotty72]

Would this reader be significantly faster than the inbuilt one in the front of my PC?

Or would I be wasting my money?

BTW. I've just done a test transfer. I have a 300x 16GB Lexar Pro Card. It seems to average about 10x 18MB raw files per min. I have no idea if that is fast / slow / avg. However, I do know that a full 16GB card (about 1000 pics) can take an age to transfer.

Thanks

[ricktas]

The usb3 card reader is due in this month, just use their site search and type usb3. You can go on their mailing list to be advised when it arrives.

Sent from my iPad

[I @ M]

Arthur, I "think" the new card is about the same speed as the current ones so it will be fine.

Scotty, I don't know a great deal about the speeds of inbuilt readers, I liked the deal they had to grab an external reader for the travel netbook and seeing as I work on the ICAGAMAC ( insert card and go and make a coffee ) principal I didn't really look into how fast it would transfer to the machine at.

[Scotty72]

The usb3 card reader is due in this month, just use their site search and type usb3. You can go on their mailing list to be advised when it arrives.

Sent from my iPad

I can see a hardware upgrade needed to take advantage of USB 3 speeds

[Scotty72]

Arthur, I "think" the new card is about the same speed as the current ones so it will be fine.

Scotty, I don't know a great deal about the speeds of inbuilt readers, I liked the deal they had to grab an external reader for the travel netbook and seeing as I work on the ICAGAMAC ( insert card and go and make a coffee ) principal I didn't really look into how fast it would transfer to the machine at.

That is my preferred method too but, every now and then, I get in a hurry - 'Come on you stupid computer.'

[arthurking83]

Apologies for the confusion Andrew. The speed advantage I was referring too was in fact on the camera.. buffer clearing ability(ie. write speed).

I do similarly as you with this old fashioned(but new fangled naming!! ) ICAGAMAC method... but then again I seem to require copious amounts of coffee, and find myself making more coffee .. during the time I'm enjoying the previous coffee.

I'm curious too ... is it pronounced eye kag a mac, or ika gamac ?

Scotty! Hard to tell about any advantage in getting an external reader. Some readers can be quite speedy, and my 'old' internal card reader was faster in PC transferring stats WITH THE OLD CARD!! (<- very important point here!!)
The only reason I need an external card reader is that with getting a new CF card(one of these 90Mb/s jobs), the internal card reader couldn't recognise the new card for some stupid reason(even tho on the website it says Sandisk extreme compatible).

The 'internal' card reader I have on my PC is simply an add in drive bay accessory(which I think they really all are, and are connected via USB) to an internal USB port. Technically, there will be no difference in speed unless the chipset in the card reader is of a cheapo design. And the fact that it may be marked USB2, as opposed to USB(which refers to USB1) can also make no difference as well.

This is one reason I'm looking at getting a USB3 Lexar(but in no particular rush to do so). I have USB3 ports, and having just recently got myself a USB3 ext HDD there is a major speed advantage for transferring copious amounts of data when compared to USB2 hardware... I'm getting at least 2x speed as a minimum.
I woudln;t invest in a USB2 device right now, even tho USB3 hardware is going to command a premium(in price) over older hardware tech, I reckon that spending that extra little bit now, is still a bit of a saving in the long term.

Eg. I can get myself a USB3 external reader now for $50, or I can get a USB2 device(of decent quality that is!!) for $20(maybe $15) NOW, and then wait a year or so to get a USB3 device for an additional $35(as an example of possible future pricing level). In the end I'm not really saving any money!
Get the USB3 device NOW, even tho you won't get the advantage of the extra speed offered, but in the future, all PC's will have USB3 support, I think within a year all notebooks will have it as standard.. ATM some do, others don't.
Basically it's a matter of time. There aren't many motherboard manufacturers of noteworthy quality that aren't adding USB3 ports to their hardware now.

Each PC's USB subsystem is also gong to have a bearing on ultimate performance too tho.
So where woman's PC is going to give her some advantage in transfer speed in using an external USB card reader, another man's PC may not!
Drivers, USB chipset manufacturer, can make a difference to how quickly your USB system is moving data. I'm not sure that a faster, more powerful, or multiple cored CPU makes any difference to the system tho.. I went from a lowly single core 1.8Ghz CPU to a new system with a quad core 2.5Ghz CPU. USB still seems to be stuck at a maximum of 17Mb/s transfer speed(highest sustained speed I've ever seen).

Having mentioned USB drivers, I think they've matured now to their final end point. That is, I doubt very much that updating your (current) USB drivers to any possible newer version(if it even exists) will make any difference.
USB3 is newer and there is a higher probability that newer drivers may yield even better performance in the long run.

Only reason I had to fish out my old external USB2 reader was to get the files of my new card.
I just acquired a laptop the other day, got it working and now need 'another' external reader which I want specifically for the laptop. Current USB2 reader will go with the lappy, and the newer Lexar USB3 device will go with my USB3 capable desktop.

basically(in the long run). if you want to minimse your ICAGAMAC time from "'Come on you stupid computer." to something more like .. " Cu! ... oh! WOW!! .. cool ... done already? then you will eventually want to get involved with USB3 devices from now on.

[Scotty72]

Doh! my card is 32GB (not 16). hence I can fit 1000+ 18mb files on it