Card to PC transfer rate

[Roosta]

Just finished reading Kiwi's thread on "How do you transfer your images to pc"

I have two Sandisk 8gb cards, 1 @ 30mbs 1 2 60mbs.

Currently from DSLR via USB2 cable to Late model Intel 5 processed PC Win 7 via Bridge, I've tried DPP and it seems to be a tad slower. Last night it took nearly 2 1/2 hrs to pull 264 images (RAW Only) I am only transfering to start with, no renaming or fiddling, just extracting files off card to HD.

Is there a quicker way in DPP or an option in Bridge that can help?

Is a card reader going to likely help me?

Any help would be great.

Cheers

[DAdeGroot]

A good card reader will help a LOT. I know when I had the old 400D, transfer speeds were woeful (like yours above). The 5DII and 1DIV have much improved transfer speeds (as fast as my old card reader), but there are faster readers out there than that too.

Look at the Sandisk Extreme readers.

[Roosta]

Thanks Dave, thats what I was thinking, but wanted some re-assurance. I gave the 300 F4 a bash over the weekend (Nice lens), will put out some shots maybe tomorrow, took so long to get the pics of the card last night. I now no the 400 would be focal overkill.

Thanks again.

[falke]

I usually download about 100 x (11 to 17 MB files) in about 1 minute roughly with a $10 USB SD reader stick. It was only recently that I stopped uploading straight though the camera because I mangled the mini usb connector (need glasses). But the USB card reader is just as fast.
I think and hope the USB 3.0 speeds will even be faster, but I also wonder how cameras will need to respond to that or whether our old SD cards will be up-loadable much faster too.

[arthurking83]

2 hours!!..

1/2 and hour!!??? :eek:

crikey.. there must be an issue with your USB2 system.. that is woefully slow.

Elaborating on Davids reply, make that advice a good quality card reader will help.

I have many and varied, one purchased as in add in 5 1/2" drive bay reader/USB/eSATA/Audio port, and this thing connected to an internal USB2 port. reading off a card(I only ever transferred images direct from card, never from camera).
Transfer speed was ok. I used to get 400 25M raw files(basically 8gigs worth) in about 1/2 an hour or so from memory. maybe 45mins.

I recently got myself a new faster.. sorry make that much faster CF card, and the camera buffer seemed to like it.. about 10x better than the old slow card I use.(both new and old are 8gig cards).
Problem with new card is that the built in add in card reader port don't like it.. hates it in fact and won't recognise the card(even tho, the add in device says it supports Sandisk's 90Mb/s cards.. which this new fast card emulates).
So, I'm now having to transfer the images direct from the camera for the first time, but this is a kind'a good thing to do. card/camera to PC transfers are about half the time, as the old built in card reader. Basically 4 or 6 gigs of images(raw of course) takes about 10-15 mins. Coudlnt' beleive the eyeballs at first, so I loaded soem random files of all kinds and did it again.. 20mins or so for close to 8gigs of random, non camera type files(camera acts as a mass storage device) and I'm happy as larry. BUT, I hate having to connect the camera cable, getting the camera out, pulling the rubber door cover open and closing it again.. etc, etc.. PITA city.

Then I remember that I had/have other USB2 card readers all over the shop(in my den) and yep! there they were... 3 of them. One of them was purchased with the advice from a well known PC shop to be fast(the Apacer reader). In general it's faster than the USB1 readers I got. But in comparison to the camera transfer, the rate is about half again.. so back to 30-45mins or so, to transfer close to a full card(approx 6+gigs, or about 250+ raw files).
This so called USB2 Apacer brand card reader is woefully slow, and no faster than the USB1 readers(now).

FWIW, I do remember that long ago, when I got the Apacer reader, it did seem a lot faster, and that why I never took it back to the shop and complained :confused013
But now, on a new faster PC system, it's nowhere near as much faster as I remember it to be.

So! I reckon a GOOD quality card reader(say from Sandisk or other high end company) may help to speed up transfers. But I think 2 1/2 hrs for only 260 images sounds woefully slow.

ALSO! The data transfer rates you read on the cards are for read speeds(which are faster than write speeds). That is the 30 or 60(or 90!!)Mb/s speeds you read are for the transfer of images to your PC. Sure the card writes a lot faster too, but the advantage is in the ability to clear the card quickly and re use it(if the conditions of the shoot require that purpose).

There are a few USB3 card readers about for sale on various sites, but they look dodgey. All Chinese branded no name jobs, which I don't fully trust to do the job of transferring card data faster than what I already have at my disposal.
eSATA is fast. A lot faster than USB2. I've also looked for eSATA card readers, and kind'a lost interest again.. not important enough ATM, as I'm happy enough with what I got.


Also of note: I'm not using any fancy pants transfer software, I use a Nikon specific program called Nikon Transfer, more for it's ability to do various tagging things to the images, and the ability to display thumnails clearly.

other things you could look into is USB driver issues, or try various USB ports. Rear ports apparently are more solid in their transfer ability(so I've read), but no specific info on whether that's for speed, or data integrity, or what??
I personally haven't noticed any difference in using either front or rear ports, but if you have other devices connected to the front ports as well(bluetooth dongles/phone adapters/connectors/keyboards/printers, etc) they may be sharing bandwidth on that specific USB hub. You'll get various listings for USB ports, as they can operate as individual ports, or in pairs or quads or whatever, each motherboard works differently.

anyhow.. some more food for thought.

[peterking]

I'll agree with Arthur. If it took that long to empty a card then you have a system problem. I also have used DPP to download images direct from my camera via USB and 8GB less than ten minutes. One main difference is I use a Mac.
As Arthur pointed out, if you have a spare rear port use that. Front ports are not always directly connected to the main board. This has to do with how ports are connected to the main board. If it is direct then the speed is good. If it is via a card or another port then there is a processing lag. Also avoid using a bus powered hub. This can slow it down again. If you must use a hub make sure it is powered.
I have just managed to get a Sandisk Extreme FW800 reader and it does not make a lot of difference compared to direct from camera. Mind you it has to work through a hub.
From previous experience I did have problems with USB CF readers some time ago and ended up throwing a couple of branded ones away as for some unknown reason they stopped working properly on USB2 and were defaulting back to USB1.
There are a couple of nasty tricks I have used in the past to uninstall a device then shut the system down (don't use restart) then when the system is started again it reloads the required drivers.

[Kerro]

A card reader is quicker than USB right off the camera.

[Roosta]

Sorry firstly, I just noticed I type PC, should read laptop, It has 3 USB2 ports, all at the sides, so I guess they are dirrect to the board.

Thanks Arthur, Peter. I was looking at the Sandisk range of reader for my CF cards. Thanks falke, I sometimes wish I had the smaller card, and have heard that the SD is very quick to transfer.

Arthur, you mentioned "eSATA is fast. A lot faster than USB2" does my laptop need to have anyhting to use this or does it come with drivers and so forth, can you send any goog links please. I would love 8Gb in 30-40 mins, that would be a huge improvement on what I'm currently getting. Is there a site to research you can recommend ?

Arthur "ALSO! The data transfer rates you read on the cards are for read speeds(which are faster than write speeds). That is the 30 or 60(or 90!!)Mb/s speeds you read are for the transfer of images to your PC. Sure the card writes a lot faster too, but the advantage is in the ability to clear the card quickly and re use it(if the conditions of the shoot require that purpose)." Got that, thats why I went for the 60Mbs over the 30Mbs, but the transfer rate is still the same? Giving me the runs over that.

I think I'll look into the Sandick reader, Stu @ Quality camera has some on his site, BUT, Peter you mentioned that the "Sandisk Extreme FW800 reader and it does not make a lot of difference compared to direct from camera" So what/which to look at ??

Peter, It's been like this since day I got the 50D, My old Oly is slow, but I just thought thats what you go with trying to transfer a loty of RAW shots, but obviously not. I don't know about system problem ? not to clued up on the the computer stuff, might need to catch up with you, been looking for an excuse.

Thanks for the advice.

Cheers Kerro.

[arthurking83]

..... Got that, thats why I went for the 60Mbs over the 30Mbs, but the transfer rate is still the same? Giving me the runs over that.

......

which simply means that the system is the bottleneck, not the card.

as new technology becomes available, eg USB3 or eSATA or other, which exceeds the speeds of the card itself, you'll then see the difference.

the write speed is still faster on the 'faster cards' so there is still an advantage of having a faster card on a fast enough camera. Buffer clears faster, so high frame rates for longer periods are maintained.

[Roosta]

Arthur, would it be in my intrest to still get a reader and transfer images to a HD and bypass Laptop if possible, or is it still dependent on what my Laptop can handle. There seems to be some good deals and readers on the Cheapchips site, Lexar and Sandisk $20 odd to $40 odd ??

Or can I get something done to Laptop to get a better transfer rate?

Sorry to be a pain, but you seem fairly up to speed (pardon the pun) on the matter.

Cheers

[arthurking83]

I'm not really following on how you'd bypass the laptop by using a card reader to a HD :confused:

a card reader has to be connected to a PC of some kind(always).

The computer's USB system is dependent on the USB chip that the motherboard manufacturer used(could be any brand), but the first port of call is the drivers download area of the laptops manufacturer webiste(see if there are any system driver updates).. BTW, it pays to always keep up to speedwith the latest drivers from the devices manufacturer too.. not just the computer vendors site(I'll quickly explain at the end).

I've also replied to your card reader thread, and I say get a card reader at the high end. In the long run the extra expense is forgotten, and the pain of waiting over two hours for images onto computer is long gone :th3:

Drivers!!

I have a fairly recent PC running now, and for a few months now, I've noticed a lot of troubles with my DVDRW drive. :confused013
I have no idea on how or why, or what,other than it sometimes doesn't recognise any disks, no matter if it's blank, written too or what! The issue is intermittent and generally a problem. Noticed it about October, 3 months or so after the last Windows re-install. Note Windows re-install... I've never had any issues getting the drive to read the Win 7 install DVD, but now I'm getting troubles doing anything with any type of disk.
I wanted to burn a CD of images for my neice, and had a massive problem doing so. I eventually resorted to downloading a copy of a program called CDBurnerXP(free) and it worked perfectly at burning the image files to the CD, even tho Windows kept telling me the drive was empty/unrecognisable/not a writable drive, or woudl simply freeze up at the idea of telling me anything at all.
Checked the ASUS(my motherboard brand) website for any new drivers.. etc, etc.. and basically never dealt with the issue until early this month(Feb). I simply used this CDBurnerXP to burn disks, and just never used the drive to read disks.
No drivers and so forth, and yet, for no apparent reason, this idea struck me to check the manufacturer of the IDE controller(JMicron) to see what drivers they had.
The DVD is the only device that runs on this IDE controller, all hdds are SATA and use the AHCI controller/drivers.. easy peasy. new drivers galore, about 12 variants of new drivers, whereas ASUS only had the orignial (eg v3.01 driver) JMicron had something like v3.12, and each minor update from 3.02 up to this 3.12!

DVD drive works flawlessly in every aspect now and CDBurnerXP is now redundant(but still used, as it's an OK program).

Also check in the device manager for the USB port that you connect too. Connect the device(camera or card reader) and look at the listing for each controller, there will be many USB controllers listed in the device manager some will be Enhanced Host controllers, others will be OHC or OpenHCD, right click each one and check the advanced tab to see what's connected and how much bandwidth is being used.
Chances are that you'll find nothing of importance here, but you should check to be sure!
That is: is there a built in webcam, built into the lid of the lappie but connected via an internal USB port? If so, is it connected to the same external USB port that you've connected the camera too. If so, is this webcam active and using 50% or the bandwidth allocation. You will see that for each USB port, there is a system reserved value(maybe 10%, or so)... etc, etc ....

I still don't think camera connections should be that slow!

[Roosta]

Shall look into this Arthur, I have a good Computer shop not far from home, so I might get them to take a quick look if I get stuck, I will check for drivers as mentioned, didn't think to check that.

Once again, Thnaks,

[Wobbles]

Roosta,
just confirming what most have said.. I have a fairly basic laptop but I can download a full 8MB Sandisk Extreme (over 300 RAW images) in well under 10 minutes. Please note the newer Canon cameras (50D included) are UDMA enabled, when used with UDMA CF cards (such as the new Sandisk Extreme's) will give very fast download speeds... in fact faster than most "cheap" (non-UDMA) external card readers.

Cheers
John

[Roosta]

Cheers John, Do you use the Sandisk/Lexar or another brand of Reader if I may ask?

[Wobbles]

Cheers John, Do you use the Sandisk/Lexar or another brand of Reader if I may ask?

I got one of these from CC http://www.cheapchips.com.au/memory/lexar-professional-udma-dual-slot-usb-reader.html fastest USB2 one plus does CF & SD cards.

Cheers
John

[Wayne]

I dont think you have a system issue at all. I have a Swann USB2 card reader and it is woeful, take forever and if your camera only supports usb v1 then it will take forever. Get a Sandisk Extreme FW or expresscard34/54 (if you have those ports) as this will make huge improvements. I use the Sandisk Extreme Expresscard on my max spec Macbook Pro and I transfer an 8GB Sandisk Extreme 60MB/s almost full of RAW files with rename, and Metadata in around 5 mins or less. Night and day to transfering from the cameras or using cheap chinese no name readers.

[Roosta]

I dont think you have a system issue at all. I have a Swann USB2 card reader and it is woeful, take forever and if your camera only supports usb v1 then it will take forever. Get a Sandisk Extreme FW or expresscard34/54 (if you have those ports) as this will make huge improvements. I use the Sandisk Extreme Expresscard on my max spec Macbook Pro and I transfer an 8GB Sandisk Extreme 60MB/s almost full of RAW files with rename, and Metadata in around 5 mins or less. Night and day to transfering from the cameras or using cheap chinese no name readers.

Cheers Wayne, I'm going to get on of these "http://www.cheapchips.com.au/memory/sandisk-imagemate-all-in-one-readerwriter-up-to-34mbsec.html" when Cheapchips have one, was thinking of the Lexar equiv, but the wife has 2 older P&S that hace XD and SD cards, so the Sandisk won out.

Thanks again for the info.