Card Reader

[D Namir]

Is there any advantage anyone found in dual slots or even a new quadro slots reader?
Are there any differences between Lexar, Sundisk and Hoodman? or is there another even better brand name company?
Thanks

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Last time I checked, all the multi-slot readers were USB2.

You're best off with a Firewire 800 reader -- I prefer the Lexar unit. Do not use the Lexar or Sandisk FW800 readers with a FW800 to FW400 adapter or cable! They don't perform properly (data corruption) when connected to FW400!

You can daisy-chain multiple Lexar units. They're made to physically stack and they each include a long cable and a short cable in the box. The readers are fast, right now they are limited by the speed of the CF media, not the reader. With RED 8GB cards, 3 readers more than saturates the bandwidth of the FW800 bus and the RED 16GB cards are said to be faster.

I keep 2 Lexar readers in my kit. Occasionally use them at the same time, but typically the second reader is for redundancy.

 

[Matthew Rogers]

You're best off with a Firewire 800 reader -- I prefer the Lexar unit. Do not use the Lexar or Sandisk FW800 readers with a FW800 to FW400 adapter or cable! They don't perform properly (data corruption) when connected to FW400!

Wow, this 800 to 400 cable issue is news to me. Have you noticed it just on the Lexar reader or also on the SanDisk reader. I haven't noticed any issues with downloading off a SanDisk reader through FW 400 on my wife's iMac. I hope this is bad info as I was planning on using her iMac in the field for downloading. What about hooking up through a RAID-0 that's got FW 800 and hooking up the RAID to the iMac via FW 400?

Matthew

 

[D Namir]

Thanks Jeff

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Matthew,

I've personally seen the Sandisk unit have issues when connected to FW400 via a FW800 to 400 cable on more than one PC. Haven't seen anyone connect one that way to a Mac. I have heard the Lexar has similar problems, but don't recall if PC and / or Mac was ever specified or if it matters. I always go with the combination of FW800 for the reader or RED Drive connection and my offload storage is a RAID volume via eSATA.

I'd test the Lexar readers to see if this is the case, but I don't own any FW800 to 400 adapters or cables.

 

[Paul Hazlett]

Is there any advantage anyone found in dual slots or even a new quadro slots reader?
Are there any differences between Lexar, Sundisk and Hoodman? or is there another even better brand name company?
Thanks

I got a Calumet brand FW800 reader and it works great 50 bux.

 

[George A.]

Does anyone know the downloading time of a 8Gb card through the Delkin CF card-to-ExpressCard34 adapter?

I think I read someplace that it is a bit disappointing - the Lexar F800 is supposed to be a bit better?...

However, I like to use two separate ports for this job. The SATA for the Delkin and the FW800 for a LaCie Rugged F800 mobile drive. That way I can stay on the laptop's battery all the time in the field.

Thanks!

 

[Matthew Rogers]

Matthew,

I've personally seen the Sandisk unit have issues when connected to FW400 via a FW800 to 400 cable on more than one PC. Haven't seen anyone connect one that way to a Mac. I have heard the Lexar has similar problems, but don't recall if PC and / or Mac was ever specified or if it matters. I always go with the combination of FW800 for the reader or RED Drive connection and my offload storage is a RAID volume via eSATA.

I'd test the Lexar readers to see if this is the case, but I don't own any FW800 to 400 adapters or cables.

How did you tell that it was poorly copying the data? AKA, how would you suggest that I do tests to see if the reader copies poorly over the FW400 cable?

Matthew

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

How did you tell that it was poorly copying the data? AKA, how would you suggest that I do tests to see if the reader copies poorly over the FW400 cable?

Seen it happen on two different Sandisk units, different owners, 3 different PCs. This may come back to Firewire chipset or driver errors with the Windows systems too, but I've read reports of these issues from others as well -- even here on Reduser, but it's been a while.

As far as "how could I tell" sometimes it would actually stop copying with an error or time out. Other times it would appear to copy just fine, but the files were corrupt when trying to open the copy.

You can test by reviewing all the copied data. You can also increase your changes of successful copies by doing a verification pass. However, data verification can still be ineffective if the same byte get read improperly each time.

Seriously, if it's working OK for you, then you're probably OK. Due to the lack of Firewire 800 support in the Windows world and the multitude of Firewire chipsets out there and potential compatibility issues, the reader may not be to blame.

FWIW, I just looked at the Lexar UDMA FW800 reader specs and it says right there that it is not compatible with Firewire 400. That's new since I bought my readers last year.

 

[Matthew Rogers]

FWIW, I just looked at the Lexar UDMA FW800 reader specs and it says right there that it is not compatible with Firewire 400. That's new since I bought my readers last year.

I'll do some testing and see if I have any issues. Did the Lexar come with a 800 to 400 cable? My SanDisk reader came with both an 800 to 800 and 800 t 400 cable, so I would think there shouldn't be any issues with using it in 400 mode.

Matthew

 

[sander kamp]

Do not use the Lexar or Sandisk FW800 readers with a FW800 to FW400 adapter or cable! They don't perform properly (data corruption) when connected to FW400!

No problems with that setup on a Mac here. Been using it for months without a single problem.