I need a good CF Card reader... suggestions?

[keith204]

My current one, a superman one, has read errors every once in awhile. In Windows Vista, I can simply hit "retry" and it will eventually accept the file. However, in XP it just gives up, and throws an error.

I haven't seen any good rated card readers. All I need is a HIGH SPEED one, probably USB 2.0 (maybe firewire) but I need one that is super fast, and good reliable quality.

Any suggestions?

 

[Big Mike]

There isn't much to them really. I'd just go to your local electronics store and see what they have.

 

[Alpha]

If you've got a need for speed, Firewire is the only way to go.

 

[Sideburns]

If you've got a need for speed, Firewire is the only way to go.

Only if it's firewire 800...

Anyways...the CF people make flash card readers that team up with their CF cards...
so Kingston, Sandisk and Lexar all have readers that work great...

 

[keith204]

That makes sense. Just now ordered a Sandisk, since I have a few nice Sandisk cards.

It ought to work real well...had good reviews. Where I purchased my last card reader, they didn't have sandisk, kingston, etc for CF card readers... I thought they had just about everything....looked elsewhere and found one. Thanks!

 

[usayit]

Only if it's firewire 800...

Anyways...the CF people make flash card readers that team up with their CF cards...
so Kingston, Sandisk and Lexar all have readers that work great...

Firewire 400 is faster than USB 2.0 btw. Sheer marketed numbers (often all that is given are burst) are similar but the fact that USB steals resources from the machine usually results in extended reads/writes are faster WITH firewire 400. Of course the added intelligence and complexity of the firewire implimentation results in a more expensive interface.

 

[Big Mike]

I read somewhere that Sandisk Extreme IV cards, together with their Extreme card reader...is the fastest d/l.

The Extreme IV cards aren't as fast on other readers and other cards aren't as fast on that reader.

 

[jstuedle]

FYI, firewire is due for an upgrade. The new version will be fiber optic. It will use a small adapter built into the plug adapter to convert the signal to fiber and back again. It will be plug and fully backwards compatible to current USB standards. Oh, and 20X faster than USB 2.0. This will really help card readers and external hard drives. It will hopefully be out within 6 months or so.

 

[usayit]

ooooOOOooo jstuedle.... link? very interesting. I'd like to hear more.

 

[TCimages]

I use a sandisk card reader.

IMO there are a several bottlenecks that impact transfer speeds. One of the biggest being the speed of the card, which does not even come close to the acheivable speeds of USB 2.0 or Firewire 400, let alone FW 800 or it's upgrade.

 

[Sideburns]

FYI, firewire is due for an upgrade. The new version will be fiber optic. It will use a small adapter built into the plug adapter to convert the signal to fiber and back again. It will be plug and fully backwards compatible to current USB standards. Oh, and 20X faster than USB 2.0. This will really help card readers and external hard drives. It will hopefully be out within 6 months or so.

That doesn't make much sense, and is highly unlikely.
Why have fiber optic if all that's gonna happen is it's gonna go to a USB plug?
Fiber cable is very brittle, and using it as a patch cord for your devices is VERY unlikely. People break things.

Also, what's firewire being upgraded have to do with USB? They're separate standards.

I don't disagree that there shouldn't be an upgrade. I'm just saying, I can't see fiber happening anytime soon.

 

[jstuedle]

ooooOOOooo jstuedle.... link? very interesting. I'd like to hear more.

The shop I get my hardware from (Winotek.com) told me about it. I was pissing about how slow my externals are with the bigger files the new camera puts out. They said it won't be an issue in the near future.

 

[jstuedle]

That doesn't make much sense, and is highly unlikely.
Why have fiber optic if all that's gonna happen is it's gonna go to a USB plug?
Fiber cable is very brittle, and using it as a patch cord for your devices is VERY unlikely. People break things.

Also, what's firewire being upgraded have to do with USB? They're separate standards.

I don't disagree that there shouldn't be an upgrade. I'm just saying, I can't see fiber happening anytime soon.

I think you may be very surprised. Then again, some people were telling us Nikon had bought into the whole DX thing and would never have a FF chip. Surprises do happen.