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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Card reader suggestions - firewire or usb 2
Paul W Gillespie, Photographer
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Annapolis | MD | USA | Posted: 2:16 PM on 10.25.09 |
->> I have a HP compaq NC8430 laptop that is 3 years old. It has USB 2 and a 4 pin firewire 400 (I think). I currently used a Lexar USB 2 CF card reader and it seems slow to me. I was downloading a 4 gig card yesterday and it seemed to take at least 15 minutes (guess).
Is there a 4 pin firewire reader? Will it be faster than what I have now? Any thoughts
Thanks
Paul |
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Jeff Stanton, Photographer
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Princeton | IN | USA | Posted: 2:22 PM on 10.25.09 |
| ->> I've been using a firewire reader at home, because it frees up my USB ports and I just keep the firewire reader plugged in. On my system, both seem to be about the same speed. |
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Will Powers, Photographer
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Denver | CO | USA | Posted: 5:22 PM on 10.25.09 |
| ->> I've been using a firewire reader for a while now, possibly four years. Galbraith rated them very high very fast. I think I bought one of mine from NPPA, but it has given me fits. I know they are out there, check Rob's sight. |
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Michael Muszynski, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Chicago | IL | USA | Posted: 6:04 PM on 10.25.09 |
->> I like firewire, but the 4-pin firewire is not the standard size. Regular cables are 6-pin. That would probably be a dealbreaker for me. But I use a FW800 reader, which I find to be nice and fast. But I wouldn't buy something that doesn't use more standard cables...
That said, in theory, USB 2 should be faster than FW400, but in practice, it's usually the other way around. |
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Israel Shirk, Photographer, Assistant
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Kevin M. Cox, Photographer, Assistant
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Galveston & Houston | TX | US | Posted: 6:34 PM on 10.25.09 |
| ->> Paul, while there are cables that will allow a standard 6-pin Firewire 400 device to plug into your laptop, the two missing pins in the 4-pin connector are the ones that supply power. As such I think you'd need a Firewire reader that had a separate power supply and I'm not sure if there are any. |
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Paul W Gillespie, Photographer
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Annapolis | MD | USA | Posted: 7:52 PM on 10.25.09 |
| ->> Looks like I am out of luck with the firewire reader. I will stick with my USB 2. I do have a PCMCIA slot, but no express card slot. Thanks |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 8:25 AM on 10.26.09 |
| ->> The old Delkin UDMA CardBus adapter will beat the pants off of any USB 2 reader, if you can find one. Not sure it is still produced. |
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Dianna Russell, Photographer
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Springfield | MO | USA | Posted: 8:56 AM on 10.26.09 |
->> I'm also very interested in this thread. I have a SanDisk Extreme Firewire reader and am still (unfortunately) using an iBook G4 (to be replaced with a new Macbook Pro ... SOON) and have been having problems with the reader showing up on the desk top when I connect it.
I had an assignment over the weekend and it just drove me nuts trying to get the cards read.
So, I will be looking for a replacement. I seriously can't deal with the unreliability issues.
Looking forward to more suggestions on this thread.
~Dianna |
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Lee Weissman, Photographer
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XXXXX | NY | USA | Posted: 9:51 AM on 10.26.09 |
| ->> I just bought the Lexar Professional UDMA Dual-Slot USB Reader...The reviews are good, and not expensive at all. Waiting for it so not sure how good it is yet |
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Ben Mackey, Photographer
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Columbia | MD | USA | Posted: 10:04 AM on 10.26.09 |
->> Firewire is optimized for larger transfers than USB. That means that sending loads o' pics will be faster over FW400 than USB2. I've had good luck with the stackable lexar FW readers, both the FW400 and the FW800.
Naturally, hooking the FW800 reader to a FW800 port is the fastest but using the FW800 reader and a FW400 port is significantly faster than using a FW400->FW400 setup. The FW800->FW400 and FW400->FW400 comparison is using the same card with the same files to the same laptop. My guess is that the FW800 reader understands UDMA and fully loads the FW400 port while the FW400 reader only knows slower transfer techniques.
I haven't played with any USB 3 stuff yet though... |
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 10:50 AM on 10.26.09 |
->> I'll give the obvious answer here: Both.
I use both depending on the circumstances, like I will us a Lexar FW800 reader with CF cards but if I happen to be using the SD card (backup in camera or off P&S) then I go with a USB 2.0 that is dual-slot for CF and SD and if you buy a good brand then the speed with the USB2.0 is still pretty good.
You also want to have that backup in case your computer crashes or your reader breaks and you still need to transfer. What happens when you get that great shot of a tornado and your computer doesn't work. So you run over to a friend's house nearby and they don't have FW? You need that USB reader. Or someone brings you a great image or their P&S and you don't have a reader for SD?
Always have a way of getting images from cameras or computers. Carry the proper cable to connect your camera directly to your computer if the need arises.
A lot of it has to do with the computer specs as well. You can have the fastest reader out there paired perfectly with the fastest card and still have slow transfer times because the computer processor or bus can't handle the huge flow of information.
You can only be as fast as the slowest part of the chain and some of that could be inside the computer that you can't replace. |
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Robert Seale, Photographer
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 11:51 AM on 10.26.09 |
| ->> Robert, didn't we have this conversation on Tuesday? :-) |
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Kevin M. Cox, Photographer, Assistant
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Galveston & Houston | TX | US | Posted: 2:27 PM on 10.26.09 |
->> Dianna, I'd try a different Firewire reader before deciding the SanDisk model is the problem. I recently had the same problem with my MacBook Pro and it took a few weeks to determine the problem was actually the Firewire ports on the computer.
Sometimes they would mount and download just fine and other times wouldn't show up on the desktop at all. Other times they would download but I'd end up with corrupted JPEGs. It took a while of trying multiple readers and cables before narrowing it down to the computer itself.
Next time a card won't mount, open up System Profiler and then select FireWire under the Hardware section. If the panel at right is completely blank it means your computer thinks it doesn't even have a Firewire port. |
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Yamil Sued, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Peoria | AZ | USA | Posted: 2:43 PM on 10.26.09 |
->> I use both!!
I have a Hoodman UDMA Firewire 800 Reader at home on my Macbook Pro on my desk, on location I use a Hoodman UDMA USB2 Reader on my Macbook, my Macbook is the one that came out last year, the 13" Unibody without Firewire!! Otherwise, I would use Firewire on both machines, when I replace my Macbook in the future, I'll make sure it has Firewire. I know some think USB2 is faster than Firewire 800, well, it isn't. I have tested both and Firewire 800 is faster, at least for me on my two machines. |
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Kirby Yau, Photographer, Assistant
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San Diego | CA | USA | Posted: 4:43 PM on 10.26.09 |
| ->> I'm in the same boat with Yamil, I have both USB and FireWire 800 versions so I can use the USB on my MacBook and the FW800 on the desktop. I use the Lexar Professional readers. The best part of the lexar 800 pro reader is that it can be daisychained. |
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Dianna Russell, Photographer
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Springfield | MO | USA | Posted: 5:32 PM on 10.26.09 |
| ->> Thanks Kevin, I'll do that. |
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