# computer question



## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

I have an HP Pavilion PC that I purchased about a year ago. It has built-in card slots for a variety of different media such as CF cards, SD cards, etc. I have been using this to upload all of my photos after a day of shooting. Well it's as slow as Christmas especially when reading large RAW files so I wanted to try some other, hopefully faster, reader. I bought a Sandisk FireWire reader and it arrived yesterday. It does not work. It shows up ok as another drive on my computer and everything looks ok but when I actually try to access the drive I just keep getting a device I/O error and that is all. My computer has two FireWire ports and they both give the same error. I talked with Sandisk's technical service people and they were unable to help so I thought I would just throw it out to you guys and see if maybe someone had an idea what may be happening. I am taking the reader to my work to try it there on another computer today. I just need to figure out if it is my PC or if maybe something is actually wrong with the reader itself. I use Windows XP by the way. Thanks.


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

Most of the Fire Wire readers i've seen will only support CF cards that work in DMA or UDMA modes. Most CF cards don't do this unless it is a newer very high speed card.


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## fishphoto (Mar 3, 2005)

I'm pretty sure the new UDMA readers all require a firewire 800 card in your PC.


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

In doing some further research it seems like a flood of people are having the same problem with this reader and there XP systems. Supposedly it is more a Microsoft problem than Sandisk and I have been given a link to a Microsoft patch that is supposed to take care of the problem. I will download and install it tonight after work and let you know how it goes. As for the card, I don't know 400 from 800. All I know is I have two firewire (6-pin) ports on my PC and Sandisk assured me it should work. We shall see. Thanks for the feedback.
Also, the CF cards I use are Sandisk Extreme III's. I don't know if thoseare considered high speed or not. I do know they have the Extreme IV out now that is high speed but again, Sandisk tells me this reader should work with the Extreme III cards. Maybe not as fast as a IV but still a whole lot faster than USB.


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

This suggestion may or may not even apply to your situtation...but...many people on the various camera groups that I visit use the cards to upload their pictures. My camera ( and many other cameras) ALSO have the option of using a USB cable.

I only use the cable. When I upload into Picasa ( I don't know if it is the use of the program or use of the cable)...... I find that my upload speeds are LIGHTENING fast compared to using the card. 

It is also easier for me ( big fat fingers) to plug the cable in, rather than pulling and inserting and reinstalling the card into my camera. 

Just thought I'd share. regards, Rich


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## fishphoto (Mar 3, 2005)

I don't think any of the manufacturers are installing the firewire 800 yet. Last time I checked, you still had to buy the card and install it yourself. The UDMA cards are all over 300x. The extreme III cards are probably 133x.


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## RustyBrown (May 29, 2004)

Here's another lesson from last night in terms of uploading. I was working on a set of about 40 HDR images let's just say 200 RAW files for work. In my haste I did not upload the images to the drive prior to post.

Eventually I corrupted the card data which I fully deserved. Fortunately my software recovered what was lost, but recovery is not something I want to get good at.


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

I tried the patch and it still did not work. The problem is not the reader however it is definitely the Windows XP SP2 and how it screws up the Firewire port. I have given up, returning the reader, and bought a USB 2.0 reader instead. If what everyone is saying about it is true, it should do me just fine. If I can cut down my upload time from 30 minutes to 3 or 4 I will be very happy. Sorry to hear your trouble Rusty but glad your software did its job and you were able to recover everything.


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

Here is a link for a card that I recently purchased that is faster than the Sandisk III that I bought last year and no problems, other than I just bought the 16 gb card for $169 and now they are $88.99? Now the 32gb cards are running for $199 and have speeds of 150x and very inexpensive compared to the high dollor brands. So far, I am satisfied other than the cost cut recently made.


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

You forgot the link


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## boashna (May 28, 2004)

you are as strong as weakest chain . I would upgrade the video card, memory, hard drive and cpu chip. The cable is not going to speed you up . Because you read then send to hard drive then process the data and then send to video card to display. Upgrade , video card ,memory ,hard drive , processor in order of budget . or talk to the guys at best buy and see if they agree with me ..


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

Gator_Nutz said:


> You forgot the link


I hate it when I do that. Here it is. http://www.flash-memory-store.com/qmemory-compact-flash.html
I bought from them before, fast and great service. I have bought a few memory cards from them and never a problem.


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## fishinguy (Aug 5, 2004)

usb 2.0 is faster than firewire


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## fishphoto (Mar 3, 2005)

fishinguy said:


> usb 2.0 is faster than firewire


Firewire 800 is faster than USB 2.0


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## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

I don't think we have even begun to use the capability of USB 2.0

Check out HD tune. You can use this utility to check your transfer speeds of your memory cards, hdd's, etc.
http://www.hdtune.com/

I checked my 4gb Kingston 133x today and it was 18.5 mb/sec. That's a far cry from the 480 mb/sec touted by the USB 2.0 standard.

So, what kind of transfer rates do y'all get? Try it out and see.

Mike


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

I don't care what the actual numbers are really. I received the USB card reader the other day and tried it out. It is roughly 30 times faster than the reader that I was using before so I am extremely happy with that.


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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

Gator,, If you have the time and your camera has the option, please try to check the included USB cable upload versus your new card upload. 

I have had at least one other person on my other camera site confirm that the included USB cable was far faster than using her card reader. That result MAY NOT be the case considering your NEW card reader????. 

One still has to figure in the time to pull the card and then reload the card, IMHO. 

Even without counting card in/out time...the USB cable (for me ) has been far faster. Rich


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