[Eug]

I haven't tested the speeds on my TiBook yet, but here are the benches on my PC (Windows XP Pro, Celeron 1.4, 512 MB RAM, Seagate Barracuda V), with my Lexar Firewire Compact Flash Reader/Writer.

1) Lexar 12X 256 MB (Purchased last week)
2) Ridata 256 MB (Got it years ago)
3) SanDisk Ultra II 60X 512 MB (Purchased last week)

I just transfered a single 172 MB file (176,640 KB). The times are rounded to the nearest half-second. (The cards were all empty.)

Code:
Card                          Read Time   Read Speed   Write Time   Write Speed
 
Lexar 12X 256 MB               44.5 s     3969 KB/s      78.5 s      2250 KB/s
Ridata  256 MB                 41.5 s     4256 KB/s      78.0 s      2265 KB/s
SanDisk Ultra II 60X 512 MB    39.5 s     4472 KB/s      43.5 s      4061 KB/s

What surprised me was that the read speeds for all were in the same ballpark, despite the fact that the SanDisk Ultra II had almost twice the write speed. The SanDisk wasn't anywhere near 60X however. It was closer to half that in my tests, but the read and write speeds were remarkably similar. Interestingly however was that even though the read speed of the Lexar was twice that of its write speed, both exceeded its supposed 12X rating. (The read speed of the Lexar 12X was 26X, and the write speed was 15X. Go figure.)

One small thing to note too was that the Lexar held 2 MB more than the Ridata. Not sure why there is a difference.

[Landos Mustache]

Is there anything left in your house that you haven't benchmarked yet?

Next... Eug's benchmarks on garage door openers. Which has the fasted processor and how to speed bump it!

[Eug]

Originally posted by Landos Mustache:
Is there anything left in your house that you haven't benchmarked yet?

You're welcome.

[Immortal K-Mart Employee]

Originally posted by Eug:
You're welcome.

Ya, with the 5 seconds you saved me I can post this snarky responce.

Who copies files to cards anyway? That is something that nomally only happends when you have it in a camera and you don't copy a 170 meg picture all at once?!

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by Immortal K-Mart Employee:
Ya, with the 5 seconds you saved me I can post this snarky responce.

Who copies files to cards anyway? That is something that nomally only happends when you have it in a camera and you don't copy a 170 meg picture all at once?!

There is a difference for the pro camera guys. The cameras can save as fast as the flash media allows, and it's important for some because they do sequential shooting.

Even the mighty Canon EOS-1Ds can only do 3 seconds worth of sequential shooting at 3 fps (for a total of 10 shots) before it hits a wall. 10 full-sized RAW pictures is 114 MB with that camera, and the only reason you can take 10 shots is because it's buffered in the camera. After the buffer is exhaused, the image transfer speed to flash media slows it down. The slower the media, the longer you have to wait. In contrast, with a film camera you're just limited by the size of a roll - about 38 pictures. I'll probably get the replacement for the EOS 10D when it comes out, BTW.

Plus flash memory is used nowadays as a replacement for zip drives and floppy disks. If speed didn't matter then there would be no such thing as USB 2.0 flash drives.

[aaanorton]

I'd like to see the results of this with a bunch of smaller files. I'd also like to see a new Ridata card in the mix. Have you been here?
You may also be interested in this.

[dgbatchelor]

Good points by Eug Wanker...

I use a 6.3Mpix Canon 10D... On numerous occasions, I have been forced to switch from RAW format (preferred for quality) to JPEG format in order to increase the throughput on shots/second.

It is the time that it takes to empty the picture buffers to the flash card that is the bottleneck.

[Eug Wanker]

New card tested: ATP Compact Flash 60X

Windows XP SP1 and Celeron 1.4 with 7200 rpm HD
Lacie USB 2.0 flash media multireader
Canon G2 (number of pix)

ATP 60X 1.0 GB (995 MB, 501 pix)
643753 KB write - 138 s = 4665 KB/s
643753 KB read - 116 s = 5550 KB/s
137139 KB write - 30 s - 4572 KB/s <-- fastest
137139 KB read - 25 s - 5486 KB/s

Ridata (old one) 256 MB (243 MB, 123 pix)
137139 KB write - 56.5 s - 1259 KB/s
137139 KB read - 29.5 s - 2427 KB/s

Lexar Pro 40X 512 MB (488 MB, 247 pix)
137139 KB write - 33.5 s - 4094 KB/s
137139 KB read - 30 s - 4572 KB/s

Sandisk Ultra II 512 MB (488 MB, 247 pix)
137139 KB write - 30.5 s - 4497 KB/s
137139 KB read - 24.5 s - 5598 KB/s <-- fastest

--

Mac OS X 10.3.5 and TiBook 1 GHz with 4200 rpm drive
Lexar Firewire CF reader

ATP 60X 1.0 GB
70.4 MB write - 17 s - 4.1 MB/s
70.4 MB read - 16.3 s - 4.3 MB/s

Sandisk Ultra II 512 MB
70.4 MB write - 16.5 s - 4.3 MB/s <-- fastest
70.4 MB read - 15.7 s - 4.5 MB/s <-- fastest

--

Actually, the main reason I got the ATP was because it was inexpensive, and because the Lexar 80X 1.0 GB and Sandisk Ultra II 1.0 GB were both out of stock in the store I went to.

However, the prices of CF are dropping thru the floor. On the net 1 GB of Sandisk Ultra II can be had for less than $100 US. I would have ordered some mail order flash cards, but I don't have time and prefer to buy locally anyway.

And I can finally use the speed. I have a Canon EOS 20D on order, which is super fast with flash memory writes. With a fast memory card, this thing will do 36 frames in a row, at 5 frames per second. Not that I need that, but if I ever decide to shoot RAW, it can only do about 6 frames in a row (in just over a second), before memory speeds slow me down.

[dgbatchelor]

I am now the fortunate owner of a Canon 1D Mk II and a couple of Lexar 80x 2.0 GB cards.

Wow, what a performance improvement on my Canon 10D and Lexar 40x 2.0 GB card.

I will try to find some time and run a benchmark -- in the camera, as well as in a PhotoBank and a laptop to figure out what is responsible for the big improvements.

[Eug Wanker]

BTW, using my PCMCIA card on the TiBook, I get a max write speed of 1900 KB/s with the ATP 60X. Obviously, the PCMCIA card is the bottleneck here. (Strangely enough, the read from the card was slower at 1650 KB/s.)

ie. USB 2.0 and Firewire are both much faster, but PCMCIA is usable.

OTOH, at least one review pegs PCMCIA as much slower (1260 KB/s). That gets into high USB 1.1 territory, which is too slow.

I am now the fortunate owner of a Canon 1D Mk II and a couple of Lexar 80x 2.0 GB cards.

Very sweet.

[bmhome1]

The cardbus (32 bit) speed PCMCIA readers from Delkin/Lexar, finally with usable OSX drivers, are as fast or faster than both firewire and USB2.0 readers.

Also, I have found faster cards always affect ANY digital camera's capture speed rate, either by small degree or for some a huge difference such as going all the way back to Nikon 990 consumer cams.

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by bmhome1:
The cardbus (32 bit) speed PCMCIA readers from Delkin/Lexar, finally with usable OSX drivers, are as fast or faster than both firewire and USB2.0 readers.

Usable Delkin drivers? Well, just barely. And I ordered my Lexar 32 bit card reader well over 3 months ago. Still waiting...

[Eug Wanker]

I just tried the ATP on the EOS 20D. Works fine. Awesome camera BTW.

[spiky_dog]

you all have seen these pages, no?

robgalbraith.com CF speed database
a story, again from Rob's site, about Lexar 80x cards' multiple revisions

[funkboy]

Sounds like some really annoyed people here.

Eug, thank you for benchmarking! I care a lot about memory speeds, glad to know others do, too