Fargin' forever to download images from CF card!

jbswear

(Dunno if this is the right forum...Move it if need be.)


It takes forever to download images from my CF card to my computer. On both of my Kingston 45x 4G cards, it takes about one hour to transfer a full card.

I shoot only in RAW.

Is this normal?

ivar

jbswear wrote:

(Dunno if this is the right forum...Move it if need be.)


It takes forever to download images from my CF card to my computer. On both of my Kingston 45x 4G cards, it takes about one hour to transfer a full card.

I shoot only in RAW.

Is this normal?

what do you use to transfer the images? Cardreader? what connection?

jbswear

ivar wrote:

what do you use to transfer the images? Cardreader? what connection?

Oh yeah, oops.

I plug the card directly into the computer. Compaq Presario SR1620NX is the model.

Richard

jbswear wrote:

Oh yeah, oops.

I plug the card directly into the computer. Compaq Presario SR1620NX is the model.

That sounds awfully slow to me. I gather the computer has a built-in card reader. Is the transfer done as a Windows file transfer or is some application program started up automatically? Have you tried to see how long it takes if you use an external card reader?

ivar

jbswear wrote:

Oh yeah, oops.

I plug the card directly into the computer. Compaq Presario SR1620NX is the model.

If it's internal, make sure that the USB (cardreaders usually use a usb port) in the BIOS is set to 2.0, and not 1.1 or hispeed instead of low-speed.

Like RS said, check if external works faster, if attaching camera is faster, etc to see see what is causing it to be so slow. It should go lots faster. I use FW card reader. 2Gig card takes less than 2 minutes... granted USB is in reality slower, it should not be by a factor 30

ChrisJ

I suspect that the built-in card reader is only USB 1.x. These are usually fixed and not modifiable. I bought an HP system for my sister-in-law last year and it had this same "defect."

Like everyone else has said, If you attach an external USB 2.0 card reader to one of the other USB ports, my guess is your speed will increase dramatically.

Annoying, since it *should* work the way you expect...

jbswear

ivar wrote:

If it's internal, make sure that the USB (cardreaders usually use a usb port) in the BIOS is set to 2.0, and not 1.1 or hispeed instead of low-speed.

How do I do this?

claudermilk

ChrisJ wrote:

I suspect that the built-in card reader is only USB 1.x. These are usually fixed and not modifiable. I bought an HP system for my sister-in-law last year and it had this same "defect."

Like everyone else has said, If you attach an external USB 2.0 card reader to one of the other USB ports, my guess is your speed will increase dramatically.

Annoying, since it *should* work the way you expect...

That kind of speed (or rather lack thereof) sounds like USB 1.1 and I'll bet there's nothing you can do about it short of getting a USB 2.0 add-on card. ...Hold that thought, HP's site says you have 2 USB 2.0 ports in the front, so an external USB 2.0 reader should help transfer speeds a lot.

BeachBill

Does your machine have a cardbus slot (i.e. PC card/PCMCIA)?

If so, a good solution is to get a compact flash PC Card 32 bit cardbus adapter. Some examples are here and here. If you go this route make sure you are buying a 32bit cardbus adapter, not an old 16bit adapter. The 32bit cardbus adapter will complete the transfer in a couple minutes. The older 16bit adapter will take up to an hour.

I prefer this solution over an external USB card reader as it is more compact and you don't have an external hardware or cables sticking out of your machine while using it.

ChrisJ

BeachBill wrote:

Does your machine have a cardbus slot (i.e. PC card/PCMCIA)?

This is a desktop system, not a laptop. So it needs to be an external reader. I agree, though, it is a good solution for a laptop. I have an eFilm Pro reader.

jbswear

Thanks, guys. I'll be shopping for a card reader soon!