Delkin USB 3.0 reader

SamirD · May 25, 2011

I have an older Sandisk Extreme reader that would do something similar when I tried to use it with my Microdrives. Then I remembered that there was a power supply for the USB hub I was plugging into. Once I gave it the additional power, everything was fine.

I've seen a similar issue under usb 2.0 with a LaCie 500GB external drive my brother gave me, but I haven't been able to resolve it. I think its an issue with the usb port on the drive as firewire works fine.

It might be a conflict in the chipset level between the delkin chipset and your mb usb 3.0 chipset. One thing to try would be a usb 3.0 card with a different chipset than your mb. If it fails there, then I'd be leaning towards more of a software issue than hardware.

Matthew Saville · May 26, 2011

BTW, everybody,

I just purchased a couple Pretec USB 3.0 card readers, and my studio also just purchased a coupe other USB 3.0 card readers; eventually a review will probably get posted... Check out http://slrlounge.com and if I remember I'll post here too...

=Matt=

joeinmiami · June 2, 2011

What is the OS (Operating system), Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. I am guessing the driver in an older OS may not be what the new USB device needs.

Just my 2 cents.

Joe

Richard · June 3, 2011

Hey Nik: any update?

Nikolai · June 4, 2011

Richard wrote: »

Hey Nik: any update?

I tried drivers and bios upgrades stuff - no luck :-(
One thing I didn't try is a new (fast) CF card (don't have one)

Matthew Saville · June 5, 2011

Nikolai wrote: »

I tried drivers and bios upgrades stuff - no luck :-(
One thing I didn't try is a new (fast) CF card (don't have one)

I just tested my Pretec USB 3.0 card reader against a USB 2.0 reader and a Firewire 400 reader, and I can definitely say that the speed of the card plays a HUGE difference in USB 3.0's advantage. Even in my older Sandisk Extreme IV, and Pro-Spec 305X UDMA cards, I barely saw a difference in download speeds between USB 2.0 and 3.0. In fact, my FW 400 reader actually BEAT the USB 3.0 reader, with one of my older, sub-30 MB/sec cards.

The USB 2.0 reader, if I recall correctly, did somewhere between 10-30 MB/sec download, depending on the card. The only way I could really beat that speed in a substantial way was with my USB 3.0 reader and a 60 MB/sec card, in which case I got 45-55 MB/sec download speeds.

However, I'm pretty certain that the speed of the card is not the culprit, it is either the reader itself or the system itself. Even my slowest ~133x cards read perfectly fine in the Pretec USB 3.0 reader...

BTW, when it comes to buying faster cards, you shouldn't have to spend boat-loads of cash. I know your experience with Delkin hasn't been that great so far

, but I've heard nothing but good things about Delkin's "CombatFlash" CF line, which can get you a 16 GB card for "just" $135 or so... Personally though, as someone who shoots 12 megapixel compressed 12-bit RAW files, I've been sticking with 4 GB cards just fine... Maybe if you're shooting 21 megapixel 14-bit un-compressed RAW files, a 16 GB card will hold about the same number of files as my 4GB cards

... I guess that's just the price we pay for our images? Back in the day, if you wanted GOOD film, you paid 2-4X more than the crappy films, and you got it processed at a good lab, etc.

Good luck,
=Matt=

Delkin USB 3.0 reader

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