USB 3.0 vs USB 2.0 Memory Card Transfer Speeds
lifeinfocus
Registered Users Posts: 1,461 Major grins
I tried various methods of copying 100 photo files totaling around 1gb from a Sandisk Extreme 30MB/S card to my computer.
If you are using Windows you can see the transfer rate in MB/s (megabytes per second) when you select "more details".
Results varied from a low of 12MB/s to high 22MB/s. I copied files to a 7,200 rpm drive using a SATA 3 connection.
When I used a USB 2.0 card reader in a USB 2.0 port it registered 12MB/s
When I used a USB 3.0 card reader in a USB 3.0 port it registered 22MB/s.
So a USB 3.0 port using a USB 3.0 card reader is considerably faster.
Loading photos directly from a memory card into LR from a USB 3.0 card reader and a USB 3.0 port is visibly faster too.
I expect this would be much faster using memory cards that go up 100MB/s.
Anybody out therre using a card that fast? If so, what are you transfer speeds in MB/s?
Phil
If you are using Windows you can see the transfer rate in MB/s (megabytes per second) when you select "more details".
Results varied from a low of 12MB/s to high 22MB/s. I copied files to a 7,200 rpm drive using a SATA 3 connection.
When I used a USB 2.0 card reader in a USB 2.0 port it registered 12MB/s
When I used a USB 3.0 card reader in a USB 3.0 port it registered 22MB/s.
So a USB 3.0 port using a USB 3.0 card reader is considerably faster.
Loading photos directly from a memory card into LR from a USB 3.0 card reader and a USB 3.0 port is visibly faster too.
I expect this would be much faster using memory cards that go up 100MB/s.
Anybody out therre using a card that fast? If so, what are you transfer speeds in MB/s?
Phil
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Also, your USB 2.0 reader could be cheap as well, or the computer's USB capability is limited.... I used to get 25-32MB/sec read speed with my USB 2.0 readers, even with the 133x Transcend CF cards (20MB/sec write rating) For read speeds I'd expect to get a lot more than the rating, not less, out of the 30MB/sec rated card for downloading photos. At least 30-40MB/sec.
EDIT: Forgot to mention, USB 2.0.
Thanks for your comments. I noted that the 600x has "(90MB/s) minimum guaranteed sustained read and write speeds" and 400x 40MB/S.
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil
Also, this website tends to stay reasonably up to date on cards and card readers. Can be some big differences with the right chipset in your card reader.
http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/
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Thanks for info. I may try out the benchmark software. While the link to cardspeed site is not up to date as it does not show USB 3.0 devices it is worth reviewing.
Phil
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil
Yep, I forgot to mention that the speeds I listed were after the initial readings.
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil
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I just looked for these and the prices are unreal. They're listing at 2x what I bought it for.
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― Edward Weston
Good info. Both the reader and the card are rated at 40MB/s, so you are transferring at the limits of both devices.
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil
Actually the reader has a theoretical limit of 100MB/s (FW800 is 800Mbit/s) and the card 45MB/s.
― Edward Weston
You are correct that the limits of Firewire 800 is high - "The full IEEE 1394b specification supports data rates up to 3200 Mbit/s (i.e., 400 megabytes/s)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire."
I think you will find that the data transfer rate for those items listed are: card reader is 45 MB/s (See http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1056&message=39628132) and the memory card is 40MB/s.
While there are a number of components to consider in transfer rates from a memory card to a harddrive, SSD or computer memory, the two main limiting factors, when talking USB 3.0 and Firewire 800, are the data transfer rates of the memory card and card readers.
Memory cards being the slower of the two. The fastest from Lexar or Sandisk max out at about 100 MB/s.
So, in my limited research I think the fastest transfer rate is going to be around 100MB/s.
Anybody else have other ideas on this subject?
Phil
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil
That being said, just be sure to keep everything on the same speed level. And sometimes different interfaces help. I have some older Maxtor OneTouch external drives that are both USB2.0 and Firewire400. Since my laptop has firewire on it, I connect the drives that way, and have found faster speeds when doing a lot of concurrent copies from cards to drives.
I don't know what the current state of sata readers are, but those should be much, much quicker as the bandwidth is higher and the protocol overhead less. I bought an cf to ide reader back in the day and it would get almost 1mb/sec on an old Pentium Pro 200 running win95. Having an sata reader copying directly to an ssd should be blazing fast.
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I don't see any sata readers available. I think most are USB 3.0 because of its speed, cost and availability.
If you know of any, let us know.
I think you will find though the limiting factor is going to be the transfer rate of the memory card when transferring to memory or SSD.
Phil
"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
Phil
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The cards are definitely going to be the max limit, but a lot of times overhead is what's keeping them from going as fast as they can. These sata readers eliminate all the driver layers needed for usb and can increase speed even on the same card.
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My concern with transfer speed is with my card & camera... How fast... And how many shots can I take before Mr. Camera starts to choke.
I have a 32mb 600x card but I have never tested its speed other by shooting a burst & seeing/waiting to see how it does ...and it does well... So I win... Yeah...
Admittedly I am curious as to it's in camera speed... How is that speed benchmarked?
Cowboydoug
Certified Journeyman Commercial Photographer
www.iWasThereToo.com
As far as the camera's benchmark, I dunno if it's benchmarked often. But I know I've found sites that have done this when looking for a specific model of camera and the max write speed. I'd try that and then see how yours compares. You may find that you're buying cards that are many times too fast for your camera. And then you can save money by buying slower cards.
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Rob Galbraith had a database of camera vs card speeds but it has not been updated in a while. It may give you some key words on which to search for others who keep a current database.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007
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I don't know about the rest of you but... I important from my card directly into LR3... if anything... LR is the bottleneck for me.
Cowboydoug
Certified Journeyman Commercial Photographer
www.iWasThereToo.com
My test is with 56 RAW files (about 19-21MB each) totaling 1.08GB. I'm copying from the card reader(s) to an SSD drive.
In Windows Explorer
USB 2: 1 minute 4 seconds
USB 3: 16.5 seconds
In Lightroom
USB 2: 1 minutes 5 seconds
USB 3: 19.8 seconds
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Sandisk 45M/sec
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The cards are labeled "Extreme Pro"