Tuesday Tip – How To Get Faster Download Speeds with a CF Card
Today’s Tuesday Tip is a little gem that we discovered while getting familiarized with the workflow of our Blackmagic Cinema Camera.
In the past we have conducted speed tests on a variety of card readers with a 3.0 USB interface for our new MacBook Pro Retina Laptops. Our attempt to see which reader had the fastest download time revealed to us that they all performed the same, there was no difference in download times.
Since the Blackmagic Cinema Camera only accepts Solid State Drives, we have been using this type of memory storage a lot recently. Because of this, we haphazardly discovered that our SSD Reader with a Compact Flash to SATA Adapter, downloaded data up to a minute faster for ever 6 GB’s of information transferred. We found that this only worked with our Transcend Compact Flash Card. These are commonly used CF cards and this means for guys dumping multiple 32GB cards onto their computer, this download time can add up.
I don’t know why the download rate is faster with the adapted SSD reader, as the USB 3.0 connection should perform the same for SSD or CF cards. Anyone know the answer to this? If you have a Tuesday Tip suggestion, let me know in the comment area of this post and we will try to get yours published!
Apple, carder reader, CF card, compact flash card. solid state drive, faster download speeds, Macbook Pro Retina, SSD, Tuesday Tip, USB 3.0
can it be used as ssd drive for BMCC
Max, it looks too fragile to try something like this in the BMCC. I would not suggest trying this.
What speeds are you actually getting? On my new Kingston USB3 card reader I am getting 90MB/s, where on USB2 I am getting 19MB/s.
It seems that your CF reader does not use the full speed of USB 3.0. If you look at Amazon’s description of PixelFlash Card reader it says that maximum download speed is 500 MB/s, but the maximum download speed of the USB 3.0 interface is 5Gb/s which equals to 625 MB/s, so there is your 1/6th of the speed. According to this, the SATA adapter is using USB 3.0 to its full potential
Stefan, we’ve actually compared the results to that exact same card reader and the SATA interface still proved to be faster. You are right about SATA taking more advantage of the USB 3.0 speeds. It is an odd and bulky way to download, but an interesting way to get faster read and write speeds from the Transcend.
Did you do a test with any Lexar Pro cards?
@Dale No, we did not.
I don’t own anything from Apple, but I did find a discussion forum talking about problems with MacBook Pro Retina Laptops and their USB 3 ports ..dated: Dec 18, 2012 …click here for discussion.
The first thing that I would do is contact Apple “directly” and ask if there are any USB 3.0 issues with this particular laptop and its ports, drivers, chipset …etc.
I would try the other poor performing USB 3 card readers (that were mentioned, but not shown) on a Windows or other machine with a “working and proven” USB 3.0 port. From what I’ve read not all of these card readers with USB 3.0 logos are truly compliant …they just fit in the jack …this stuff drives me crazy. Reminds me when CD burners started to appear. They were very temperamental …some CD burners would only write to certain colored discs …green, blue, gold …etc. I’m guessing USB 3.0 hasn’t completely established itself in the market …and consumers have to be careful.
Just curious did you use external power with any of your external adapters and/or readers?
On Transcends web site they had the following info for the same card but it was a 64GB CF:
Size 42.8mm x 36.4mm x 3.3mm (L x W x H)
Op. Voltage 3.3V~5V
Op. Temperature -25°C(-13°F) to 85°C(185°F)
Durability 10,000 insertion/removal cycles
Weight 11.4g
Max. R/W Performance(MB/s)(Vary by density)
Read 90 MByte/s, Write 60 MByte/s (32~64GB);
Read 60 MByte/s, Write 30 MByte/s (8~16GB)
*Note: Speed may vary due to host hardware, software, transfer mode, and usage.
Compatibility Ideal upgrade for digital cameras
Saw an interesting video: click here
If I understood the video correctly, then there’s a thunderbolt connector on the Buffalo miniStation.
Why not purchase a ‘Buffalo miniStation’ …take it apart (as demonstrated in the video) and instead of replacing the slow performing hard drive with an SSD …get a SATA extender cable (that locks) (Amazon Price) and a power cable (Amazon Price)
. Connect the data cable to where the drive is supposed to mount inside of the miniStation. Drill a hole in the miniStation and run the SATA data cable through, assemble the miniStation. Connect the power cable to the power inside of your computer and run it out the back to power an SSD. There isn’t a power plug made (or that I could find) that would fit this scenario, so this is why power has to come from the computer.
Finally, connect a thunderbolt cable from the miniStation to the laptop.
This setup might be a little messy, but should allow for easy attach & detach of multiple type of SSD, compact flash …etc. …with an adapter …like the one used in the OliviaTech video.
I bet you see some pretty nice transfer rates …even if you attach a Compact Flash using your adapter mentioned in the OliviaTech video.
I’m not promising that it will work, but it should. The major expense would be for the Buffalo miniStation. The cables mentioned above with links are dirt cheap. MonoPrice.com has great prices.
I’d be curious as to how your transfer rates would improve, if this project is successful.
Hello again …concerning the hardware hack that I mentioned above.
Here’s the Amazon link to what I believe is the Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt Portable Drive that was mentioned in the video that I saw …supposed to have USB 3.0 and thunderbolt connectivity.
Also, note that you may or may not need a power supply cable coming out of your computer as mentioned above. I haven’t had my hands on a Buffalo miniStation to tinker with and dismantle. Plus, if you plug an adapter (reader for sd, cf, ssd …etc.) into the hacked miniStation, then the adapter may already have an external power supply. Each individual will have a different scenario …buy an appropriate power cable for your particular hardware hack or situation.
If this hardware hack does perform, then it allows both USB 3.0 and thunderbolt connectivity to Apple products …I would just stick with thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is ‘extremely’ fast, so the only limitation is the device(s) attached to a computer’s thunderbolt port. Hopefully, thunderbolt doesn’t have as many performance inconsistencies as USB 3.0.
I’m not promising a thing, but if an individual can afford to trash the $180 Buffalo miniStation, then it might be worth it. The time saved, in future thunderbolt data transfers via Apple laptop/desktop, would be well worth the gamble …if it works. If the hardware hack doesn’t work, then you still have the 500GB (laptop) hard drive that was originally installed in the Buffalo microStation.
Don’t bother with the hack, just use this: Seagate Backup Plus Portable Thunderbolt Adapter (STAE128)
Probably some form of read ahead buffer on the cf to sata adapter that allows the card to be read during the write state to eliminate any latency normally found during read/write states on the interface.