[CF Card] Anyone encountered slow transfer rate from Lexar??


PhotoProZero

New Member
Jan 25, 2007
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Hey guys,

I'm just wondering if anyone has encountered slow transfer rates with Lexar CF Cards?

I bought a Lexar UDMA 4GB CF Card 300x Speed...The transfer rate is so SLLLLOOOOWWWWW!!!!! :(
 

Hey guys,

I'm just wondering if anyone has encountered slow transfer rates with Lexar CF Cards?

I bought a Lexar UDMA 4GB CF Card 300x Speed...The transfer rate is so SLLLLOOOOWWWWW!!!!! :(

The bottleneck for transfer speed can be anywhere from the card reader to the cable used and also the computer port.
 

The bottleneck for transfer speed can be anywhere from the card reader to the cable used and also the computer port.

Well, I own a SanDisk Ultra II CF Card 15MB/s 4GB as well. But the transfer rate is really fast! Am i missing out something here? It is the same cable and computer port i use. :(
 

Hmmmm, in that case, how is the write time for the camera pics? Compare it to the other card. If it's also very slow, then better bring it back to exchange.
 

Hmmmm, in that case, how is the write time for the camera pics? Compare it to the other card. If it's also very slow, then better bring it back to exchange.

Hi Zac08, the best part of it all, I have 3 of these cards!!! :(
 

Could you please give a few facts here? Which reader? Or are you transferring from camera directly? How do you determine "fast" or "slow"? What tests have you done to verify your observations?
 

Could you please give a few facts here? Which reader? Or are you transferring from camera directly? How do you determine "fast" or "slow"? What tests have you done to verify your observations?

Hi Octarine, I don't think it really matters to which card reader because I've tried with various, from SanDisk to Mobile Gear? I do knw that in the market, we have the High Speed Card Reader though.

Fast or Slow is determined by collecting images on both cards, I used my SanDisk during F1 and was full. My 2nd Card was Lexar with 50+ images. All shot in RAW in 4GB CF.

My Sandisk took approximately 15mins or so. Whereas my Lexar took additional 5 - 10 mins.

If you can give me some tips that can help further test these cards, I will greatly appreciate! ;)
 

Hi Octarine, I don't think it really matters to which card reader because I've tried with various, from SanDisk to Mobile Gear? I do knw that in the market, we have the High Speed Card Reader though.

Fast or Slow is determined by collecting images on both cards, I used my SanDisk during F1 and was full. My 2nd Card was Lexar with 50+ images. All shot in RAW in 4GB CF.

My Sandisk took approximately 15mins or so. Whereas my Lexar took additional 5 - 10 mins.

If you can give me some tips that can help further test these cards, I will greatly appreciate! ;)


Perhaps use the exact same set of images, copy to the CF cards and copy back to HD and time them? You should be able to get a rough sense of the speed difference between the cards.
 

Fast or Slow is determined by collecting images on both cards, I used my SanDisk during F1 and was full. My 2nd Card was Lexar with 50+ images. All shot in RAW in 4GB CF.
My Sandisk took approximately 15mins or so. Whereas my Lexar took additional 5 - 10 mins.
So you wonder why a card with only 50+ pictures is faster to read out than a fully loaded card?
Prepare a set of test files (images, pictures etc.) with a total amount of 80-90% of card capacity. Then upload / download from the card and stop the time.
Do note that certain readers work better with certain cards. So any comparison of cards must be done using the same reader. But you can repeat the test using a different reader to see whether it really matters.
 

:dunno:
Perhaps use the exact same set of images, copy to the CF cards and copy back to HD and time them? You should be able to get a rough sense of the speed difference between the cards.

Thanks 2evans. :)

So you wonder why a card with only 50+ pictures is faster to read out than a fully loaded card?
Prepare a set of test files (images, pictures etc.) with a total amount of 80-90% of card capacity. Then upload / download from the card and stop the time.
Do note that certain readers work better with certain cards. So any comparison of cards must be done using the same reader. But you can repeat the test using a different reader to see whether it really matters.


Thanks Octarine. Its actually why a fully loaded card reads faster than the lesser...Kekekeke...maybe at the end of the day, the Lexar IS slower.
 

U are using a Lex.... wat?

ok jokes aside, TS, do give us an update on this. Quite curious, and do share details on the setup you use, from the card reader, to whether its USB 2.0 / 3.0 etc.. Quite curious to know if Lexar is slower.

Was thinking of Lexar, but after searching through forums about this, I changed my mind. Not sure who / where to turn to if I get a Lexar and have technical problems / faults.
 

Could also be file fragmentation. If the blocks for each file are consecutive versus being scattered, it could impact the read/write speed.

Perhaps it would be good to format the cards before testing.
 

U are using a Lex.... wat?

ok jokes aside, TS, do give us an update on this. Quite curious, and do share details on the setup you use, from the card reader, to whether its USB 2.0 / 3.0 etc.. Quite curious to know if Lexar is slower.

Was thinking of Lexar, but after searching through forums about this, I changed my mind. Not sure who / where to turn to if I get a Lexar and have technical problems / faults.

Hi Pegasus, sure, I will be away this weekend. Will attempt to shoot with both cards - SanDisk and Lexar. Will try to have many tests as possible. However, if there's anyone in the forum can help with other relevant testing methods for CF Cards, please post here. Will try out and update. Anyways, its for the benefits of any other photogr. :sweat:

Could also be file fragmentation. If the blocks for each file are consecutive versus being scattered, it could impact the read/write speed.

Perhaps it would be good to format the cards before testing.

I usually format my cards in my cam right after transferring. Thanks for the advice though. I dont quite understand the file fragmentation part..sorry..not quite a techie. :dunno: Can you explain? Is this like our comp's fragmentation?
 

I usually format my cards in my cam right after transferring. Thanks for the advice though. I dont quite understand the file fragmentation part..sorry..not quite a techie. :dunno: Can you explain? Is this like our comp's fragmentation?
It is the same fragmentation as in hard drives for file systems. But if you transfer all pictures from card to PC, then format the card and shoot again then no fragmentation will occur.
 

It is the same fragmentation as in hard drives for file systems. But if you transfer all pictures from card to PC, then format the card and shoot again then no fragmentation will occur.

Thks for the clarification! So I guess I can rule out the fragmentation issues here. :)
 

Hi Pegasus, sure, I will be away this weekend. Will attempt to shoot with both cards - SanDisk and Lexar. Will try to have many tests as possible. However, if there's anyone in the forum can help with other relevant testing methods for CF Cards, please post here. Will try out and update. Anyways, its for the benefits of any other photogr. :sweat:



I usually format my cards in my cam right after transferring. Thanks for the advice though. I dont quite understand the file fragmentation part..sorry..not quite a techie. :dunno: Can you explain? Is this like our comp's fragmentation?

I use a software called Crystal Disk Info. I think its free or something, but I could be wrong...
Try finding it online.

It measures transfer rate, sequential write / read, random write / read etc etc.

Note that yr card reader could be the bottle neck, cos the last time I measure all my cards, they turn up really low rates and almost identical ! (2mb/s)

Just got a Sandisk Imagemate, will be testing it tonight. Maybe you can try this software and post what values you got from it... :)
 

I use a software called Crystal Disk Info. I think its free or something, but I could be wrong...
Try finding it online.

It measures transfer rate, sequential write / read, random write / read etc etc.

Note that yr card reader could be the bottle neck, cos the last time I measure all my cards, they turn up really low rates and almost identical ! (2mb/s)

Just got a Sandisk Imagemate, will be testing it tonight. Maybe you can try this software and post what values you got from it... :)

Thanks Pegasus! I will try the software! :)
 

Thanks Pegasus! I will try the software! :)


No problem! The full name of the software is called CrystalDiskMark 3.0

This is from me. I am using Sandisk Imagemate card reader so that it doesn't have that much of a bottleneck:
Tested with a Kingston class 4 16 gb, and a Sandisk extreme 30gb/s 4gb card ( NOTE: SD Cards, sorry I don't have CF cards )


=======================================================================
Kingston 16gb
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 20.051 MB/s
Sequential Write : 11.111 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 19.828 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 2.150 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 3.594 MB/s [ 877.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.020 MB/s [ 4.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 3.838 MB/s [ 937.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.021 MB/s [ 5.1 IOPS]

Test : 100 MB [S: 3.4% (0.5/14.9 GB)] (x3)
Date : 2010/10/27 23:18:50
OS : Windows XP Media Center 2005 SP3 [5.1 Build 2600] (x86)


=======================================================================
Sandisk Extreme 4gb 30mb/s
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 19.829 MB/s
Sequential Write : 17.000 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 17.685 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 1.916 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 3.772 MB/s [ 920.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.016 MB/s [ 3.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 4.052 MB/s [ 989.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.017 MB/s [ 4.2 IOPS]

Test : 100 MB [S: 6.6% (250.1/3773.5 MB)] (x3)
Date : 2010/10/28 0:39:52
OS : Windows XP Media Center 2005 SP3 [5.1 Build 2600] (x86)

=======================================================================


Everyone else, do share your readings for your memory card.
 

No problem! The full name of the software is called CrystalDiskMark 3.0

This is from me. I am using Sandisk Imagemate card reader so that it doesn't have that much of a bottleneck:
Tested with a Kingston class 4 16 gb, and a Sandisk extreme 30gb/s 4gb card ( NOTE: SD Cards, sorry I don't have CF cards )


=======================================================================
Kingston 16gb
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 20.051 MB/s
Sequential Write : 11.111 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 19.828 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 2.150 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 3.594 MB/s [ 877.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.020 MB/s [ 4.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 3.838 MB/s [ 937.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.021 MB/s [ 5.1 IOPS]

Test : 100 MB [S: 3.4% (0.5/14.9 GB)] (x3)
Date : 2010/10/27 23:18:50
OS : Windows XP Media Center 2005 SP3 [5.1 Build 2600] (x86)


=======================================================================
Sandisk Extreme 4gb 30mb/s
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 19.829 MB/s
Sequential Write : 17.000 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 17.685 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 1.916 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 3.772 MB/s [ 920.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 0.016 MB/s [ 3.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 4.052 MB/s [ 989.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 0.017 MB/s [ 4.2 IOPS]

Test : 100 MB [S: 6.6% (250.1/3773.5 MB)] (x3)
Date : 2010/10/28 0:39:52
OS : Windows XP Media Center 2005 SP3 [5.1 Build 2600] (x86)

=======================================================================


Everyone else, do share your readings for your memory card.

:sweat: Bro, so what does the above mean?? I'm super lost. Sorry. Not that I'm lazy, but technically Im not a techie.