shineofleo Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 <p>Hi Guys,</p> <p>So I got a transcend 400x 32G CF card for the D800, and I use transcend F8 USB 3.0 card reader. The Crystal Disk Mark tested well with this card, which reads (Card to computer) fast at 80-90 MB/s.</p> <p>However, I found it is very slow to import the pictures in real world. I use Lightroom 4.1, and it takes ages for the card reader transfer some pictures (20-ish) from CF card to computer hard drive.</p> <p>There may be multiple possible causes. For example, faulty card? (I don't think so). So I checked the internet, and some say Crystal Disk Mark is not a good test software anyway. Now what I am guessing: for a big file e.g. 50MB, the reading performance is good, but for many smaller files (15MB each for example), it can take some time. I also excluded the LR cause, see below.</p> <p>Anyway, I just want to ask around if there is anyone else has the similar issue: 32G fast card imports very slowly?</p> <p>By the way, I also tried to copy the pictures from CF card in windows 7 system. It IS slow, the transfer rate is around 8MB/s-9MB/s. (Correct me if I am wrong about the unit, which I believe it is the same as in test software)</p> <p>Any comment is appreciated. Thanks!</p> <p>Leon</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkka_nissila Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 <p>If you have many files in the same directory, editing software can work more slowly. It's not necessarily the fault of the card.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl_becker2 Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 <p>Are you having problems with a copy from card to drive or are you reading from card to LR? Personally I transfer files to a second data only hard drive on my computer then PP.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_ Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 <p>You might want to check the transfer speed of the port you are using on your computer. Files in the 50Mb range and a USB 2.0 'wire' will make for a slow transfer. You may consider looking at a new computer that has a chance at greater transfer speeds from your CF card to the computer's hard drive. [...just a guess here.]</p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shineofleo Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 <p>Thanks! I always use Lightroom to import the pictures. Perhaps I should try to copy all the picture to harddrive first next time and move it!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CvhKaar Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Leon, Just asking, what kind of USB port do you have on your PC, to which you connect the card reader ? ( I.e. USB 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 ) USB 1 & 2 often have either a whiteor a black connector, USB 3.0often has often a blue connector on the "PC side", and most PC's that have USB 3.0 ports also have USB 2.0 ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shineofleo Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 <p>I can confirm that I am using USB 3.0 port, with blue frame, and driver installed.</p> <p>Another thing is, the Crystal Disk Mark test result showed the sequential transfer speed is around 90MB/s for reading and 50MB/s for writing a 100MB block. The software may not the best, and the 100MB sequential means little for 15MB small files transfer, but this speed should prove the correct USB 3.0 port configuration? and of course, the card reader, and the card itself.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shineofleo Posted July 10, 2012 Author Share Posted July 10, 2012 <p>Sorry to bring this up but again I am very confused.</p> <p>The same CF card, it performs very well using Nikon D800 USB 3.0 connection directly; however, it is very slow using the card reader (Transcend F8).</p> <p>ATTO software indicates the card performs fast, but why? Why on card reader is so different from Camera body connection? by the same USB 3.0 interface and cable</p> <p>Any idea?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 <p>Leon, can you try a different card reader; maybe borrow one?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shineofleo Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 thanks Shun, I think the card reader is the weakest link, and I will try to get another reader to test. Actually I tried the combination on another pc with usb3 port, it is still slow file copying performance. However, I checked the Internet finding that transcend uses genesys logic GL3220 as the card reader controller, same for many cheap usb3 card readers. But I can find nothing about imagemate reader. There was something even worse happened. I imported some photos using the card reader into Lightroom, and it finished. When I was checking the pictures, I found some of them were faulty: one was in negative style, some were showing horizontal bands. I was scared and thought a faulty Nikon D800. But later I found the original photos on CF were good. Import again and fixed it. Then, I was not surprise, because I used a extension USB 3.0 cable. Of course I removed the extension, but the copying speed is still slow. The D800 direct connection at least told me my card is all right. However, perhaps the system setting or anti virus software did something funny? Since bench mark software shows fast transfer rate? Stupid win explorer reason? Anyway I will keep the thread updated when I give it a closure, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsfbr Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 I have those same cards and I think I have the same reader as you (although that's not really a complete description.) Have you monitored the speed using the appropriate system utility during the transfer? For a Mac that would be Activity Monitor, for a PC it is Task Manager. I've run a few quick tests on D300 files and see a noticeable difference in speed when copying NEFs vs Jpegs. At some point I will probably test the bulk of my cards and a couple of different card readers. I would never use a program to copy files - that is what the OS is for, imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shineofleo Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 <p>Thanks Joel. I think we should be the same: transcend 32GB 400x CF card and RDF8 USB 3.0 card reader, and I have upgraded it to TS-10 firmware. So you are all right with MAC?</p> <p>It is very weird. Just now I tried again. It is fast to copy several files (TIFF for example) from HDD to CF card, but from CF to HDD it is slow again - 3 MB even hundreds of KB per second. When using ATTO or crystaldiskinfo to benchmark the CF card, I found the reading speed is USB 3.0 spec - 90 MB/s! Again, this is not happening for copying file from CF to HDD.</p> <p>I originally use Lightroom but it is slow, and that's why I want to test with windows file explorer.</p> <p>And as I mentioned before, when using Nikon D800 direct USB 3.0 connection, everything is in USB 3.0 so I am wondering there is something wrong with the reader, or something else.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
udo_van_dongen Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 <p>I have 2 of those cards, one is UDMA 7 and the other one only states UDMA (I guess that's UDMA6). Anyway, the UDMA card is superfast in my cheap internal Eminent USB 3.0 card reader and reaches easily 90 mb/s. the other card (UDMA 7) is horribly slow and thumbnails pop up very slow if i open the folder with photos in it. I already received a replacement card and the new one is slightly quicker but still very slow.<br> The weird thing is: both cards work perfect in a USB 2.0 cardreader, but when it is USB 3.0 the UDMA 7 card is terrbly slow (for reading)<br> i looked up the serial number of both cards and the fast card's number is:<br> <strong>457580 1349 8332AC 0U6RR</strong><br> while the new replacement card's number one is:<br> <strong>A23449 0692 6312AC 0U7RR</strong><br> i remember that the serial number of the card that was replaced also started with an '<strong>A</strong>'. Does your's also start with an A? You should check your cards performance with a USB 2.0 device.<br> BTW, i also never use LR to copy photos to my HDDs. I first copy and then import in LR.<br> cheers, Udo</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossen_dimitriev Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 <p>Have you been able to resolve the issue with the terrible read speed of the CF card?<br> <br />I have the same problem with the following combination of card and reader:<br> Transcend 16GB 600x UDMA7 mode card<br> Plugable USB 3.0 card reader (same chipset as the Transcend one - Genesys Logic GL3220)</p> <p>Card or Card reader could be the problem? I'm thinking about not full support of UDMA7 vs. UDMA6 mode cards.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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