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Sony MRW-G1 XQD/CFx Type B Card Reader


ShunCheung

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Since I would like to have just one reader for both XQD and CFexpress Type B cards, I ended up getting the Sony MRW-G1. For years I have been using the Sony QDA-SB1A XQD reader without any issues. I have three of those, which came at no additional cost with the three Sony XQD cards I have.

 

From the images, the MRW-G1 dual reader looks similar to the older ones I have. It turns out to be much bigger, but it works.

 

Below:

  • left: Sony MRW-G1
  • center: Sony QDA-SB1A
  • right: Lexar CFx reader

Sony_MRW-G1_1955.thumb.jpg.d24e85a066d072bd38462cdb9b005d7f.jpg

_DSC1958.thumb.jpg.022bc5e37677551c4d8c0625932d9c20.jpg

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I would imagine the Sony reader is compatible with all CFx cards, but I only have one each of Lexar and ProGrade CFx cards to check it against.

 

For XQD cards, I have Sony and Lexar ones.

Thanks. I had read in different forums of CFx readers being incompatible with cards other than those by the same manufacturer. Good to know that its working ok with Lexar and ProGrade cards.

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The Sony card reader has one USB-C connection. It comes with two cables: USB-C to USB-C and USB-C to USB-A. Since I have many other cables, I haven’t even opened the cable packages.

 

I have plenty of those cables from my external SSDs, etc. Even my Z6 came with an A-to-C cable. We have both PCs and Macs at home. The PCs have type A connections and Macs type C.

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I have the same reader and use it with the USB C to A cable that came with it on my desktop. The USB C to C cable works on my laptop but for some reason it doesn't work with my desktop's USB-C port. On my desktop, the copying speed to internal drive from Sony 128 GB CFexpress (Sony 128GB) is 370 MB/s and about 270-320 MB/s with Sony 32 GB and 64 GB XQD G-series cards (from 2016 and 2017). On my laptop I get about 280 MB/s with CFexpress. On computers with Thunderbolt 3, I recall a web site reporting transfer speeds up to 420 MB/s with CFexpress so my setup is a bit behind but the desktop is not too far behind for me to be bothered about it in real-world use. (I suppose I could contact Sony or Dell customer support to ask about the port / reader incompatibility.) The desktop does have Thunderbolt support (do not know which gen) so I could test it with another Thunderbolt device to see if the port is faulty.

 

To my recollection the Sony reader supports faster speeds with USB-C and Thunderbolt. Most computers aren't optimized to give the highest speeds with these cards, but perhaps newer computers in a few years make better use of them.

 

I noticed that Sony's latest XQD 64/120/240 GB cards support PCI express 3.0 and are a bit faster than the ones from 2016-7 that I have. If someone has a lot of complementary XQD readers (like me) then these new XQD cards could be an economical option as well (the Sony CFexpress/XQD reader is pretty expensive). But for now I have way more cards than I need, so ...

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Joseph, since you asked, here is a picture of the two cables included. The one of the left in the blue bag is USB-C to USC-C. The on the right is A to C. They are on the short side, around 15 inches/38 cm each. That is a great length for desktop usage with a laptop computer; probably too short to reach a mini tower. But again, I already have plenty of such cables.

 

Ilkka, thanks for the additional info. Since you have had the reader for much longer, have you run into any compatibility issues?

 

Sony_MRW-G1_1963.thumb.jpg.6e51b1be6de247cdc2c3ed87238ef21b.jpg

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Sony's latest XQD 64/120/240 GB

I use Sony XQD 120GB XQD cards and Lexar 2933x XQD cards (64GB and 128GB); transfer is via Lexar XQD USB 3.0 reader to a Windows desktop running the latest version of Windows 10 Pro 64bit. However, the computer hardware is some 6 years old by now and no attempt on my site for speed optimization has taken place. Not quite sure what to make of the results I see - a direct copy from the XQD card to the desktop as well as one using my standard transfer program (Downloader Pro, which allows me to rename image files on the fly) starts with transfer speeds way in excess of the card specs (over 700MB/s) and then levels off at around 330MB/s for the direct transfer and above 400MB/s for the one using the program (and involving file renaming). Activating the option to see thumbnails during the transfer with Downloader Pro gives a sustained speed of a little over 200MB/s. The test involved the transfer of some 145 images at about 3.56GB.

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You could try copying a larger set of images to see a more robust estimate of the transfer speed. But it sounds like you're getting very good performance especially considering the age of the computer. It's faster than I get with my 2016-7 XQD cards with my 1.5-year-old computer (I think the PCI express 2.0 of my cards is limiting the speed). Transfers between my internal SSDs start at 1.4 GB/s and level off at 1 GB/s after a while, but my USB card reader transfers have achieved 370 MB/s at best and 320 MB/s with XQD. However, I haven't used special software for the transfers, only the OS tools.

 

I noticed in a review of D6 buffer performance that Sony's latest XQD cards had improved performance over the older cards that I use and were only a little behind CFexpress.

 

Your 700 MB/s figure could mean that Sony's specs for the cards underestimate the maximum read speed or it could be that the software estimates the speed inaccurately. :/ XQD 2.0 specification with PCI express 3.0 allows up to 1 GB/s speeds. For CFexpress, no one seems to report real-world performance close to the specified speeds so far. I can't help but wonder if the specifications for the two standards are not determined using different methodologies.

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You could try copying a larger set of images to see a more robust estimate of the transfer speed.

I could hardly believe those number myself. Repeated the test with 28GB of data (1222 images) - now things look a lot more realistic given the age of the computer's hardware. Starts with a high number above 300MB/s, drops down to around 250MB/s halfway through and ends at about 190MB/s towards the end of the transfer when using Downloader Pro. Did the transfer twice and used a stopwatch - 150s for 28GB, or about 186MB/s. So the numbers the software displays aren't correct but overestimate the transfer speed (and underestimates the transfer time). Then copied one folder from the XQD card to the desktop directly - 22.5GB in 71s; that's 317MB/s. Which is also what the transfer screen showed - which stayed at constant rate during the entire transfer. Using the software slows my transfer down substantially - but I like that I can change the filenames on the fly. Besides, even if the card was full, it would take some 10 minutes to transfer all the data using the software vs 6 minutes using windows; for me that's not something to get worried about.

 

BTW, those were transfer speeds to a SSD drive on the PCI bus; doing the same 28GB transfer to a SATA connected 7200rpm-hard drive takes about 4 1/2 minutes; just over 100MB/s transfer speed. A SATA-connected SSD gives about the same speed as the PCI connected one; 280MB/s.

Edited by Dieter Schaefer
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Shun, thanks for the pictures of the two USB cables.

 

About 3-5 years ago I bought a Samsung 1 TB external SSD drive. It came with a USB A MALE TO MICRO B MALE cable that was very short. When I used the supplied cable to download images to it from my laptop, download speed was was much slower than advertised and expected. I switched to another similar cable from a regular external hard drive of the same age and the transfer speed problem was fixed. Cables can make a difference.

 

To be fair to Samsung, that problem appears to have been fixed. The external SSD drives they now sell (T5) appear to come with the same two cable types Shun showed for his Sony card reader.

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I happen to have three different Samsung external SSD drives: 500G, 1T, and 2T. All of them work fine. They also come with two similar cables. As prices drop, I gradually bought into higher-capacity ones.

 

Just yesterday I learned that Trebleet makes a dual XQD + CFexpress card reader, and it has two separate slots for the two types of cards. I have never heard of the Trebleet brand before. The cost is half as much as my Sony reader:

https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Slot-CFexpress-Compatible-Thunderbolt-Support/dp/B08KP966ST/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=Trebleet%2Bxqd%2Bcfexpress%2Bcard%2Breader&qid=1610997536&sr=8-3&th=1

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Sony uses similar cables and connectors for both Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C. The actual protocol depends on the attached device. There are at least two types of USB-C cables, one for data and he other for charging. The data cable can be used for charging, but limited to 2.0 A @ 5.0 vdc. The latter is still 5.0 vdc, but can handle up to 9.0 A. However it cannot handle data.

 

I have one camera which takex CFx cards (Sony A7Siii) but only Type A, which are much smaller. The Sony records data up to 600 Mb/sec internally, but I plan to use USB-II cards for now, and a Ninja V HDMI recorder at 600 Mb/sec, 10 bit, 4,2,2.

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There's also a USB 3.2 version.

 

Is there? I could not find one from Prograde that works with both XQD and CFexpress and is regular USB-A compatible, it says on their site that it requires Thunderbolt 3 and is not USB-C compatible (which is a bit odd).

Edited by ilkka_nissila
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Is there? I could not find one from Prograde that works with both XQD and CFexpress and is regular USB-A compatible, it says on their site that it requires Thunderbolt 3 and is not USB-C compatible (which is a bit odd).

My bad - there’s indeed none that can read both XQD and CFx; the one I saw can read CFx and SD UHS II.

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I learned that Trebleet makes a dual XQD + CFexpress card reader,

Think this is important for most people. It is for me. There are already too many variables in cameras, lenses and must-have accessories, so there is no need for a different card reader. I would just stick with XQD unless one unit can read both kinds.

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Think this is important for most people. It is for me. There are already too many variables in cameras, lenses and must-have accessories, so there is no need for a different card reader. I would just stick with XQD unless one unit can read both kinds.

Mary, the future is going to be CFexpress, not XQD. Meanwhile, I have like 10 XQD cards from 2016 to 2019 that are still in use. As Thom Hogan has pointed out a few times, memory cards do have a finite lifespan. In particular, my Z6 has only one memory card slot. I tend to put my newer cards in it.

 

I am going to gradually buy more CFx cards as prices go down and capacity goes up, and retire my XQD cards. In the meantime, it is important to be able to read both types of cards. Hence I added that Sony dual reader.

Edited by ShunCheung
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Mary, the future is going to be CFexpress, not XQD. Meanwhile, I have like 10 XQD cards from 2016 to 2019 that are still in use. As Thom Hogan has pointed out a few times, memory cards do have a finite lifespan. In particular, my Z6 has only one memory card slot. I tend to put my newer cards in it.

 

I am going to gradually buy more CFx cards as prices go down and capacity goes up, and retire my XQD cards. In the meantime, it is important to be able to ready both types of cards. Hence I added that Sony dual reader.

Definitely in the plan. I can afford to wait a bit until the status is more stable.

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