John Navitsky
Well-known member
have you tried doing a full format on the computer (not a "quick format")?
CF express card reader
- Thread starter sh1209
- Start date
If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).
No I've not and I assume you're referring to the CF card correct?
OK. Sorry you are having trouble.
The only thing I know comes from the packaging of some "free" bundled readers I received from B&H when I purchased some 256 GB Delkin Black CFexpress Type B cards. The card reader is a "Delkin Devices DDREADER-54". These came with their own cables.
Inside the box are the following instructions which I repeated in condensed form in my previous above:
"Thank you for purchasing this Delkin Devices USB 3.2. CFexpressTM Type B Memory Card Reader. Initial factory setup of this reader is as a Fixed device. Delkin offers the option to set it up as a Removable device if you so choose, depending on your preferred workflow.
Fixed USB Devices Versus Removable:
FIXED:
In order to maximize performance, this reader is factory set as a Fixed device. This setting is an industry standard to maximize Read and Write speeds to and from the CFexpress™ Type B memory card. This setting requires images to be transferred from your card to your computer prior to editing or importing into other third party software applications. In come programs (e.g. Adobe family) it is not possible to directly edit a file on a card when the reader is in Fixed mode. It is only possible to work on files in these programs after the files have been transferred to your PC or Mac via File Explorer or Finder.
REMOVABLE:
Delkin Devices offers a utility to convert your USB 3.2 CFexpressTM Type B Memory Card Reader into a Removable device. If you choose to do this, you will be able to modify files using Adobe and various other programs directly off the card while it is in the reader. It is important to note though that by performing this conversion the Read speeds from your reader will be reduced by 50%, and Write speeds to the reader will be reduced by 20%.
If your workflow involves editing images directly off the card through third-party programs (e.g. Adobe Lightroom. or Apple Photos), you might consider downloading the utility to switch your reader from Fixed to Removable. Download is available at delkindevices.com/support.
If your workflow involves transferring images from your card directly to your PC/MAC HDD before editing them, then no changes need to be made and you will experience the full performance capability of this reader.
Delkin Devices Inc.
Customer Service USA
13350 Kirkham Way
Poway, CA 92064 Phone: (858) 391-1234/ Toll Free: (800) 637-8087 [email protected]
Fax: (858) 391-1417
Delkin Europe, Ltd.
Unit 10, Regal Drive
Customer Service UK Walsall, West Midlands WS2 9HQ
Phone: +44 (0)1922 636 250 Delkin [email protected]"
I ordered two cards and so I have two of these readers. I don't use these readers because I already have card readers coming out my ears.
I believe that you know whether they are "Fixed" or "Removeable" by their behavior. Yours seem like they are behaving as fixed.
Now you know what I know. Good luck.
John Navitsky
Well-known member
yes
Thank you for the info, I guess I should have read the instructions LOL
Do we have the same reader?
No I don't honestly remember the brand.
agdoherty
Active member
I ran into a slow card reader problem that turned out to be user error. I accidentally swapped the default USB-C cable for one that didn't support fast speeds. As far as I can tell there is no way of knowing based on the markings on a cable... They were the same length so I didn't even notice. Once I found the correct cable I went from a 2 hour transfer of 500GB worth of files to 15 min.
Both of these readers are brand new and never had the cord removed. I am going thru a multi port hub on my iMac but I also ran the xqd reader through there. It seems like 30% slower if I had to put a number on it. I suppose it isn’t the end of the world but sure seems odd that two readers and two sets of cards do the same thing. I can try direct connect next time I import some.
IainD
Well-known member
I have a feeling that someMac computers have acouple of fast Thunderbolt ports and a couple of slower ones. If this is true, it could explain slow transfers. Maybe a different port would make a differenc. May be worth swapping ports as an easy experiment
agdoherty
Active member
Interesting, does the hub have a combination of 5/10gbps ports that could be making a difference? Mine supports two speeds, but only one port is actually labeled for the fastest speed and the other 6 are slower transfer speed.
To be honest with you I’m not 100% sure I will have to get the box out and look at the specs. It’s one that goes into the back of the iMac and actually snaps below the bottom of the screen so you have a set of ports facing you. It’s still the same files though as far as size the only factor is the cards themselves which makes no sense to me. The 2XQD card readers I have or just cheap ones bought off of Amazon and one came from Best Buy and they were blistering fast. The Sony reader I have for the type a cards was over $100. I will bypass that hub and see what happens.
Even if I connect my Samsung T7 or T5 external hard drive to the same ports they again are just blistering fast. I really think it’s something light room related. I could also try to transfer the files to a desktop folder and see if there’s a difference in transfer rate.
i find that CF express type B are very fast.
I use a Sony CFExpress card reader (Type B) as well as the Prograde card reader. Don't see a noticeable difference.
I have stop importing directly into LR. I use Carbon Copy Cloner (on a Mac) to copy cards to a download folder on my desktop. Once I have all the cards downloaded, I then move them into LR. The ingest speed seems be to related to file size (Z6 vs Z7), raw vs jpg, card speed - prograde cobalts are much faster than Sony Tough CFEs. Importing is fairly fast, generating previews eats up battery and a while.
That’s one of the things I’m going to try and that is to download into a folder on my desktop and see if that makes a difference because I have plenty of RAM and all that so the computer should handle them as fast as the card can write
If you download to a folder, you can put multiple cards in the folder and then intgest them into LR all at once. Even if that takes a bit longer, you can walk away and let the computer take is time.
Wes Peterson
Well-known member
Is the issue the time it takes to actually import the photos or for the import dialog box to read and display a preview of the photos on the card?
Both. I like to think through things in a logical manner and I’m importing the same file sizes through the same hub on the same computer the only variables are the readers and the cards. The cards and the readers are brand-new and high dollar at that. I think it’s some thing software related and not hardware personally. I just haven’t had time to really dig into it to see if I can sort it out but I absolutely do not think it’s anything hardware related.
Yeah, like I said earlier it’s not the end of the world it’s just puzzling that a card that has more than double the read and write speeds are taking longer to import photos into Lightroom classic
sounds like the bottleneck is not downloading from the card but LR ingesting the images
That’s exactly what I’m thinking but not sure of the reason
I tested my 2 CFE type B card readers on my 2017 iMac and 2021 MacBook Pro and compared results with XQD cards using a Gnarbox USB C reader.
The change in CFE B card readers on the iMac showed the Prograde was considerably faster importing to LRC- .77 GB/second vs .5 GB/second for the Delkin, but when I did the same test on the MacBook Pro, the import speed was essentially the same, about .90 GB/second. I suspect that some background process may have been running that impacted the Delkin results on the iMac.
The speed to import XQD cards into both computers was .27 GB/second for the iMac and .33 GB/ second on the MacBook Pro, so the actual import speed is considerably faster with the CFE cards, but short of the implied speed difference of 4x (440 for XQD (Lexar) and 1770 for CFE B (Delkin Black).
The real difference is the time it takes Lightroom to generate previews in the import window. I waited over 10 minutes on the iMac and it was still not complete for 1800 photos (104GB). This took about 4 minutes on the MacBook Pro. Using an XQD card with 1000 photos (60GB), the previews are nearly instantaneous on the MacBook Pro and about 1 minute on the iMac.
The change in CFE B card readers on the iMac showed the Prograde was considerably faster importing to LRC- .77 GB/second vs .5 GB/second for the Delkin, but when I did the same test on the MacBook Pro, the import speed was essentially the same, about .90 GB/second. I suspect that some background process may have been running that impacted the Delkin results on the iMac.
The speed to import XQD cards into both computers was .27 GB/second for the iMac and .33 GB/ second on the MacBook Pro, so the actual import speed is considerably faster with the CFE cards, but short of the implied speed difference of 4x (440 for XQD (Lexar) and 1770 for CFE B (Delkin Black).
The real difference is the time it takes Lightroom to generate previews in the import window. I waited over 10 minutes on the iMac and it was still not complete for 1800 photos (104GB). This took about 4 minutes on the MacBook Pro. Using an XQD card with 1000 photos (60GB), the previews are nearly instantaneous on the MacBook Pro and about 1 minute on the iMac.
I just loaded directly onto the iMac ssd and its considerably faster so the bottleneck for whatever reason seems to be Adobe related.
Calson
Well-known member
Most likely the driver being used for the CFexpress card reader or the cable is not providing USB-C levels of throughput.
- Status