Slow Card Reader (1 Viewer)

Roy C · Jul 27, 2006

My PC has a built-in USB card Reader, It transfered RAW files from CF card at about 7mb per second. This Reader suddenly stopped working and has now been replaced by the PC manufacturer - the new Reader is about 6 times slower (now transfers at about 1.25mb per second) this is a pain as it takes almost 15 minutes to upload a 1gb card of images.
Anyone have any thoughts as to why the new reader should be so slow.

Cheers Roy C.

Andrew Rowlands · Jul 27, 2006

This is usually the fault of the chipset in the reader, Roy - some are faster than others. Alternatively, have they replaced a USB2 reader with a USB1?

Cheers,

Andy.

baillieswells · Jul 27, 2006

Roy C said:
My PC has a built-in USB card Reader, It transfered RAW files from CF card at about 7mb per second. This Reader suddenly stopped working and has now been replaced by the PC manufacturer - the new Reader is about 6 times slower (now transfers at about 1.25mb per second) this is a pain as it takes almost 15 minutes to upload a 1gb card of images.
Anyone have any thoughts as to why the new reader should be so slow.

Cheers Roy C.

Why not buy an external Firewire Compactflash reader. It will download a 1GB card in seconds. Or make sure you are using USB2 not USB1.

Roy C · Jul 27, 2006

Andrew Rowlands said:
This is usually the fault of the chipset in the reader, Roy - some are faster than others. Alternatively, have they replaced a USB2 reader with a USB1?

Cheers,

Andy.

Thanks Andy, I was wondering if they have replaced my faulty one with a USB1 device myself - is there any way of telling which one it is?

Thanks
Roy

nirofo · Jul 28, 2006

Roy C said:
My PC has a built-in USB card Reader, It transfered RAW files from CF card at about 7mb per second. This Reader suddenly stopped working and has now been replaced by the PC manufacturer - the new Reader is about 6 times slower (now transfers at about 1.25mb per second) this is a pain as it takes almost 15 minutes to upload a 1gb card of images.
Anyone have any thoughts as to why the new reader should be so slow.

Cheers Roy C.

Did your new card reader come with any installation software, it may be that you need to install a driver specific to the new hardware. If you didn't recieve any driver software try contacting the manufacturers website for downloads! It could be that your computer is only set up for USB 1.

nirofo.

Andrew Rowlands · Jul 28, 2006

Roy C said:
Thanks Andy, I was wondering if they have replaced my faulty one with a USB1 device myself - is there any way of telling which one it is?

I think Device Manager > USB might help you out here, Roy - IIRC, you should have two Enhanced devices (one for the mainboard and one for the reader).

If you're in doubt, Post a screenshot of your Device Manager layout with the USB section expanded, we may be able to work it out from there.

Roy C · Jul 28, 2006

Andy, Attached is the screenshot.

Cheers, Roy

Andrew Rowlands · Jul 28, 2006

Hmm, I can't be certain from the grab whether you have a USB2 reader or not. It's too dissimilar to the to the machines I have to hand to tell - I don't have a reader to check the settings from, either.

It may show up easier if you were to choose view 'devices by connection' and drill down through the list, if you have a card inserted, it would be easy to work backwards one step from that and find the details of the device it connects through.

nirofo · Jul 28, 2006

Roy C said:
Andy, Attached is the screenshot.

Cheers, Roy

Judging from your screen grab, your USB2 is enabled, to make sure double click on USB Mass Storage Device in Device Manager/Universal Serial Bus Controllers, mine says - Location 0 (USB 2.0 Card Reader).

nirofo.

bill lord · Jul 28, 2006

nirofo said:
Judging from your screen grab, your USB2 is enabled, to make sure double click on USB Mass Storage Device in Device Manager/Universal Serial Bus Controllers, mine says - Location 0 (USB 2.0 Card Reader).

nirofo.

You may find the reader is listed under the disk drives and if it is it should tell you there.

MI_Phil · Jul 28, 2006

Buy a USB 2 card reader they are quite inexpensive,I have several and always carry one in my camera bag. You can plug in the reader into another USB port on your pc to check if you get "faster" transfer rate if not then I would say you may have a "driver" issue and your USB has reverted to USB 1.xx standard.

On Microsoft Windows platforms, one can tell whether a USB port is version 2.0 by opening the Device Manager and checking for the word "Enhanced" in its description; only USB 2.0 drivers will contain the word "Enhanced."

Taken from Wikipedia!

Phil

baillieswells · Jul 28, 2006

Roy C said:
My PC has a built-in USB card Reader, It transfered RAW files from CF card at about 7mb per second. This Reader suddenly stopped working and has now been replaced by the PC manufacturer - the new Reader is about 6 times slower (now transfers at about 1.25mb per second) this is a pain as it takes almost 15 minutes to upload a 1gb card of images.
Anyone have any thoughts as to why the new reader should be so slow.

Cheers Roy C.

How old is your computer? Mine is 5 years old and only has USB. (Now called USB1). That is why I use the Firewire connection. I presume if your computer is a modern one it will have Firewire. I also use Firewire to connect my 500GB external drive, where I store all my RAW images.

Roy C · Jul 28, 2006

baillieswells said:
How old is your computer? Mine is 5 years old and only has USB. (Now called USB1). That is why I use the Firewire connection. I presume if your computer is a modern one it will have Firewire. I also use Firewire to connect my 500GB external drive, where I store all my RAW images.

My PC is only 1 year old (64bit Processor) so definitely USB2 (I have other USB2 Devices) I know you can get Firewire reader.. but the point is that the PC is under Warranty for 3 years and the old Reader packed-up so it was replaced under warranty, I just need to determine if the new one that was fitted is a USB2 device or not.
Cheers
Roy C

baillieswells · Jul 28, 2006

Roy C said:
My PC is only 1 year old (64bit Processor) so definitely USB2 (I have other USB2 Devices) I know you can get Firewire reader.. but the point is that the PC is under Warranty for 3 years and the old Reader packed-up so it was replaced under warranty, I just need to determine if the new one that was fitted is a USB2 device or not.
Cheers
Roy C

I understand. Thanks.

nirofo · Jul 29, 2006

Roy C said:
My PC is only 1 year old (64bit Processor) so definitely USB2 (I have other USB2 Devices) I know you can get Firewire reader.. but the point is that the PC is under Warranty for 3 years and the old Reader packed-up so it was replaced under warranty, I just need to determine if the new one that was fitted is a USB2 device or not.
Cheers
Roy C

If the PC is still under warranty why don't you get the new card reader set up for you under warranty, or at least get the information and software for setting up the reader from the people holding the warranty.

If you look at my previous reply to your post #9, it tells you how to confirm which USB you are set up for, your screen grab indicates you are set up for USB2. If you are running Windows XP, USB2 is set up automatically when the computer is first booted, that's assuming its enabled in the bios!

Another possibility is that the card you are attempting to read is faulty, or needs reformatting, if you have more than one card try each one to see if there's any noticeable difference in speed.

nirofo.

Roy C · Jul 29, 2006

nirofo said:
If the PC is still under warranty why don't you get the new card reader set up for you under warranty, or at least get the information and software for setting up the reader from the people holding the warranty.

If you look at my previous reply to your post #9, it tells you how to confirm which USB you are set up for, your screen grab indicates you are set up for USB2. If you are running Windows XP, USB2 is set up automatically when the computer is first booted, that's assuming its enabled in the bios!

Another possibility is that the card you are attempting to read is faulty, or needs reformatting, if you have more than one card try each one to see if there's any noticeable difference in speed.

nirofo.

Thanks Nirofo, I have had a new reader installed under the warranty - it is this new one that is sloooooooow!. I have also confirmed that USB2 is running ok. Also tried several cf cards - all the same. Out of interest I tried a old USB1 reader I had, It was slightly faster than the new USB2!.
The Firm have now offered to collect the PC and return to base to sort out (pain in the butt to be without it - might even buy a firewire reader myself).

Thanks Roy

Andrew Rowlands · Jul 29, 2006

Roy C said:
The Firm have now offered to collect the PC and return to base to sort out (pain in the butt to be without it - might even buy a firewire reader myself).

If they're willing to collect it, with the attendant shipping costs, etc., why not try to get them to send a USB2 or Firewire reader instead? Can you speak to a human at the firm?

Being without the machine for a second time is a lot of aggro - will they extend your warranty to cover the duration you've been without the machine?

nirofo · Jul 29, 2006

Roy C said:
Thanks Nirofo, I have had a new reader installed under the warranty - it is this new one that is sloooooooow!. I have also confirmed that USB2 is running ok. Also tried several cf cards - all the same. Out of interest I tried a old USB1 reader I had, It was slightly faster than the new USB2!.
The Firm have now offered to collect the PC and return to base to sort out (pain in the butt to be without it - might even buy a firewire reader myself).

Thanks Roy

Because you are running USB2 on a PC it's doubtfull you will see a speed gain by converting to Firewire, unless of course you intend changing to a MAC system where Firewire is the clear winner!

Interesting that your USB1 reader is faster than the new USB2, it looks to me as though you have a driver problem, try re-installing the driver, most systems will default to USB1 speed even though the driver is not installed correctly.

nirofo.

ryanibis · Jul 31, 2006

Having the advantage of all the preceding posts and your responses, I suggest that the device type needs to be changed to USB2 in your BIOS settings.

When your old reader was removed and the new installed, it recognized the USB device, but defaulted to USB 1.1. If your mboard is 3 yrs old this is likely the cause.

Your device manager pic shows that you have USB1 ports enabled, USB2 ports are specifically listed as such. Hence, 'USB2 root hub' and 'USB root hub.' In fact you show 2 USB1 'root hubs' and 1 USB2 root hub, which is probably your back panel USB ports. If your front USBs are 1.0, the card reader is likely the other USB 1.0 device.

If you're not familiar with BIOS-related stuff you'll want to do a little research or write me and I'll try and guide you thru. Changes to the bios can be fatal (to the motherboard) or to us if its our girlfriend's pc...

One more note: It's not possible to plug a USB1 device into a USB2 port on a motherboard, the plugs and pins are far different.

Roy C · Jul 31, 2006

UPDATE.
I have now purchased an external USB2 Reader for £7.99 - work fine. It is worth this to me not to be without my PC for up to two weeks.
Thanks to everyone for their help.

Roy C.

Slow Card Reader (1 Viewer)

Occasional bird snapper

Well-known member

Well-known member

Occasional bird snapper

Well-known member

Well-known member

Occasional bird snapper

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Occasional bird snapper

Well-known member

Well-known member

Occasional bird snapper

Well-known member

Well-known member

ryanibis

Occasional bird snapper

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread