Card Reader port -- always soooo slowwww. Advice?

[frankgindc]

Hello,
This is a problem I've been dealing with for a long time and I've finally remembered to ask about it.  Namely, I have a two-year old PowerBook that basically works pretty well, but when importing (or even copying) images from a Compact Flash or an SD card it is extremely slow.  Say, 20 mins to download 100 images...or something on that order.  Clearly it's not nearly as fast as a USB and that's probably no surprise but it seems crazy, crazy slow.

Is this just the way it is, are all computers this way, did Steve Jobs just skimp on the PC card bus, or are there any settings I can change to improve this?

I am importing via PC card adapters using both CF and SD cards (and they are fast cards) and I notice the slow speed problem whether I am "importing" the images into a DAM program or just parking them in a folder on the hard drive.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Frank

[peterkrogh]

Frank,
There's a big difference in cards and card readers.
I am currently (on the MAc) using a USB reader, going into  FW800 drive (small drives cannot take advantage of the FW800 speed, unfortunately), that then copies to my internal drive (5400 RPM, IIRC), and to an additional FW400 external.  A 4 GB card takes 9 minutes to do all this.
I'd say try a modern card reader, even USB2 (if your PB has USB2)
Peter