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1GB CompactFlash Roundup
An anonymous reader writes "In an article from AnandTech, Purav Sanghani focuses on the most widely used flash media, the 1GB CompactFlash cards. AnandTech has taken ten of the most well-known and unknown brands and put them through three tests: real world file system task test, HDTach 3 RW and SiSoft Sandra's File System Benchmark." From the article: "All of these cards are standard CompactFlash Type I media cards with varying speeds with exception of the Lexar Professional series media, which features its 'Write Acceleration Technology', said to improve image write speeds by up to 23% with compatible cameras. This is done with the aid of special firmware on the media as well as the cameras themselves, which allow them to work together to improve the write algorithms. However, we have also seen an improvement in write speeds in our benchmarks as well, but we'll let you see for yourself."
The link provided is to the single-page, non-ad filled "print version." Good move. Very un-slashdot like.
In Soviet Russia, backwards is everything.
I'd say usb keys are more widely used.
The fastest is $65.95 for Lexar Professional series media, but lasts 5 times less than the slowest ones.... price wise, I'd go with Viking, but how often do people go through these cards?
Would you actually need one for longer than how long Lexar's will last?
Don't forget Rob Galbraith's CF comparison for many dSLR cameras (you gotta use these cards somewhere!)
Switch computer on/off like TV
I've been using 2 gig and 4 gig 80x Transcend Compactflash cards in my Rebel XT, and have been very impressed with their speed, and they're a great value. Lexar's 4 gig cost more than twice as much, and the performance of the Transcend card is close enough for me. I would definitely recommend Transcend's cards to anyone looking for good performance on a budget.
I've got a Rosewill case, SanDisk 512mb flash memory chip, Kingston system memory, PNY video card, Lexar 1GB flash stick, and some Rosewill memory on top of that. It seems as though companies are taking bits and pieces from each pie instead of one entire pie (wow, that was the worst analogy I've ever given -- must sleep...).
Most Canon users prefer Sandisk Ultra II or Sandisk Extreme III THere have been reports of lexar cards failing.
Looks to me like Kingston is trying to sell old technology with a new technology price tag.
I'm getting the impression that sandisk's having sorta been-there-first element isn't going to serve as an asset of protection for them when we're seeing improvements/innovation left and right in an industry in which specs matter, not brands. Should I tell my broker to keep shopping around?
You can't really trust somebody who makes a line graph when there is no notion of sequence! Thinking about this one:
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/1gb%20compactfl ash%20roundup_12210581203/10365.png
Especially the interpolation gets really ridiculous... they have this "nice" interconnecting line segments that represent what - a combination of two cards?
It would have made some sense to have the lines in the other dimension, with three points on the line, one for each size of file and then one line for each card. The interpolation that the line represents would then have a meaning - files of other sizes. That would get a little messy though. But seriously, how often did a line graph make sense with the lines in either dimension? :) There is at most one correct choice...
Kingston is MLC based and has the WORST life cycle,
Fast cards are SLC based are and on average ~10 times better.
Here is a proof : http://www.achieva.com.au/news_slcvsmlc.htm
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
It takes one to know one... honey. ;)
They did a comparison review comparing performace, with the only control in the test being capacity, which of course, is unrelated to performace. How is this useful at all
Mobile phones, PDAs and cameras seem to be SD/MMC based, at least in the UK. Only higher end gear uses compact flash.
The link in question isn't an objective analysis, its just a self promoting PR fluff piece.
They considered the latest Lexar cards, but not the Sandisk Extreme III, which has a quite higher performance than the Ultra II.
Ander
@=
Netcraft confirms it
- There's no place like 127.0.0.1
Seriously. The Sandisk Extreme III blows the lexar out of the water. Why would they miss such an obvious product? They price at b&h photo or any other photo place is about $59 to 69 after rebate.
Only reason you need 80X and above is if you are taking RAW or RAW+JPEG on a digital SLR and need to shoot at the 3-4 FPS continuos rate until the card is full lol.
most consumer cameras are too slow to write that fast.
SD is the most used format now. Actually by a considerable bit if you go by sales. They currently account for over 50% of the flash memory market.
SD license costs money, so is not so popular (as it could be)
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
Ironically, CF tends to be used in the upper and lower ends of the spectrum. The cheapest cameras are often still CF based because they're old technology and a few years ago _everybody_ used CF. These days the middle of the road cameras are getting smaller and smaller, so they tend to go with media with a smaller footprint (CF or xD). Upper end cameras still use CF because there is high end CF (like in this article) that outperforms most other media and comes in higher capacities than SD or xD media.
I read the internet for the articles.
As far as I know, only some old digital cameras use CF cards, and then some big DSLR cameras. I'd have been much more interested in an SD Card comparison myself.
I did buy a 150x 2GB SD card (Transcend) for my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 camera, and it'd have been nice to see more reviews.
Both my camera and palmtop use CF type II cards (can accept type I, but I only have a type II card). Both are very old though (The palmtop runs Windows CE 2.0, the camera was state-of-the-art with 1.5 megapixels).
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
NOBODY cares how fast the card works on the PC - that performance that matters is on the CAMERA !!!
I bought a nice 4GB thumbdrive from Apacer a few months ago in Taiwan, for the equivalent of about $200. It's nice and fast, and with 4GB, I haven't run out of room yet. Here's the link: http://www.apacer.com/en/products/Handy_Steno_HT20 3_200X_specs.htm
I don't think they sell over the internet, but you can probably try to look for it, if you're in the market for high-capacity flash drives.
Ceci n'est pas une sig
I was hoping for maybe 4gb or more solid state CF's.
Actually, if you're pulling a gig of images off for a deadline job, you do.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01/06/victory_fo r_cprm_sd_cards/
They assume that all cards have an equal life. NOT true.
They assume that over time X a card will be written to as many times as will fit into X. NOT true.
Someone else pointed out they made a graph of unrelated cards, but joined the points with lines. Obviously this "Roundup" isn't worth a bucket of warm spit.
I saw some posts where some whined that the site was somehow getting 'cheated' out of ad revenue. No one is "owed" ad revenue on a public site. Think about it. No, I mean, consider it from all angles, not just jerk your knee again.
bzzzt!
You used "backup" and "raid" in the same sentence.
RAID isn't backup, it's for availability and/or increased speed depending on the type of RAID. If you accidently delete a file RAID won't do shit for you.
But my main camera manufacturer of choice (Canon) has switched over to SD cards, I hear, at very least for the smaller cameras. Boooo.
I remember sigs. Oh, a simpler time!
(i am a pro photographer)
I have a sandisk Ultra II 1 gb that ive had for about a year. These cards are not especially noted for their ruggedness, and occasionally the card burps - the camera says its not in the camera, the total number of images on a freshly formatted card has decreased all of a sudden (by about 15 images) - i suspect that due to the daily usage and abusage the card has gone through may have damaged some internal structure. its been dropped, shaken, heated, chilled, inserted and pulled out of readers hundreds of times...
cards like the lexar professional series and the sandisk extremes are constructed to be more impact and temperature shock resistant, which also adds to their cost. they also ship with recovery software should something happen to them (which ive used before..sometimes it helps, sometimes not, depending on what you've done to the card)
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Posted by Zonk on 24-12-05 2:10
> In an article from AnandTech, Purav Sanghani focuses on the most widely used flash media,
> the 1GB CompactFlash cards [...]
The actual article says "One of the most common types of flash media is the CompactFlash digital media" (emphasis mine).
The most widely used is SD.
Way to go, Zonk!
This is probably going against the corporate googledot sanctions, but microdrives have been a better experience than flash 4 me. Spent 3 years using flash cards. The flash cards started dropping bits after 3 years, long before the rated erase cycles and they cost a rediculous amount. It's been the same with all flash devices including embedded, microprocessor, and digital cameras.
While being just as unreliable as flash, microdrives have been a much better deal because of the cost. Although I never had bad sectors with the 2 gig microdrive, the electronics failed after 6 months at which time Hitachi replaced it with a new 4 gig drive.
Most importantly, why would you pay a rediculous amount of money for a smaller amount of flash storage than a microdrive, if something even better than both these solutions is just around the corner?