So I am looking to get a fast SxS card reader to ingest my EX1's video for my new computer build. Any suggestions?

The system is:

Zalman Z-Machine (water cooling installed)
i7 990 mild o'clock at 4.0GHz
12 GB OZC 1333 ram
2 Seagate 7200.12 1T in RAID0
HD 6870


All in all it is a nice quiet machine for hobby video and light gaming.


I will soon add a SDI interface but may need to upgrade the RAID or add a SSD to keep up with the data stream.

Is anyone using a SXS card Reader?

I dont know about the fastest but I use the SxS & MxML PCI-e READER.
I'm very pleased with it.

Hi Charles,

This is what I use in both of my PCs
Amazon.com: Siig Jj-000082-S1 Pcie To Expresscard Bay Rohs-Compliant 40: Electronics

This is the fastest connection available.

Steve, would this work in a Mac Pro?
(I read the tech specs but couldn't see mention of this).
Thanks,
Malcolm

It should work in any computer with a free PCI Express slot. However, you might have to try various slots as Mac's are very finicky. I have one in my HP Z800 in a PCI Express x4 slot. I have an extra one and tried both in my Z800 but my PC didn't like that and kept rebooting when accessing a SxS card.

Unfortunately, the PCIe "bus" is not hot-swappable in most (if not all) PC motherboard BIOS'es.

My remedy is to boot my PC with any SxS card in the PCIe reader; then I can read another SxS card without re-booting, by following the following steps:

- "eject" the current card using Device Manager, then remove it physically
- insert another SxS card
- "mount" it by making Device Manager search for a new device
- repeat for yet another card
- ....
- instead of shutting down, just put my PC to sleep at the end of day...

This might seem complicated, but the time needed for those extra steps is nothing compared to time savings resulting from the copy speed of some 90 MB/s (vs. up to 30 with USB interface).

HTH

Piotr

Hmmm. This works for you on a PC, Piotr.
Does anyone who uses a Mac Pro have a solution?
thanks,
Malcolm

Hey Piotr,

What do you use for your nanoFlash? I just ordered a Lexar Expresscard CF reader to use in my Siig adapter but I don't have the USB connected on the Siig adapter. And what PCIe slot do you have your Siig adapter in? I tried a x16 slot in my HP Z800 but I had several lockups requiring a hard reset; so, I put it back in a PCIe x4 slot (x8 mechanical, x4 electrical).

Steve, mine is not Siig - but I guess they are all the same. It works fine in any of my PCIe slots, starting with the x1 ones.

As to reading the CF cards, I also use this same adapter but stick the SxS->CF adapter in between. Also up to 90 MBps transfers.

Piotr

Sonnet makes a PCI-e SxS (and more) reader. It's a $1K, but features 25x speeds and takes two cards at once. I love it.

As to reading the CF cards, I also use this same adapter but stick the SxS->CF adapter in between. Also up to 90 MBps transfers.


Correction: of course I meant an ExpressCard CF adapter!

;)

Piotr

Hi Charles,

This is what I use in both of my PCs
Amazon.com: Siig Jj-000082-S1 Pcie To Expresscard Bay Rohs-Compliant 40: Electronics (http://www.amazon.com/Siig-Jj-000082-S1-Pcie-Expresscard-Rohs-Compliant/dp/B000PI154M/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1300205415&sr=8-16)

This is the fastest connection available.

Steve
are you using SxS cards with that device? i purchased same one, but none of my SXS cards work with it, except MxM card.

Have you installed the SxS driver?

.My remedy is to boot my PC with any SxS card in the PCIe reader; then I can read another SxS card without re-booting, by following the following steps:

- "eject" the current card using Device Manager, then remove it physically
- insert another SxS card
- "mount" it by making Device Manager search for a new device
- repeat for yet another card
- ....
- instead of shutting down, just put my PC to sleep at the end of day...

This might seem complicated, but the time needed for those extra steps is nothing compared to time savings resulting from the copy speed of some 90 MB/s (vs. up to 30 with USB interface).

HTH

Piotr


Did you insert your SxS card into the PC as Piotr says before switching it on.

Yes I did. No luck. Is there SxS driver? Customer support agent at SIIG says its plug and play card, and all drivers updated from OS when card is installed. But all my MxM cards work fine with it.

The MxM card uses USB 2.0 interface which is also supported by your reader, and is P&P indeed.

In order to use the SxS PCIe interface, you need to install the driver; you can find it at Sony web site.

HTH

Piotr

Has anyone tried this?
Sonnet - Qio: Professional Universal Media Reader/Writer Plus Four eSATA Ports (http://www.sonnettech.com/product/qio.html)

It looks like an awesome option for offloading cards.

Andrew

Has anyone tried this?
Sonnet - Qio: Professional Universal Media Reader/Writer Plus Four eSATA Ports (http://www.sonnettech.com/product/qio.html)

It looks like an awesome option for offloading cards.

Andrew

First off, it does not work on Windows.

Secondly, it costs almost $1000.

And lastly, it has many bugs and issues from what I have read.

Well heck, Steve, apart from that, what's wrong with it? ;-)

First off, it does not work on Windows.

Secondly, it costs almost $1000.

And lastly, it has many bugs and issues from what I have read.

$1000 is not too bad considering all it supposedly does.
If it could offload 2 cards simultaneously, or move data off the card directly to a raid drive at an extremely fast rate, it could be worth it for well funded, but timeline driven job.

Of course...if it doesn't work, then the price doesn't matter.
...and I would need it to work with Windows anyway.

I believe Sonnet are working on new drivers for the PC and updated drivers for the Mac to resolve some of the bugs. I'm hoping to get one to review after NAB.

Andrew, I agree.

The only reason I know about its bugs and issues is because I want one so I can offload multiple SxS and CF cards (from nanoFlash). I don't like waiting forever for a 64GB CF card to download especially when my 32GB SxS is done in a few minutes.

Do you know of ShotPut Pro? This software will offload cards to multiple drives all at the same time.

I've been using the NEXTO 2500 for very fast SxS card uploads, but it's much slower with the CF cards. I stopped by the NEXTO booth at NAB, and apparently their new 25xx series (replacing the 2500) units have considerably faster CF transfer speeds - plus at least one of them will transfer to two drives simultaneously at top speed using an esata link between the drives.

Sony's reader is $270.

Sony SBAC-US10 SxS Memory Card USB Reader/Writer SBAC-US10 B&H

There are reviews posted on B&H's website and they look positive. If I had to get one that's probably what I'd end up springing for.

you can find older 15" MBPs with expresscard slots for around $400-$500 US.