Hello! I am new to this forum and struggle to find a straightforward answer to my question. Please advise: I have just purchased the Canon xf 100 and 2x 32GB SanDisc extreme CF cards and when I tried uploading the material I shot to my MacBook Pro via my usual card reader, it gave me an astonishing (and unacceptable) upload time of 8 hours! I have come across some talk about the Nexto Di storage systems on this forum and also about the FW 800 card readers, but I need some straightforward advice: what is the easiest and also fairly economical way to transfer files from CF cards to the computer? Which kind of reader or storage/back up system would you recommend? I need to be able to upload the material fast ... Thank you!!

If you have a system with USB3, I can recommend the new Lexar CF USB3 reader. It moved 4.69GB of Canon MXF files and folders to my editing box RAID drive in about 45 seconds from a 64GB Sandisk Extreme Pro card (rated at 90MB/sec). If I did my math right, that's actually a little faster transfer than the card is even rated for. I was very pleased.

Interestingly, though, I also transferred some Canon 5DmII CR2 files from a 32GB Sandisk Extreme card rated at 60MB/sec (maybe the same one you have?) and the transfer rate was MUCH slower -- I don't exactly remember but seems it was something like 30MB/sec or so. Not sure why that card didn't move the data as fast as rated.

Hi Pavla,

Good to hear from Italy! One of my favorite places to visit is Vernazza in the Cinque Terra part of the Liguria region up north - been there twice and greatly enjoyed photography (and the food!) there...

You mention you have MacBook Pro - I assume you have a Firewire port on it. Is it just 400 or is it an 800 speed Firewire port? Get the fastest firewire reader you can for your laptop. Make sure it's rated for fast UDMA cards. Some have had problems using older readers - that may be the reason your upload times are so long..

I also have a USB 3 port on my Sony laptop, and added one on my desktop. I use a Delkin USB 3 reader and Sandisk Extreme 60 mb/s UDMA 32gb cards on my XF 300 and it works great.

Ok... gotta quit thinking about Italy and gelato and get back to work.

Hope this helps!

Larry Becker

There is something very wrong with your card reader as even a USB2 reader should never take as long as 8 hours to unload a 32GB card. It appears that Lexar no longer make the FW800 reader that I use on my Mac Pro but with that the speed of the card is the limiting factor in unloading. If you have a 17" MBP with an ExpressCard slot you can buy a CalDigit USB3 card & use a Lexar USB3 CF/SDHC reader. I usually dump the cards as I film to a Colorspace Hyperdrive which unloads at maximum card speed although this device only has a USB2 connector it will offload to your MBP at a much faster rate than reading directly off the card. You can also pull the bare 2.5" disk out & pop it into a FW800 disk dock. I have just bought a USB3 disk dock that connects to the CalDigit card & is very speedy.

Speaking of compact flash cards, I need to remember to check B&H every so often. It was only available for a day or so, but earlier this week they had fantastic instant rebates on 2 packs of the Sandisk Extremes:

16GB cards are now back to $72 each and a 2-pack is $125 - the sale price was $78 for the 2-pack. I actually had this in my cart but before I could finish the order the system deleted it and told me they just sold out. So, I got a 32GB 2-pack instead - good price but not quite THAT sweet.

32GB are now back to $140 each with a 2-pack for $254. I managed to get the 2-pack on sale for $204.

I left my email to be notified when the 16Gb 2-pack is back in stock, but there was no "rain check" mentioned - it will probably not be at the sale price.