PhotoFast 64 GB CompactFlash card at DVinfo.net

Dan Keaton · October 31st, 2009, 04:01 AM

Dear Friends,

We have qualified the PhotoFast 64 GB, Model 533x, CompactFlash card is now qualified for use in the Flash XDR and nanoFlash.

At this time, we support up to 160 Mbps bit-rates for this card.

With our next release, we will support up to 220 Mbps. Our next release is expected in approximately two weeks.

Disclaimer: We have not performed adequate testing of this card in CompactFlash card readers attached to a Mac computer using Leopard.

We do not know if the Mac will harm this card, as Mac Leopard has been known to harm other cards.

We do not have enough experience with Snow Leopard to know if CompactFlash cards are safe in this newer Operating System.

I know of no reported patterns of CompactFlash cards being harmed in PC's.

The above disclaimer is not meant to disparage this new CompactFlash card. It is meant to convey that we feel that we do not have enough experience with this card in Leopard or Snow Leopard to give an "all clear" indication.

As always, we feel that the best way to protect your CompactFlash cards from Mac Leopard is to not put the card directly in any card reader attached to a Mac with Leopard.

An intermediate device, such as the Nexto is preferred.

Lance Librandi · October 31st, 2009, 05:49 AM

Hi Dan that's great news. The burning question is where can I buy stock. I sent DVnation an email via the “contact us” on the web site a week ago so I could place an order as soon as you approved the card. This card would really help me with my long formwork. To date I have had no reply, It would appear they not very interested supplying small overseas orders.

Dan Keaton · October 31st, 2009, 05:54 AM

Dear Lance,

I will work on that for you.

We also have had a hard time getting PhotoFast itself to respond.

We are working on it.

Dan Keaton · October 31st, 2009, 06:22 AM

Dear Friends,

I just read a posting where it was reported that these cards have a one-year warranty.

I will try to confirm this information. I have just sent an email to PhotoFast.

Edit: We now know that Photofast offers a Lifetime Warranty on these CompactFlash cards.
Dr. Barry Weckesser found this information and make a post, below.

Barry J. Weckesser · October 31st, 2009, 07:42 AM

Dan - it states this on DVNation website: Media Cards from Photofast (Compact Flash, CFAST, SDHC) - Limited lifetime warranty from Photofast. DV Nation will handle your warranty by direct replacement from stock for the first 3 years from your purchase.

Sounds pretty good.

Dan Keaton · October 31st, 2009, 08:29 AM

Dear Barry,

Thank you for finding this important piece of information.

Mark Job · October 31st, 2009, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Keaton

Dear Friends,

We do not have enough experience with Snow Leopard to know if CompactFlash cards are safe in this newer Operating System.

I know of no reported patterns of CompactFlash cards being harmed in PC's.

....HI Dan:
I've been inserting the Sandisk Extreme III and IV into Snow Leopard via the supplied USB reader without any damage to the cards. I use the MAC eject button in the drop down menu before pulling the USB reader out. All is well. I am using a late 2009 vintage iMAC.

Dan Keaton · October 31st, 2009, 09:51 AM

Dear Mark,

Thank you for posting your experience.

Even with a card that was susceptible to damage; the damage only occurred infrequently.

Only occasionally did we have instances when one computer, with Leopard, fairly consistently destroyed cards.

So, we hope to build up some history with Snow Leopard. We hope we can close this chapter as soon as possible.

Dan Keaton · October 31st, 2009, 11:13 AM

Dear Friends,

We have been in touch with PhotoFast today.

We are making progress so our companies can work together!

Aaron Newsome · October 31st, 2009, 11:44 AM

I'm quietly watching this one develop from the sidelines.

Mike Schell · October 31st, 2009, 11:55 AM

Just a quick note on the PhotoFast 64GB cards, that I completely forgot to communicate to anyone (please excuse my oversight).

The Photofast 64GB 533X Compact Flash card has incorrect size information in some of the ID headers read on power-up. The header used by the current nanoFlash firmware identified the card as 8GB, while the header used by most file system correctly identifies the card as 64GB.

This has been correccted in the next nano/XDR firmware release, which is now in final test. Until then the "64GB" card is limited to 8GB. The 32GB PhotFast card does not exhibit this issue.

As Dan mentioned, the 32/64 GB PhotoFast cards are currently limited to 160 Mbps, but will be increased to 220 Mbps with this new firmware. In our tests the 32/64 GB cards perform very well and have the fastest read (transfer times) we have ever measured (about 50 MBytes/sec using an Express 34 card).

On the other hand, we can not recommend the Pretec 64GB card, as initial tests were not positive.

We will endeavor to complete checkout of the new nano/XDR firmware ASAP, but release is always predicated on passing all the reliability tests.

Best-

Barry J. Weckesser · October 31st, 2009, 02:14 PM

I assume this means you will only be able to record on the 8 GB portion? When will the new firmware be out (I just ordered one of the 64 GB cards to try it out)?

Dan Keaton · October 31st, 2009, 02:27 PM

Dear Barry,

With out current release 1.0.112, the card will appear as a 8 GB card and not a 64 GB card.

Our next firmware release is due out in approximately two weeks, depending on testing.

A few weeks ago, Mike Schell discussed the PhotoFast 64 GB card with me in detail.

There are approximately three places, internal to each CompactFlash card where a manufacturer can report the memory size of the card.

We have been looking in one place, one of the three places to determine the card's size.

This has worked with all of the cards we had tested up until we tested this PhotoFast card.

For the PhotoFast card, it reports 8 GB in two places, and it reports 64 GB in one place.

Obviously, the place where we look reports 8 GB.

So, in our next release, we check for this by checking in multiple places.

I had forgotten this detail, and forgot that we really could not recommend this card until the next release was ready. I am sorry for my error.

With our next release this will all be transparent to the user. It will just work as expected.

David Issko · October 31st, 2009, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Keaton

Dear Friends,

We have been in touch with PhotoFast today.

We are making progress so our companies can work together!

Excellent!
I would like to purchase a few 64Gb cards myself as well.

Thanks very much

Gints Klimanis · October 31st, 2009, 04:53 PM

Are the Photofast cards SLC (Single Layer Cell) or MLC (Multi-Layer Cell)?

PhotoFast

At 1,000,000, these cards may be SLC, but a confirmation would be required. I've read that real SLC is about 100,000 write cycles and MLC is anywhere from 100 to 10,000 write cycles. The cards contain firmware that spread the writes over the card, but MLC leakage can be a scary thing for data.

The fast write speeds of these cards also indicate that they are SLC, probably with an on-board controller to write to two or more parallel memory banks.

Though, the write performance picture at the bottom of the site is scary. What block size must be written to get the high Sequential write speed? From what I understand about flash, if complete "native" blocks are written, write speed is much faster.

October 31st, 2009, 04:01 AM	#1
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	PhotoFast 64 GB CompactFlash card Dear Friends, We have qualified the PhotoFast 64 GB, Model 533x, CompactFlash card is now qualified for use in the Flash XDR and nanoFlash. At this time, we support up to 160 Mbps bit-rates for this card. With our next release, we will support up to 220 Mbps. Our next release is expected in approximately two weeks. Disclaimer: We have not performed adequate testing of this card in CompactFlash card readers attached to a Mac computer using Leopard. We do not know if the Mac will harm this card, as Mac Leopard has been known to harm other cards. We do not have enough experience with Snow Leopard to know if CompactFlash cards are safe in this newer Operating System. I know of no reported patterns of CompactFlash cards being harmed in PC's. The above disclaimer is not meant to disparage this new CompactFlash card. It is meant to convey that we feel that we do not have enough experience with this card in Leopard or Snow Leopard to give an "all clear" indication. As always, we feel that the best way to protect your CompactFlash cards from Mac Leopard is to not put the card directly in any card reader attached to a Mac with Leopard. An intermediate device, such as the Nexto is preferred. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

October 31st, 2009, 05:54 AM	#3
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Lance, I will work on that for you. We also have had a hard time getting PhotoFast itself to respond. We are working on it. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

October 31st, 2009, 06:22 AM	#4
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Friends, I just read a posting where it was reported that these cards have a one-year warranty. I will try to confirm this information. I have just sent an email to PhotoFast. Edit: We now know that Photofast offers a Lifetime Warranty on these CompactFlash cards. Dr. Barry Weckesser found this information and make a post, below. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia Last edited by Dan Keaton; October 31st, 2009 at 08:29 AM.

October 31st, 2009, 08:29 AM	#6
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Barry, Thank you for finding this important piece of information. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

October 31st, 2009, 09:51 AM	#8
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Mark, Thank you for posting your experience. Even with a card that was susceptible to damage; the damage only occurred infrequently. Only occasionally did we have instances when one computer, with Leopard, fairly consistently destroyed cards. So, we hope to build up some history with Snow Leopard. We hope we can close this chapter as soon as possible. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

October 31st, 2009, 05:49 AM	#2
Lance Librandi Major Player Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: South Australia Posts: 374	Hi Dan that's great news. The burning question is where can I buy stock. I sent DVnation an email via the “contact us” on the web site a week ago so I could place an order as soon as you approved the card. This card would really help me with my long formwork. To date I have had no reply, It would appear they not very interested supplying small overseas orders.

October 31st, 2009, 07:42 AM	#5
Barry J. Weckesser Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Sarasota, Florida Posts: 427	Dan - it states this on DVNation website: Media Cards from Photofast (Compact Flash, CFAST, SDHC) - Limited lifetime warranty from Photofast. DV Nation will handle your warranty by direct replacement from stock for the first 3 years from your purchase. Sounds pretty good.

October 31st, 2009, 11:13 AM	#9
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Friends, We have been in touch with PhotoFast today. We are making progress so our companies can work together! __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

October 31st, 2009, 11:44 AM	#10
Aaron Newsome Major Player Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Rancho Santa Margarita Posts: 590	I'm quietly watching this one develop from the sidelines.

October 31st, 2009, 11:55 AM	#11
Mike Schell Convergent Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Colorado Springs, CO Posts: 869	Critical Note on PhotoFast 64GB CF Cards Just a quick note on the PhotoFast 64GB cards, that I completely forgot to communicate to anyone (please excuse my oversight). The Photofast 64GB 533X Compact Flash card has incorrect size information in some of the ID headers read on power-up. The header used by the current nanoFlash firmware identified the card as 8GB, while the header used by most file system correctly identifies the card as 64GB. This has been correccted in the next nano/XDR firmware release, which is now in final test. Until then the "64GB" card is limited to 8GB. The 32GB PhotFast card does not exhibit this issue. As Dan mentioned, the 32/64 GB PhotoFast cards are currently limited to 160 Mbps, but will be increased to 220 Mbps with this new firmware. In our tests the 32/64 GB cards perform very well and have the fastest read (transfer times) we have ever measured (about 50 MBytes/sec using an Express 34 card). On the other hand, we can not recommend the Pretec 64GB card, as initial tests were not positive. We will endeavor to complete checkout of the new nano/XDR firmware ASAP, but release is always predicated on passing all the reliability tests. Best- __________________ Mike Schell Convergent Design

October 31st, 2009, 02:14 PM	#12
Barry J. Weckesser Major Player Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Sarasota, Florida Posts: 427	I assume this means you will only be able to record on the 8 GB portion? When will the new firmware be out (I just ordered one of the 64 GB cards to try it out)?

October 31st, 2009, 02:27 PM	#13
Dan Keaton Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Augusta Georgia Posts: 5,421	Dear Barry, With out current release 1.0.112, the card will appear as a 8 GB card and not a 64 GB card. Our next firmware release is due out in approximately two weeks, depending on testing. A few weeks ago, Mike Schell discussed the PhotoFast 64 GB card with me in detail. There are approximately three places, internal to each CompactFlash card where a manufacturer can report the memory size of the card. We have been looking in one place, one of the three places to determine the card's size. This has worked with all of the cards we had tested up until we tested this PhotoFast card. For the PhotoFast card, it reports 8 GB in two places, and it reports 64 GB in one place. Obviously, the place where we look reports 8 GB. So, in our next release, we check for this by checking in multiple places. I had forgotten this detail, and forgot that we really could not recommend this card until the next release was ready. I am sorry for my error. With our next release this will all be transparent to the user. It will just work as expected. __________________ Dan Keaton Augusta Georgia

October 31st, 2009, 04:53 PM	#15
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Are the Photofast cards SLC (Single Layer Cell) or MLC (Multi-Layer Cell)? PhotoFast At 1,000,000, these cards may be SLC, but a confirmation would be required. I've read that real SLC is about 100,000 write cycles and MLC is anywhere from 100 to 10,000 write cycles. The cards contain firmware that spread the writes over the card, but MLC leakage can be a scary thing for data. The fast write speeds of these cards also indicate that they are SLC, probably with an on-board controller to write to two or more parallel memory banks. Though, the write performance picture at the bottom of the site is scary. What block size must be written to get the high Sequential write speed? From what I understand about flash, if complete "native" blocks are written, write speed is much faster.