Fastest SxS card reader

[Charles Young]

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.

[Charles Young]

Is anyone using a SXS card Reader?

[Anthony McErlean]

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

[Steve Kalle]

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

 

Amazon.com: Siig Jj-000082-S1 Pcie To Expresscard Bay Rohs-Compliant 40: Electronics

This is the fastest connection available.

[Malcolm Hamilton]

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

[Steve Kalle]

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.

[Piotr Wozniacki]

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

[Malcolm Hamilton]

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

[Steve Kalle]

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).

[Piotr Wozniacki]

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

[Jacques Mersereau]

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.

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Originally Posted by Piotr Wozniacki

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

[David Borukhov]

Originally Posted by Steve Kalle

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

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Have you installed the SxS driver?

[Anthony McErlean]

Originally Posted by Piotr Wozniacki

.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.