no nonsense info on compact flash storage

I just unpacked my cp700. Seems like they could have packaged the guts a little more attractive. Looks like a $10 throw away. I would really appreciate some advise on which compact flash card to get and if I need a usb reader. Some of the messages indicate you don'need a reader with the new lexar cards others say you do. Thanks
ge

jay coffsky said:

I just unpacked my cp700. Seems like they could have packaged the guts a
little more attractive. Looks like a $10 throw away. I would really
appreciate some advise on which compact flash card to get and if I need a
usb reader. Some of the messages indicate you don'need a reader with the
new lexar cards others say you do. Thanks
ge

Click to expand...

Most people use the SansDisk CF cards cos they're the cheapest. The Microtech ones are suppose to be faster because of their C4 controller but costs just a bit more than the SansDisk. Personally, I use a 48mb Kingston CF card and it works great on my CP950 and I really don't think there is a very big difference in speed for any of these cards (I tried them all).

As for the reader, you should really get a USB one because it transfers data much much much much faster than if you use the serial cable (trust me, you DO NOT want to wait for 48mb or 64mb of pictures to transfer over a serial link...)

The new lexar cards comes with a USB interface built in so you just plug it into your USB port and do not need a USB reader, ALL other CF cards (that I know of) do not have this feature.

Hope this helps

Clarence

jay coffsky said:

I just unpacked my cp700. Seems like they could have packaged the guts a
little more attractive. Looks like a $10 throw away. I would really
appreciate some advise on which compact flash card to get and if I need a
usb reader. Some of the messages indicate you don'need a reader with the
new lexar cards others say you do. Thanks
ge

Click to expand...

I bought a Sandisk parallel reader and a 40 Meg Sandisk card about a year ago. This is to let you know that there are other readers out there other than USB, but it sounds like you already have a USB port. The parallel cable daisy chains my printer, and is very fast, probably as fast as a USB reader. The power for the reader acutally daisy chains from my keyboard. It came with a cable for both PS/2 and the old keyboard connector style. My computer now is having problems with the reader. When I first turn my machine on, it causes the mouse/keyboard to lock up, until the computer warms up, then everything is fine. I think I can fix this, but don't know how. My reader cost about $60, but if the Lexar directly connects to USB and you have a USB port, that sound like the winner to me.

Mike

jay coffsky said:

I just unpacked my cp700. Seems like they could have packaged the guts a
little more attractive. Looks like a $10 throw away. I would really
appreciate some advise on which compact flash card to get and if I need a
usb reader. Some of the messages indicate you don'need a reader with the
new lexar cards others say you do. Thanks
ge

Click to expand...

I bought a Sandisk 64 MB CF card and a Sandisk USB reader from Onsale.com. They work great.

jay coffsky said:

I just unpacked my cp700. Seems like they could have packaged the guts a
little more attractive. Looks like a $10 throw away. I would really
appreciate some advise on which compact flash card to get and if I need a
usb reader. Some of the messages indicate you don'need a reader with the
new lexar cards others say you do. Thanks
ge

Click to expand...

Jay, It's hard to give advice--no nonsense or otherwise--without knowing something about your computer. For example, if you have a laptop, you won't need a card reader at all since the built-in PCMCIA slot will read CF cards (using an inexpensive adapter). Otherwise, you really do need a card reader of some sort. Forget serial cable connection The Lexar card business sounds a bit overwrought to me. Don't believe it; they may have a theoretical speed boost, but not in the category of obviating the need for a card reader (or PCMCIA slot). I've been pleased with my Sandisk cards--reading with a Minolta CD-10 SCSI PC card reader on my desktop Mac and using the built-in PC card slot in my Powerbook.

Phil

Pil

I have a PC with all kinds of ports, usb, scsi, parallel, plently of glibs, and plenty of memory-only thing I don't have is computer knowledge. I am advanced novice and I want the lslimplist but fastes download-I guess scsi, one of my computer guru partners says mayke sure My scsi is-oh hell I'm such a novice I forgot what kind of scsi interface I need

Phil Rose said:

jay coffsky said:

I just unpacked my cp700. Seems like they could have packaged the guts a
little more attractive. Looks like a $10 throw away. I would really
appreciate some advise on which compact flash card to get and if I need a
usb reader. Some of the messages indicate you don'need a reader with the
new lexar cards others say you do. Thanks
ge

Click to expand...

Jay, It's hard to give advice--no nonsense or otherwise--without knowing
something about your computer. For example, if you have a laptop, you
won't need a card reader at all since the built-in PCMCIA slot will read
CF cards (using an inexpensive adapter). Otherwise, you really do need a
card reader of some sort. Forget serial cable connection The Lexar card
business sounds a bit overwrought to me. Don't believe it; they may have
a theoretical speed boost, but not in the category of obviating the need
for a card reader (or PCMCIA slot). I've been pleased with my Sandisk
cards--reading with a Minolta CD-10 SCSI PC card reader on my desktop Mac
and using the built-in PC card slot in my Powerbook.

Phil

Click to expand...

I have been using a DataFab paralell port reader. recently it's been causing some probs on system, I'm running NT 4 Server. Part of the problem may be due to having the card reader-> zip drive-> printer running, in that order. The problems start when rebooting the server. Something about scsiport.sys in the blue screen, and then the dump. Once I disconnect everything from the paralell port, system boots fine.

I'm thinking that perhaps an internal reader might be better. USB is out, as NT doesn't support it. Any recommendations on an internal reader? Or recommendations on fixing up the existing config.

jay coffsky said:

Pil
I have a PC with all kinds of ports, usb, scsi, parallel, plently of
glibs,

Click to expand...

What's a "glib"?????

And where can I get some??!!

JD

jay coffsky said:

I just unpacked my cp700. Seems like they could have packaged the guts a
little more attractive. Looks like a $10 throw away. I would really
appreciate some advise on which compact flash card to get and if I need a
usb reader. Some of the messages indicate you don'need a reader with the
new lexar cards others say you do. Thanks
ge

Click to expand...

I also got a Sandisk card reader and a 48MB Sandisk card. Works great ... but if you have Win 95 with support for USB, you still may run into problems where Win95 does not recognize all of the devices it needs to be in business. I threw in the towel and upgraded to Win98, and it all just worked. Worth the price, after all I've spent on filmless photography!

That said, I would never go back to celluloid.

Good luck,

Fred

Ray Evans said:

I have been using a DataFab paralell port reader. recently it's been
causing some probs on system, I'm running NT 4 Server. Part of the
problem may be due to having the card reader-> zip drive-> printer running,
in that order. The problems start when rebooting the server. Something
about scsiport.sys in the blue screen, and then the dump. Once I
disconnect everything from the paralell port, system boots fine.

I'm thinking that perhaps an internal reader might be better. USB is out,
as NT doesn't support it. Any recommendations on an internal reader? Or
recommendations on fixing up the existing config.

Click to expand...

If you try to run more than two devices on a parallel port you will have problems.
It can handle only two!