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Speed and greed of IBM microdrive

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Dr Andrew Taylor

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As far as I can tell no-one has posted an opinion on the 1Gb microdrive in terms of speed (Casio QV4000) and power-hungriness.

Can anyone offer comparative data against a standard CF (say 256Mb) and/or a Lexar one?

(and do they work in card readers - there is a thread about failure there...)

Andrew Taylor
Casio QV4000
 
Try the eFilm review on this site....
Dr Andrew Taylor said:
As far as I can tell no-one has posted an opinion on the 1Gb
microdrive in terms of speed (Casio QV4000) and power-hungriness.

Can anyone offer comparative data against a standard CF (say 256Mb)
and/or a Lexar one?

(and do they work in card readers - there is a thread about failure
there...)

Andrew Taylor
Casio QV4000
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for that - Q1 answered there! Any offers on Q2 and Q3?
Donsta said:
Dr Andrew Taylor said:
As far as I can tell no-one has posted an opinion on the 1Gb
microdrive in terms of speed (Casio QV4000) and power-hungriness.

Can anyone offer comparative data against a standard CF (say 256Mb)
and/or a Lexar one?

(and do they work in card readers - there is a thread about failure
there...)

Andrew Taylor
Casio QV4000
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I can't offer speed stats against a standard CF card - I have a very fast Ridata card - the microdrive is only slightlyslower. The microdrive is much faster than older slower cards I have. It does use a little more power, maybe at most 15%, but I've never bothered to measure because power usage has not been an issue for me.

Lexar make all kinds of different speed cards. The microdrive will be faster than all excpet the very fastest pro Lexar cards (about 20X I think, but this is a guess). The one place they are slower is initalizing for playback - there is always a little pause when you switch onto playback while the disc is accessed.

I must point out that all of this varies between cameras, but in general, microdrives are pretty fast (towards the top end of CF cards). They can be read by most card readers, although you need a PCMCIA which is a little deeper - the standard PAMCIA CF card readers don't work. However, most USB (or firewire) readers work just fine.

I use microdrives and CF cards. CF cards give me a little more piece of mind for durability (I have dropped them, sent them swimming etc and have never to date - touch wood - had a problem). I have dropped a microdrive too and it also suffered no problems.

For the money and speed, microdrives cannot be beaten. However, if money were no object, the fastest CF cards would be the choice.

Hope this helps.
Dr Andrew Taylor said:
Donsta said:
Dr Andrew Taylor said:
As far as I can tell no-one has posted an opinion on the 1Gb
microdrive in terms of speed (Casio QV4000) and power-hungriness.

Can anyone offer comparative data against a standard CF (say 256Mb)
and/or a Lexar one?

(and do they work in card readers - there is a thread about failure
there...)

Andrew Taylor
Casio QV4000
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Dr Andrew Taylor said:
Thanks for that - Q1 answered there! Any offers on Q2 and Q3?
Click to expand...
Also check out the Nikon 5700 review in DPReview, section 12.

Write speed for various size files is very camera dependent, as what CF is fast on one camera may be rather slow on another. The speed rankings may also vary depending upon the size of the image file you are storing in a specific camera. Obviously no one will test all CFs in all cameras. I agree that the MD is clearly the best mb/$, but if cost were no objective 512 or larger CFs would be more rugged. Much larger MDs may be out this year, making them even more of a bargin. I have a 1 gb MD for almost 2 years and it still works perfectly. If you are looking for an absolutely crisp answer there is none.
Mike K
 
In fact the real answer is... $250 for a new 1Gig IBM with PCMCIA adaptor from d-store.com or what....
Mike K said:
Dr Andrew Taylor said:
Thanks for that - Q1 answered there! Any offers on Q2 and Q3?
Click to expand...
Also check out the Nikon 5700 review in DPReview, section 12.
Write speed for various size files is very camera dependent, as
what CF is fast on one camera may be rather slow on another. The
speed rankings may also vary depending upon the size of the image
file you are storing in a specific camera. Obviously no one will
test all CFs in all cameras. I agree that the MD is clearly the
best mb/$, but if cost were no objective 512 or larger CFs would be
more rugged. Much larger MDs may be out this year, making them
even more of a bargin. I have a 1 gb MD for almost 2 years and it
still works perfectly. If you are looking for an absolutely crisp
answer there is none.
Mike K
Click to expand...
 
Donsta, Mike,

Thanks both - you have persuaded me to go with the first feelings and buy a 1G md. -

I'll let you know how it performs in a Casio QV4000....

Andrew

PS - PB, I wish we could get them that cheap on the UK!
============
PB said:
Donsta said:
In fact the real answer is... $250 for a new 1Gig IBM with PCMCIA
adaptor from d-store.com or what....
Click to expand...
The place would have forced me to fax my credit card information to
the store just for the first order! How pathetic.
--
http://printerboyweb.net/G2
Click to expand...
 
If anyone is interested the 1Gb MD does take about twice as long as a 32 Mb CF (subjectively - not timed yet) which is not a problem unless higher res. than 1600x1200 in tiff format.

30 secs of video certainly took > 60 secs to store. Batteries DO need to be better than 3/4 full, too.

The difference is enough to change the card (MD out, CF in) if you know you will need rapid response - e.g. sporting events.
===============
Dr Andrew Taylor said:
Texas said:
look around here a bit...

http://www.robgalbraith.com/media/compactflash/index.html#performance

nic
Click to expand...
Thanks nic, Cameron - good sites.

Will report back when !gb drive appears (£180 from eBay).

Andrew
Click to expand...
 
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