> As far as I've seen so far, the limiting speed for access
> to memory cards seems to be the cards themselves, not the
> link from the card reader to the PC - I've put CompactFlash
> cards into PCMCIA adaptors and the time taken to transfer
> data is the same as using a USB2 card reader.

Depends on the cards and the readers.  Not true with the
newer, higher end "professional" grade CompactFlash cards.

I'd been using PCMCIA and Cardbus (32-bit PCMCIA) adapters for
photo upload for several years.  PCMCIA (16-bit) was dog slow.
With Cardbus adapter and various CF cards, I get about 9 MB/sec.

Several months ago, I switched to a SanDisk Extreme Firewire
CompactFlash reader.  With their Extreme IV CF cards, I get
22-26 MB/sec upload speed on a laptop.  With the Extreme III
CF cards, I get 11-13 MB/sec.  With older, slower speed CF
cards, it tops out at ~8-9 MB/sec.

Before my son left to study abroad, he got a camera that uses
SD cards.  I selected SanDisk's Extreme USB2 reader that does
both SD & CF cards.  Hooked up via a USB2 port during testing,
a SanDisk Extreme III SD card uploaded at 11 MB/sec -- about
the same as the Firewire reader with an Extreme III CF card.

However, using the same Extreme IV CF card (from above), USB
reader uploaded at 14 MB/sec -- limiting factor appears to be
USB2 link and/or USB reader.  Personally, I prefer Firewire.

						Lee Jones

P.S. I also see a speed difference in camera operation during
     burst mode with RAW files when my older, slower CF cards
     are inserted.

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