SlashGear JapanWhat’s the fastest card reader out there? That’s probably one of the most frequent questions, as flash storage becomes increasingly popular in everything from digital cameras to cellphones and PMPs. Of course, the answer boils down to numerous parameters such as bus medium, interface and storage. All things considered, a Firewire 800/IEEE 1394B reader with UDMA support (for CF cards) has the edge in speed, but the standard is not widely popular, especially in PC industry. Though it’s backward compatible with its lower-bandwidth sibling Firewire 400/IEEE 1394A, itself commonly found in most PCs these days, that connection will inevitably reduce the transfer rate. With that in mind, a commoditized USB-standard multimedia card reader with the fastest possible data transfer is perhaps the most straightforward choice, such as the SanDisk ImageMate All-in-One USB 2.0 Reader.
Most Flagship DLSR comes equipped with dual flash-based storage feature, one for SDHC/SD media and another slot for CompactFlash. The option has its unique function and can be set up to record images of simultaneously onto both storages. It’s fairly useful for working pro with critical assignment, a piece of mind real time backup solution in the event of disaster. But getting the images out of SDHC format media to you computer can be tricky; most card readers do not read SDHC media. Furthermore, to get them out at fastest rate, you may need the UDMA-firewire card readers which are only compatible with CF cards. Delkin Devices has this unique SD to CF adapter to maximize use of both media.
