Lexar 4x Compact Flash faster than 900 KB/sec on USB 1.1 reader/writer?

When I see Compact Flash for sale cheap I like to use it as a USB jump
drive alternative through my USB 1.1 reader/writers. (I do not have a
digital camera which uses compact flash.) A year ago I bought a 128 MB
CF by PQI (FC128) which does not have a speed rating listed, and I
usually get a transfer rate around 900 KB/sec.

I recently saw a Lexar 256 MB 4x CF (CF256-231) for $40 (no rebates
needed) whose specs say it's only capable of 600 KB/sec. Somehow I
doubt my year-old PQI CF is 8x or even 4x, so this makes me wonder if
the 4x speed rating is overly conservative and applicable only to
usage in digital cameras?

The bottom line is this: 900 KB/sec is about the slowest speed I can
tolerate, so does anyone know if the Lexar 4x CF will be at least 900
KB/sec (read or write) which is 50% faster than its rated speed of 600
KB/sec?

If it isn't, then I guess I need to keep my eyes out for 8x as the
minimum speed, and I'll assume I got lucky with the PQI I bought which
has no speed rating.

 

From: (Jerry)

This is usually for writing, especially in-camera ... reads are faster, often
much faster.

I don't know specifically about that card (my Lexar's are rated 32x and 40x),
but here's a nice site with speeds for read and write for many CF cards ... as
you can see the read speeds are much faster. For example, he tests a 12x Lexar
and rates it about 10x for writes and 26x for reads. I didn't see a 4x in the
tables but you get the idea.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/mediacompare/

Bill

 

I typically use my CF for backup purposes, so I'm generally only
worried about the slower write speed. The read speed will only come
into play if I need to restore some data I backed up.

Judging by the only 6x CF listed at www.dpreview.com, it appears I
should expect the Lexar 4x CF to be worse than that 6x write speed
which is worse than the 900 KB/sec speed I've gotten on my PQI CF and
jump drives.

I did another file copy to my PQI CF and I got almost 900 KB/sec. I
then took a couple different USB jump drives (both 1.1 and 2.0) and
wrote the same file. It seems every jump drive I have gets 900 KB (+/-
50 KB) per second, so I'm wondering if the unlabelled PQI CF and all
my jump drives just "happen to have" 8x or better CF inside.

Is there a standard "minimum" memory speed a person can count on when
buying a jump drive? They only list their interface type (USB 1.1 or
2.0) and not their speeds, so I don't know what to expect.

What it does sound like (unless someone wants to correct me) is the
Lexar 4x is a low performing CF and probably will be worse than a USB
jump drive of the same size and price, so I will skip the Lexar 4x CF
and wait until a jump drive or 8x CF is on sale for $40 or less
(without rebates as I hate to mail those in).

Thanks for that reply, Bill.