Hi all
I have a 8 gig UDMA CF card in my Nikon, and all I shoot is raw format files, each about 15 megs. The card will hold about 300 such photos.
As any photographer knows, getting those files off the card can be a “go-get-a-cup-of-coffee” kind of thing, especially with USB.
I just ran some side-by-side card-reading tests using USB 2.0, firewire (4), and eSata, and here are the times:
eSata: 2:54 minutes
FW: 5:12
USB:16:15
with a reasonable 46 images, that’s
eSata: 27 seconds
FW: 49 seconds
USB:150 seconds
(My UDMA card is rated at 60; others are rated at 40 and 20, I believe, so you can multiply by those ratios to see how fast your card would be.)
As you might imagine, I’m sticking with my eSata CF reader setup 
Where on earth did I get my eSata CF card reader? Actually, I simply bought two parts, and plugged them together. Total cost: $46 (+ tax and shipping).
Should you try this, be gentle/careful as you slide the CF adapter into the base. There’s a “lifter” in the base meant to eject drives, but it will fit just fine.
The two parts can be had here:
http://www.e-itx.com/sata-cf-mini-adapter.html
http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-NexStar-NST-D100SU-2-5-Inch-3-5-Inch/dp/B00180MMZC
Hope this helps someone.
Tracy
Which OS are you using? I bought the E-ITX SATA CF adapter and plugged it into the SATA connector of my motherboard running Windows 7 x64. I got 30MB/sec R/W for my Photofast 533x Plus card, which is supposed to be up to 90MB/sec. This is worse than the 50MB/sec I got from the Addonics adapter I have returned earlier.
Comment by Anon — April 22, 2010 @ 11:15 pm
I’m running Mac OS 10.6.2. Sorry your results didn’t match mine.
Comment by Tracy Valleau — April 22, 2010 @ 11:24 pm
does this operate just on the bus power of the esata connection? Have you noticed it sucking a bunch more battery power?
Thanks!
Comment by renan — June 10, 2010 @ 11:51 am
No. The enclosure I used comes with a power brick. (Besides, eSata does not provide power.)
Comment by Tracy Valleau — June 10, 2010 @ 11:54 am