X-bit labs

Eleven Card Readers Roundup: Which One Is the Best? (page 5)

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 09/24/2004 | 09:20 AM ]

Performance in FC Test

I used three patterns in FC Test. They differed in the number and size of the files they were comprised of.

I should ask you forgiveness for the lack of precision in the names of the card-readers as they are given in the tables and diagrams. We couldn’t identify the manufacturer for most models, so I had to go for certain conventions in the naming. For example, the R/W abbreviation stands for “Reader/Writer” that I found in the name of one of the products.

The first group of diagrams represents the write speed in the 100 files x 1MB pattern. The USB 2.0 model from SanDisk wins this test, being the best with three memory cards out of four. It is followed by the no-name “9 in 1” device, which was the fastest with the Apacer card and second with the other cards. The two card-readers intended for installation into the 3.5” bay (“11 in 1” and “10 in 1”) did well here, too – they are always in the top part of the diagram. The Apacer Mega Steno MG820 managed to be the second using its “native” memory card and third with the SanDisk Ultra, but it performed worse with the other two media. The two no-name “7 in 1” devices were similarly bad with any memory card – much worse than the rest of the readers. The SanDisk Ultra ImageMate, the only device with the FireWire interface, was a bit of disappointment as it is not much faster than the pair of outsiders.