technical query - floppy vs usb 1.1 card reader speeds

Per subject - the place I work has forced people to use work-around=20
systems for a number of years, which resulted in people being stuck with=20
old technology (such as low resolution digital cameras) due to problems=20
retrieving data for use.

For example - smartmedia has HAD to be the default choice for all=20
cameras, as the only method of retrieving data was via a SanDisk=20
Flashpath.

You don`t want to go there as far as the OS and hardware is concerned -=20
it was win95 and P133s :-}

We`re now in the process of being "updated" to "new" ~4 year old machines=
=20
typically at 733Mhz with winXP and a working USB port (!) and some even=20
have a CD drive that works (although mine doesn`t) - hence i`m asking=20
about USB 1.1 rather than USB 2.0 :-}

I`m trying to get an idea of transfer rates between a Sandisk Flashpath=20
vs. a bog standard USB 1.1 card reader (which I hope will be recognised=20
and accessible without drivers - the hardware has been "semi" locked=20
down, but some USB storage devices do seem to work - like my mp3 player=20
:-p )

~100Mb of data took around 70 minutes on the Flashpath the other day :-}

I`m trying to "sell" the idea of getting a couple of cheap card readers=20
to make life bearable and give us more versatility in the choice of=20
hardware (installing driver software is locked down, and you need a=20
letter from God co-signed by each of the 12 disciples *and* their parents=
=20
before such a request would be considered, then every request is refused)

7dayshop are selling smartmedia readers for the paltry sum of =A31.49 so if=
=20
I can actually cut through some of the corporate bull****...

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Colin Wilson wrote:

I`m trying to get an idea of transfer rates between a Sandisk Flashpath
vs. a bog standard USB 1.1 card reader (which I hope will be recognised
and accessible without drivers - the hardware has been "semi" locked
down, but some USB storage devices do seem to work - like my mp3 player
:-p )


I still have a flashpath in my drawer somewhere. Hateful thing. Faster
than serial but poor OS support and still very slow. Most indications
are (and I can no longer run a FlashPath to check) that the FP was
between 3 and 4 times faster than serial. If we run most serial ports at
their maximum supported speeds we get 115.2Kbps. Which makes FP 345Kbps
to 461Kbps. Usb 1.1 is 11Mbps so at best its a difference between
0.5Mbps and 11Mbps.

As I've said, I can't test this, but as I have a multi card reading
adapter in my Mac, I tried transferring 7.7MB of files from SmartMedia
to the computer and it took 10.1 seconds.

~100Mb of data took around 70 min

Making my completly unscientific transfer rate test come out at 131
seconds for your 100MB. Don't hang me on these figures and perhaps it
depends on the type of SmartMedia card to some extent but I think this
is the ball park you could expect with a USB 1.1 reader.

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I still have a flashpath in my drawer somewhere. Hateful thing. Faster
than serial but poor OS support and still very slow. Most indications
are (and I can no longer run a FlashPath to check) that the FP was
between 3 and 4 times faster than serial. If we run most serial ports at
their maximum supported speeds we get 115.2Kbps. Which makes FP 345Kbps
to 461Kbps. Usb 1.1 is 11Mbps so at best its a difference between
0.5Mbps and 11Mbps.

Thanks for the reply - i`ve done some delving myself and floppy drive
chipsets do typically seem to be 500kbits/sec, although i`m sure I saw a
reference to a 1Mbit interface. I`m guessing the practical speed will be
more like 500kbit with overheads, and around 9-10 Mbit with USB 1.1
depending on the access speed of the media.

I tried transferring 7.7MB of files ... and it took 10.1 seconds.
~100Mb of data took around 70 min
Making my completly unscientific transfer rate test come out at 131
seconds for your 100MB. Don't hang me on these figures and perhaps it
depends on the type of SmartMedia card to some extent but I think this
is the ball park you could expect with a USB 1.1 reader.

Thanks for taking the time to report back - now to wait and see if...

a) the card reader detects on the "new" machines in work
b) it`ll actually let me access the data...
c) I can get another real-world transfer rate comparison* :-)

I could do with transferring the data to another machine (the guy whose
pics they were) but we`re all on mapped virtual home drives, so can`t
shuffle it about very easily...

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