I am logging 4 channels to a compact flash memory card (64 MB) in Fast mode. After reading through the manuals to optimize speed, I discovered that the unit will not write to compact flash nearly as fast as it writes to internal memory -- I was getting about a factor of 10x slower! Is there anything I can do to speed the logging to compact flash.

I need the extra memory in order to log a large amount of data. I am currently logging to internal memory and every so often inserting the card to transfer data then removing the card. This leaves undesirable gaps in my data collection where I might miss something critical. If another solution is out there please let me know.

Thanks.

Good morning Tohag,

Yes this is a recognized issue and we are currently working on the firmware to speed up the write speed to the ATA Flash cards.

Regards,
Roger

Thanks Roger,

I figured you already knew of this problem. Do you have any experience with PCMCIA memory cards -- are they as slow as the compact flash? I will be purchasing a couple of PCMCIA memory cards to increase storage anyway and if logging speed is faster to a PCMCIA card I will purchase one for this particular data collection task.

Good evening Tohag,

It's not quite as simple as that. Yes some cards have a higher write speed than others but there are more factors that have a greater impact on the access speed.

As you know we have just released a major firmware upgrade which we are beta testing at the moment. This has significant improvements in the serial comms and general speed of the unit. The next stage, which is being worked on at the moment, is addressing issues in the file structure and write speeds.

I don't know when a beta will be ready for release but we will post it here after when we have done our in house testing.

Roger

We originally solved the slow write speed to CF cards by not using any and using the Ethernet connection to store a large amount of data on a host PC. Up to 25 readings per second was possible using this method. We are evaluating the beta software as well to see if the CF card issue has been solved.