Removable media transfer speed.?

[miseryguts]

Just wondering if there is any way to speed up the transfer of files from my Desktop to removable media & vice-versa (SD cards etc) as i do a lot of this & generally get pitiful (in my opinion) data transfer speeds, for example 12 - 15 min for 7.5GB of recently transferred video to SD card.

I have a pretty decent system: i7 2600 4.8GHz, 12GB Ram.

What is/could be causing the bottleneck & how could i go about improving it..?

Thanks.

[bludgard]

The individual storage devices will dictate the speed at which they transfer data. SD memory cards are relatively low on the list (some faster than others). Whereas an internal HDD would be closer to (or at) the top. USB 1, 2 and 3 are somewhere in between. Firewire transfer will top speeds of aforementioned USB. There are tools available to test the data transfer rate of storage media. In sustained mode, most will destroy all data on the drive being tested (or at least screw up some links or whatever). HD Speed, is a fairly decent tool to fiddle with. It is free and portable. Remember the data destruction mentioned earlier....

[-pops-]

I hardly use SD cards at all now - because they can be so slow.

The manufacturers have realised this and many cards are tested and graded before release as being suitable for video (fast read/write) or not. These "fast" cards are sold at a premium, of course.

As hard drives are so low cost now I almost always use those for storage.

I've also had some bad experiences with SD, and similar, cards with them inexplicably dying on me - another reason for non-use.