64GB Compact Flash Becomes Widely Available
 

It looks like 64GB Compact Flash has come of age! We now have 4 viable manufacturers offering 64GB Compact Flash cards: SanDisk, PhotoFast, Delkin and now Transcend. The Sandisk and Delkin appear to be fast enough for all bit-rates up to 280 Mbps, while the PhotoFast and Transcend work up to 220 Mbps.

Special note regarding the Transcend 64GB card. Past history has shown failures with the 133X Transcend 32GB card and MAC Leopard OS. The 64GB card uses a different CF controller and different memory, so the Leopard problem may or may not be an issue with this card. We are keeping an open mind, until more tests are complete.

Here's a quick summary of the nanoFlash record times for two 64GB CF cards (double these times for the XDR):

18 Mbps -> 896 minutes (almost 15 hours)
35 Mbps -> 440 Minutes (just over 7 hours)
50 Mbps -> 320 Minutes (5.3 hours)
100 Mbos -> 160 Minutes (2.6 hours)
180 Mbps -> 96 Minutes (1.6 Hours)
280 Mbps -> 60 Minutes (1 Hour)

The 64GB PhotoFast ($299) is the current best deal for a large capacity card (1/3 the price of the new "low-cost" P2 card!)

Best-

Thanks Mike,

Where is the best option to buy the PhotoFast 64GB cards? And do they have plans for a faster card?

Dear Paul,

They have 533x and 533x Plus cards, but not in 64 GB, only 533x.

I do not know of any plans by PhotoFast to come out with a faster card.

Any word when PhotoFast will "fix" their ROM data to properly reflect the size? I am holding off on ordering a handful of their 64GB cards until they fix it, as I don't want to have to worry what some alien OS will think when I mount one, and only let me access the first 8GB on the card.

Billy

Hi Billy-
I got a note from Jason at dvnation.com that this problem has been fixed and the new cards will have the correct ID values. Just to be safe I would specify that the 64GB card must have the correct ID values when you place your order.

I am also told that PhotoFast will swap out all the 64GB cards that have the wrong ID.

Best-

Mike

I haven't used my 64 GB Photofast yet - awaiting upgrade of the Nano firmware - but I did try it on my main editing computer and it recognized it as only 8 GB. When the card is properly formatted with the Nano's new firmware would there still be a problem with my computer only recognizing 8 GB of data? I am using Windows XP Pro with all the latest updates.

Dear Barry,

Let's try.

I am sending you a pre-release version of the current release candidate.

This is for non-production use, but you can use your PhotoFast cards.

You could format the cards in our system, then see if all 64 GB is recognized in your computer.

Hi Barry-
Just to be safe, I would ask DVnation to swap out the card for a new version with the proper 64GB IDs. They should have some in stock now.

Best-

Mike and Dan

Thanks for your help. Installed the new firmware and the card works fine now - my computer recognizes it as 64GB (tried just before the firmware update and reformatting and the computer reported 8 GB). I tried a test shoot of a couple of minutes and no problem in downloading to computer with proper file size and proper "space left" reading on the computer. I spoke with Jason at DVNation today and they do not have the new cards in yet but expect them soon. Don't you think this preliminary test indicates no problems? The card seems to work just like any other CF card now.

Hi Barry-
I would think you're probably OK. I would go ahead and record a full card's worth of data and then try to transfer to your PC, just to be safe.

Best-

Mike

Thanks for suggesting I try recording for longer periods of time. I recorded for 15 minutes and then stopped recording just to have a break in the files - however the Nano kept reporting STOPPING..... and just never went out of that mode. I rebooted the Nano and checked the files - they were recording up to the 4GB limit (a break in the big file approx. every 4 GB) which I assume is normal. However when I tried short clips of say 10-15 second each - when I stopped the camera the green lights came back on in about 5 seconds or so but when I recorded a second clip (well after the green lights came on) and then stopped recording the Nano went back into "stopping" mode and would not quit. I had to reboot it to get it back to normal. I tried this three times. Looks like we either have a problem with the early-release firmware or these cards just don't work with the Nano. I hope DVnation will issue a refund.

By the way, I am recording MXF files 1080 29.97p @ 100 Mbps from the EX1

Just answered my own question - it is the new (partial) firmware that I received - the Nano does the same thing with the Sandisk Extreme III 32GB card. I rolled the firmware back to 1.0.12 and both the Photofast and Sandisk work fine but the Photofast (as currently formatted) is back to being recognized as 8 GB on my computer. I assume the upcoming full version of the Nano firmware will work ok.

Dear Barry,

Yes, we will be thoroughly testing the new firmware before it is released publically.

I just wanted you the option of using it to test your 64 GB cards, not for production use.