Testing Biwin's 300X CompactFlash under Linux with the Delock 91694 FireWire to CompactFlash Reader

We wanted to test samples of 300X CompactFlash Cards from Biwin Semiconductor (HK) Company Limited. We decided to try using a different test platform than our typical iMac, and used a Xubuntu Linux desktop and the Delock 91694 CompactFlash FireWire 800 Reader. The great news is that the FireWire reader works just fine under Linux, and we were able to complete our benchmarks tests on these non-DLSR grade CompactFlash cards.

Our test machine is a Intel Core2 6300 @ 1.86GHz with 2GB RAM running Xubuntu 12.04.2 LTS. The reader was our Delock FireWire 800 to UDMA CompactFlash Drive Read-Writer 91694. We used the Linux application Disk Utility 3.0.2 to run the benchmarks. Here are the benchmarks for the cards, which are intended for general storage purposes.

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Delock 91694 FireWire CF CompactFlash Reader FireWire 800/IEEE 1394B UDMA

The Delock 91694 FireWire CF CompactFlash Reader FireWire 800/IEEE 1394B UDMA is a must for have DSLR photographers and other demanding uses of high speed CompactFlash memory cards. Capable of exploiting the high speeds of the latest generation of CompactFlash memory cards, the FireWire readers 800 boasts incredible read speeds. The Delock 91694 FireWire CF CompactFlash Reader FireWire 800/IEEE 1394B UDMA supports all the recent high-speed CompactFlash standards including PIO Modes 0-4, DMA Modes 0-2, and UDMA Modes 0-6. it features a single CompactFlash slot for CompactFlash Type I and II including Hitachi Microdrives and other CFII+ rotating media. It supports FireWire 800 (and 400 with and optionally purchased adapter or cable) connectivity on both Macintosh and Windows Operating Systems. This FireWire to CompactFlash Reader uses FireWire bus power, so the CFFire800 reader plugs and plays with no external AC power. The Delock 91694 Hi-Speed CompactFlash Card Reader Firewire FW1394 ( FireWire 800 ) requires no drivers and comes with a one year limited warranty.

Delock benchmarks versus our now discontinued FireWire CompactFlash Reader

CompactFlash Reader Benchmarks all speeds in MB/sec		Sequential Data 4K blocks		Sequential Data 256K blocks		Random Data 4K blocks		Random Data 256K blocks
		Uncached Write	Uncached Read	Uncached Write	Uncached Read	Uncached Write	Uncached Read	Uncached Write	Uncached Read
Delock FireWire 800	SanDisk Extreme 60/MBs UDMA CompactFlash 16GB	29.63	4.25	30.75	63.13	0.92	3.91	1.39	58.09
	Transcend 133X CompactFlash 4GB (PIO)	13.04	4.13	7.60	18.04	0.01	4.00	0.58	18.10
Discontinued CFFire800 Pro	SanDisk Extreme 60/MBs UDMA CompactFlash 16GB	21.23	4.81	33.61	55.26	0.90	4.66	1.40	55.61
	Transcend 133X CompactFlash 4GB (PIO)	11.17	4.47	6.27	18.18	0.01	4.15	0.60	17.00