FS7: G series cards, what's the advantage?

G

GrumpyOrang

Member
When I bought my FS7 I thought the G series cards were supposed to read and write much faster than S series cards.

Then I found out the S series cards writes 4K 60p just fine.

Then I did a test of dumping a full 64GB G series card on the new G series card reader, took 10 min via USB 3.
64GB G series card on S series card reader, took 10 min via USB 3.
64GB S series card on S series card reader, took 10 min via USB 3.

What the hell!? Also the new G series card readers don't read S series cards, but it doesn't dump any faster. What is the point of G series cards!? So much more expensive, makes no difference in reading, and writing is the same speed??

Feels like I wasted extra money for no reason.
 
G series 64GB card dumped using G series reader takes about 4 minutes via my 2013 mac laptop and 2013 iMac via usb to a Gtech or Lacie drive via usb3. Something is weird with your workflow, me thinks. I am also curious about the differences between S and G cards. It seems I read recently that Doug Jensen used S cards, which surprised me.
 
I measured my G-type cards with approx. 400MB/s as advertised via USB3 to external TB RAID.
If you write to some internal solo HDD, don't blame Sony. ;)
 
There is no reason to doubt that S-series cards were fast enough for 4K 60p, they are a bit more than twice as fast as needed to capture it. Offloading S cards via USB is about 10-12 minutes for full 64GB card.

It sounds like you are getting that speed with the G-series cards, so I think your computer probably has some issue. Either you are not really equipped with USB 3.0 or your hard drive is too slow.

I wrote about some history on the series of cards for Sony XQD here, http://www.hingsberg.com/index.php/2013/12/xqd-cards-for-sony-f5-f55/ but it was before G-series were released.
 
chrisccw said:
It seems I read recently that Doug Jensen used S cards, which surprised me.
Click to expand...

Yes, you read correctly. All my cards are "S" cards. I don't necessarily have anything against the "G" cards, but I'm glad I have the cards I have. Rock solid and more than fast enough for my off-loading needs.
 
All my cards as S-series as well.

They are 180MB/s and the camera can only do 75MB/s max anyways (that's 4K 60p = 600mbps).

They were superseded by the G-series but absolutely nothing wrong with them. Now they can be had for cheap if you keep your eye out.
 
I think you need the latest Apple computers to really get high transfer speed. My PC is very slow byt my MBP is lightning fast. Another advantage of G cards is the included reader. It's smaller and a much more portable reader than the one you need for S cards.
 
Your transfer speed will only go as fast as you destination drive will write. I always get a solid 180Mbs to my raid 5 five-disk array via USB3. Don't expect that speed to a 5400rpm single drive.
 
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I'm using the G series XQD cards in my 55 and can dump a full 64GB card in approx. 5 mins to my 2013 RMBP via USB 3.0.
 
Just tried it on my Macbook Pro. 2.6GHz i7 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3. Takes about 14 min to dump a 64GB G series card on the G series reader. Even slower. :S
 
Run&Gun said:
I'm using the G series XQD cards in my 55 and can dump a full 64GB card in approx. 5 mins to my 2013 RMBP via USB 3.0.
Click to expand...

I get those same speeds with my S series cards. 5:18 to dump a totally full 64GB card to my MacBook Pro via USB3.0.
 
It's maybe worth mentioning that many new MacBooks also have solid state drives which helps reduce any drive transfer bottlenecks.

ie. mechanical disks are around 50-120MB/s whereas Solid state drives are generally above 200 MB/s and up to 550 MB/s for cutting edge drives.

USB 3.0 is rated at 5gbps (640MB/s).
 
Good point about the SSD, which my MacBook Pro does have.
So I did the same speed test using the same totally full 64GB "S" card but transferring it to an external 7200rpm HDD via Thunderbolt.

Time = 5:31

That's only an extra 13 seconds to go to an external HDD instead of the internal SSD.
 
Guys,

just use blackmagic disk speed test and you'll see how fast your drive is...
I have approx. 400MB/s speed with my G-cards using my external RAID.

In my opinion, G-cards make sense if you need the space. I only bought 2 of them with 128GB each
for doco work where I don't like changing cards.
 
I've found that the Speed Disk testing doesn't give me a very good feel for how long it really takes to transfer footage, so I always fill up a card and run a test under real-world conditions. That way I know for sure what to expect with various hardware configurations.
 
For what it's worth, when I was buying my cards, my rep steered me towards XQD over SxS and said the only real difference between the S and G series XQD cards is that the G's each come with a USB 3.0 card reader.

And the internal drive on my RMBP is solid state. When I've done transfers to external spinning disk HDD's through my laptop the speeds are slower.
 
starcentral said:
It's maybe worth mentioning that many new MacBooks also have solid state drives which helps reduce any drive transfer bottlenecks.

ie. mechanical disks are around 50-120MB/s whereas Solid state drives are generally above 200 MB/s and up to 550 MB/s for cutting edge drives.

USB 3.0 is rated at 5gbps (640MB/s).
Click to expand...

All current 2015 Macbook Pro and iMac flash drives are >1.5GB/s Write and >1.8 GB/s Read. They go like greased weasel ****.

The bottleneck will be the USB3 bus so have a fag or coffee break while you import a full card. I'm not sure many will see the theoretical maximum transfer rate USB3 can offer.
 
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