Compact Flash (CF) cards … they’re handy little thingies, for sure … but what happens when that Compact Flash card reads and writes as slow as molasses?

Compact Flash Cards are typically available in 64, 128, 256, and 512 MB, as well as 1 and 2 GB capacities, from vendors including SanDisk, Lexar, Kingston, Fuji and Viking. Needless to say, there can be significant speed differences between cards. (Some folks say that the larger Compact Flash cards are slower, but I really can’t speak to that.) It should come as no surprise that the faster you want to go (and certainly the more you want to store), the more you’ll need to spend.

Gnomie Meka brings up an interesting question:

I was just sitting here uploading photos from my CF card remembering how slow my camera was to respond yesterday and I thought to myself: “Can Compact Flash become fragmented?” I don’t know…then the next thing I thought was “Who can I ask?”…I think we both know the answer to that one! So Dan, if you know, will you answer?

I searched high and low for the definitive answer to the question, Meka. I came up with a definitive maybe. (If anyone has a definite definite, just ping me and set me straight.)

When it seems like your Compact Flash card has slowed down due to fragmentation, it might not be a bad a idea to reformat the card. (Just make sure that you’ve saved all of the photos to your hard drive, first!)

If you’re looking for Compact Flash speed stats, look no longer … Ron Galbraith’s Compact Flash Performance Database provides an exhaustive resource on Compact Flash card performance in a wide range of cameras.

[tags]compact flash[/tags]