[Danphoto]

Is there a way of configuring DLP so that I can put a card in each of four daisy-chained Lexar Pro readers and then basically hit "go" and do something else while it downloads all four?

Now we're shooting about 25Gb at a wedding :eek: I really do need to be able to that ...

[DavidB]

Does Windows see the daisy-chain as one or four logical drives? Subject to correction, I think that DL Pro only downloads from one drive at a time.

[Danphoto]

Four drives :)

I understand that the way forward is to open DLP, set preferences and close it, then repeat three more times i.e. have four DLP's running.

Haven't checked that out yet and I don't know exactly what the score is when the four cards have downloaded and you want to get the next four going ...

Obviously the download speed is way down, but at least you can go away and do something useful while your 4 cards are doing and that's the objective AFAIC :)

[DavidB]

I understand that the way forward is to open DLP, set preferences and close it, then repeat three more times i.e. have four DLP's running.

Haven't checked that out yet and I don't know exactly what the score is when the four cards have downloaded and you want to get the next four going ...


That is one option. Clearly changing cards requires a fair amount of manual intervention, whatever you do. I hope all those daisy chained connections stay put as you are removing and inserting cards.

If you have a fast machine, lots of hard drive space, and some 'dead' time during the shoot (I normally do at weddings), you could use Explorer to copy all the work thus far to a temporary folder on the laptop I assume you use, and use that as the source folder for DL Pro when you get back to base. Straight copying is likely to be a good deal faster than all the work DL Pro has to do, and would leave you with a single source for DL Pro that could work unattended.

There are lots of variables here, so the suggestion is tentative.

A more expensive option is something like the Canon M80 reader/viewer/store, which again could be worked during the shoot and, I guess, could function as a single drive source for DL Pro. I've now finally seen them in the shops, but have yet to get my hands on one.

[Danphoto]

Cheers David, but the way we work rules out downloading anything at the gig or on the way home. It's back to base with a pile of cards, and download them at our (relative) leisure.

The four Lexar Pro readers are designed to stack, which they do, and the Firewire connections are no cause for concern.

I just need to find the optimum way to use this setup. Still working on it and would still welcome suggestions from lateral thinkers ...

[crgunn]

If the drives are seen as say, G:, H:, I:, and J:
set the "drive letter or letters" box to ghij on the General tab of the preferences dialog.
Then put a card in drive J and start dlp
Next put a card in drive I and start dlp
Next put a card in drive H and start dlp
Next put a card in drive G and start dlp
That way each new instance of dlp will only see 1 card.

If you were to start with drive G and then add a card to drive H, the second copy of dlp might try to start downloading drive G also.

[Danphoto]

Now that I like! If it works when I try it tomorrow, it looks like we have a winner :)

[DavidB]

Smart one, crgunn!

The only thing you would need to watch out for is that, for it to work as crgunn suggests, all the slots must presumably have finished downloading and have their cards removed before the process can start over with drive J:. But if you are using, say, 4 4MB cards, that's still a very nice run of unattended download.

[mike.strock]

Danphoto - Please post your results. Although I shoot nowhere near the volume you do, it would be useful in the future for me (and others) to know your findings.

Thanks!

Mike Strock

[Chris Breeze]

The best way to handle this is to let Windows AutoPlay launch Downloader Pro for each card reader. AutoPlay passes the drive letter of the card reader to DLPro and so it will connect to the right card reader as each memory card is inserted.
It's worth taking a look at Nathan Myhrvold's article on the Luminous Landscape site:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/Safari-Tips.shtml
He uses seven USB 2.0 card readers with Downloader Pro and sets it up to automatically make two backup copies on separate drives as well as the main download.

[Danphoto]

I got a few minutes just now to play about with this and have so far established that

(a) it looks like the crgrunn method will work

(b) one of the four expensive (£40 each) Lexar "Professional" readers broke after three card insertions - the card ejection mechanism failed :rolleyes:

so this is still an ongoing situation. I will however post my findings eventually :)

[Danphoto]

The good news is that the crgrunn method definitely works.

The bad news is that out of four £40 Lexar Professional FW CF readers, two have failed, one always shows an error on one file per card (which isn't there when using a Sandisk reader), and one works properly ...

Thank you for your help gentlemen.

[Clive]

The bad news is that out of four £40 Lexar Professional FW CF readers, two have failed, one always shows an error on one file per card (which isn't there when using a Sandisk reader), and one works properly ... Wow, that's rough! There's an obvious issue of merchantability there. Thanks for the warning.

[Danphoto]

Just for the record, they came from Warehouse Express who have no problem at all with me returning the whole lot for refund. We're about £25 out of pocket and a few hours lost, but c'est la vie ...