Compact Flash - Latest and Greatest

[depuratumba]

hi everyone… I have a question
I just bought a 32 GB card… just to be safe, as I only have the original card that the OT came with.
what’s the safe way to exchange them?
Save Project > Sync to Card… that’s it? then it’s safe to eject and switch them?

[PeterHanes]

I just bought a 32 GB card… just to be safe, as I only have the original card that the OT came with.

what’s the safe way to exchange them?

Save Project > Sync to Card… that’s it? then it’s safe to eject and switch them?

If you haven’t done so already, I strongly recommend that you copy each Set on the card to a computer using the OT’s USB Disk Mode before you eject the card.

[Zikk]

Generally, a Cfast card is better than a Compact flash card
It looks better in terms of performance.
So I try to buy a Cfast card.
ot mkii is able to recognize Cfast card?

[AdamJay]

We’ll have to wait to hear from someone who has tested a CFast card in an OT, but in the meantime keep in mind that any performance gains will be exclusively on the computer side of read/write performance and not on the OT side.

[OverUnity]

From what I have read CFast cards are not physically or electrically compatible with CompactFlash cards. Maybe Elektron could confirm compatibility?

Anyone tried SD to Compact Flash adapter cards with Octatrack? This would be far easier to swap out SD cards.

[JamesM]

CF fast (or CFast) definitely NOT compatible.
It will DESTROY the pins in your OT if you try to force one of those in there.

As for brands, and being in the photography trade for 27 years, I started out with Sandisk but moved to Lexar about 10 years ago after the release of some independent industry data on read/write cycles before failure. But that was a while ago, things change and most photographers use both from what I see. I still used old Sandisk cards in a pinch and the only failure I ever had was due to the camera, not the card.

The ‘best practice’ is always double backups, format the card (overwriting and filling CF cards is death), and take advantage of downloading that free recovery software that comes with a new card.

The data rate limiting factor and largely the card dependability factor rests on the OT (or camera) drivers, hardware etc. Also, it gets weird, a device may work perfectly with CF cards up to 16GB, then fail or struggle with 32GB cards, then work fine again with 64GB, and not work at all with 128.
So best stick with what Elektron advice on card capacity.

Anyway, my Nikon’s now use XQD cards (PCI based) so I’ve got a stack of CF cards waiting for an OT

[minimalspace]

Card still clicking? Was thinking about buying this one for OT mki.

[Everpure]

Oh, I have sold my OT already a few years ago… Sorry, I’m afraid, I cannot provide long-term experience.

[audiofreak]

Hello guys

I know this topic is been talked around for a while, but everytime I read I found diferent opinions on the subject, my cf card broke and I nedd to get one today,

would you please be so kind to recommend couple of brands? and speed / capacity?

for OT MK 1

thanks!

[AdamJay]

@audiofreak , I have zero issues with Sandisk Extreme CompactFlash Memory Card - 64 GB (SDCFXS-064G-A46)

$45 on Amazon

[audiofreak]

thanks a lot Jay… for the MK 1 right?

[AdamJay]

works without issue for both the MK1 and MK2.

Plenty of reviews/details already here on Elektronauts.

[audiofreak]

thanks a lot Adam

[audiofreak]

Hey Adam

Amazon have no idea when they deliver haha, just like that

will this work as well?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1000363-REG/sandisk_sdcfxps_064g_a46_64gb_extreme_pro_compact.html

thanks

[PaleRider]

Just got an MKII, looking for the most compatible CF card-
hasn’t been a new post on this in a bit
is bigger better with the OT?

any other newb tricks welcome as well-

THX

[d4ydream]

The largest card the OT can accommodate is 64GB. I’m using the SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB without issue.

Is bigger better? I see it as having a lot of space for preloading samples, saving recorded samples, and saving projects.

If this an opportunity to self impose restraints by limiting what you can load? That’s for you to decide

[Castor]

tnssub said that everything faster then 35mb/s is a waste of money

Cannot Format Compact Flash

I wonder why you are choosing such a fast card for the OT. ~40MB/s would be already plenty enough, but 160MB/s? Just a few audio streams won’t require that bandwidth. IMHO everything that’s faster than USB 2.0 speed (~35MB/s) is a waste of money (when used only in combination with the OT, of course). I would suggest the “normal” Scandisk Extreme (not the Pro) which has many positive reports here on the forum.

I was planning to buy this one but now im not sure any more… https://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-SDCFXPS-064G-A46-ExtremePro-160MB-150MB/dp/B00F3BLN02/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=sandisk+extreme+pro+64gb+flash&qid=1565876490&s=gateway&sr=8-6

[don_sook]

I’ve recently upgraded my 32GB 50MB/s CF to the SanDisk Extreme 120MB/s 64GB. Works perfectly.

I didn’t notice a difference in speed concerning Octatrack project operations. But I did notice a difference in data upload speeds when transferring files from my laptop to the Octatrack via USB Disk Mode.

[AdamJay]

I wonder if an Elektron official could shed some light on why the 64GB card size limit exists. @Olle ?

[sumdup]

Maybe it has OCD and just prefers the number 64