Slow raw file import

Software darktable
1

My usual workflow is get the the card from camera and put it in card reader of laptop. So far it has worked well for me for my Sony RX10 - IV

Recently added Sony A7-III to my camera list. Finding that imports are very slow - like it took almost 40 minutes for 72 minutes. I know A7 raw files almost double the size of RX10, but doubting if that’s the only issue. Card seems to be reasonable while shooting multiple frames.

I’d a look at CPU and not much activity was going on anywhere.

Any thoughts why import is so slow. I’ve not tried copying the files to my hard disk and try it out yet.

Ubuntu 22.04, darktable 4.8.0

2

without a log file no one can know, what’s happening on your system.
you can generate the log by running darktable -d common

3

Plus, trying that copy (without involving darktable) would be important to understand whether this has anything to do with darktable at all.

1 Like
4

Hi,

+1
I never copy within my RAW processing software. Since I’ve had a PC on Linux, I’ve been using Rapid Photo Downloader, with unparalleled speed. Then the image manager (DigiKam) does what is necessary to update his catalog.

Edit
This may also be the sign that the SD card starts to get tired. Reading and transfer rates should be analysed. Internal card readers exchange via a USB link, it could be able to be monitored.

5

This was new card and looks like its already failing on me. I did check kern.log and its filled with error messages similar to

Dec 18 16:20:42 hp kernel: [1238530.670573] I/O error, dev mmcblk0, sector 49527 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0
Dec 18 16:20:42 hp kernel: [1238530.670719] exFAT-fs (mmcblk0p1): error, failed to access to FAT (entry 0x0000bba8, err:-5)
Dec 18 16:20:42 hp kernel: [1238530.670753] exFAT-fs (mmcblk0p1): error, failed to bmap (inode : 00000000426813af iblock : 270, err : -5)

Tried copying from terminal and its failing with error

cp: error reading '10441218/A7300126.ARW': Input/output error

Going to reformat the card and try again.

6

If it’s new, return it or file for warranty. If neither are applicable, I’d say chuck it in the bin and get another. Not worth the hassle.

7

I purchased it new a year ago or so, never used It was set of two cards. One is active in other camera and I decided to use this in the camera.

Looks like I need to order new one as formatting in the camera did not help.