Recording RAW through USB cable? (t3i)

[Orca2040]

So first of all I'm wondering what the transfer rate of the USB port on the t3i is and as well if you can record from the t3i in RAW straight into your computer via the USB port by any means, or is this asking too much and merely a fantasy?

[SDX]

This has been asked before and the answer is currently no. USB transfer rates are limited by the usb standard. Also, no real performance tests have been done if the camera even would do the usb2 limit.
AFAIK it's even unknown if the camera does full- or highspeed.

On top of it all: the USB chip is separate with it's own firmware. No one has a interest (nor the knowledge) to replace something there. So we are bound to what the firmware delivers, and that's the PTP protocol. (If someone knows better what I'm saying here, please post, I only have little knowledge)

The PTP protocol is not very efficient when it comes to datarates.
In the end you'll very, very likely stay under the speed the sd card delivers.

[Audionut]

There is no chance of USB alone being useful for raw recording.

It is in the todo list as something to look at, to help increase the total data rate.