What portable storage do you use?

Crispin · December 23, 2005

Greetings all.

With all the talk that is going on about micrdrives (Thread: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=24110) I feel left out 'cause I only have SD cards.

Until the day arrives that they skwish a HD into a SD card, I am cursed with walking around with 4-5 SD cards.

I went on a two week holiday to South Africa (http://crispin.smugmug.com/gallery/983667), home, and took 4 cards with me thinking it would be enough. 2X1GB, 2X512MB cards. It was not. :huh
Every other evening I connected laptop and copied all the pics off.

I now want to buy a portable storage device and am looking at the options.
I like the Epson ones but £££££:cry
You can get a small, <£100 40GB with no display other than info on space free etc.

What do you guys and gals use? Comments? Battery life? Lost your images?:cry (I am scared of putting 2 weeks worth of pics onto a device and it goes corrupt)

Cheers,
Crispin

mrcoons · December 23, 2005

For my CF cards I use a SmartDisk Flashtrax.

I imagine there must be some brand that accepts SD cards.

wxwax · December 23, 2005

I carry about 7-8 GB in memory cards and a very small laptop. Since I got the laptop I haven't seen the need to spend money on any other device. I have enough memory to get through the day and then dump to the laptop back in my room, so I'm good.

bwg · December 23, 2005

mrcoons wrote:

For my CF cards I use a SmartDisk Flashtrax.

I imagine there must be some brand that accepts SD cards.

so i don't have to go look it up

...what's the storage capacity on that?

Does the preview display support RAW?

davev · December 23, 2005

I'm a bit lost here. If you have a laptop/notebook computer with you,
why do you need another device?

I'm getting ready to buy a notebook comp. for when I'm away from the house
for a couple of weeks. I looked at some of the devices, and like you said,
they want as much for some of them as I can buy a notebook for. ($500)

So again, why do you want a portable device?

jeff lapoint · December 23, 2005

davev wrote:

I'm a bit lost here. If you have a laptop/notebook computer with you,
why do you need another device?

I'm getting ready to buy a notebook comp. for when I'm away from the house
for a couple of weeks. I looked at some of the devices, and like you said,
they want as much for some of them as I can buy a notebook for. ($500)

So again, why do you want a portable device?

Not sure about the OP, but I for one don't really want to be luggin my laptop on a 5-mile hike looking for wildlife...

just the weight differential alone is worth an extra device for some of us.

-j

mrcoons · December 23, 2005

bigwebguy wrote:

so i don't have to go look it up ...what's the storage capacity on that?

Does the preview display support RAW?

I believe it's only 20gb but that's large enough for my purposes. They do have newer models with more space on them.

Yes, it support CR2 format for storage and viewing as I test that not too long ago.

Crispin · December 23, 2005

davev wrote:

I'm a bit lost here. If you have a laptop/notebook computer with you,
why do you need another device?

I'm getting ready to buy a notebook comp. for when I'm away from the house
for a couple of weeks. I looked at some of the devices, and like you said,
they want as much for some of them as I can buy a notebook for. ($500)

So again, why do you want a portable device?

As Jeff said, the sole reason is the weight. My bag, Tamrac Expidition 4, does not have space for a laptop. Had I bought a bigger / better one with space for laptop I _could_ cary it. Except the weight.
Oh, the biggest draw, it's another agdget to fill the empty pocket in my bag

I thought, 4GB for 2 weeks holiday would be enough. NOT!. Lucky I use digital and not film

Imagine me out for two weeks with medium or large format camera

Crispin · December 23, 2005

mrcoons wrote:

I believe it's only 20gb but that's large enough for my purposes. They do have newer models with more space on them.

Yes, it support CR2 format for storage and viewing as I test that not too long ago.

You could, if you know / brave, just replace the drive inside. Buy a new or secondhand (Careful about age) laptop drive and swap them. Might need to copy some OS file between the drives.
Would be better than getting a new one.
I plan on buying a small one, maybe empty if I can find one, and put my own disk in.

Mike Lane · December 23, 2005

EDIT: The iPod is not a good solution for portable storage. Move along, move along....

marlof · December 23, 2005

Mike, is the speed and battery life in your solution better than with my 3G iPod and the Belkin Card Reader? I can only copy about 2 one gig cards with that one, it takes ages, and my iPod is through with it's battery life.

I ended up just using my iPod for music (

), and I got a Nexto CF with a 60 GB harddisk for my portable storage. No viewing, but speedy, roomy and a good battery life.

Mike Lane · December 23, 2005

marlof wrote:

Mike, is the speed and battery life in your solution better than with my 3G iPod and the Belkin Card Reader? I can only copy about 2 one gig cards with that one, it takes ages, and my iPod is through with it's battery life.

I ended up just using my iPod for music ( ), and I got a Nexto CF with a 60 GB harddisk for my portable storage. No viewing, but speedy, roomy and a good battery life.

I'll let you know after christmas

Rohirrim · December 23, 2005

Some of the other options are:

Epson p2000 - 40 gigs, can view images
Epson p4000 - 80 gigs, can view images- Pricey > $600
iPOD- not sure if it can store RAW images - May not be able to get images from CF card to disc??
CompactDrive PD70X - 40 (~$210) -120 Gigs (~ $390) - previous reviews claim this is one of the fastest and one of the best on battery life. No screen for viewing. Hopefully under the Christmas Tree . - Better option for US Customers is Hyperdrive - http://hyperdrive.com/shop/index.php

As has been mentioned the huge advantage of these over a lap top is the weight. These are very small and very portable. Much easier than carrying a laptop around.

Happy Holidays,

gus · December 24, 2005

Watching the price of 2gig Cf cards fall i dont think it will be long before i retire the portable HD.

Crispin · December 24, 2005

Humungus wrote:

Watching the price of 2gig Cf cards fall i dont think it will be long before i retire the portable HD.

That is the one thing. I get a 1GB SD card for $45 (Around $70-80).
I can buy a couple of them instead. Losing it means I loose one lot of images, not the entire lot.

Only problem with that is - the viewer is a cooler gadget

Merry christmas to all!

Mike Lane · December 24, 2005

Rohirrim wrote:

Some of the other options are:
iPOD- not sure if it can store RAW images

Can store, can't display.

Mike Lane · December 24, 2005

Humungus wrote:

Watching the price of 2gig Cf cards fall i dont think it will be long before i retire the portable HD.

Multi-gig cards are good for RAW + L (on my 20D anyhow). I dig how I can shoot a B&W jpg and a full color RAW file on the same shot. So I do that sometimes. Of course, that's like 10 or 12 MB per shot.

GraphyFotoz · December 24, 2005

Well........
Can't afford a lotta fancy gadgets.

I carry 2x512mb Sandisk Ultra II cards and 1x256mb Sandisk Ultra II.

I don't trust large storage cuz if something goes wrong I don't wanna loose the whole days shooting.
I know I'm paranoid but we are talking electronic gadgets here.
Never know when they will get dropped.....lost.....or just plain screw up!

Too many years dealing with computers and man made electronics....a lesson learned a LONG time ago!

gus · December 24, 2005

One of my 1 gig 80x CF cards has gone through my washing machine on a heavy cycle.

Still works great !

GraphyFotoz · December 24, 2005

Humungus wrote:

One of my 1 gig 80x CF cards has gone through my washing machine on a heavy cycle.

Still works great !

I don't have that kinda luck!

davev · December 27, 2005

Well I'm going with the laptop and 4 - 1 gig cards.
I shoot in JPG mode and can get 350 shots on a card. That's 1400 shots
till I can get to the laptop at the hotel, car, house, where ever.
If you're going backpacking for 2 weeks the storage device might be better.
But if you're going to the hotel with 2 cable channels, I'd just as soon
view, and maybe work on a few photos.

Justiceiro · December 27, 2005

My big concerns with lugging a laptop around would be inconvenience and theft. I got a mediagear 40g portable storage device before I went on my last trip for precisely those reasons. Its small enough to keep on your person at all times; in certain of the places I was staying it was basically impossible to secure your belongings if they weren't in your line of sight.

It's about the size of 2-3 packs of cigarettes, and accepts all cards; cf, sd, xd, and so on.

The advantage is that after shooting for 2 weeks (about 3800 pictures) I had used less than half of the capacity of the drive, so its much much cheaper ber byte stored than purchasing a number of cards. The prices now are around $150 USD for 40g, I paid $185. given that a Kingston 1g card is about $50, that's a deal, as 40 of those cards would set you abck $2000!

The disadvantages are also to be considered. There is no screen, so has your photo REEALLLY been saved? All mine were, but when I got back to the US, I sure was nervous. Also, all your eggs are in one basket, and one basket alone. If that basket breaks you are in big trouble.

That being said, its usually possible to have images resurrected from even a badly wounded or quite dead hard drive, and if you are going to be in the Jungle, and can't afford an epson, this is likely the way to go. (After I sell a few photos, maybe I'll buy an Epson!)

I would recommend the Mediagear. Has anybody else used other brands?

W.W. Webster · December 27, 2005

Falling CF prices?

Humungus wrote:

Watching the price of 2gig Cf cards fall i dont think it will be long before i retire the portable HD.

Gus

What's the going rate in Australia these days for a fast name-brand 2GB CF card, for example SanDisk Extreme III 133X, Kingston Ultimate 100X, etc and where would you buy one at that price?

erich6 · December 27, 2005

I have the Epson P-2000 and I love it. It's a great substitute for a laptop when hiking/camping. Otherwise, it's a great backup drive that let's you see photos and preview on the fly.

Michael Reichmann of Luminous Landscapes states:

" gave up in this type of device a couple of years ago because I found their battery life and screen issues weren't worth dealing with. Instead I got in the habit of traveling with a notebook computer and a lot of cards. I'd work all day on location and then in the evening, at the motel, hotel, or campsite, I'd copy the cards to my computer.

This has a couple of downsides. Firstly, on a busy shoot it means needing and handling a lot of cards. This means keeping them organized, knowing what's on what, and not mixing shot with unshot cards. The number of times either I, or people I've been shooting with have had a panic moment looking for a missing card that we knew was in a certain pocket, are too frequent to mention.
Now, my procedure is as follows. After a card is full, I immediately copy it to the P-2000. This can be done while I continue to work, because the unit is in its pouch on my belt while it's doing its thing. If I have lots of cards with me, or I'm not shooting a lot, I simply delay erasing and reusing the cards until the evening, for additional safety. If I need to though I can erase the cards as soon as they're copied to the P-2000, and after I've verified that the shots are safely there.
When I get back to my computer later in the day, I copy all of the files from the P-2000 to the computer. Normally I would then copy these to an external hard drive, like a Lacie 60GB, but now the files are already in two places, so this isn't necessary.
The reason that I always want my files in two places is, security. When I'm away from the hotel or motel I leave the laptop there (locked with a security cable), but I travel with the P-2000 on my belt or in my camera bag. When I fly home, the P-2000 sits in my jacket pocket, while the laptop is in its bag in the overhead compartment. The chance of a hard disk crash, or theft, or other form of loss, is thus reduced to as close to zero as reasonable precautions allow. "

Complete review at: http://luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/P-2000.shtml

Considering it plays MP3's and MPEG movies I think it's a good buy.

Erich

gus · December 27, 2005

W.W. Webster wrote:

Gus

What's the going rate in Australia these days for a fast name-brand 2GB CF card, for example SanDisk Extreme III 133X, Kingston Ultimate 100X, etc and where would you buy one at that price?

Just look on www.ebay.com.au Last time i looked they were about $180 AUD Havnt seen 133's there yet but 80x is plenty fast enough for me.

I use any of the guys with a few thousand sales & always get stuff o/night ex sydney.

David_S85 · December 28, 2005

Currently, I'm using the Addonics MFR. It is the same unit as the Roadstor (Roadstor Co. went bust). Writes to CD-R up to about 600MB.

I might get the newer DVD unit by the 2006 shootout time, unless something better comes along. I just don't like placing all my images onto one HD that can be easily stolen or lost. I always make 2 copies.

It doesn't have a viewing screen, but can hook up to any TV for quick review. RAW writes to the CD/DVD's, but can't display on a TV.

davemj98 · December 28, 2005

vaio pocket
Got this gadget to free myself from lugging my laptop through airports; A 40GB portable hardrive/MP3 player with a screen that plays a slideshow of my pics. Bad part is that it requires a small stand to charge and load. Discontinued as of now, and going cheap on E-Bay.:):

W.W. Webster · December 29, 2005

Humungus wrote:

Just look on www.ebay.com.au Last time i looked they were about $180 AUD Havnt seen 133's there yet but 80x is plenty fast enough for me.

I use any of the guys with a few thousand sales & always get stuff o/night ex sydney.

Thanks, Gus!

Velu · December 29, 2005

This is my first post here Ladies and gents so, Merry Xmas for everybody and I hope to spend some usefull time over here !

:

I've been looking into portable storage very recently.
I have a Powerbook 12" but I'm not always comfy to "drag" it along. I'm doing quiet some concerts/festivals and one of the main worries most of the time is "where to store ?" while I'm shooting.
CF cards are cheap, if you compare with prices not that long ago, but still.
Shooting 10 Gb at a festival isn't THAT much, 10 Gig of memory cards will cost you about 700 euro.

So I'm thinking of carrying 2 cards of 1 Gb or maybe 1 1Gb and another 2Gb, along with some portable storage device.

I have no need of an lcd screen, because it will take too much power and besides, in between you don't have too much time to check things.

So I need something thrustable, fast-working device with lot's of battery-life.

After some research I came up with the Compact Drive DP70X.
Seems that it uploads 1Gig in less then two minutes, using rechargeable AA batteries which last for at least 35 GB !!!! And with a confirmation of succesfull uploading !
You CAN'T check the contents of the folders, but you get an indication of the folder with the number of files that you just uploaded.

Nothing fancy, but that's not what I need it for.

Price here in Europe is about 200 Euro for a 80GB storage capacity.

Off course, it's electronical and it can fail ! But so can my powerbook !
And I don't intend to leave data on that disk till I reached 80 Gb !
At home I'll transfer all to my pc, burn dvd's and THEN format it !

( so yes, you could do with a 40GB unit, which cost about 160 Euro, but since Gb get's cheaper in"bulk".. !?)

So instead of spending 700 euro on memory, I spend about 350 euro now (DP70X plus a 2GB card, I do have a 1GB already) and I can buy myself additionally a nice Sigma 15mm fish

In a nutshell, I think it's worth checking on that device, checking some reviews ...

Rgds
Velu

Rohirrim · December 30, 2005

Velu wrote:

This is my first post here Ladies and gents so, Merry Xmas for everybody and I hope to spend some usefull time over here ! :

I've been looking into portable storage very recently.
I have a Powerbook 12" but I'm not always comfy to "drag" it along. I'm doing quiet some concerts/festivals and one of the main worries most of the time is "where to store ?" while I'm shooting.
CF cards are cheap, if you compare with prices not that long ago, but still.
Shooting 10 Gb at a festival isn't THAT much, 10 Gig of memory cards will cost you about 700 euro.

So I'm thinking of carrying 2 cards of 1 Gb or maybe 1 1Gb and another 2Gb, along with some portable storage device.

I have no need of an lcd screen, because it will take too much power and besides, in between you don't have too much time to check things.

So I need something thrustable, fast-working device with lot's of battery-life.

After some research I came up with the Compact Drive DP70X.
Seems that it uploads 1Gig in less then two minutes, using rechargeable AA batteries which last for at least 35 GB !!!! And with a confirmation of succesfull uploading !
You CAN'T check the contents of the folders, but you get an indication of the folder with the number of files that you just uploaded.

Nothing fancy, but that's not what I need it for.

Price here in Europe is about 200 Euro for a 80GB storage capacity.

Off course, it's electronical and it can fail ! But so can my powerbook !
And I don't intend to leave data on that disk till I reached 80 Gb !
At home I'll transfer all to my pc, burn dvd's and THEN format it !

( so yes, you could do with a 40GB unit, which cost about 160 Euro, but since Gb get's cheaper in"bulk".. !?)

So instead of spending 700 euro on memory, I spend about 350 euro now (DP70X plus a 2GB card, I do have a 1GB already) and I can buy myself additionally a nice Sigma 15mm fish

In a nutshell, I think it's worth checking on that device, checking some reviews ...

Rgds
Velu

I just got the DP70 and so far its worked very well. Very fast downloads, easy to get shots to PC. I've only used it a short time but so far

thumb

Mike Lane · January 2, 2006

Rohirrim wrote:

I just got the DP70 and so far its worked very well. Very fast downloads, easy to get shots to PC. I've only used it a short time but so far thumb

What size is the drive of the $150 version? I looked at the website but it didn't say.