Offline storage on a long trip

chuck ackerman · January 27, 2006

I'll be going to Austraila for two weeks this summer. I won't be taking a computer with me.

What's the best way to copy my photos so I can clear my compact flash card when it's full?

I've seen hard disk devices and CD burning devices. I'm leaning toward the hard disk as they seem to take up a lot less space in my luggage. I'd like to think that money is no object, but it is. I really don't want to spend $300 on top of what I'm already spending for the trip.

Is there a device for $100 or is this a pipe dream?

Thanks

Art Scott · January 27, 2006

here is an ebay link for one for $129 30gb image tank.

http://cgi.ebay.com/30GB-Data-Bank-Portable-Digital-Photo-Storage-X-DRIVE_W0QQitemZ7584708971QQcategoryZ15215QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Did an ebay search for digital photo storage...here is the link to all the results

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?ht=1&from=R4&satitle=digital+portable+photo+storage&sacat=625%26catref%3DC6

good luck.

art scott

gus · January 27, 2006

Lots to choose from chuck. Most appear to be in the $150 USD to $350 USD range.

I just use an older style with a laptop 30 gig hard drive & carry a spare battery for it. I can suck down about 5 or 6 gigs with it using both batteries. It is very old now (almost 2 years)

If i wasnt shooting RAW then i would just a few 1 gig cards.

Where are you visiting ?

Richard · January 27, 2006

chuck ackerman wrote:

Is there a device for $100 or is this a pipe dream?

Thanks

Check out this thread. I have no idea of whether this device is any good, but it seems to be in your price range. There also have been a number of threads recently about very good deals on CF cards. You might be able to get by with an extra card or two if you can find a net cafe that will let you burn DVDs from them.

Hope this helps. And welcome to Dgrin.:):

chuck ackerman · January 27, 2006

Thanks for the quick replies, guys. In the interim I stumbled across this device called a "Camera Hard Drive." It comes in an 80 gig for $100 and a 120 gig for $114. I know nothing about it but it's, by far, the cheapest I've seen. Funny thing is that it's sold a LOT of places including Target.com for a LOT higher than they, the manufacturer, are selling it for directly.

I'm a little skeptical since they sell a 120 gig for way less than anything else I've seen. Should I be nervous? Does the fact that many others sell it make it legit? Does the low selling price mean it's a refurb or a second?

Corrected link

gus · January 27, 2006

Chuck you can really only compare it to the price of the hard drive type it uses. If its cheaper than you can buy the HD then maybe its dodgy.

***NB battery life is going to play a huge part here.

Richard · January 27, 2006

chuck ackerman wrote:

Thanks for the quick replies, guys. In the interim I stumbled across this device called a "Camera Hard Drive." It comes in an 80 gig for $100 and a 120 gig for $114. I know nothing about it but it's, by far, the cheapest I've seen. Funny thing is that it's sold a LOT of places including Target.com for a LOT higher than they, the manufacturer, are selling it for directly.

I'm a little skeptical since they sell a 120 gig for way less than anything else I've seen. Should I be nervous? Does the fact that many others sell it make it legit? Does the low selling price mean it's a refurb or a second?

Corrected link

It doesn't look to me as if this thing runs on batteries. So you could carry it on your trip, but you would need to plug it in to a power source to use it. You wouldn't be able to use it in the field. Otherwise, it sure is cheap.

SCS_Photo · January 27, 2006

chuck ackerman wrote:

I'm a little skeptical since they sell a 120 gig for way less than anything else I've seen. Should I be nervous? Does the fact that many others sell it make it legit? Does the low selling price mean it's a refurb or a second?

Corrected link

Be very, very skeptical: http://www.resellerratings.com/seller_info.pl?seller_id=11195

Looks like a scam site... Copyright 2003 yet no records of transactions via resellerratings... http://www.resellerratings.com/seller_info.pl?seller_id=11195

chuck ackerman · January 27, 2006

rsinmadrid wrote:

It doesn't look to me as if this thing runs on batteries. So you could carry it on your trip, but you would need to plug it in to a power source to use it. You wouldn't be able to use it in the field. Otherwise, it sure is cheap.

Yeah, it's hard to tell from the picture if it's a plugin device or not. I gotta guess that it is or they'd be bragging about the battery operation.

A battery driven device would be cool, but not a requirement. I can wait until I get back to my room each night to copy the pics. With a 30 day money back gurantee I'm tempted to plunge.

What I want to know is how they undercut their retail sellers and still get the retail sellers to keep selling it.

chuck ackerman · January 27, 2006

SCS_Photo wrote:

Be very, very skeptical: http://www.resellerratings.com/seller_info.pl?seller_id=11195

Looks like a scam site... Copyright 2003 yet no records of transactions via resellerratings... http://www.resellerratings.com/seller_info.pl?seller_id=11195

Ok, now I'm nervous. The web site isn't mediagear.com, it's mymediagear.com. Maybe it is a scam. OTOH, maybe they just started selling directly on line and there aren't any ratings on them yet.

Art Scott · January 27, 2006

If it were truly a mfg'ers site it would have all the specs...including power source(s) etc.....BE VERRY VEEERY WARY......
I read on another forum where a photog swears by smartdisk fastrax unit...said he has dropped them more than once and basically destroyed the case and it kept operating....he really like it brecause he could visually check for the down load...so I would check out the fotochute that is mentioned above.

Redfish · January 29, 2006

double duty
On a recent month-long trip to Guatemala and Brazil, I got by spendidly with a 2 gig card, two 1 gig cards, my 60 gig iPod and a belkin card reader made for the iPod. I had read all kinds of posts detailing the shortcomings of this system but I tested it out thoroughly and it worked well for me. Yes, the iPod uses charge capacity quickly and it takes essentially overnight to recharge, but I never tried to download more than about 200 photos in a session (full resolution from my 20D) and it handled the task in 30-45 minutes. It never came close to running out of power and I came home with 1300 raw files on it along with my 9 gigs of music and the 300 photo files I had loaded on from home to show my acquaintances. For me, the only drawback was not being able to actually see the raw files as you can on the epsons. If you shoot 300 photos every single day or stay in places with no electricity it obviously is not up to the task, but for the other 90% of us its great to have one little machine multi-tasking.

wxwax · January 29, 2006

Do you have a laptop?

Offline storage on a long trip

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