Digital Storage on the go

Hi all,

I just did a forum search as I figured that this topic had been covered before. To my surprise I was not able to find much recent coverage of this topic. Most posts predate 2005 and given the rapid evolution of technology I am certain that new products have been brought to the market over the last year or so.

Anyway, here's my question. In light of the ever decreasing weight limits when flying, do I travel with my "old" heavy Dell Laptop (Inspiron 8500), purchase some sort of new laptop or, alternatively, plunk down the cash for a portable hard drive w/image viewing capability. I had previously considered the portable hard drive sans image viewing capability, but decided that this wasn't for me.

My understanding is that the things to consider (other than $$) are capacity, file support, download speed, battery life, LCD screen quality/size and weight. Am I missing anything? Shooting the D200 in RAW mode in combination with std. resolution JPEG I am considering the need for an absolute min. 40 gig of storage, preferrably 80 gig. Are there any particular devices or small laptops any of you can recommend? The newest Epson P-5000 looks sweet, albeit at $799 it is rather expensive.

Thanks for your input!

GG

Yes there have been a few threads on this.

The other option similar to the Epson is the Jobo.

I have an Epson P2000 (40GB) and it works fine for my purposes, the newer ones supposedly have a nicer screen, and download faster. (The P2000 is slow so I download my card to it after I have downloaded to my computer if I have it with me.)

Check out this thread

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16343

Anyway, here's my question. In light of the ever decreasing weight limits when flying, do I travel with my "old" heavy Dell Laptop (Inspiron 8500), purchase some sort of new laptop or, alternatively, plunk down the cash for a portable hard drive w/image viewing capability.

Loftus,

Thanks for the link to the recent thread re storage ~ not sure why I didn't find it.

DRK,

I am tempted to take my laptop with me, even if it could anchor a mid-sized boat. With this consideration in mind, purchasing a simple high-capacity harddrive w/out screen might be the best option as it would then provide for redundant backup as well as a means to download memory cards in environments a laptop is not suited to.

Thanks guys for your time!

GG

This is what I have except mine is 100GB... goes for around $270

This is a sort of external Hard Drive where you can plug in ANY Photo card into it (takes the CF card, MMC,SD etc etc) press 1 button and it copies all the contents to the hard drive! Best invention after toast bread...

Most important... NO PC is required!!!

Merlin Digital Storage

For use as the only backup device without a laptop I'll take only device that I actually see the images that where copy to it.

I had a very bad experience with device that was only shown the number of copy images and the size of the used space, only at home I sow it was override a lot of the images.

I agree with Arnon that a screen is essential to confirm that the photos were correctly downloaded (especially if this is your only storage). I was thinking about buying one of these:

Epson P-3000

I think this is a new model, does anybody have experience with it? Last trip I had a problem with my laptop (both USB ports died) and couldn't download pictures. Luckly I had two 4gb cards and it was during the end of the trip, but I would be in a really bad situation had it been in the beginning...

I still use the Hyperdrive HD80. No pre-view screen, but has been reliable enough to gain my confidence. I like the idea of being able to easily swap harddrives and it doubles as a back-up battery charger in a pinch. Pretty cheap too.

I would like a viewing screen, but don't want to pay so much extra for it.

Take care,

John

I have the P-2000 which is the older version of the P-3000, and I like it. My undestanding is the 3000 has some improvements like a larger and better screen, and faster downloading (the P-2000 is slow with RAW files)

My only beef with the P-2000 is that one cannot download a card to the device and a PC at the same time, in other words one cannot use it as a card reader to your PC / Mac while at the same time backing up to the device. I'm not sure if any of these devices can do that, but it would be nice to be able to do that to save time. If I am on a trip with my computer, I first download my card to the computer with a fast card reader, then download the card to the Epson. Transferring from a 4GB card to the Epson, then to the Mac from the Epson takes about a half hour.

I have a P2000 which does not work. The HD died after the warrantee ran out. Cost for Epson to replace is 200$+. You can't replace yourself because the operating system is on the HD. If you have a working machine you could disassemble it and capture the operating system on your computer. This way you can upgrade the HD or replace it if yours goes bad. Just don't break your 2000 when you reassemble it. I have read enough problems with these units to suggest that if you have one of the epson units you should go ahead and capture the operating system on your HD just in case.

I went ahead and bought the Jobo. The operating system is not on the HD. Two things it does the epsons don't is show you the actual raw image, not the imbedded jpeg and also it has "color calibrating" software. The controls are much nicer than the epson p2000.

The jobo lets you download to an external HD. I believe the epson 5000 also has this capacities.

I was very happy with my 2000 until it took a dump. The jobo is a better unit than the 2000. The epson 5000 looks like a major improvement over the 2000.

I forgot to add. The jobo has a rubberized body and a rubber lid that covers up all the ports. Doubt this makes it waterproof; but it is defiantly weather resistant in a way the epson 2000 is not.

Of course the epson 2000 fits nicely in a mini pelican case. 1040 I believe.

In response to a question I submitted the following statement. This is how to capture the OS on an Epson P2000 on your computer. In case your HD dies.

You have to dissemble the p2000 and mount the drive in an external HD container. You can do a search on DP reviews to get the instructions on how to do this. You can get a video of someone doing this. By doing this you can also upgrade the HD on your 2000.

Dave.

Consider an ipod (80 gig model, $349) and an ipod camera connector ($29).

http://www.apple.com/ipod/accessories.html

In response to a question I submitted the following statement. This is how to capture the OS on an Epson P2000 on your computer. In case your HD dies.

 

You have to dissemble the p2000 and mount the drive in an external HD container. You can do a search on DP reviews to get the instructions on how to do this. You can get a video of someone doing this. By doing this you can also upgrade the HD on your 2000.

 

Dave.

i upgraded my p2000 hard drive that way. a bit finicky at times if like me you are not fully DIY enabled - but manageable

one drawback is the speed to access images goes down tremendously

/paul

Consider an ipod (80 gig model, $349) and an ipod camera connector ($29).

 

http://www.apple.com/ipod/accessories.html

Interesting suggestion! I looked at Apple's web site to see if i could find any of the stats for the iPod, such as download and upload speeds, wether or not it could handle raw files, what connectors I would need (camera connector, USB connector to recharge, ...), but wasn't able to find anything. Could anyone with any experience using the iPod in this manner comment, please?

Holger

Interesting suggestion! I looked at Apple's web site to see if i could find any of the stats for the iPod, such as download and upload speeds, wether or not it could handle raw files, what connectors I would need (camera connector, USB connector to recharge, ...), but wasn't able to find anything. Could anyone with any experience using the iPod in this manner comment, please?

 

Holger

Hi Holger,

I have a iPod video and the camera connector.

1. The camera connector has in one end the plug for the ipod and in the other a mini-USB. As to exact download and upload speeds I dont know but it is not that fast (still I think it is more or less acceptable IMHO).

2. You can download RAW to the iPOD but you cannot see it in the iPOD.

3. I believe the main backdraw of this system is that you have to run the download process on batteries (you cannot have the iPOD plugged to the power at the sametime as downloading) and the download process uses a lot of battery. If you have too many files, you might have to download only some, charge the ipod and then download the rest.

I used a 60 gig ipod photo for image storage when I went to Italy last Christmas, but I found it to be absolutely terrible. It would take 45min. to download a single 1gig card and it would suck the life out of the batteries. If the batteries weren't full, they would die before the download was complete.

Since then, I have bought a Jobo without a screen and a new laptop. I'll be taking the two of these with me on my next trip as they are both significantly faster, and I much prefer the larger laptop screen for viewing photos. I felt that viewing photos on the ipod did not give me a good idea of clarity, etc. so the laptop will be much better, and it runs photoshop! Just my $0.02.

I have a hard time believing your iPod runs out of battery life in 45 minutes unless it is a much older model or the battery life is going down hill. I got this from the apple.com web site:

>Up to 20 hours of battery life refers to 80GB model and music playback.

>6.5 hours of battery life refers to 80GB model and is based on H.264 1.5-Mbps video at 640-by-480 resolution >combined with 128-Kbps audio.

The new 5th generation iPod Video combined with a newer/faster read/write memory card, 150X, in your camera should solve your download woes. I just purchased a Transcend 150X 4GB SDHC for $89USD and it seems to really fly out of the camera when connected directly via USB 2.0 to my computer without a card reader. (I haven't tried downloading to an iPod yet!) Also, there is a card reader that will connect to your iPod in the same fasion as the "Camera Connector". Apple, and 3rd parties, make an AV cable that you could possibly connect to your hotel room's TV to view your pictures at the end of the day right off your iPod if the small screen doesn't suit your fancy. You will need to set your camera to record BOTH RAW AND JPEG images to see the jpeg on the iPod.

Disclaimer: Of course, I haven't tried any of this yet. It is my hope that with higher transfer speeds combined with USB 2.0, all of this is possible before the battery life dies. It should work!

I confess that I have not used my camera connector much yet. I almost always have my laptop, and I already had an 80GB iPod. I'm not interested in a digital wallet, but for $30, the camera connector was a slam dunk for me in case my laptop dies, or for taking along on day trips when I don't plan on shooting more than a card, but you never know.

2. You can download RAW to the iPOD but you cannot see it in the iPOD.

I thought I could. I'll have to check, I may have been shooting raw+jpeg.

I used a 60 gig ipod photo for image storage when I went to Italy last Christmas, but I found it to be absolutely terrible. It would take 45min. to download a single 1gig card and it would suck the life out of the batteries. If the batteries weren't full, they would die before the download was complete.

 

Since then, I have bought a Jobo without a screen and a new laptop. I'll be taking the two of these with me on my next trip as they are both significantly faster, and I much prefer the larger laptop screen for viewing photos. I felt that viewing photos on the ipod did not give me a good idea of clarity, etc. so the laptop will be much better, and it runs photoshop! Just my $0.02.

I haven't done a big download yet, but I'm surprised you're having this problem.

you don't have the old Belkin adapter? I think that was USB 1.1.

laptops and little screens don't compare, the iPod is just backup for me, but at $30, great backup!

Don't

Apple's iPod web site states that the iPod does not support RAW format. Based on the various references earlier in this thread I assume that this means it won't show RAW files but that it will still record them (for backup purposes)?