Travel storage

Does IBM still make drives?

James

Yes. Any with a notebook drive that runs at 7200rpm is probably using an IBM drive. I should amend my post, as I like IBM drives as well.

Back to the "not got a laptop" storage question. Epson has announced an upgrade/new higher capacity model of the P2000, called the P4000 (clever huh <_< )

Epson Japan has today announced an upgrade to the image viewer P-2000 which doubles the capacity. The P-4000, features a larger 80GB hard disk, 3.5-inch LCD and new higher powered 2600mAh battery, compared to the 2300mAh battery in the P-2000. The device can display JPEG files as well as RAW images from the Epson RD-1 and also play MPEG-4 movies at 640 x 480 pixels. The P-4000 also has slots for CompactFlash Type 2 and SD cards. The expected retail price in Japan is around ¥70,000 (approx $629). More information as we receive it. FROM DPREVIEW

...What drives fail the least?  I always get the same answer, IBM drives...

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I've had four IBM laptops, and never had any trouble with their HDs. OTOH, I can't say the same about IBM MICROdrives. I had a MicroDrive die on me awhile back...and since I've heard the cheap Hitachi CF microdrives are even worse, I now ONLY use "non-drive" CF cards (Lexar Pro and Sandisk Ultra II). Have never had an ounce of trouble with those...

Does IBM still make drives?

 

James

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Hitachi bought IBM's hard drive division in 2002. The two IBM 120G Deskstar drives in my 2002 Mac have worked fine. If I needed to, I could replace them with Hitachi Deskstars.

http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2002may/...20605012041.htm

I bought a third drive a few months ago, a Seagate 200G. It's failed already. Luckily it gave me some warning so I was able to back up my recent work. If only I'd backed up my hard drive purchase receipt!

My new strategy is to create a new external clone of my main drive and update it on a weekly basis. I'll also keep my receipt in a safe place.

-Brad

I've used Deskstars a lot and used to swear by them...until I started losing them

Type in "IBM Deathstar" into Google and you'll see how they earned this name - there were a lot of problems reported with certain models on the reliability front (mainly the earlier 75 GXP models - of which I owned and lost 2 within a few weeks of each other). Still I think they are good drives on the whole, but I always work on the assumption that any of my drives could pack up any day (who said I was a pessimist?). I also tend to buy from different manufacterers, as buying a wad of the earlier deskstars didn't leave me with much confidence when I found out I was one of many people who'd had reliability problems with them.

Steve

All the drive failures I mentioned in my posts were related to some weird behaviour in using windows and external US/Firewire connection. Never had any problem with an internal one.

Michel

PS: Much shorter post this time...

I switched to IBM when I used SCSI drives only (IDE wasn't fast enough for PAL video editing at that time). I understood that IBM's harddisk section has been continued by Hitachi and I had one failure and switched to Seagate since it has happened. So far I hope they last as Seagate had a bad reputation long time ago

Never had problems with external USB and firewire drives. Only one time, when I did not stop the drive before disconnecting and write cache was enabled.

Julian

I have been using an Delkin DVD Burnaway since Feb 05 wiith happy results,no view but images can reviewed on any computer or TV(jpg) cames with battery and auto adp. is avialible

I'm also in the market for a small travel storage device. So far, the one that has caught my eye is the Wolverine. Seems to offer the best capacity for the cost (80 Gig for ~$180).

I saw during my search that there are a few out there using them, but didn't get a sense as to if they are well liked.

Would users please offer up a few opinions?

thanks!

John

I have been using the PDX70. It is very usefull for backups and freeing up your memory cards. It also doubles up as a LiMH AA charger. I even managed to charge some NiCd's when I left my regular charger at home once. When down-loading with the batteries they drain pretty quick, but I use this to discharge my camera's batteries before charging again.

You can change the hard drive youself, mine came with a 40gig, but I will probably upgrade to an 80 or 100 soon..

The only disadvantage is that you cannot view your pics.

A friend of mine recently took his FlashTrax XT to the Red sea, but I must still find out how well this worked. With the FlashTrax you can also view your pictures.

All,

I'd like to share my thought process on my recent storage upgrade. It seems to me that the plummeting prices for CF have changed the rules.

A query: you can now get (what seems so far) a very reliable, fast 4GB 150X nominal card for about $70 (Ridata at Newegg). For the cost of an HD backup device, you can get 2-8 of these puppies. Do you really want to spend your money on something you can't shoot to, instead?

To me, the low CF price means the HD devices are needed only for backup or viewing (where they support that). I can get 700+ raw (D70 compresssed NEF) on a 4GB card. That's 20 rolls. I have three 4GB cards (plus an older 2 and 1), so that's 60+ rolls -- really, more, as I do delete the junk as I go. Of course, bigger sensors need more cards, but it's still pretty cheap (and you boys with bigger sensors must have bigger bucks, and err other things, right?).

So, about backup. I'm not at all convinced the HD devices are *as good as* the CF cards. Those guys are tough: one of mine survived a flooding wiith all images intact. Try that with a hard drive! I know one's not guaranteed to recover images in this case, but fortunately floods are very rare and lost images would really be the least of my worries in this case. But I be not pro. Anyway, comments on CF and HD reliability and recovery? Also, why this mania for backup now, when we never had it before?

(I think it's a bit of invasion of the nerds, and also speculate that more images have been lost when people *thought* they'd been backed up externally, than have been lost by damaged CF cards. Comments?)

On viewing: the LCD's are now much better than my D70, and are probably good enough for quick culling. So does one really need the viewer?

I was considering getting a HD backup for my next trip (old one died, reinforcing my point on reliability), but this thought process made me buy the 2 4GB cards instead. If I really need backup or viewing, I can take my laptop. For me, the standalone storage seems like a relatively expensive, unreliable, and unnessecary intermediate. More CF is cheaper, more useful, and much more compact. For me, the standalone backup has gone the way of the old microdrive cards -- a relic of expensive flash memory.

Comments?

All the best,

Chris

I use a OQO +1 UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC) and its fantastic:

Its a old model, and sometimes you can find one in ebay about 650$

Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Tablet Edition)

1GHz Transmeta Crusoe Processor

30GB hard drive

512MB DDR RAM

800 x 480 W-VGA 5" transflective display (indoor/outdoor readable)

3D accelerated graphics with 8MB of video RAM

Wireless & Bluetooth

FireWire & USB 2.0 ports

Dimensions: 4.9" x 3.4" x 0.9"

Weight: 14 ounces

You can carry it in your jacket pocket

It would never remain obsolete

You will be able to update raw plugins ever

You can install linux SO

I install Adobe Lightroom and works fine!

Yeah, but only 30 gigs of storage? That is not enough - I can fill that after shooting through two of my memory cards :-(

Otherwise, very cool indeed.

I'm still using the Jobo giga vu pro evolution which has a big hard drive and a decent screen.

Cheers

James

I upgraded my old PD7x to the Hyperdrive Colour Space. I bought the bare unit and put in my own 160GB Samsung drive. I like that you can view Raw files on it plus it, shows the histogram too. Recharges using the wall dongle or by USB. I downloaded about 30gigs worth to it and battery level didn't budge. Transfers about 1GB in just under a minute if I recall.

Stu

Stu,

That looks like a great device at a great price! The only difference I can see between the Color Space and the Jobo is that the Jobo can act as a wireless FTP server - which is good for event shooting, but not much use on a boat lol.

Cheers

James

Yeah, but only 30 gigs of storage? That is not enough - I can fill that after shooting through two of my memory cards :-(

Yes, is not the bigger HD... but you can attach and small external HD (USB or Firewire) or change the internal disk...

320Gb is enoug?

Western Digital Passport

FTP server - which is good for event shooting, but not much use on a boat lol.

 

Cheers

James

Welll if it is a really BIG boat it may be worhtwhile

But the Hyperdrive looks VERY cool.

I bought the bare unit and put in my own 160GB Samsung drive.

 

Stu

Stu, easy to put into this?

Welll if it is a really BIG boat it may be worhtwhile

 

But the Hyperdrive looks VERY cool.

Stu, easy to put into this?

Drew,

Yes, very easy to do, on board firmware will format drive for you and has built in image recovery. I figure if I fill up the drive, I'll just swap it out with an empty one and place the old one in a plain external USB case for 10 bucks.

Highly regarded on Luminous Landscape. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/...yperdrive.shtml

Also, customer service from Hyperdrive in California was top notch. They bent over backwards to ensure I got the unit in time for my trip last Dec/January to Manila.

I ordered the extra battery holder for 4 AA's but never needed it.

Stu

Drew,

 

Yes, very easy to do, on board firmware will format drive for you and has built in image recovery. I figure if I fill up the drive, I'll just swap it out with an empty one and place the old one in a plain external USB case for 10 bucks.

 

Highly regarded on Luminous Landscape. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/...yperdrive.shtml

 

Also, customer service from Hyperdrive in California was top notch. They bent over backwards to ensure I got the unit in time for my trip last Dec/January to Manila.

 

I ordered the extra battery holder for 4 AA's but never needed it.

 

Stu

Thanks for the info, just ordered one and a 160 Gig HD for it, this better work