portable hard drive?

Hi All,

After my recent wedding photos disaster (discussed elsewhere in this forum), I'm going to get a portable hard drive for onsite simultaneous backup (I found some software that will copy a compact flash card to my laptop's internal drive, and to an external drive simultaneously. Nice).

I'm looking for a drive small enough to put into a crowded camera bag, something that is robust (it's gonna get squished) and bus-powered. I'd prefer firewire to USB 2 (I don't like the slowness of the sustained write speed of USB 2).

I thought of getting a LaCie "rugged" portable drive 'cause it's got firewire 800 (very useful for connecting to my desktop), but you can't find one in the UK for love or money at the moment (time is of the essence, I'm off on an out-of-country job Saturday, which is 4 days from when I write this).

Another option is a Freecom Toughdrive, even though it's USB. Shock resistance, the built in cord, and what looks like a very robust case are compelling features.

Can anyone comment on the LaCie Rugged and Freecom Toughdrives? Any suggestions for other options?

fyi: my upcoming job is in the US (Manhattan). I'm not adverse to buying there (gonna be cheaper, even though there are warranty issues). Getting a drive there would remove the time pressure, come to think of it. Can anyone recommend a place to go to get a drive in Manhattan?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Chas

I use a 40GB laptop drive in a housing sometimes, like this weekend.

We have a stead fast rule, ALWAYS TWO COPIES OF FILES"

I bring a laptop to virtually every job, my assistant downloads cards as they fill up and then safely stores the cards. When we leave there are two sets of files, the laptop and the CF cards. On some busy weekends, like this past weekend, I had four jobs. Even with 14.5 GB of cards I knew I was going to run out, so Saturday's jobs were also copied to the External drive. Two copies, on two drives so the cards can be delete.

Sunday, another two weddings, second one a big affair so we had two photographers, two assistants.

For Sunday evening the rule was all cards were to be downloaded to my powerbook, then handed over to the second assistant to download to their laptop. We left with three sets, my Powerbook, my second shooters & Assistant's Laptop and our CF cards.

Yesterday everything was processed, proofs, web galleries made, files uploaded to the main computer and a set of DVD's burned. Later today I will do a back up so we will have a set of DVD's all files on the main computers (RAID 5) and a set on the FW back up drive.

Jon

I have a 30GB Daytek that I can cover with my hand, and is thinner that a pack of playing cards.

It's worked perfectly for a year and a half. It was a Christmas present to me, and bought at Costco in Toronto for, I think, something like $140 canadian.

Lter models have greater capacity and cost less.

I transfer files from my memory cards to my computer's hard drive, cull them, and then just drag the files over to the Daytek.

I manage several web sites, and the files for these live on the Daytek, which operates fast enough that I'm happy using it insted of the hard drives in my computers.

And I move back and forth between two homes, with one computer in each, so the Daytek travels a lot, with just itself and a cable for it stuck into a little fake-leather case. Power comes from a desktop computer at one end and a notebook computer at the other.

DOWNSIDE -- there are those other kinds of Save-Your-Pix heard drive speciality units with built-in screens and slots for memory cards that are photo-specific. Handier for sorting pictures, etc., without haveing a real computer.

About RUGGED -- good point, and I'vve never dropped this. But I carry it either inside a canvas suitcase where I put it inbetween various articles of clothing, or I tuck it into a camera bag, where it travels with the same degree of comfort as my lenses and flash guns.

BAK

I got one of the Belkin media card readers that connects to my iPod. I have (on average) about 25gigs of freespace on my 30 gig iPod. Small, portable, reliable.
--
'Work is for people who don't know how to surf'

B&H photo should have everything you need look them up on the web first for the address.

Have you looked into the Epson P2000 ? It has a pretty good size hard drive & you can plug most types of media directly into it and download directly. Not sure of the $$ amount.

J
--
If I wake up breathing it's going to be a great day.

30GB Video iPod, with a camera adapter for transferring your files from the camera to the iPod's internal HD

On a recent field trip to Memphis, TN, and Mississippi I brought along a Seagate 300Gigabyte harddrive. At the end of the day, in my hotel room I downloaded the images off of my microdrive, deleted the losers, then backed the remainder of the images up to a CD R and the harddrive. It's not a portable harddrive, more an external one, but it did the job and worked well. Obviously, it works only when you're near a power outlet and it's not really a "rugged" device. But it is small enough to fit into a medium/large size camera back pack.

ricardo

Check out this unit....

http://www.hyperdrive.com

Looks like a great unit... maybe just what you need.

Jim

P.S. can you give the link to the discussion on your wedding "disaster"?

BAK said:

I have a 30GB Daytek that I can cover with my hand, and is thinner
that a pack of playing cards.

It's worked perfectly for a year and a half. It was a Christmas
present to me, and bought at Costco in Toronto for, I think,
something like $140 canadian.

Lter models have greater capacity and cost less.

Click to expand...

I can find the company, which is a Canadian reseller. I cannot find any U.S. company selling their items, which include four portable HDs, 20, 30, 40 and 60 gigs. They look interesting if there happens to be a source in the U.S.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

I use an Epson P2000, I got it refurbished and was ~$300. It's a 40GB internal HD that also allows you to review the images and see EXIF data (on JPEGs). The iPod, I would recommend against unless it stays connected to the laptop or you're going to use it for emergency purposes only. The battery life on the iPod was not designed to copy Gigs of data for any amount of time. The P2000 can copy 8-13 1GB cards with minimal chimping. About 4 or 5 1GB card if you feel the need to review most of your shots after uploading. HTH

--
-Jeremy
http://www.onwestmedia.com -work in progress please be gentle

Get the 60GB iPod instead, and use the cable from computer to iPod -- do NOT connect direct from camera to iPod if you have a laptop. Waste of time and battery.

Chris

Daniel Soh said:

30GB Video iPod, with a camera adapter for transferring your files
from the camera to the iPod's internal HD

Click to expand...

Why not go with a PSD? Who needs having to lug around a notebook? Just plug the card into the PSD, and it is backed up. Later on, when the shoot is done, you can male a backup of the PSD data onto another HD.

With a PD70X on my belt, I have the original CF card and a HD backup in minutes without touching a computer. I have even used 2 of them at an event, just to be sure. It's a lot cheaper than risking my high dollar notebook at an event, and faster, too.

DancePhotographer said:

Why not go with a PSD? Who needs having to lug around a notebook?
Just plug the card into the PSD, and it is backed up. Later on,
when the shoot is done, you can male a backup of the PSD data onto
another HD.

With a PD70X on my belt, I have the original CF card and a HD
backup in minutes without touching a computer. I have even used 2
of them at an event, just to be sure. It's a lot cheaper than
risking my high dollar notebook at an event, and faster, too.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the world of used laptops. I think I've $350 in mine, much of it bartered items. I need it once in a bit to view different angles, focus points, and such, but otherwise it gets NO use, unless the desktop goes kerflooey for a few days.

I do take it with me to overnight press conferences and such, and it can be handy there, allowing me to keep up with articles, but otherwise, it sits on my office floor, leaning against a desk, awaiting a photo assignment to give it meaning.
--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

Wolverine's pro line

http://www.wolverinedata.com

--



I'd take the right eye over the best equipment any day.

Yes, this is the one I use all the time, perfect, maybe a little slow to download, but, it works great!

--
'Better than a good equipment: a good eye and heart'

I read a review that said the iPod was dreadfully slow when downloading photos into it.

How does the speed of download compare as to the average time needed to download into a laptop?

Does it allow any type of file (jpeg or raw) to be downloaded into it ?

I have never tried it but it does sound as if it would be a good option to have handy.

J
--
If I wake up breathing it's going to be a great day.

Hi Jon,

I totally agree with you re: two copies of files at all times, (if I'm static and can set up the laptop for wireless to the camera, I then can have three redundant copies).

My workflow was overwhelmed by having a second photog on the job, and I was dealing with his cards at the same time. It's a long story (detailed in a thread elsewhere in this and the Mac forum), suffice to say that the one time (ever!) that I didn't have redundant copies, something bad happened on the laptop. Murphy truly was an optimist.

I'm looking forward to having an external drive (I just sourced a LaCie Rugged 120GB firewire version, just a few minutes ago) and using a very nice bit of software I found to simultaneously make two copies of each compact flash card as I download them (this simple step would have saved me from the disaster I just went through).

Your advice is much appreciated, and is very much like what I have given out myself at times (how embarrassing to be caught out, I must say!). Lesson learned, here's hoping my revamped workflow can deal with the little extras that a job can throw at you (and here I thought I was prepared for almost everything!).

Chas

Jon Laye said:

I use a 40GB laptop drive in a housing sometimes, like this weekend.

We have a stead fast rule, ALWAYS TWO COPIES OF FILES"

I bring a laptop to virtually every job, my assistant downloads
cards as they fill up and then safely stores the cards. When we
leave there are two sets of files, the laptop and the CF cards. On
some busy weekends, like this past weekend, I had four jobs. Even
with 14.5 GB of cards I knew I was going to run out, so Saturday's
jobs were also copied to the External drive. Two copies, on two
drives so the cards can be delete.

Sunday, another two weddings, second one a big affair so we had two
photographers, two assistants.

For Sunday evening the rule was all cards were to be downloaded to
my powerbook, then handed over to the second assistant to download
to their laptop. We left with three sets, my Powerbook, my second
shooters & Assistant's Laptop and our CF cards.

Yesterday everything was processed, proofs, web galleries made,
files uploaded to the main computer and a set of DVD's burned.
Later today I will do a back up so we will have a set of DVD's all
files on the main computers (RAID 5) and a set on the FW back up
drive.

Jon

Click to expand...

Hi BAK, thanks for contributing.

The Daytek is a nice unit, thanks for the recommendation. (by the way, I used to work in Toronto, how are things?). Believe it or not, my very first hard drive (a massive 90MB!) was a Daytek "Black Beauty" in a hugely rugged steel enclosure. Bought it, oh, 16 years ago or so for my Mac Plus (jeez, that's a long time ago, how old do I feel now?).

I'm very lucky though, I managed a few minutes ago to source the LaCie Rugged 120GB firewire drive I really wanted (the FW800 was the clincher for me). I think I got the last one in the entire UK.

fyi: I do already have a dedicated unit for storing cards on the fly: an Epson p-2000. Very nice piece of kit, but agonisingly slow when it comes to downloading cards (because it was so slow, I ended up with several cards not backed up when I went to my laptop, and so the laptop had the only copies and when it screwed up, well, I was screwed). I'm seriously considering selling it and getting one of the new Jobo units which supposedly copy cards at laptop speeds (£$@! expensive though).

Thanks again for the recommendation,

Chas

BAK said:

I have a 30GB Daytek that I can cover with my hand, and is thinner
that a pack of playing cards.

It's worked perfectly for a year and a half. It was a Christmas
present to me, and bought at Costco in Toronto for, I think,
something like $140 canadian.

Lter models have greater capacity and cost less.

I transfer files from my memory cards to my computer's hard drive,
cull them, and then just drag the files over to the Daytek.

I manage several web sites, and the files for these live on the
Daytek, which operates fast enough that I'm happy using it insted
of the hard drives in my computers.

And I move back and forth between two homes, with one computer in
each, so the Daytek travels a lot, with just itself and a cable for
it stuck into a little fake-leather case. Power comes from a
desktop computer at one end and a notebook computer at the other.

DOWNSIDE -- there are those other kinds of Save-Your-Pix heard
drive speciality units with built-in screens and slots for memory
cards that are photo-specific. Handier for sorting pictures, etc.,
without haveing a real computer.

About RUGGED -- good point, and I'vve never dropped this. But I
carry it either inside a canvas suitcase where I put it inbetween
various articles of clothing, or I tuck it into a camera bag, where
it travels with the same degree of comfort as my lenses and flash
guns.

BAK

Click to expand...

Hi Charlie,

I couldn't find a reseller in the UK either (but I've managed to find the drive I was really looking for this morning, luckily).

Cheers!

Chas

CharlieDIY said:

BAK said:

I have a 30GB Daytek that I can cover with my hand, and is thinner
that a pack of playing cards.

It's worked perfectly for a year and a half. It was a Christmas
present to me, and bought at Costco in Toronto for, I think,
something like $140 canadian.

Lter models have greater capacity and cost less.

Click to expand...

I can find the company, which is a Canadian reseller. I cannot find
any U.S. company selling their items, which include four portable
HDs, 20, 30, 40 and 60 gigs. They look interesting if there happens
to be a source in the U.S.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

Click to expand...

Hi Jeremy,

Funnily enough, I've already got an Epson p-2000 (you got a much better deal than I did, I paid £345, and that was months after it had come out!).

The only problem with this unit is how slow it is to download cards (30 min for a 4GB card). On the disastrous job I alluded to in my original post, I was dealing with not only my cards, but for the first time also the cards of a second photographer, and when I went to my laptop to make what is usually my second redundant copy, the p-2000's slowness meant that I had several cards that weren't backed up yet (and, true to Murphy's Law, it was the photos from one of those non-redundant cards that got damaged on the laptop ).

I'm seriously considering selling the Epson and getting one of the new Jobo units. Their website states that it downloads cards very quickly, and this is key for me now that my jobs are getting more intense (the problem with weddings is that I don't have an opportunity to set up my laptop for wireless, which I do at corporate events. When I've got wifi connectivity, I shoot, and images are immediately sent to the laptop: instant backup!)

I do happen to have an iPod (a 60Gb version), and I bought the Apple camera to iPod connector only as an option of last resort (it's absolutely tiny, didn't cost much, and gives me an option if all else fails). You're right though, the battery life of the iPod is definitely not that great when it comes to downloading photos (I tested it, barely got though a single 4GB card). Why don't I use the iPod as the second drive my original post was about? Well, I often have to leave my laptop while it deals with downloading, and I feel an iPod is just too juicy a theft target to leave alone (the laptop is locked to whatever it sits on when I'm not there).

Thanks for the recommendation (great minds think alike

Chas

johnsonjj22 said:

I use an Epson P2000, I got it refurbished and was ~$300. It's a
40GB internal HD that also allows you to review the images and see
EXIF data (on JPEGs). The iPod, I would recommend against unless
it stays connected to the laptop or you're going to use it for
emergency purposes only. The battery life on the iPod was not
designed to copy Gigs of data for any amount of time. The P2000
can copy 8-13 1GB cards with minimal chimping. About 4 or 5 1GB
card if you feel the need to review most of your shots after
uploading. HTH

--
-Jeremy
http://www.onwestmedia.com -work in progress please be gentle

Click to expand...