CF, MicroDive or digital wallet or laptop?

Doug Robinson · Mar 18, 2002

I'm planning a extended trip (with the D60) and need some advise on keeping the 7.4mb (ave. size) RAW files safe and sound. Estimating 400-500 files, I'll need up to 4 gigs. I currently use a 1gig IBM MicroDrive (will be addding at least a medium size CF for back-up) and a Dell 8700 Inspiron laptop (leaving this beast at home). The options are:

1. Buy 3 more Microdrives.

2. Buy Nixvue or Mindstor (better choice because of fire-wire connection).

3. Buy ultra compact laptop.

Any suggestion?

Thank you, Doug

--Doug Robinson, San Francisco

Jim Altengarten · Mar 18, 2002

As a 3a option, I have a PC card slot on my laptop which enables me to use my 1 gig microdrive directly in the computer. This might be worth investigating. A 40 gig hard drive allows a lot a "extra" space while on a trip. The computer allows me to work on the images during my "spare" time.

I have a Sima storage device, and as other will mention, many people have problems with storage devices.

Jim

Doug Robinson said:
I'm planning a extended trip (with the D60) and need some advise on
keeping the 7.4mb (ave. size) RAW files safe and sound. Estimating
400-500 files, I'll need up to 4 gigs. I currently use a 1gig IBM
MicroDrive (will be addding at least a medium size CF for back-up)
and a Dell 8700 Inspiron laptop (leaving this beast at home). The
options are:

1. Buy 3 more Microdrives.

2. Buy Nixvue or Mindstor (better choice because of fire-wire
connection).

3. Buy ultra compact laptop.

--exposure36 Photography landscape/creative vision/educationwww.exposure36.com

Trenton · Mar 18, 2002

I take it that's what option #2 is? Are they reliable?

I have the same delima regarding the D60s 7.4 meg file size.

Jim Altengarten said:
I have a Sima storage device, and as other will mention, many
people have problems with storage devices.

Jim

Jim Altengarten said:

I'm planning a extended trip (with the D60) and need some advise on
keeping the 7.4mb (ave. size) RAW files safe and sound. Estimating
400-500 files, I'll need up to 4 gigs. I currently use a 1gig IBM
MicroDrive (will be addding at least a medium size CF for back-up)
and a Dell 8700 Inspiron laptop (leaving this beast at home). The
options are:

1. Buy 3 more Microdrives.

2. Buy Nixvue or Mindstor (better choice because of fire-wire
connection).

3. Buy ultra compact laptop.

Click to expand...

--
exposure36 Photography
landscape/creative vision/education

http://www.exposure36.com

Krik · Mar 18, 2002

I agree Jim. But it really depends on the exact type of travelling you will be doing.

Clearly, laptop storage and processing is the safest alternative. I use it whenever I can. Moving images to the hard drive each night, then burn a CD ROM of the RAW images for back-up. As Jim, mentioned this has the added luxury of being able to edit images. I often travel by plane on long overseas trips, which allows me to happily sort, edit, and play while everyone else is snoring.

If you are going treking in the Alps, this may not be a feasible solution. For weight restrictions, you may need to opt for a less secure alternative which is better than nothing.

For me the laptop is always involved, it is just a question of when in the timeline I use it. But I always go to it with images as soon as I can. It goes without saying that I back up to my desktop PC when I return home.

Good luck

Jim Altengarten said:
I have a Sima storage device, and as other will mention, many
people have problems with storage devices.

Jim

Jim Altengarten said:

I'm planning a extended trip (with the D60) and need some advise on
keeping the 7.4mb (ave. size) RAW files safe and sound. Estimating
400-500 files, I'll need up to 4 gigs. I currently use a 1gig IBM
MicroDrive (will be addding at least a medium size CF for back-up)
and a Dell 8700 Inspiron laptop (leaving this beast at home). The
options are:

1. Buy 3 more Microdrives.

2. Buy Nixvue or Mindstor (better choice because of fire-wire
connection).

3. Buy ultra compact laptop.

Click to expand...

--
exposure36 Photography
landscape/creative vision/education

http://www.exposure36.com

Doug Robinson · Mar 18, 2002

Jim Altengarten said:
As a 3a option, I have a PC card slot on my laptop which enables me
to use my 1 gig microdrive directly in the computer. This might be
worth investigating. A 40 gig hard drive allows a lot a "extra"
space while on a trip. The computer allows me to work on the
images during my "spare" time.

I have a Sima storage device, and as other will mention, many
people have problems with storage devices.

Jim

Hi Jim,

I use the same set-up at home and have taken it along on my last two trips to Europe (including a CD burner). Works well, but adds up to alot of weight and extra stuff to worry about and carry. I'll probably end up ordering the Mindstor. --Doug Robinson, San Francisco

djm80364 · Mar 18, 2002

Kirk is right - a laptop and burning CD backups is the safest, but it is a load with cam and lenses.

hmmmmm...I wonder if you could take your firewire Mindstor and go to an internet cafe with high speed connection...FTP them to your website.

DJM

DougR said:
Jim Altengarten said:

As a 3a option, I have a PC card slot on my laptop which enables me
to use my 1 gig microdrive directly in the computer. This might be
worth investigating. A 40 gig hard drive allows a lot a "extra"
space while on a trip. The computer allows me to work on the
images during my "spare" time.

I have a Sima storage device, and as other will mention, many
people have problems with storage devices.

Jim

Click to expand...

Hi Jim,

I use the same set-up at home and have taken it along on my last
two trips to Europe (including a CD burner). Works well, but adds
up to alot of weight and extra stuff to worry about and carry.
I'll probably end up ordering the Mindstor.
--
Doug Robinson, San Francisco

Peter Sills · Mar 18, 2002

Check out the review of the new Sony Laptop for Digital Photographers at http://www.digitalfocus.net . I have used the various alternatives and find this one to be the best solution by far.

Good Luck!

DougR said:
I'm planning a extended trip (with the D60) and need some advise on
keeping the 7.4mb (ave. size) RAW files safe and sound. Estimating
400-500 files, I'll need up to 4 gigs. I currently use a 1gig IBM
MicroDrive (will be addding at least a medium size CF for back-up)
and a Dell 8700 Inspiron laptop (leaving this beast at home). The
options are:

1. Buy 3 more Microdrives.

2. Buy Nixvue or Mindstor (better choice because of fire-wire
connection).

3. Buy ultra compact laptop.

Any suggestion?

Thank you, Doug

--
Doug Robinson, San Francisco

--Peter SillsDigital Focuswww.digitalfocus.net

David Birkin · Mar 18, 2002

DougR said:
1. Buy 3 more Microdrives.

2. Buy Nixvue or Mindstor (better choice because of fire-wire
connection).

3. Buy ultra compact laptop.

all have their relative pros and cons.

i would say #1 gives you the most compact easy to carry option. it also spreads the images over several devices. also they're less likely to be stolen

2 gives you best $ Mb and can double up as a removeable hdd when u return.

if u purchase an ultracompact laptop u have the option to review and retake any photos that aren't 100%.

2 and #3 require a regular power source. when i went travelling with my d30 i found that my two 1gig microdrives and 3 batteries gave me quite an extented shooting capacity.

another issue....consider shooting raw.
--BreezeBrowser RAW conversion times http://www.davidbirkin.com

EricF · Mar 18, 2002

505 line is still too bulky. If have to, I'd rather use Sony's smaller picture book.

Peter Sills said:
Check out the review of the new Sony Laptop for Digital
Photographers at http://www.digitalfocus.net . I have used the various
alternatives and find this one to be the best solution by far.

Good Luck!

Doug Robinson · Mar 18, 2002

David James Miller said:
Kirk is right - a laptop and burning CD backups is the safest, but
it is a load with cam and lenses.

hmmmmm...I wonder if you could take your firewire Mindstor and go
to an internet cafe with high speed connection...FTP them to your
website.

David,

Another thing I was thinking about was, if I went the Nixvue product, it can be used as a storage/player for the TV. It comes with a little remote controller even my wife could use. The negatives are no fire-wire and no RAW or TIFF viewing.--Doug Robinson, San Francisco

djm80364 · Mar 18, 2002

How much is the Nixvue 10GB or 20GB?

DJM

DougR said:
David James Miller said:

Kirk is right - a laptop and burning CD backups is the safest, but
it is a load with cam and lenses.

hmmmmm...I wonder if you could take your firewire Mindstor and go
to an internet cafe with high speed connection...FTP them to your
website.

Click to expand...

David,

Another thing I was thinking about was, if I went the Nixvue
product, it can be used as a storage/player for the TV. It comes
with a little remote controller even my wife could use. The
negatives are no fire-wire and no RAW or TIFF viewing.
--
Doug Robinson, San Francisco

Dr_ML · Mar 18, 2002

David,

I know this doesn't precisely answer your question, but I was looking at the 20G Mindstor on ecost.com and it was around 399.

Mark

David James Miller said:
DJM

DougR said:

David James Miller said:

Kirk is right - a laptop and burning CD backups is the safest, but
it is a load with cam and lenses.

hmmmmm...I wonder if you could take your firewire Mindstor and go
to an internet cafe with high speed connection...FTP them to your
website.

Click to expand...

David,

Another thing I was thinking about was, if I went the Nixvue
product, it can be used as a storage/player for the TV. It comes
with a little remote controller even my wife could use. The
negatives are no fire-wire and no RAW or TIFF viewing.
--
Doug Robinson, San Francisco

Click to expand...

--Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.Henrik Tikkanen

Doug Robinson · Mar 18, 2002

David James Miller said:
How much is the Nixvue 10GB or 20GB?

DJM

Hi David,

It looks like B&H has the 10GB for $429 and the 20BG for $499.

Sure would be better if it came with fire-wire. According to Phil's test it took 22min to down load 1GB from the unit via USB. I guess I can live with that to get TV player function the "Digital Wallet" doesn't have.

Doug--Doug Robinson, San Francisco

glenba · Mar 18, 2002

The Fujitsu P-2020 Lifebook is like the Sony picture book but adds a built in DVD/CD-RW drive and network card. Both are based on the Transmeta Crusoe processor. I would love to have either of these, but I just got a laptop less than a year ago, and have just upgraded the drive to 60GB to make room for all the extra data from my digitals.

EricF said:
Peter Sills said:

Check out the review of the new Sony Laptop for Digital
Photographers at http://www.digitalfocus.net . I have used the various
alternatives and find this one to be the best solution by far.

Good Luck!

Click to expand...

djm80364 · Mar 18, 2002

Thanks

You might want to read this thread, more info on this subject:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1023&message=2360131

DJM

DougR said:
David James Miller said:

How much is the Nixvue 10GB or 20GB?

DJM

Click to expand...

Hi David,

It looks like B&H has the 10GB for $429 and the 20BG for $499.
Sure would be better if it came with fire-wire. According to Phil's
test it took 22min to down load 1GB from the unit via USB. I guess
I can live with that to get TV player function the "Digital Wallet"
doesn't have.

Doug
--
Doug Robinson, San Francisco

Doug Robinson · Mar 18, 2002

David James Miller said:
Thanks

You might want to read this thread, more info on this subject:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1023&message=2360131

Thank you David!

I feel foolish not to have noticed the Storage and Media forum. --Doug Robinson, San Francisco

vpera · Mar 19, 2002

...one might consider having two (possibly different) backup
devices (e.g. two MindStors). I would like to have my photos
backed up in two places as far as hard drives are concerned.

Vesa

Josh Sosnin · Mar 19, 2002

Since Iomega has another sale on 1 gig drives, I would consider:

1 more microdirve

1 512MB CF card

Notebook - Something that you can pop the MD and CF cards in to, and dump off the files. Perhaps something super small, but not quite super expensive? Used perhaps? Sort of like a digital wallet, but a bit bigger, and with more usability.

DougR said:
I'm planning a extended trip (with the D60) and need some advise on
keeping the 7.4mb (ave. size) RAW files safe and sound. Estimating
400-500 files, I'll need up to 4 gigs. I currently use a 1gig IBM
MicroDrive (will be addding at least a medium size CF for back-up)
and a Dell 8700 Inspiron laptop (leaving this beast at home). The
options are:

1. Buy 3 more Microdrives.

2. Buy Nixvue or Mindstor (better choice because of fire-wire
connection).

3. Buy ultra compact laptop.

Any suggestion?

Thank you, Doug

--
Doug Robinson, San Francisco

stripes · Mar 19, 2002

Trenton said:
I take it that's what option #2 is? Are they reliable?

Well they use the same kind of disk drives that laptops do, so they are likely to be about as reliable. Unfortunitly they cost a pretty good fraction of what an inexpensave laptop does, so they are not that great a deal unless you have a reason to want something lighter and smaller then a laptop (like hiking, or something else that would require you to take the device on the shoot and carry it around a lot).

stripes · Mar 19, 2002

Doug Robinson said:
It looks like B&H has the 10GB for $429 and the 20BG for $499.
Sure would be better if it came with fire-wire. According to Phil's
test it took 22min to down load 1GB from the unit via USB. I guess
I can live with that to get TV player function the "Digital Wallet"
doesn't have.

I think if you take enough JPEG shots to make the TV out function of the Nxvue useful you don't have to worry about the 7+MB RAW file size do you?

Also note that many laptops have S-Video out and more flexable slideshow programs then the wallet devices (the laptops do cost more, and weight more though). If you are willing to spend mad amounts of money on a laptop they can actually be supprisingly light, but they are still bulky.

I have a laptop (more then one if you count my wife's), but I wanted it for reasons other then photography. I did make sure it had a built in CD burner for photography though. It isn't small though, it would not fit easally into my camera bag. It is lighter then some of my lenses though (definitly lighter and less bulky then one studio light though). So I still need enough storage for one day's shooting (if it were really an issue I could bring my laptop along, but I would rather not for most shoots).

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