G3 - CF vs. Microdrive - which to buy?

Ok.. I ordered a G3 yesterday. My question is what memory to order?

From what I've read I've narrowed my options to this (and best prices I've found) :

1. Ridata 20x 512mb ($178 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
2. Transcend 25x 512mb ($189 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
3. IBM Microdrive 1G ($229 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )

4. Viking 512mb ($130 after rebate - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=chhabra0b&path=tg/detail/-/B00005MIS8/qid=1038850636/sr=8-1 )

My Questions:

Which ones are more reliable?
Which ones have less file "corruption" issues?
Is Microdrive faster or slower on a G3?
Are there temperature issues with any (india heat, siberian cold)?

Are there any other brands instead I should consider for fast CF cards and why so?

Thank you,
Ashim

I recently bought a C2 and went through the same evaluation process. What I ended up with was mutltple CF cards in the 256mb size. I initially am trying Sandisck and have had very good results so far. My reasoning was the microdrive can not match the CF card for ruggedness so it was ruled out. I choose 256mb cards because it one can handle over 100 photos on the highest resolution/minimum compression for jpeg. I can live with having to put in a new card every 100 shots. The second reason being that I what little I spent extra (2 - 256mb versus 1 - 512mb) is clearly offset if I ever have a failure and any eletronic storage media is eventually going to fail. Third, being blessed with more than one camera having muliple cards comes in handy.

Hope this helps.

Gary

inktomite said:

Ok.. I ordered a G3 yesterday. My question is what memory to order?

From what I've read I've narrowed my options to this (and best
prices I've found) :

1. Ridata 20x 512mb ($178 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
2. Transcend 25x 512mb ($189 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
3. IBM Microdrive 1G ($229 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
4. Viking 512mb ($130 after rebate -

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=chhabra0b&path=tg/detail/-/B00005MIS8/qid=1038850636/sr=8-1 )

My Questions:

Which ones are more reliable?
Which ones have less file "corruption" issues?
Is Microdrive faster or slower on a G3?
Are there temperature issues with any (india heat, siberian cold)?
Are there any other brands instead I should consider for fast CF
cards and why so?

Thank you,
Ashim

Click to expand...

I haven't used the Microdrive but I did give it good consideration when choosing storage media. I ended getting multiple Sandisk cards for a couple of reasons:

1) Solid state cards seem much more durable than the microdrive. I'm not sure whether this is true in actual practice but I like the piece of mind that CompactFlash gives me. I have yet to have a card failure of any kind with Sandisk cards.

2) I wanted a total of 1Gig storage for extended trips so I chose multiple 128MB and 256MB cards. This gives me protection in the event that one of the cards should fail...I don't end up losing ALL of the images with one media failure. Also 128MB cards can be had incredibly cheap these days when on special.

Bob

--
G3: http://www.pbase.com/olybob/g3

Bob, Nice shoot! Artistic and good composition. Did you use any software to sharpen the picture or they are directly downloaded from the camera?
What digital cam did you use before G3?

-Lps

Bob.R said:

I haven't used the Microdrive but I did give it good consideration
when choosing storage media. I ended getting multiple Sandisk cards
for a couple of reasons:

1) Solid state cards seem much more durable than the microdrive.
I'm not sure whether this is true in actual practice but I like the
piece of mind that CompactFlash gives me. I have yet to have a card
failure of any kind with Sandisk cards.

2) I wanted a total of 1Gig storage for extended trips so I chose
multiple 128MB and 256MB cards. This gives me protection in the
event that one of the cards should fail...I don't end up losing ALL
of the images with one media failure. Also 128MB cards can be had
incredibly cheap these days when on special.

Bob

--
G3: http://www.pbase.com/olybob/g3

Click to expand...

Bob,

I'm stunned by your photographs - they're wonderful and all the better for being taken in some of my favourite places (Yosemite, Big Sur, San Francisco...). Every now and then I take a picture I'm proud of but you seem to have taken dozens of superb photos in just a few weeks since the G3 came out. I'm getting a G3 as soon as I can get my hands on one (to replace my G1) but I know my pictures won't compare with yours.

By the way, I've been using Microdrives in digital cameras and for general PC use for several years with no problems. I can't comment on performance or power consumption because I've never used anything else but they seem fine to me. I think they're pretty robust in practice - I've dropped them etc. with no failures yet.

Alan

Bob.R said:

G3: http://www.pbase.com/olybob/g3

Click to expand...

Alan,

Thank you for the very nice comments on the G3 images. It sounds like your pretty familiar with the areas in the photos. I was fortunate to have some really nice weather to test out the G3 when I got it (except during the Yosemite trip where it rained most of the time I was there).

The G3 is a great camera and I think your going to like it a lot. I am more and more impressed with it's image quality and capabilities with every new photograph. It's got a few quirks but I wouldn't trade it for anything else near it's price range.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the microdrive. It sounds like you have had a good experience using them. They certainly are attractive for large image files such as shooting in RAW format. Also it's a lot convenient than carrying around multiple CF cards.

Bob

Alan Chambers said:

I'm stunned by your photographs - they're wonderful and all the
better for being taken in some of my favourite places (Yosemite,
Big Sur, San Francisco...). Every now and then I take a picture
I'm proud of but you seem to have taken dozens of superb photos in
just a few weeks since the G3 came out. I'm getting a G3 as soon
as I can get my hands on one (to replace my G1) but I know my
pictures won't compare with yours.

By the way, I've been using Microdrives in digital cameras and for
general PC use for several years with no problems. I can't comment
on performance or power consumption because I've never used
anything else but they seem fine to me. I think they're pretty
robust in practice - I've dropped them etc. with no failures yet.

Alan

Alan Chambers said:

G3: http://www.pbase.com/olybob/g3

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
G3: http://www.pbase.com/olybob/g3

LPS,

Thanks for the compliments on the G3 photos. To answer your questions:

All the images in the G3 gallery were post edited in PS using a pretty much standard workflow of levels, saturation and USM. However, most of the editing was minor and the images look much as they did straight out of the camera. Before getting the G3, I primarily used the Olympus C-3020Z.

Bob

--
G3: http://www.pbase.com/olybob/g3

lps12345 said:

Bob, Nice shoot! Artistic and good composition. Did you use any
software to sharpen the picture or they are directly downloaded
from the camera?
What digital cam did you use before G3?

-Lps

Click to expand...

My experience tells me that microdrives are prone to failure and I would never buy another one.

The cost per MB may give the microdrive an edge, until you factor in the probability that you'd have to replace it when it dies, thus negating any cost savings. Plus, confidence in the durability of your storage media is priceless.

If you go with one of the newer firewire card readers, then the need to buy a USB enabled card is negated, since firewire is far faster than either USB or USB2. You'll save decent money with a standard speed CF card. You will sacrifice a small bit of in-camera read and write speed, but it isn't a huge difference.

In case you have not decided, forget about the microdrive. I say that as I am trying to figure out what I am supposed to say to the client and do about the broken microdrive in front of me that has images from my latest job.

inktomite said:

Ok.. I ordered a G3 yesterday. My question is what memory to order?

From what I've read I've narrowed my options to this (and best
prices I've found) :

1. Ridata 20x 512mb ($178 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
2. Transcend 25x 512mb ($189 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
3. IBM Microdrive 1G ($229 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
4. Viking 512mb ($130 after rebate -

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=chhabra0b&path=tg/detail/-/B00005MIS8/qid=1038850636/sr=8-1 )

My Questions:

Which ones are more reliable?
Which ones have less file "corruption" issues?
Is Microdrive faster or slower on a G3?
Are there temperature issues with any (india heat, siberian cold)?
Are there any other brands instead I should consider for fast CF
cards and why so?

Thank you,
Ashim

Click to expand...

--
Allen
(NYC)

I have no idea about that which I am writing.
Thus, I hereby retract everything I just wrote.

Never had a problem with the IBM 1GB Microdrive - dust, rain, etc. It traveled with me on a mountain bike, in a car, on foot. 18 months without a problem.
Tibby

Allen F said:

inktomite said:

Ok.. I ordered a G3 yesterday. My question is what memory to order?

From what I've read I've narrowed my options to this (and best
prices I've found) :

1. Ridata 20x 512mb ($178 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
2. Transcend 25x 512mb ($189 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
3. IBM Microdrive 1G ($229 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
4. Viking 512mb ($130 after rebate -

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=chhabra0b&path=tg/detail/-/B00005MIS8/qid=1038850636/sr=8-1 )

My Questions:

Which ones are more reliable?
Which ones have less file "corruption" issues?
Is Microdrive faster or slower on a G3?
Are there temperature issues with any (india heat, siberian cold)?
Are there any other brands instead I should consider for fast CF
cards and why so?

Thank you,
Ashim

Click to expand...

--
Allen
(NYC)

I have no idea about that which I am writing.
Thus, I hereby retract everything I just wrote.

Click to expand...

--
Tibby

Good points on keeping smaller cards.. less chance of losing all pics in 1 go.. but if i wire the G3 directly to a mac or pc, and not use a reader, then perhaps a a larger card (512+) may be better because the card won't be fumbled around with much.. ya?

Bob.R said:

I haven't used the Microdrive but I did give it good consideration
when choosing storage media. I ended getting multiple Sandisk cards
for a couple of reasons:

1) Solid state cards seem much more durable than the microdrive.
I'm not sure whether this is true in actual practice but I like the
piece of mind that CompactFlash gives me. I have yet to have a card
failure of any kind with Sandisk cards.

2) I wanted a total of 1Gig storage for extended trips so I chose
multiple 128MB and 256MB cards. This gives me protection in the
event that one of the cards should fail...I don't end up losing ALL
of the images with one media failure. Also 128MB cards can be had
incredibly cheap these days when on special.

Bob

--
G3: http://www.pbase.com/olybob/g3

Click to expand...

If you go with compact flash, then don't worry about handling the cards, they are plenty durable.

Handling concerns only come up with the microdrives.

inktomite said:

Bob.R said:

I haven't used the Microdrive but I did give it good consideration
when choosing storage media. I ended getting multiple Sandisk cards
for a couple of reasons:

1) Solid state cards seem much more durable than the microdrive.
I'm not sure whether this is true in actual practice but I like the
piece of mind that CompactFlash gives me. I have yet to have a card
failure of any kind with Sandisk cards.

2) I wanted a total of 1Gig storage for extended trips so I chose
multiple 128MB and 256MB cards. This gives me protection in the
event that one of the cards should fail...I don't end up losing ALL
of the images with one media failure. Also 128MB cards can be had
incredibly cheap these days when on special.

Bob

--
G3: http://www.pbase.com/olybob/g3

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

The MicroDrive's only advantages are price and capacity.

CF cards are faster and much less prone to damage. That's not to say MicroDrives are bad, they seem to have a lot of happy users.

inktomite said:

Ok.. I ordered a G3 yesterday. My question is what memory to order?

From what I've read I've narrowed my options to this (and best
prices I've found) :

1. Ridata 20x 512mb ($178 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
2. Transcend 25x 512mb ($189 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
3. IBM Microdrive 1G ($229 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
4. Viking 512mb ($130 after rebate -

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=chhabra0b&path=tg/detail/-/B00005MIS8/qid=1038850636/sr=8-1 )

My Questions:

Which ones are more reliable?
Which ones have less file "corruption" issues?
Is Microdrive faster or slower on a G3?
Are there temperature issues with any (india heat, siberian cold)?
Are there any other brands instead I should consider for fast CF
cards and why so?

Thank you,
Ashim

Click to expand...

Gary WC said:

I recently bought a C2 and went through the same evaluation
process. What I ended up with was mutltple CF cards in the 256mb
size. I initially am trying Sandisck and have had very good
results so far. My reasoning was the microdrive can not match the
CF card for ruggedness so it was ruled out. I choose 256mb cards
because it one can handle over 100 photos on the highest
resolution/minimum compression for jpeg. I can live with having to
put in a new card every 100 shots. The second reason being that I
what little I spent extra (2 - 256mb versus 1 - 512mb) is clearly
offset if I ever have a failure and any eletronic storage media is
eventually going to fail. Third, being blessed with more than one
camera having muliple cards comes in handy.

Click to expand...

Of course, by relying on two acrds, which will require periodic swapping, you increase the chances that you will lose one of them.

Bob.R said:

Before getting the G3, I
primarily used the Olympus C-3020Z.

Click to expand...

Aside from image resolution, what are your thoughts on Olympus 3020Z vs. Canon G3?

What do you miss, or not miss, from the Olympus?

inktomite said:

Good points on keeping smaller cards.. less chance of losing all
pics in 1 go.. but if i wire the G3 directly to a mac or pc, and
not use a reader, then perhaps a a larger card (512+) may be better
because the card won't be fumbled around with much.. ya?

Click to expand...

Consider that CF card failure is rare, and that with multiple cards, you're more likely to loose one or more of them than a single, high capacity card that never leaves the camera.

HJ Seeley said:

My experience tells me that microdrives are prone to failure and I
would never buy another one.

Click to expand...

Can you tell us more about that? So far I haven't seen much in the way of complaints about failed MicroDrives.

After just experiencing a complete hard drive failure on my UNIX workstation, I'm sticking with CF cards. As a HD engineer once told me, "Hard drives are a failure waiting to happen."

That being said, the primary issue I have with the microdrive is the altitude limit. Don't power it on above 9000' or risk a head crash...

Good Luck,

Steve

inktomite said:

Ok.. I ordered a G3 yesterday. My question is what memory to order?

From what I've read I've narrowed my options to this (and best
prices I've found) :

1. Ridata 20x 512mb ($178 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
2. Transcend 25x 512mb ($189 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
3. IBM Microdrive 1G ($229 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
4. Viking 512mb ($130 after rebate -

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=chhabra0b&path=tg/detail/-/B00005MIS8/qid=1038850636/sr=8-1 )

My Questions:

Which ones are more reliable?
Which ones have less file "corruption" issues?
Is Microdrive faster or slower on a G3?
Are there temperature issues with any (india heat, siberian cold)?
Are there any other brands instead I should consider for fast CF
cards and why so?

Thank you,
Ashim

Click to expand...

As I said, this is just my experience. I have not looked into the experiences of others, other than some colleagues that have had similar troubles.

I owned a 340 micro and used it for about 10 months. I did drop it, moving it from the camera to a USB card reader. It fell about 12 inches, hit my foot and landed on a concrete floor. Dead. Lost my client's images too.

The place where I work owned two 1GB micros, that we used almost every day. In less than 9 months they died within a couple weeks of eachother. Both lost all images, which included over a hundred headshots that would be very difficult (but not impossible) to redo. Embarassing and hard to explain. Neither card was dropped, and fortunately it didn't happen to me!

We looked into data recovery services and they could be recovered, but the cost was far too high in our cases.

Now we use a mixed bag of 128 and 256MB cards. We literally shoot, dump and delete three or four times a day between my Canon G2 and a Fuji S1 and a Nikon D100.

We don't throw these things around the room, but we don't treat them like fine china either. I've had just one read error off a CF from the G2, but everything else has been flawless. Instead of reading the RAW file off the CF, I copied to the hard drive and the Canon converter read them from there. I don't know why or how that happened, but a quick re-format and the card has been great since.

I guess it's a matter of trust, under exactly the same conditions the micros died while the solid state cards keep right on moving.

Walter001 said:

HJ Seeley said:

My experience tells me that microdrives are prone to failure and I
would never buy another one.

Click to expand...

Can you tell us more about that? So far I haven't seen much in the
way of complaints about failed MicroDrives.

Click to expand...

I just ordered an mp3 player with a 1G microdrive for $238 delivered. The link is
http://www.edigital-store.com/mp3-players-mxp-100.html

I have ordered a S-45 (supposed to ship 12/10) and plan to use the drive for both of them. I figure I can put 10 hours of mp3s and still have room for 100+ pictures. The reviews on cnet.com are mixed for the mp3 player. But it is still only $10 more than the microdrive below. The mp3 player is supposed to arrive Friday so I will give some comments on it if anyone is interested. Well, I just tested the link and they are no longer listing the 540MB or 1G options. I guess you can check back later if you aren't in a hurry.

scd said:

inktomite said:

Ok.. I ordered a G3 yesterday. My question is what memory to order?

From what I've read I've narrowed my options to this (and best
prices I've found) :

1. Ridata 20x 512mb ($178 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
2. Transcend 25x 512mb ($189 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
3. IBM Microdrive 1G ($229 - http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com )
4. Viking 512mb ($130 after rebate -

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=chhabra0b&path=tg/detail/-/B00005MIS8/qid=1038850636/sr=8-1 )

My Questions:

Which ones are more reliable?
Which ones have less file "corruption" issues?
Is Microdrive faster or slower on a G3?
Are there temperature issues with any (india heat, siberian cold)?
Are there any other brands instead I should consider for fast CF
cards and why so?

Thank you,
Ashim

Click to expand...

Click to expand...