what portable storage device?

can anyone recommend a portable storage device to offload my cf card on an extended trip?

It would be nice to have TV output, but I believe it would then also have to have Sigma raw file support.

A notebook computer is nice, but seems an overkill because I do not need one for anything else.

Thanks for any tips

Ludwig

Ludwig Beck said:

can anyone recommend a portable storage device to offload my cf
card on an extended trip?

It would be nice to have TV output, but I believe it would then
also have to have Sigma raw file support.

A notebook computer is nice, but seems an overkill because I do not
need one for anything else.

Click to expand...

I did exactly this on a long trip and it was very handy (and has been handy since for the times when I fill up all available cards I have with me, like when you forget all backup cards and have only the one in the camera!). I have a Nixvue Vista that I like a lot, but they are kind of overpriced I would say (though I like the interface and feature set) - I would recommend for discussion of current models, to try the Storage forum here on dpreview.

As a Sigma owner about the only consideration you will face is that, as you surmized, none of them wll be able to show you even thumbnails of the files - so I guess as part of the feature set you would want to be able to browse filenames to make sure it captured what you had. I am pretty sure all of them let you do this, it's something to be careful of though.

As a general reccomendation I would try and go larger on the HD than you think you will need, and backup each card twice as long as you can or when practical. Then in the event of an HD failure you have a better chance of recovering all images.

I don't think the iPod is a very good photo storage solution just yet until they release a better storage devices than the Belkin. I don't know if you were considering that route but it's a very appealing way to justify a nice large iPod.

--
---> Kendall
http://www.pbase.com/kgelner
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/user_home
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/sigma_shoot_1 - world apart, world
together

Hi Ludwig,

It all depends on what you want to spend I guess. Radio Shack has a good
deal on thier knock off of the "X-Drive" you can find it at http://www.radioshack.com
search for I/O Magic.

I personally use a NixVue Digital Album Lite. It's a 30 Gigabyte Toshiba
Hard Drive in a slim silver case with a back lit LCD screen. It has it's own
mini operating system that lets you browse the files, select, copy, move,
delete, veryify card transfers, format cards etc.

It has it's own replaceable Lithium Ion battery and the charge will do about
30 copies from a 256MB Compact Flash card.

It has a USB2.0 out for fast transfer to the PC.

You can buy them from B&H Photo

Ludwig Beck said:

can anyone recommend a portable storage device to offload my cf
card on an extended trip?

It would be nice to have TV output, but I believe it would then
also have to have Sigma raw file support.

A notebook computer is nice, but seems an overkill because I do not
need one for anything else.

Thanks for any tips

Ludwig

Click to expand...

--



http://www.westol.com/~brettd/sd10/gallery/

Brett DiMichele said:

Hi Ludwig,

It all depends on what you want to spend I guess. Radio Shack has a
good
deal on thier knock off of the "X-Drive" you can find it at
http://www.radioshack.com
search for I/O Magic.

Click to expand...

I have the Radio Shack I/O magic Digital Photo Library. For the price, 99 bucks after the rebate its pretty hard to beat. No Lcd but plenty of lcds to appraise you of status. I'm Happy.
--
Fred R. Elias Jr.
Warren, MI.
[email protected]

--
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/dominic_gross_sd10

As an example I have recently been offered 10 x HP Omibook 6000

comprising Mobile PIII 1Ghz processor, 256mb ram, 40gb hard
drive, 14.1" TFT, Integrated 10/100 Lan and 56k, CD-RW, FDD and HP warranty
till October 2004, AC charger.

Price is around £400 each (excl local taxes etc). There are plenty of deals like this around and you then have something more than a mobile photo store for not a lot more money.

Regards

Ian

SD9 - one day I'll work it all out

Sorry, just realised last post looks like I'm hoping for business - not my intention.

Regards

Ian

imichael said:

As an example I have recently been offered 10 x HP Omibook 6000

comprising Mobile PIII 1Ghz processor, 256mb ram, 40gb hard
drive, 14.1" TFT, Integrated 10/100 Lan and 56k, CD-RW, FDD and HP
warranty
till October 2004, AC charger.

Price is around £400 each (excl local taxes etc). There are plenty
of deals like this around and you then have something more than a
mobile photo store for not a lot more money.

Regards

Ian

SD9 - one day I'll work it all out

Click to expand...

--
SD9 - one day I'll work it all out

Honestly there's no reason for an LCD screen, or at least the screens that you can supposedly preview your images on, because none of them would be able to display X3F files anyways. So you might as well go with the cheapest one you can find with USB 2.0 or Firewire connection and a 20 gig harddrive. I've heard the Super DigiBins are pretty cool, I see a few of them on Ebay for about $250, or half that if you want to add your own hard drive. They can copy a 1gig card in about 6 minutes, I believe.

Chris Austin
Digital photography, web design,
graphic design, motion graphics
http://www.chrisaustin.us

Ludwig Beck said:

can anyone recommend a portable storage device to offload my cf
card on an extended trip?

It would be nice to have TV output, but I believe it would then
also have to have Sigma raw file support.

A notebook computer is nice, but seems an overkill because I do not
need one for anything else.

Thanks for any tips

Ludwig

Click to expand...

would this be ok? it has a $30 rebate till today, i think. so after rebate would be $99.00 - no shipping cost.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F001%5F003%5F009%5F000&product%5Fid=25%2D3104

peter

imichael said:

As an example I have recently been offered 10 x HP Omibook 6000

Click to expand...

I have a laptop myself, but for some trips I really prefer to bring along a portable storage device just because of the size convienience. If I'm hiking, for example, a storage device can just fit in a pocket or backback much easier than any laptop - especially older ones.

On really long international trips, I also prefer a storage device because it can be with me instead of the hotel room waiting to vanish with all my photos!!

--
---> Kendall
http://www.pbase.com/kgelner
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/user_home
Spring Shoot - http://www.pbase.com/kgelner/sigmaseason1

pete said:

would this be ok? it has a $30 rebate till today, i think. so after
rebate would be $99.00 - no shipping cost.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F001%5F003%5F009%5F000&product%5Fid=25%2D3104

Click to expand...

I remember seeing that mentioned in the storage forum now, it seems like a great deal! I am half tempted to buy one even though I already have a storage device the same size.

--
---> Kendall
http://www.pbase.com/kgelner
http://www.pbase.com/sigmasd9/user_home
Spring Shoot - http://www.pbase.com/kgelner/sigmaseason1

I believe the Radio Shack unit is only USB 1 - slow!

The used notebook appeals to me - lots of them on ebay. Mainly because we sit in our camper after a days shooting and can watch the results.

Ludwig

http://www.terapintech.com/fea_mine.html

I bought a Terapin a few years ago. Not relizing the size of it until I got it. It was useless as an MP3 player. I now use it for a portable storage for my pictures.

Good:
10gb
usb 1.0 (master and slave)
Ethernet
PCMCIA
TV out
MP3 Player

BAD:
SLOW (USB 1)
BIG (about the size of a cordless phone)
only 10gb

It reads my CF card with a PCMCIA adapter.
It can do wifi (802.11b) with the right card.
It can do a FTP sync when connect to a network
Can get rechargable batts (or AA)

Check e-bay for prices.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2F&krd=1&from=R8&MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&query=terapin

Ludwig Beck said:

can anyone recommend a portable storage device to offload my cf
card on an extended trip?

It would be nice to have TV output, but I believe it would then
also have to have Sigma raw file support.

A notebook computer is nice, but seems an overkill because I do not
need one for anything else.

Thanks for any tips

Ludwig

Click to expand...

Hi!

Ludwig Beck said:

can anyone recommend a portable storage device to offload my cf
card on an extended trip?

Click to expand...

I recently bought a 'MindStor PSS-1810' 10 GByte 'Digital Wallet' that I found in the bargain corner of an internet photo dealer for around 100 Euros. The manufacturer (Minds@Work) is out of business now, but the devices still can be found at very low prices on the internet.

What I like about it is the fast PCMCIA interface for the storage card (a CF adapter was included in the price) and the FireWire connection (interesting for Macintosh users!) beside the USB plug.

But it has neither TV output nor a graphics display.

Greetings, max

Kendall Helmstetter Gelner said:

I don't think the iPod is a very good photo storage solution just
yet until they release a better storage devices than the Belkin. I
don't know if you were considering that route but it's a very
appealing way to justify a nice large iPod.

Click to expand...

Just wondering why the belkin is not meant to be any good? I'm not trying to justify an iPod as I already have a 40GB model (for long trips!) and was considering the Belkin to leave the laptop at home for those hiking/skiing/travel-light trips.

All I'd want the unit to do is copy my 1Gb card straight into a folder on the unit for later removal. And my images aren't "critical" or work so a failure wouldn't kill me (sure - it'd annoy but it's not the end of the world...)

Hi Ludwig

Member said:

can anyone recommend a portable storage device to offload my cf card > on an extended trip?

Click to expand...

The X-drive II (Model VP-2060) is about the cheapest around.

You can buy it without an internal hard drive and put your own second hand one in to save between £50-£100.

Member said:

It would be nice to have TV output, but I believe it would then
also have to have Sigma raw file support.

Click to expand...

Exactly, and as none currently have X3F support any one should do.

DaSigmaGuy