Portable hd/CF Reader.

TheNissanMan

TheNissanMan

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Hi guys, I'm sure there must be a product but not sure what it is called.

I'm looking for a little device that I can take on the go that you plug a cf card into it and it dumps the images onto an internal hd, does such a thing exist ?
 
Another vote for the Epson - I have the P6000 and it's brilliant, just plug the CF (or SD) card in and it backs it up to its own folder..
 
Thanks guys that is most definately on the list, looked at a few as 40gb isn't that big but have seen a few at 250gb :)
 
Looking at the price of these and giving it some thought is there any benefits to the product?

Memory cards are getting so cheap now that you can get a 400x 32Gb Transcend card for circa £45, what is the benefit of buying a portable media/viewer over multiple cards which would also give you some redundancy?

My brain is now aching so throwing the question open to you guys :)
 
I have a couple of old small sized reader / storage devices, but have made the decision that it is better to buy multiple cards, as

A: it's cheaper than a replacement
B: It's more convenient
c: If I ama away for a few days I always have the Laptop :)
 
I have an Archos media player (60GB) and I can plug a multi format card reader into it and transfer files over for storage. I bought it years ago to play Divx files and find it quite handy for something to do while waiting photo opportunities.

If you shoot Jpeg you can even view them on the screen as well.
 
Belkin sell a "USB Anywhere" device.

Ok not as compact as some devices and no screen. But it will allow transfer from one usb device to another. Battery power won't run a HDD but you could copy from a card reader to a large capacity usb flash drive. Transfer rates are slow but it is a simple cheap backup solution.
 
Thanks for the feedback peeps, the Bellini idea wouldn't work as shoot raw on 32gb cards, think its sounding like multiple cards as it appears to be the most cost effective option unless something cheap comes up on fleabay which I really don't want to use...
 
If you leave images on the cards, you have no back up.

I back up to the Epson, and store the cf cards separately; I only format the cf cards when the images are also downloaded to the PC.

This way I always have a backup - two separate copies of the images, on two separate devices, until I backup to other media.

When you transfer the files to the Epson you can see on screen that the images are there, and you also still have them on card so there is a level of protection.
 
david357 said:
If you leave images on the cards, you have no back up.

I back up to the Epson, and store the cf cards separately; I only format the cf cards when the images are also downloaded to the PC.

This way I always have a backup - two separate copies of the images, on two separate devices, until I backup to other media.

When you transfer the files to the Epson you can see on screen that the images are there, and you also still have them on card so there is a level of protection.
Click to expand...

That's a bloody good point for peace of mind, with the trip planned for may I can't afford to lose the images...
 
I got a little 160gb Wolverine, in the summer, which is pretty good for dumping files onto.
 
TheNissanMan said:
That's a bloody good point for peace of mind, with the trip planned for may I can't afford to lose the images...
Click to expand...

That's what I like about the Epson, the images are there on the screen so you know that they have transferred safely.
 
david357 said:
If you leave images on the cards, you have no back up.

This way I always have a backup - two separate copies of the images, on two separate devices, until I backup to other media.
Click to expand...

Would depend on the Camera, as with the 1D and I guess top Nikon, you could just record to two card as the same time.

Personaly extra cards should be fine, you can say you have no back-up, but that could be a never ending loop as you'll need to back-up the back-up just in case :D
 
Do like the idea of the Epson but for the price you can get a netbook, which would be more useful, although not as compact.
 
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The epson in its case fits on my belt, so never leaves my sight. (If I am doing a job!)
 
I have built one of these from bits on eBay, mainly for when I'm travelling without my laptop, the idea being to leave images on the cards and have a second copy.

However, out of the blue I got an iPad for Christmas, so if that fits with my workflow the portable HDD/reader may appear in the classifieds...
 
TheNissanMan said:
Looking at the price of these and giving it some thought is there any benefits to the product?

Memory cards are getting so cheap now that you can get a 400x 32Gb Transcend card for circa £45, what is the benefit of buying a portable media/viewer over multiple cards which would also give you some redundancy?

My brain is now aching so throwing the question open to you guys :)
Click to expand...

I bought an Epson P2000 when they first came out. CF was expensive so was easy to backup images at an event or take on holiday and come home with my images to d/l to my PC.

This was the days before hard drive space was so cheap and netbooks hadn't been thought of :)

They are very small and easy to carry around though in comparison to even a netbook and a CF reader. And although drives may be small on some, they are actually easily upgradeable with a screwdriver and a little care.
 
There is always this http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-COLORSPACE-UDMA-s/64.htm which is very similar to the Epson but has a 250Gb hard drive and is the same price. I had a similar gadget that did the same thing but I broke it before I really got the chance to use it unfortunately.
I've since got a 10" netbook that lives in my camera bag now if I ever need to backup, although I have 4 16Gb and 1 4Gb CF cards so I dont need to backup too often.
 
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modchild said:
There is always this http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-COLORSPACE-UDMA-s/64.htm which is very similar to the Epson but has a 250Gb hard drive and is the same price.
Click to expand...

And is a lot (a lot) faster, has a longer battery life, doesn't have the firmware on the disk (so it's easy to replace the disk if something happens to it).

I bought the empty case and stuck a 320GB drive inside it. It's been to several African countries with me, backing up tens of thousands of images. I couldn'r be without it.
 
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