Should I get a Microdrive for my G1

[Novice1]

I'm thinking about buying a 1GB IBM Microdrive. These question go out to all of you lucky (perhaps unlucky) Microdrive owners.

- If this is in essence a hard drive, does it have many bad sectors?

- How bad is the battery drain as compared to when you use CF cards?

- Do the vibrations of the spinning platters cause blur in your photos?

- I heard that you can't use the drive above 10,000 ft. elevation. Ok, how about if I'm on a plane at 35,000 ft. with the camera off. If there's turbulance, will the drive be damaged?

- Is it safe to pass the Microdrive through airport scanners?

- What's the warranty on these things?

Thanks in advance for you answers. It'll help me make a more informed decision about this.

[polak187]

I worked with every single macrodrive that is out there 170, 340, .5 and 1 gig. We use them in out rental department and in comparison to those monster type III cards IBM microdrives were the best as far as the durability goes. Currently I have a 1 gig car in my camera and another one in my notebook. I'm just carefull with them. No more jumping, running and throwing. I saw maybe 5 or 6 dead microdrives. All of them destroyed becasue they were droped on a concrete floor during photo shoots. But I guess your camera will be dead too if that happened. I heard stories about people droping microdrives on the carpet and loosing them. Never happened to me but I also never dropped mine. I'm not taking any chances. Treat your macro drive like your treat your camera and you will be fine.

- If this is in essence a hard drive, does it have many bad sectors?

Didn't run into bad sectors but there are fragments that not always can be seen, especially by Mac users. Those fragments have a tendency to pile up and slow down your drive.

- How bad is the battery drain as compared to when you use CF cards?

Maybe. I still haven't run into this problem. I bought extra battery but I still haven't use it. I shoot about 50-60 pictures a day.

- Do the vibrations of the spinning platters cause blur in your photos?

Nope.

- I heard that you can't use the drive above 10,000 ft. elevation. Ok, how about if I'm on a plane at 35,000 ft. with the camera off. If there's turbulance, will the drive be damaged?

I had microdrives in my bag when traveling to Vegas and LA for photo shows no problem.

- Is it safe to pass the Microdrive through airport scanners?

No problem here either.

- What's the warranty on these things?

One year but if you mess it up (drop, physcial abuse and damage) you are on you own.

[John - NJ]

These two were questions I had also. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

polak187 wrote:
I had microdrives in my bag when traveling to Vegas and LA for photo shows no problem.

- Is it safe to pass the Microdrive through airport scanners?
No problem here either.

[Novice1]

Thanks. Your comments on the Microdrives have helped me a lot. I'm going to go out and get one.

[jays]

The concern about the 10,000 foot limit is due to the drop in air pressure (i.e. the thinning of the air). If the air thins enough, the heads of the drive will not "fly" and you'll have a hard crash. Above 10,000 feet they recommend CF cards, which don't have the limitation. Airlines maintain cabin pressure and therefore the air does not thin, so the microdrive should have no problem in a pressurized cabin.

jays

[John - NJ]

Now I'm worried again. What if the microdrive is in your suitcase in the baggage section without pressurization? Does it only matter if it is being used?
Thanks.

jays wrote:
Airlines maintain cabin pressure and therefore the air does not thin, so the microdrive should have no problem in a pressurized cabin.

[prosurfer]

I was almost worried for the airport scanners - and then I thought of the millions of people who put their laptops thru the scanners every day and noticed I'm getting paranoid again =)

Just for curiosity: My Microdrive had no warnings at all conserning altitude/thin air. It did have plenty of other warnings printed on the one-page manual...

John - NJ wrote:
These two were questions I had also. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

polak187 wrote:
I had microdrives in my bag when traveling to Vegas and LA for photo shows no problem.

- Is it safe to pass the Microdrive through airport scanners?
No problem here either.

[jays]

There is no problem if the drive is not running. It is my understanding that the heads on the microdrive are not unlike the heads for ZIP or JAZZ drives, they have wings that allow the heads to float on the vortex of air the drive creates while spinning. If the drive is active and the air is thin enough, the wings can not lift the heads. You would have the same problem with the ZIP or JAZZ drives is the air was thin enough. I would not recommend the microdrive to be in your suitcase in case it is lost or stolen, not because of the unpressurized compartment. I'd carry the drive and your camera in your carry-on.

Have fun,

jays

[polak187]

Never ever check in your equipment. Always bring it as a carry on. In this case pressure will be least of your worries. The way that your check-in bags are handled will ruin your microdrive not becasue of pressure but becasue of shock that your MD will go thru when your stuff is being thrown around. All power to handlers for their tough jobs and long shifts but if you hand around the airports long enough you will see your bags falling off the transporter belts, being thrown, falling of the cargo bays, getting stuck. I made it simple for my self: I have a photo bag that always stays with me. No problems, no surprises, no worries.

[Guy1]

A the price of 128 MB flash cards, (~100 $), you could get more than 500 MB of flash cards for the same price of a relatively short lived MD.

Flash cards are not on the same playing field as MD. They are so much superior in almost every aspect.

IMHO, IBM should increase the capacity or better, decrease the price of the MD, to remain competive in this market.

Guy

[Rick]

Not to start a fight, but with 1 gig MD's at 350 bucks there is no way you can do better with flash cards. Secondly I dont see where you can backup the short lived statement on MD's. There are too many people using them myself included, that can refute that statement. Also check some of the polls being taken such as at www.dpreview.com they also suggest your info might be too subjective.

Rick

[prosurfer]

guy1 wrote:
A the price of 128 MB flash cards, (~100 $), you could get more than 500 MB of flash cards for the same price of a relatively short lived MD.

Flash cards are not on the same playing field as MD. They are so much superior in almost every aspect.

IMHO, IBM should increase the capacity or better, decrease the price of the MD, to remain competive in this market.

Guy


Sure, electromagnetic device (flash card) is faster and more reliable than a mechanical device (microdrive).

It is as well far more expensive. I bought my 1 GB Microdrive for 450 Euros, and the cheapest on-line store in Finland sells 128 MB CF for 200 Euros. So the price/MB is about 3.5x in favour of Microdrive.

I also don't want to empty my CF (or Microdrive) to my notebook HD while traveling, nor carry several cards around afraid losing them. So Microdrive is more useful here.

And finally, 1GB HD size of a coin is far more impressive than a piece of silicone of the same size =)

[Hanmen]

I bought a 340MB microdrive for my G1 in China, it cost me near US$180. An 64MB CF card is about US$60 here. Do I have any choice to select one of above? ;-)
The bad news is a 1GB one is more expensive so far, US$600 nearly, or I will choose it. :-(

[polak187]

Where are you getting your prices of Microdrives from? Average price of 1 GIG is around $450 (store next door right here in NYC). And I saw posts on this forum claiming that 1GIG could be purchased for $390. One of the mail order places that will have it would be B&H.

[Hanmen]

I'm a Canadian working in China. I bought my G1 from Canon agent here recently and it just cost me US$830. But the price of 1GB microdrive is more expensive here. So I have to buy a 340MB instead. :-(

[mutungi]

Well.....NO! Until Canon confirm that it does not cause any undue problems with the G1, so far, Canon UK seems to be evasive of this query which I posted to them last week!
Some US based websites selling the MD state that it should not bwe used with the Canon Digital(G1?) cameras.
But on the other hand....there appear to be many G1 users who are using it without a problem......

[John - NJ]

mutungi:

Which US based web sites are stating that the MD should not be used with the G1?

[Hanmen]

The microdrive be used with G1 is well. There aren't any problem for me. The user guide of G1 from Canon herself said that G1 can using microdrive explicitly. I really want to know which web sites are stating that the MD should not be used with the G1?

[polak187]

At one point Nikon claimed that microdrives cannot be used with their D1 camera. At the same time they were trying to sell you their flash cards that were 2 times more expensive than Sundisk or Lexar. If Canon is claiming the same thing they are doing it for the same reason: to sell you 32mb card for $100.

Now when I was getting my digital training at Nikon official reasons for not recomending microdrives (besides the one stated above) was that they did not meet the standards of the camera. D1 could still perform in extreme conditions where microdrive would fail. It's still bogus because there is so many other factors (courtesy of Nikon) that didn't allowed you to do it anyway but they didn't wanted to be "limited" by micordrive.

At the end the fact is that every photo studio is using microdrives or type III hard drives for Kodak DCS equipment. Canon claimed that their S10 and S20 where capable of using microdrives and many people bough it for that reason. It will be stupid if they changed their minds for the G1. But whatever they say (and if they say that) I will be smacking my pictures into my 1 Gig drive :).

[mutungi]

Better off getting one of the newer high capacity CF cards like the 512MB from SanDisk.......no risk of damage in transit or rough handling. With the IBM drives, one has to treat them like 'bone china'. Realibilty and durability are the downside with the MD!

[polak187]

How much is the SanDisk card?

[CaBleman]

'lo folx,

IMHO there's no _reasonable_ alternative to a microdrive in a camera like the G1,
due to the capacity needs of 3.3pix RAW data.

After 2100+ shots I can't see a major downside to the MD,
except that in continious shooting mode the whole thing gets quite lame
once the 'camera cache memory' is full. But then, I never tried it with a flash card > 16MB though,
so I can't really tell the difference. You MIGHT get a slightly faster pic rate with a flash card...

MD pros:
- capacity, capacity, capacity...
- you never have to actually take the thing out of the camera unless you want to use a card reader/PC-Card slot
- slightly higher energy consumption still allows you to take 160+ RAW shots (plus a few movies) at daylight with one battery pack

I'd never trade in my microdrive, except for a flash card with same capacity and same price.

The ever Micro-cruising

CaBleman

[polak187]

Right on. I can't understand the never-ending crusades against microdrives. People claim higher power consumption. People claim MD to be fragile. Everyone heard something bad about microdrives. As far as I'm concerned, it's a great value for the money. You keep it in the camera most (if not all) of the time. I don't know about other people but I'm not rough handling any of my equipment. If you jump with your camera, throw it around, bang it and do all other nasty things to it yes chances are that your MD will break. But guess what? Your camera will fail soon after.

With basic common sense you will enjoy happy and healthy relationship with your Microdrive.

Matt "The ever happy MD user" Jachyra

[phuocle]

Novice1 wrote:
- How bad is the battery drain as compared to when you use CF cards?

I've used the 340MB Microdrive with my G1 on a whole day shoot without any battery problems and I have just the standard battery pack. I've completely filled my MD 2-3 times (and had to download to my laptop with a card-reader) in one shot without power problems. Granted, my camera is not on all the time; only when I shoot and I use a card reader to transfer the RAW files.

Novice1 wrote:
- Do the vibrations of the spinning platters cause blur in your photos?

No.

Novice1 wrote:
- I heard that you can't use the drive above 10,000 ft. elevation. Ok, how about if I'm on a plane at 35,000 ft. with the camera off. If there's turbulance, will the drive be damaged?

Not in my experience. I carry my G1 with me on-board (not checked-in) and have used it on the flight itself taking pictures inside the plane, out the window, through turbulence, etc. I log over 50,000 miles a year on a plane for business and take my G1 with me w/o problems. Last week I went to London and NYC and took plenty of pictures from the plane itself.

Novice1 wrote:
- Is it safe to pass the Microdrive through airport scanners?

Definitely. Done it many times. Send my laptop through as well without problems.


- Phuoc

[George]

I've been seeing a number of questions and concerns about the IBM MicroDrive. I had the same concerns, but decided to buy one after finding out the following:

1) The G1 owner's manual does state under the specifications that is supports CF type I and II cards. The MicroDrive is a type II... hence I take that as supported.

2) I live near San Jose and happened to run into an IBM engineer that worked on the MicroDrive. He told me that the return rate for these drive are less 1% (Alot less... I don't remember the exact number... but it was low.) The local camera dealer, who sells tons of them, has not seen one return.

3) I saved the best for last... take a look at the IBM Website for the MicroDrive (http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/diskdrdl/micro/)... it's gone up on the space shuttle twice. Given that, I was no longer concerned about running through an airport or having it on a plane!


For what it's worth....

[catastrophe]

I'm thinking about buying a 1GB IBM Microdrive. These question go out to all of you lucky (perhaps unlucky) Microdrive owners.I have an older 340mb microdrive and I must say I'm glad that I had purchased it. It's like a tank! I'm sure the 1gb ones are just as good. :)