Portable CD Burner or Digital Wallet???

[yeaton]

I am going on a 10 day vacation in a few weeks and wondered what other digital photographers used to free up space on their CF cards while they are "in the field." I do not have a laptop, so I cannot download to a computer while I'm away from my desktop. I have two 1GB CF cards, but I know that that will not be enough memory for 10 days. I'm considering getting one of those portable CD burners that read right from a CF card and creat a copy of the images on a CD. Has anyone used one of these burners before. If so, what are your thoughts on them and where can I buy one if that is my best option. I may have a chance to use a relatives computer with a CD burner, but I'm not 100% sure that opportunity will work out, so I want to be prepared. I've also considered getting a digital wallet like a Tripper, X Drive II, or a Super Digibin. What have you used and liked/disliked? Any help, tips, suggestions, or cautions are much appreciated!

[Tom W]

Personally, I'd opt for the CD's. Here's the deal - burn 2 CD's of everything and keep them in separate luggage. Redundancy is insurance against a bad copy (or a lost suitcase). Also, test the equipment before you go to make sure the CD's burn properly and your computer reads what the CD's have on them.

[MarkH]

Personally I think the portable HDD is the way to go. You can't burn a full 1GB card to a CD. A X'S Drive Pro with a 30GB HDD is all I need for weeks. When I get home I can transfer the images through USB2 to my PC then burn to DVD-R. As for data redundency, when I can track down a cheap HDD I'll put it in my older X's Drive II and I will be able to make a double copy of each card.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Do they make a CD-burner that will copy a CF card at the touch of a button?

If not than definately an X-drive type thing... I hear the I-pod will work now,. with some kind of Delking adapter...

[Ballen Photo]

I tend to lean towards the portable hardrive, only because I may want to tweak my photos in Photoshop before I burn them to CD. I have to admit that burning the CD straight from the card does sound attractive though.
........Bruce

[merlyn9]

:roll: Well given that choice... the portable HD is the way to go.
I have the laptop w/ CD burner back at where ever my base for the day would be. I still have yet to be on a trip - including a 5-day bicycle/camping trip, where some power was not available for part of the over nite? And yes, for that I count my blessings... :lol:

A 30-40GB portable X-drive suites me just fine thanks!


---michael

[RichardSimon]

I voted for the HD option.
I have an X Drive II with a 40Gb disk in it. That translates to over 5,000 raw images; it has worked very well for me. The fact that the X Drive can do several 1GB transfers using its internal battery is a plus; however, it doesn't have a free space indicator, meaning you must keep a rough count of how many images have been stored. The data is about as secure as a laptop, since it has a nice case, and uses a standard laptop HD.

[vvizard]

For security/redundancy I would've used cd's. But in the real world, I must say that I'm using an X-drive myself for the pleasure/comfort it gives. But I don't trust harddrives the way I trust optical media. Probably never will. Had way to many harddrive crashes during the last 12 or so years. Although a failed harddrive have been less of a problem the last five of them, I still don't trust them, and probably never will, as long as there's magnetic storage, and moving parts in them..

[morenoar]

Have you looked into the E-Film picture Pad. My wife got me this for XMAS, recommended by our photo department at work. Mine is a 20Gb that can read CF and Microdrives without an adapter. It can read other type of memory cards with the proper adapter. Had an LCD to preview the pics (this drains the batteries pretty fast). I have downloaded up 500 jpegs in Large format, and the battery indicator has only moved 1 notch from full charge. Only bad thing I see in it is that it is only USB 1.1 But I only have usb 1 on my PC and have tested USB 2.0 and it is not THAT great of difference. in my opinion.

[vvizard]

and have tested USB 2.0 and it is not THAT great of difference. in my opinion.

USB-1.1 will be a bottleneck for most mediacards. USB-1.1 is only 12Mbps. That's 1.5MB/s. And now I'm talking "theoretical" speed according to the specs. And we all now what theoretical means in the computer-world =) USB-2.0 got a theoretical limit of 480mbps (60MB/s). So although today's media-cards are no way near to get bottlenecked by USB-2.0, they are already faster than USB-1.1 can deliver. Therefore, when moving from USB-1.1 -> 2.0, the speed of your cards will matter the most. My microdrive gives me roughly 2.8MB/s, which is almost the double of USB-1.1's theoretical limit. While my SD/MMC cards give me ~ 3.8MB/s, which is a 2.5x increase of USB-1.1's (theoretical) limit. So for me, that IS a difference.

[Belmondo]

Hmmmmm.
I'm starting to see a trend here. :lol:

[Morden]

Personally, I use an 'old' 10 GB Digital Wallet. It only works reliably when connected to the mains, but I have sufficient CF storage (6 GB) to last at least a full day. I use the Digital Wallet solely to keep a backup of my full CF cards (two copies are better than one, and two of my CF cards are those dreaded, oh so unreliable Microdrives 8) ). So, if I drop my 4 GB Microdrive on the way home and it fails, the 700 or so images that were stored on it are also copied onto the digital Wallet.

Peace of mind is a wonderful thing! :)

[samdring]

Do they make a CD-burner that will copy a CF card at the touch of a button?

Yup - have used Apacer Disc Steno for about 4/5 months now
At home sits on PC desk and fresh images on CF card straight to CD before loading to computer (which has a bloke in front of it who 9 times out of ten beggers up originals)
Brilliant in the field - CF card in - one touch - copied

Has meant that I only use 512Mb cards cos fit nicely to one CD

[VicGlass]

I have an X-Drive with a 40 GB drive, bought for about $240. It is bare bones which is what I wanted. Works like a charm. so what if it doesn't indicate how full the drive is? You'll have to shoot 400 10GB RAW shots a day during a ten day vacation to run out of space. If you generally shoot more than 400 RAW pics a day, then just get a 60 or 80GB drive instead! For portable storage this is one of most economical solutions, and it works!

I bought my X-Drive II at InsideComputer Digital Store, and I would recommend them.

Good luck!

[evilenglishman]

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[yeaton]

Thanks for everyone's input. You have been very helpful. I've decided to go with a portable hard drive...now I've got to figure out which one to buy. Maybe I'll start a new post with a poll for that question.

Thanks again! :P