Does anybody has experience with the X drive or others?

[peterpijpelink]

Hello all,

Does anyone has experience with the x-drive II or image tank? any pro or cons? I see a 20GB model for around 180-200$.

http://www.vosonic.co.uk/

Can you share your experiences? I think it is better to have 2 or 3 flash cards with me on holiday and then this device of 20GB.

If 20 GB for 3 weeks is not enough then something else is wrong :)

greetings, thanks

Peter

[defordphoto]

People have different uses and needs. I have 6 gigs of cards and two cameras and at an event, I can shoot up to 18-20 gigs worth. I have an old Xs Drive I that has been hassle free since I got it 18 months ago.

Sure just having a pile of cards is better, but when those are full and you have no laptop or other device to dump them to, you're stuck. I will never be placed in that position on a shoot.

Just depends on your particular needs how well this device will serve you, or if you even need it at all. I always have a backup plan.

[wtlloyd]

I have an X-DRIVE II. Used it a few times in 6 months.

A little buggy getting it to download into my Windows XP computer, but pretty sure that's just because I always forget which USB port is actually working on my case front panel....

The battery is pathetic. I can download around 4 or 5 gigs in the field off my 1GB CF card, before it gets dangerously low battery indicator. However, to their credit, Vosonic include a 12V car adapter charger, so this may not be a serious issue for you.

I might upgrade to an X-DRIVEIII - slightly larger battery, according to the specs, mp-3 player function, and most important, the LCD will give you file transfer information which was lacking on the II. You can see which files made it onto the hard drive.

[defordphoto]

X Drive III? Got linkage?

And yes, the battery longevity is an issue. The car charger is a life saver.

[wtlloyd]

[quote="RFMSports"]X Drive III? Got linkage?

Here ya go, you lazy guy! :D

http://www.vosonic.co.uk/vp300.html

My 1DMkII is on pre-order at Samy's camera, I'll race ya to see who gets theirs first!

[defordphoto]

[quote=RFMSports]X Drive III? Got linkage?

Here ya go, you lazy guy! :D

http://www.vosonic.co.uk/vp300.html

My 1DMkII is on pre-order at Samy's camera, I'll race ya to see who gets theirs first!

:D Heck when I first got my Xs Drive I they didn't even have a website so :P

That's sucker's pricey! Yikes! I'll stick to the one I have. I also carry a laptop with me too so I'm pretty well covered.

[Mikesht]

I bought another device called 20GB Tripper USB 2.0

http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/s.nl/c.ACCT139057/sc.2/category.37/it.A/id.154/.f;jsessionid=ac112b771f436a71f8379ede45f495a0f280 f0d45e84

Price $229.99 It has 20Gig hard drive, looks pretty slick and works good so far, no complains.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I use a 30gig X-drive2 and a pair of CF cards,.. a great solution.

[theoldmoose]

The guys at Luminous-Landscape are partial to a portable CD-burner:

http://www.apacer.com/apacer_english/product_html/disc_stone_cp100.asp

After having several in-field failures of both portable hard drives and laptops, they seem to think that burning a couple of CDs from each CF card is a lot less risky than possibly losing an entire week's shoot from a hard drive failure.

Also, I have an Xs Drive II, and have had no end of trouble getting it to talk reliably with a system running an ASUS P4B-553E (Intel chipset) motherboard and Windows 2000 Pro. Every other USB 2.0 device I have runs flawlessly, and the Xs Drive II seems to run OK on a couple of other machines I've tried it on at work, but this particular combination constantly barks "Unsafe removal of device" at me, and I've had the drive formatting get hosed during one of these sessions, resulting in lost data.

The whole affair makes me squeamish about relying on the Xs Drive II for anything I care about. I've tried upgrading the firmware, and have used various Windows drivers that Vosonic have posted, and even running with the Windows default USB 2.0 driver found in the latest Win2K Pro service pack. Nothing has helped.

Others have had no problems whatsoever with the drive, so YMMV.

[ashforth]

I bought an Image Tank G2 last summer with a 20gb drive and it works fine. It comes with a 12vdc car charger and AC adapter that works on both US and European power. I used it on a trip last August and it worked flawlessly. Seems to hold a charge with no probems.

Herb

[Sketcher]

I run a 30GB X's-Drive II as well. I had my own drive so it was just $80.00 for the shell. Best money I've spent. Four 512MB CF's and the X keep me pretty happy.

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

I own a XSDRIVE II with a 30GB harddrive.
Battery use CAN be a problem but I never run out of juice, I always recharge every night on holiday.
I use a 1 GIG prof. speed CF card and when I downloaded that 2 times the XSdrives still has 75% juice left so I guess (hope) that will be enough.

Otherwise I still have a 128MB CF Backupcard and will I start shooting JPEGS :D.

Greetings,
Frank

[evilenglishman]

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