Hard Drive Storage Works!!

[Chazs]

My answer to buying lots of flash card memory.
A few months ago I purchased an iriver ihp-120 20-gigabyte mp3 player, which also works as an external hard drive. Since Canon cameras don't support "mass storage" I purchased a Macally Syncbox to transfer images from the flash card (using a reader) to the iriver. Success!!!
RAW files are transferred at a rate of 24 seconds per shot, while jpegs are at about 8 seconds, or about 0.3 mb per second for each. Not bad. I have about 2300 songs (12 gig worth) and about 6 gig of memory remaining, enough to hold about 600 RAW images, or three times that in jpegs; more than enough on my upcoming trip to Sweden this week. Here's the setup in action.

http://members.isp01.net/snevetsc/photos/harddrive.jpg

Chuck

[evilenglishman]

looks like someone beat you to it:
http://www.misticriver.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=729

that mp3 player costs approx £300 in the UK :shock: , the syncbox approx £50 and then there is the card reader - much more than an x-drive 2 with a 20gb disk, you can actually get one with 40gb for approx £230.

wouldnt you have been better doing that instead?

[Chazs]

300 pounds!!? Yikes. It was about $350, and the syncbox about $35 (the card reader was free, $10 with a $10 rebate!). Quite a bit less than the UK it looks.

I originally bought the ihp-120 for music and portable file storage. It also has an FM radio receiver and can record from analog or digital line in, and also an external or internal microphone. I also store a lot of my work files on it for easy transfer from home to work. Not to mention my 250 CD collection.

It's only been the last few weeks I thought about storing digital photos on it, especially in light of my trip this week. I still don't think it was all that pricey for the set up, especially for what it does for me. It also looks to be quite a bit smaller than the x-drive 2. But, as with anything electronic, wait a few months and there's always something bigger, better, etc... :)

[CyberDyneSystems]

It actually looks like an awesome product (the SynchBox)... it is two bad that Canon SLRs don't support the USB MAss storage protocal (why the frig don't manufacturers EVER support the standard SPECS!!!!!!!!??)

IF Canon supoorted REAL USB... then you could plug your camera into a portable USB hard drive and fire away...

Of course IF the Cameras supported REAL Firewire,. you could do the same without the need for a "SynchBox"

[iwatkins]

One of the last 10D firmwares gave a new option to run the USB from "normal" to "PTP" (which I guess = Peer-to-Peer). Has anybody tried anything with this. Probably won't work as I think it is related to printing directly from the camera, but you never know :)

Cheers

Ian

[roanjohn]

Too slow..............I think.

Ro1

[evilenglishman]

what we all really need is a ide converter - something that will plug in to a laptop ide socket and convert to a full size drive interface. then we can all use 200gb drives in our x-drives :D

ive seen them that work the opposite way - so you can use laptop drives in a desktop computer but never the way i want them :cry:

[CyberDyneSystems]

The older "monster" DSLRs had PCMCIA slots! That would do it for you.. PCMCIA spec would allow you to shott straight to any sized hard drive you want... :shock:

Not to mention that fact that PCMCIA Harddrives would be cheaper, bigger and surdier than microdrives.. (faster too)

Oh well,. I'm dreaming....

[evilenglishman]

yes i remember them - i also remember that you could fry an egg on the cards after 2 mins of use :wink:

[droosan]

A flashcard reader on an iPod works very well.

[roanjohn]

A flashcard reader on an iPod works very well.

Ummm............not from my experience. The ipod card reader from Belkin is too slow. Transfering a 256 mb card alone can take more than 10 minutes. By then, the iPod battery is almost exhausted.

I much rather prefer the Archos.............It is speedy and the battery keeps on going. The Archos interface is not as intuitive compared to the iPod though. ANd it is not as light............Maybe the ARchos Mini :-)

Ro1

[droosan]

A flashcard reader on an iPod works very well.

Ummm............not from my experience. The ipod card reader from Belkin is too slow. Transfering a 256 mb card alone can take more than 10 minutes. By then, the iPod battery is almost exhausted.

I much rather prefer the Archos.............It is speedy and the battery keeps on going. The Archos interface is not as intuitive compared to the iPod though. ANd it is not as light............Maybe the ARchos Mini :-)

Ro1

I was comparing to Chazs's set-up. What is an Archos?