Micro Drive or storage tank...

[Malaxos1]

I am covering a wedding next month that will be roughly three hours away from my house. I have covered rehearsals and dinners in the past with being able to dump the cards that night. This will free up space on the cards to cover the wedding and reception. Now using the 20D over the D60 requires that I have more storage anyway, add to the fact that I am so far from home and will not beible to empty the cards, I am deprite for more storage. I am using 2 512 cards and considering getting some kind of storage unit with at least 20GB os space or a 4GB Hitachi Microdrive. I know that the Microdrive has moving parts and can one day bite the dust, however $179 is looking good. Any thoughts on the two options? Thanks...Dean

[Olegis]

Get two of these original X-Drives with 20GB storage each - they are pretty cheap and reliable. Copy every CF card twice to each X-Drive, this way you'll greatly reduce the possibility of total images loss.

[Motorsports Photo]

Let your laptop or computer be the storage unit. When you upload the pics to the computer, let it run a slide show. People WILL watch, and you can generate some more sales.

-Pete

[Malaxos1]

Thanks, I will have to look up the x drive. I would use my laptop, but I just wouldn't want it to get destroyed or stolen. I figure that a storage unit could fit in my pocket...Dean

[Olegis]

Be careful with just one sturage solution - it can brake and you'll be killed by the groom and the bride. Make it two - this way if one of them decides to develop a malfunction, the other one will still have the images.

[commando]

Buying more CF cards is pretty cheap these days. Alternately there are lots of different portable devices made to let you dump your pics onto a hard drive.

I'd be careful after you remove them from the cards though, for weddings at least two copies is a must.

[Malaxos1]

Has anyone used one of these before? I can get the 20GB version for $200 and the 40GB sof $249. Also, did you mean two copies onto the portable drive?...Dean http://www.mymediagear.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=42

[commando]

I'd probably play with the single unit first to make sure I was happy with it's reliability. I'd put one copy on the hard drive, and ideally a copy somewhere else for the sake of paranoia.

Once you have the photos hope, i'd recommend storing a copy of all of your photos offsite. Other a fire or theft could mean total loss of your images, even if they were on 2 PCs.

[Malaxos1]

I understand the backup idea. I have done quite a few weddings in the past three years. I have traveled a few times, even to other states for weddings. I am worried more about the reliability of such a unit and the ammount of storage. If I decide to go the portable storage route you can bet that I will get it in the next week or two to make sure it works well and that it is easy to use...Dean

[edsarkiss]

Archos GMini 220 -- 20GB, CF reader, MP3 player / recorder, USB2 interface.

http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500452.html

dump the CF card to the GMini, then copy the data to the laptop HD. can't risk losing data in a wedding situation.

[Olegis]

This (http://www.xs-drive.com/xsdrive/) is the one I'm talking about. I have one of these for over two years now and it always has been working great !

It's extremely simple to use - insert the CF card, power up the unit and press the "Copy" button. When the copy process is finished, the X-Drive will power itself down automatically, to preserve battery energy.

[Andy_T]

Also, did you mean two copies onto the portable drive?...Dean

Most likely he meant the following:

- backup CF card to storage device #1
- backup CF card to storage device #2
- delete images from CF card

best regards,
Andy

[Olegis]

What I meant is -

* Copy full CF card to X-Drive # 1
* Repeat
* Copy the same CF card to X-Drive # 2
* Repeat

[NJDrew]

has anyone tried the SmartDisk FlashTrax ones? They are more expensive, but that 3.5” screen and mp3 player is tempting.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=311663&is=REG

I would definitly have a back up. Two storage devices or even a laptop with cd burner/memory stick/external USB hard drive?

[Danny Boy]

The FlashTrax above has a 20GB drive for $360. B&H has a special on the 40GB drive for $400. I'm also looking into one of these so I noticed the rebate.

Dan

[ScottE]

I have an 80 gb FlashTrax and have been very happy with it. I got it after my Image Tank lost a bunch of photos.

I now copy my CF cards to both the FlashTrax and Image Tank in the field.

The good thins about the FlashTrax are that you can see what you have saved on a fairly large screen and the USB 2.0 connection makes copying to a hard drive when you get home.

The FlaashTrax will display RAW images from my D60 (via the imbedded jpg). I haven't checked whether a software upgrade is available yet for 20D CR2 files.