Just bought a new Hitachi 4 Gig Microdrive at work today!!

[chops]

Man this thing is nice. In RAW + L jpeg on my 10D, I can get 487 images! Set to just large jpeg, it shows 999 in the LDC screen.

I shot probably 50 to 70 images in large jpeg, and it still read 999!! I like that. It kind of reminds me of playing some video game with the cheat codes, you can keep firing your gun, and your ammo never goes down. :D

On my 512MB card, I can get 203 L jpeg's, so that should be somewhere around 1624 images on this card! WOW :shock:

[dhbailey]

How was the speed? I have been reluctant to try one of the microdrives in my 20D because I've read they're slower than the Sandisk UltraII 1GB card I've got now, and even though I don't shoot in burst mode often, I want to be able to take full advantage of it when the situation calls for it.

How does the speed of this Hitachi 4GB compare to the CF card you were using previously?

[Radtech1]

On my 512MB card, I can get 203 L jpeg's, so that should be somewhere around 1624 images on this card! WOW :shock:

Imagine this, it is 9:30 in the evening, after a once in a lifetime trip to Boogerglob, Yugoslavia where they held the One-Time-Only Supermodel Ostrich Riding Rodeo and Beer Drinking contest. :o In the audience a drunk Madonna teamed up with Courtney Love and beat up Celine Dion after finding out that Celine was asked to play Ivana Trump in a new movie. You have this and other wonders too bizarre to think of among your 1624 shots. As you are taking the MD out of the camera it slips through your fingers (Oh, yeah, you've never dropped something) and it lands just wrong. BONK. The little heads crash into the little tiny platters and the whole thing freezes up. One Thousand Six Hundred and Twenty Four broken eggs all in the same basket. :!:

Think it can't happen? I know a guy named Murphy who will disagree. It will happen, but only when it will do the most possible damage.

THAT is why I keep with the CF cards. Usually 512's but I will still use my 256's without hesitation. I have a little wallet that I can fit 8 into. Rt side is clean, Lt side is exposed. If one crashes, I only lose 12.5 % of my images.

Rad

[chops]

Radtech1
Someone could also run by and rip off my camera. Then I would be out the images and my camera. What's your point?

In all the four years of me owning and using digital cameras, not once have I ever dropped a single CF card. I'm a little bit more carefull than that, and especially now with the microdrive. I see no reason why I would have the need to pull this card out ever in the field. For one, I would never shoot that many pictures in one sitting, plus my two batteries would be dead way before that point. And I can't drop my camera since it's always wrapped around my neck, unless I go tumbling down some stairs.

[chops]

How was the speed? I have been reluctant to try one of the microdrives in my 20D because I've read they're slower than the Sandisk UltraII 1GB card I've got now, and even though I don't shoot in burst mode often, I want to be able to take full advantage of it when the situation calls for it.

How does the speed of this Hitachi 4GB compare to the CF card you were using previously?

I don't see that much of a difference between the two, other than the fact it takes about two minutes to format the card in my 10D.

BTW, my other card is a 512MB SanDisk Ultra II.

[CyberDyneSystems]

re: SPEED

MD drives are very fast in the 20D and 1 series Canon DSLRs... they were pretty slow in the 10D though. (and rebel) ... but still.. not too bad.

In the 1D though they are much faster than many CF cards... only the fastest CF cards beat them.

[Motorsports Photo]

Despite the constant bashing of Microdrives, I havent seen a report where one failed. I HAVE seen LOTS of reports of bad compact flash cards.

My own 1g microdrive has been troublefree for over three years and MILLIONS of images..... after I learned to regularly format!

I did get a kick out of the funny story though.

-Pete

[Cadwell]

re: SPEED

MD drives are very fast in the 20D and 1 series Canon DSLRs... they were pretty slow in the 10D though. (and rebel) ... but still.. not too bad.

In the 1D though they are much faster than many CF cards... only the fastest CF cards beat them.

Yup... I found the 4GB microdrive to be my card of last resort in the 10D. It was SLOW - even formated to 32k clusters. It's great in the 1D Mark II though. Really whizzes along.

[chops]

The lack-luster speed in the 10D doesn't bother me that much. It's when I go to download the images through my card reader that sucks. :?

I thought USB2 was supposed to be fast. It was even slow with my Ultra II card. :roll:

[Jon]

You sure both your computer and the reader, as well as any hubs that you may have between them, are USB 2?

[chops]

You sure both your computer and the reader, as well as any hubs that you may have between them, are USB 2?

I build computers and do a little tech support on the side, so yes, I am sure of it.

[Jon]

Just checking . . . Whose card reader? It may be "USB 2.0 Full Speed" rather than 'USB 2.0 High Speed".

[chops]

It's a Dazzle.

http://www.link4pc.com/cameras/camera-gifs/27386.jpg

I also installed one in a 3.5" drive bay in the computer which came with my ECS motherboard.

Both of them are slow, but the one supplied with the motherboard is known for being slow. :?

[Jon]

Yep, Zio claims that one's High Speed USB 2.

Rob Galbraith shows the Hitachi 4 GB as being about half the speed of a Sandisk Ultra in card-PC transfers. Does that seem about what you're seeing?