What kind of hard drive is best for a hyperdrive?

[col4bin]

It seems a bit cheaper to buy the case and install my own drive. Are there certain specs I should look for?

[zero32000]

Western Digital 500GB SATA (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314)

Which hyperdrive do you want to get? The old ones only uses PATA. The new uses SATA.

[col4bin]

colorspace UDMA

[zero32000]

Then the harddrive I suggested is the best you can get.

[col4bin]

Thanks. Is there a reason I would not want the 7200rpm version?

Do you know if I can connect a USB drive to the hyperdrive for second back up for trips when I will not have access to a computer?

[zero32000]

All I can find are 5400RPM models. The only advantage for 5400RPM over 7200RPM is that 5400RPM have a smaller energy consumption. If you can find a 7200RPM model, go ahead, but battery life is going to be shorter. How short, I don't know.

[yabbie]

I think WD and Samsung have the best reptutation for hard drives. If you have a choice of quality, get the more robust one, rather than one with the best looking specs. Being a portable unit, it's bound to get more than it's share of knocks etc.
I have two hyperdrives and put my own drives in. One failed in the first month, right at the start of my holiday.

[sapearl]

Hi Frank, you may want to consider something like this, thinking along your lines of getting a case and assembling your own:

http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/277

I've accumulated several external hard drive solutions over the years, and several months ago purchased this Vantec Nextstar case. Cost was around $59.95 but what's great about it is the device has 2 empty bays instead of the single bay units that you typically see.

I purchased on sale a WD 1TB internal SATA and just popped it into Bay1 of the case and use that to back up all my RAW and JPG files. In about a year or so when 1.5 and 2TB HD's become more common and cheaper and will probably put one of those in Bay2 of the Vantec. - Stu

[col4bin]

I am looking for something that is portable for when I travel. The Vantec looks like it is for home use.

I am trying to avoid taking plane trips with my laptop. My gear becomes too bulky when I throw a laptop into the mix. Backpacks that hold equipment and laptop are too big for my liking when traveling by plane.

[mleone]

Western Digital 500GB SATA (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314)

Which hyperdrive do you want to get? The old ones only uses PATA. The new uses SATA.

Oh no the old ones used IDE drives, I have a colorspace o which I got in june.

[col4bin]

I think WD and Samsung have the best reptutation for hard drives. If you have a choice of quality, get the more robust one, rather than one with the best looking specs. Being a portable unit, it's bound to get more than it's share of knocks etc.
I have two hyperdrives and put my own drives in. One failed in the first month, right at the start of my holiday.

What kind of drives did you use? Are they all exposes or are some fully encased before installing. I know nothing about getting a drive like this other than what I know I want it to do.

[sapearl]

Sorry Frank - I misunderstood. You're correct, the Vantec is pretty for a home/office use and I wouldn't consider it portable like many of the others on the market.

I am looking for something that is portable for when I travel. The Vantec looks like it is for home use......

[sapearl]

Or maybe one of the Western Digital portables:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136227

Simpletech, Maxtor, and a bunch of others also offer similarly enclosed, smallish, portable and light weight "travelling" hard drives. Matter of fact, I believe that Newegg, BestBuy and a several other places are offering decent BlackFriday specials on various models.

[zero32000]

Oh no the old ones used IDE drives, I have a colorspace o which I got in june.

IDE=PATA

[col4bin]

Or maybe one of the Western Digital portables:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136227

Simpletech, Maxtor, and a bunch of others also offer similarly enclosed, smallish, portable and light weight "travelling" hard drives. Matter of fact, I believe that Newegg, BestBuy and a several other places are offering decent BlackFriday specials on various models.

What I meant is are all the drives that go in the hyperdrive exposed?

I have a small portable hard drive but I am trying to avoid traveling with my laptop on long overseas trips.

[zero32000]

Do you know if I can connect a USB drive to the hyperdrive for second back up for trips when I will not have access to a computer?

There are portable hard drives that you can connect to the hyperdrive so you can back it up, but their performance is lacking. Their battery life can only last for about 4-6 gb worth of data.

[zero32000]

What I meant is are all the drives that go in the hyperdrive exposed?

The hyperdrive IS the enclosure for the hard drive that you are putting in.

[col4bin]

thanks.

[foxbat]

Thanks. Is there a reason I would not want the 7200rpm version?

Shorter battery life. There's no way that internal transfer bus on the hyperdrive is going to saturate even a 5400 drive let alone come close to demanding 7200.

As for 500Gb: do you really need it? You would have to shoot roughly 15 shots per minute over an 8 hour day with no breaks for 7 days continuously (assuming 10Mb files) to fill it. Save some cash and buy a smaller, less power hungry drive.

[col4bin]

Shorter battery life. There's no way that internal transfer bus on the hyperdrive is going to saturate even a 5400 drive let alone come close to demanding 7200.

As for 500Gb: do you really need it? You would have to shoot roughly 15 shots per minute over an 8 hour day with no breaks for 7 days continuously (assuming 10Mb files) to fill it. Save some cash and buy a smaller, less power hungry drive.

What would you suggest?

Also, I will have a 5DMII this weekend and will need storage for movie and RAW files. I will be on a 16 day trip to Thailand in a few months and do not want to bring my laptop. That is why I figured 500gb would be ok. The difference in cost is only about $40-50.

[cdifoto]

I have an 80GB drive for my portable enclosure. 500GB is way overkill. Hell I haven't even needed all 80GB yet. I haven't been on a 16 day trip though.

[col4bin]

doing some calculations, i could store 10,000 photos at 25mb a picture on a 250gb hard drive. guess I don't really need 500gb.

[cdifoto]

Yeah if you're taking 10,000 photos in 16 days, you should probably consider slowing down a little to enjoy the trip. You can't click continuously AND enjoy your surroundings at the same time.

Some folks might say they take 1000-3000 images in a single wedding or event, but they're not shooting to record their vacation.

[col4bin]

yeah, you are right. do you know if the 3.0 gb/s will work in the hyperdrive?

[cdifoto]

As long as it's SATA if you're getting a SATA enclosure or IDE/PATA if you're getting an IDE/PATA enclosure, you'll be fine.

[col4bin]

looking at the specs of the hyperdrive UDMA, I don't think it writes faster than 66mb/s. Guess I could save a few more $$ and get a 1.5mb/s.

[Bushplane Ken]

Just as a point of reference; I have two ColorSpace units. Each has a 250gb hard drive. This past summer my Wife and I went to Alaska for two weeks. I shot about 5000 photos (40D) and she shot about 1000 (G9). We both shot raw and jpg. I saved everything to each unit so we had redundancy. All told we used about half of the capacity (125gb) of each unit.

Do you need a 500gb hard drive; not likely. The 250gb units that I have are sufficient for my current and likely future needs.

[col4bin]

the difference in price between the 320 and 250 is like $10 so I will just go with a 320. The 500 is another $35 and I will take that savings.

[Bushplane Ken]

I actually upgraded my first ColorSpace from 160 to 250gb. The drive that originally came with it is a Hitachi (Model No. HTS541616J9AT00) ATA/IDE drive. When I ordered my second unit (250gb) I looked at the drive in it and ordered the same drive to upsize my first unit. The drive I ordered is a Western Digital IDE - Scorpio Mobile PATA drive (Model No. WD2500BEVE).

Both units have been trouble free; so far.

[argyle]

doing some calculations, i could store 10,000 photos at 25mb a picture on a 250gb hard drive. guess I don't really need 500gb.

Why in the world would you need the capacity to store 10,000 pictures on a portable back-up device? In my opinion, that's severe overkill. Even if you were to shoot 500 pictures per day on the trip, that's still only 8,000 pictures. As cdifoto mentioned, take some time to enjoy the trip...shooting photographs instead of snapshots will also lower the demand for back-up storage.

One other question...are you planning solely on the Hyperdrive as your storage device? What do you plan on doing with the CF cards once the images have been transferred...format and use again, or are you planning on taking along enough CF's so you have a back-up to the back-up? Personally, I wouldn't rely on the Hyperdrive as the only source of pictures until I get back home. I haven't shopped for any lately, but as far as I know CF prices are still pretty good.

[col4bin]

I travel quite a bit (I am fortunate to get 6 weeks of vacation per year) and after my trip to Alaska last year, it was not pleasant traveling with so much gear. I am looking to cut out some stuff and the hyperdrive is a good solution for me. I would never take 10,000 photos on a trip...I was just trying to make a point (and validate someone else's). I thought about going the route of a backpack with a laptop compartment but that make it just a bit too big for me. Also, I am going to Thailand for 16 days and do not want to leave a laptop behind in my room nor do I want to carry it everywhere I go.

I could also see myself going through storage space with the 5DII shooting some videos.

[rklepper]

Seagate Momentus, bar none.