CompactDrive PD70X

[olz]

Hi

I just ordered the CompactDrive PD70X (http://www.compactdrive.com/product.php?p=pd70x) in Germany (I live in Denmark). Does anyone have some experience with this? It's supposed to be VERY fast, and i like the fact, that it uses batteries that you can get everywhere (good for travel purposes).

I will make a short review if anyone is interested when it arrives.

Cheers
Kristian

[jojiboy]

I've had mine for a little over a month and it's been an excellent PSD. Much better build than the PD7X was and much faster too. You'll like it.

[olz]

I've had mine for a little over a month and it's been an excellent PSD. Much better build than the PD7X was and much faster too. You'll like it.

Sounds good! I wouldn't buy the PD7X. It has some voltage problems, that could damage the HD. In terms of speed i don't understand that this PSD haven't been mentioned more often on this forum than it has? Well, can't wait to try this thing.

[Kostyanych]

I got my PD70X yesterday....
I ordered no HDD version.
I put my 80Gb Seagate HDD (4200 rpm, 8 Mb buffer) in.
I put Maha Powerex 2300 mAh Hi-Mh batteries in.
I took my Sandisk Ultra II 1 Gb CF card. I took 144 RAW images to fill up the card.
And I run a small test.

I switch on the device (PD70X). Copy files into HDD. Switch it off.
Wait a couple of seconds. Switch it on again and make another copy.
I keep going until I got the message "Replace the battery".
I really got tired because I had to do it 49 times.
So the result is I copied full 1Gb CF card 48 times. And in the middle 49th run I got a message "Replace the battery".

The speed....
I checked the first run. It took 122 sec to download 144 files. The LCD shown the size 949 Mb.
And I checked the 15th run. Still the same time, about 122-123 sec.

I have some ideas about the design of the unit. :)
But the speed and autonomy is good enough for me.

[CyberDyneSystems]

That's amazing! I want one!

[olz]

Wow. That's above average battery life time compared to what I heard. Mabey because of the 4200 rpm only? Sounds good. The perfect travel companion, when travelling places which could be without electricity from time to time.

Can´t wait to get mine. :D

[Kostyanych]

Yes, I was impressed.
The bad thing about the device that it doesn't take power for the HDD when it's connected to the PC.
It means you need battery inside the device to use it as an external HDD. :)

The dust cover doesn't look strong.
The CF slot is pretty shallow (I will have to be careful to avoid tilt when I insert CF card).

That's bad things. :)

Another issue.... When you switch on the device to dump CF card into HDD the device doesn't show you free space. It shows the full space of HDD and the full space of CF.
When you finish dumping the data you will see the number files which were downloaded and the total size of these files.
That's it.

Well, but it's still quite good for these money. :)

[olz]

I have the same issues as you! Both hinges (the dust cover hinge and the battery cover hinge) seems weak. The CF-slot is shallow (see the picture). The rest of the design is simple but it does the job.

After copying a full 1gb card im amazed. It's very fast. I didn't measure the actual time, but compared to a full 1gb transfer with my PCMCIA CF adapter on my laptop it's extreamly fast! (my harddisk is a Hitatchi Travelstar 40gb 8mb cache) and the CF was an Sandisk 1gb Extreme III).

As mentioned i will be using the device to backup pictures on vaccations (usually backpacking). Therefore I bought the Pelicase Micro Series 1020, and it fits right in. That will keep it safe when packed down into my rucksack. If someone does not know the Peli cases have a look here: Pelicases (http://www.pelicanproducts.us)

Heres some pictures:
http://olz.dk/pic/01_CompactDrive.jpg
http://olz.dk/pic/02_CompactDrive.jpg
http://olz.dk/pic/03_CompactDrive.jpg

I think I will be satisfied with this device. It's very simple yet efficient. One importaint thing to mention is the weight. The PSA including batteries and the Peli Micro Case is 720g!

[luisv]

Looks like a great little device... I'll probably get one soon.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Any US distributorsd yet?

My source only has the4 old version. (PD7X)

[olz]

Any US distributorsd yet?
Yes. The US distributor are EastGear (http://www.eastgear.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=443) <-- link :D

The US price is 150$. So if you have a 2.5'' HD laying around thats a pretty cheap PSD.

[Osmium]

Hmmm.. Pelican do custom imprinting on their cases!

How about a POTNCase? (PD70X size (=1020) would be perfect ;) )

[S230]

I currently use the PD7X and so far really impressed. I would not think much to buy another at the right price. I tried various hard drives such as 4800 to 5200 rpm's and various buffers from 2mb to 8mb. Buffer size matters. RPM's I find doesn't really affect depending on amount of files and size. Battery life is amazing and I never had problems yet with any power issue. Currently I am using a matchbox size HD 1.8inch inside and is much more quiet, lighter and faster than the conventional 2.5". I agree that the construction is poorly built but if being careful and not jog around with it while copying data, it should be pretty good. I am looking forward to a canadian distributor for the drive.

[S230]

also to add, the speed of the transfer is awesome. Price especially. I know there are other devices out there and I had tried many but the PD7x fits the budget and the need. I personally rather spend time taking more photos than sitting there looking at each image but if I do, at the prices of some of the competiting units, I would be attaching my notebook to the unit and view it there. As for power, I would use the power from my car battery battery.

[olz]

Hmmm.. Pelican do custom imprinting on their cases!

How about a POTNCase? (PD70X size (=1020) would be perfect ;) )
Hehe... good idea! :D

[olz]

Buffer size matters. RPM's I find doesn't really affect depending on amount of files and size.
Yes! Thats confirmed by the manual - a 4200rpm 8mb hd will perform better than a 7200rpm 5mb.

[S230]

Yes! Thats confirmed by the manual - a 4200rpm 8mb hd will perform better than a 7200rpm 5mb.
darn... I forgot there was a manual... ;)
In the manual, it didn't mention about the specifics on the hard drive as to which is faster or not. The one I got was very simple as to how to insert the hard drive etc.

[Spots]

Ok, I am lost and I am dense so excuse me....exactly how does this work? I mean with the $150 model what else do I need to buy in order to use this in the field? Do I have to buy an external hard drive and lug that around too or do I simply dump my cf card into the device then offload when I get to a computer?

At the US website suggested above they have
CompactDrive PD60X Portable Storage Device 80GB (5400rpm 8MB) US$272.12
60GB $241.82
40GB $211.52
Then they have
CompactDrive PD70X Portable Storage Device US$150.91. I assume this is without the HDD.
But they all look alike! Which is where part of my confusion comes in. What kind of a HDD do I need to buy? I mean all the HDD I have ever seen are not compact enough to justify taking in a backpack (but I am not computer sauvy so I'm probably wrong here).

I really want an extra storage device but I want to make sure I get everything I need to make it useable. Can some please clear up my confusion?

TIA
::Spots

[olz]

Hi Spots...

The CompactDrive is an PSD which you can buy either with or without a harddisk. The 150$ is the shell only (no harddisk). You then have to buy a 2.5'' hd which is the small ones used mostly in laptops. Those other options you listed are the CompactDrive with a hd preinstalled.

If you wan't to buy the harddisk yourself you should make sure it's a 2.5'' laptop hd with 8mb cache. If you're not sure about this just stick with the ones you mentioned yourself. I think they're alright.

Cheers

[luisv]

The PD70X for $150US does not contain a hard drive. So you would need to supply a 2.5" hard drive and install it into the PD70X with fresh batteries for it to work. A 2.5" hard drive are the ones from laptop type computers. If you don't have a spare laptop hard drive laying around I would recommend purchasing the PD70X with the drive already installed as laptop drives are usually more expensive than the standard PC drives.

*** Sorry... we must have posted answers at the same time...

[Spots]

Thanks Ols and Luisv you both answered my questions! So the HD I supply fits inside the unit...that is where the confusion was coming in. I will be getting the one with the HD in it already ;) .

Thanks again
:Spots

[Asmodeus]

I bought the unit with the 80GB 5400 RPM 8MB cache drive. It was $297 delivered (and arrived in one day). Given that just buying that type of hard drive will run between $120-$140 + shipping, it doesn't make much sense to get the PD70X without the drive. You don't have to order from multiple vendors and the only setup is to plug the unit in to let it charge.

[Kostyanych]

After copying a full 1gb card im amazed. It's very fast. I didn't measure the actual time...
and the CF was an Sandisk 1gb Extreme III).

That's interesting.
If you have a chance, could you check the speed?
I just wanna see the difference with my results (Sandisk Ultra II). :)

[olz]

Okay :D Here goes. Did the test twice. The PSD was not fully charged and it was about half full. I started the time when pushing the wheel and stopped the time when the smiley appeared.

Harddisc: Hitachi Travelstar, 5400 rpm (shoulden't mean anything according to the manual), 40gb, 8mb cache
Cf: SanDisk Extreme III, 1gb.

First test) 977mb, 127 raw files, 1 minute 40 seconds, ~ 84 seconds.
Second test) 977mb, 127 raw files, 1 minute 41 seconds. 84 seconds.

Okay. The Extreme III seems faster but i noticed one thing. You had 144 files at a total of 949mb which makes it an average of 6.6mb pr. file. I had 127 files and 977mb which makes the average file 7.7mb. Perhaps that affects the result too? Well, I'm not too much into the technical stuff, but either way it's fast I think :D

[Kostyanych]

Thanks for the test. :)
We can try another test: 900 x 1 Meg files vs 1 x 900 Meg file. :)

[S230]

Personally I find the PD7X is very fast copying from CF card to drive. But the other way around is extremely slow.

As a test, I filled the drive with several MPG files that are almost 1GB each in size (Entire CF Card) as a single file. I did it 5 times which means amost 5GB. It was still fast copying to PD drive but when transferring back onto computer, it was very slow.

What I am really annoyed with is sometimes the drive would result in write delay error. This is more common if you have hundreds of thousands of small files.
Anyone experienced this?

[edaguy]

When I went to order a pd70x from eastgear.com I got a message from my browser (Firefox & IE) saying the security certificate could not be verified. Has anyone bought from these guys? Are they reliable?

Thanks, MSB

[lancea]

When I went to order a pd70x from eastgear.com I got a message from my browser (Firefox & IE) saying the security certificate could not be verified. Has anyone bought from these guys? Are they reliable?
Thanks, MSB
I got mine from them last month along with a few other items. Yes, they are reliable. Very fast shipping at a good price, and the package was well packed.

The reason you're getting the verification error is because eastgear is using a certificate from a company that is not known by your web browser. Web browsers are shipped with "root" certificates for only some of the certificate providers. The one used by eastgear does however appear kosha - it was issued by InstantSSL.

[luisv]

Thanks Ols and Luisv you both answered my questions! So the HD I supply fits inside the unit...that is where the confusion was coming in. I will be getting the one with the HD in it already ;) .

Thanks again
:Spots

Anytime... let us know how you like it when you get it...

[kram]

Got mine with a 40GB HDD around a month back. Just came back from a two week vacation to Europe - shot everything I wanted and everything in RAW!! And it was all of 15GB in my 40GB disk.....

The unit behaved perfect and speed was outstanding. I have just started reviewing the images and yes, looks like they were stored ok....