Microdrive vs cf

Well next time there is a discussion on which is best then I will allways say cf, My second 4gb microdrive failed after 6 months the other day on a shoot and I had to go tethered to my laptop which was very restricting. Before anyone says I've had one for 2 years and no problems then you were lucky. they were never dropped or anything, they were kept with kit cloves knowing how fragile they are.

I will never use a Microdrive again, I got a 4gb Sandisk Ultra II in the post this morning and all I can say is WOW it is fast in camera (1ds MKII) and uploading on the pc. rant over so if anyone is thinking of getting a microdrive think again you may be lucky but with the CF you get what you pay for.

I just tried to order another 2 cards and there out of stock.

Bruce

I have a microdive. It is the last flash card in the camera and the first in the computer when I get home. I have recently invested in a few more gig of CF cards to make sure I never need the microdrive.

You say you only had one card?
Maybe you should consider a backup. I use 1 & 2 gig cards mainly so if I have a faliure I am not crippled

edit, I just re-read the last line and saw you have

I'm sure that everyone has heard the truism: It's not if your hard drive is going to fail it's when. There is no comparison with CF.

i treat my microdrive like a baby and i got it new for 100 bucks (4GB) and i'm strapped for cash so i couldn't say flash. I'd like a cf flash but i'm good with what i have. Speed isn't such a matter since theres the buffer in my XT.

When I first started digital photography I used only CF cards, but after a couple of them failed I went to microdrives, mainly because of the cheaper cost per gigabyte. I used them for several years with no failures. I used microdrives only for a year or two, and then got a Sandisk Extreme CF card because of the faster save and download times.

Now I use the Extreme CF cards as my main recording medium and the microdrives as back up for extra capacity. A few weeks ago I had my first microdrive problem. A Sony 4 gb drive suddenly got very slow while photographing a ski race. I did not lose any photos, but the long download time meant I could not get ready for the next sequence of shots in time. Fortunately I had a couple of 1 gb microdrives on hand and the Hitachi version performed flawlessly.

I have since warmed up and dried out the Sony 4 gb microdrive. It is performing better, but is still not up to its original standard. My Extreme III CF cards are much faster and the Hitach and IBM 4 gb an 1 gb microdrives are a little faster.

When my original CF cards failed, they failed completely and I was only able to retrieve a couple of complete files off them. So far, other than the Sandisk Extreme CF cards, I have had a much higher failure rate with CF cards than with microdrives.

Has nobody noticed the prodigious power consumption of microdrives? My friend has a 384 MB (IIRC) microdrive and you'd better have a fresh battery if you want to fill it. Made for a nasty surprise when at the airshow I ran out of CF and borrowed his drive. Fortunately it was after flying displays ceased.

Sony23!! I had the SAME THING happen to me, it was a microdrive 4gig and it failed after 4 months like you! I got my warranty bcak but liek you - was very annoying at the time! Im going with Ultra's or extreme ii's for now...just so i KNOW they wont fail on me!! Always buying the best from now on!!

Del

Oh and i dont think ill ever go over 2gigs, the 4gigs are just TOO risky, i see they have 8gigs too...not going to toucjh them with a 10 foot pole!!!

I have to go with the 4gb ones has I only get 117 images with the 1ds MKII.

Bruce

With the prices as low as they are now I can't understand one wanting anything but falsh drive.

Low in the usa but not here in the uk, 4gb Sandisk Ultra II is £144 ($250) in the UK thats if you can get them.

Bruce

I did use a MicroDrive but it died after leaving it in my suitcase and this went in the hold and then it never worked again after the flight

Now have some SanDIsk Ultra II 2GB and I am very happy now

Power consumption on MDs has improved immensely since they were making 384 MB ones (what, 6-7 years ago?). When you combine with IS, there's not a lot of difference between the MD and a CF in battery life.

ive had mine fo over two yrs for my first digi camera (dimage 7UG) flung it across the room one time..rarely took it out of the camera and didnt bang it around save the flinging ..still works fine MD has moving parts and will fail faster then CF cards..own and i was an old IOmega brand. specs on those seemed tuffer plus its sealed so pressure might pop the drive

Just an update, the ebay user/trader I got the microdrive from is deleting my emails plus ebay wont do anything about it but finerly got an answer from IBM today in which they have said I will receive a replacement on Tuesday and to give the driver the faulty one. I think I will put the new microdrive on ebay and get another Sandisk Ultra II 4gb with what I get for it.

Bruce