2.5" hard drive for travel backup?

I'm looking for a large (storage space) hard drive that I can use as backup for my memory cards on the go.

Due to price, I'm inclined to look to an external 2.5" hard drive, non-SSD.

I'm away that SSD has the advantage of speed and no moving parts, but should I be concerned about the 5400rpm drives if they will only be powered on/in use in stable environment? Apart from that, they could certainly be bouncing around in my backpack throughout the day...

Since you likely will be using USB for the connection, that will likely be your limiting factor on transfer speed. Do you know if you have USB 2 or 3?

Check this line of drives...http://www.newegg.com …deRHwodVoIAag&g​clsrc=aw.d

How do you plan to get the images from the card to external drive? For that you have 2 options (as far as I know), a computer or something like a Colorspace UDMA drive.

What capacity are you looking at? Despite the speed advantage of SSD, I think the biggest advantage is lack of moving part, so they are not likely be damage when moving around. If you need 1T, 2T kind of capacity, then SSD is still very expansive, but you can easly get 240GB for like $150. 240GB isn't huge, but seem big enough for travel.

As for USB interface, definitely USB3. USB2 interface limited to about 40MB/s useable bandwidth, usually USB2 storage is more like 25MB/s range. USB3 is easily 10x of that if not more.

What are you using to copy the memory cards to the drive?

eelnoraa wrote in post #17560776
What capacity are you looking at? Despite the speed advantage of SSD, I think the biggest advantage is lack of moving part, so they are not likely be damage when moving around. If you need 1T, 2T kind of capacity, then SSD is still very expansive, but you can easly get 240GB for like $150. 240GB isn't huge, but seem big enough for travel.

As for USB interface, definitely USB3. USB2 interface limited to about 40MB/s useable bandwidth, usually USB2 storage is more like 25MB/s range. USB3 is easily 10x of that if not more.

Quoted for emphasis. Yes, mechanical portable drives give me the willlies. I just bought a Samsung 250gb SSD yesterday for $99 at Fry's (same price was available at Newegg). Two of those should handle most trips.

RDKirk wrote in post #17563413
Quoted for emphasis. Yes, mechanical portable drives give me the willlies. I just bought a Samsung 250gb SSD yesterday for $99 at Fry's (same price was available at Newegg). Two of those should handle most trips.

But a 2TB portable costs the same 8x the storage space!

SSD is also far less power and very light by comparison.

I have a Sanho Hyperdrive UDMA2 that I bought without a drive, and bought a 750GB 2.5" drive to go along with it. I've brought it on travel, and to keep it in good shape (battery et al), I use it as a supplemental backup. With this, you do not need a computer. It takes CF and SD cards. Links below give you a starting point, with a $310 price. Total weight is just under a pound.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …00_Casing_for_U​DMA_2.html
http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …bpkx_wd_black_m​obile.html

I've had great luck with Western Digital and Seagate portable drives.

kaitlyn2004 wrote in post #17563418
But a 2TB portable costs the same 8x the storage space!

A lot of photos stored that will break your heart when you suddenly hear it doing theRicky Ricardo "chick-chicky-boom."

Portable drives take a lot of whacks. Sooner or later, it gets all mechanical drives.

LaCie Rugged Mini. 'Nuff said.

RDKirk wrote in post #17563612
A lot of photos stored that will break your heart when you suddenly hear it doing theRicky Ricardo "chick-chicky-boom."

Portable drives take a lot of whacks. Sooner or later, it gets all mechanical drives.

And SSD drives are still able to fail in various ways as well. Portable drives are reasonably durable when they are parked and offline. Sure an SSD will take a little more abuse, but they're not bomb proof.

For the cost of SSD drive space you can get multiple drives and have multiple backup copies of the data on hard drives. It weighs a little more and takes up a little more space, but also means you can slip the drives in different bags, or at least opposite sides of the same bag to reduce the odds of a single bad hit taking out all your data.

Evaluate costs and risks when considering your actual storage needs. For travel I would prefer to be able to carry enough cards to last the trip, and a backup drive to cover them all. That way I can keep them in their original (and extremely durable) CF or SD storage, and a backup copy on a cost effective bulk drive. And anything that is Really impressive is getting stored on the laptop's internal drive as well, and probably uploaded to online storage.

kaitlyn2004 wrote in post #17563418
But a 2TB portable costs the same 8x the storage space!

For general storage, yes, but we are talking about back up for travel. Do you really need 2TB? If so, SSD isn't even an options. But if all you need is 200GB, then the 2TB means nothing. You can always transfer the backup once you get home.

Luckless wrote in post #17575892
And SSD drives are still able to fail in various ways as well. Portable drives are reasonably durable when they are parked and offline. Sure an SSD will take a little more abuse, but they're not bomb proof.

For the cost of SSD drive space you can get multiple drives and have multiple backup copies of the data on hard drives. It weighs a little more and takes up a little more space, but also means you can slip the drives in different bags, or at least opposite sides of the same bag to reduce the odds of a single bad hit taking out all your data.

Evaluate costs and risks when considering your actual storage needs. For travel I would prefer to be able to carry enough cards to last the trip, and a backup drive to cover them all. That way I can keep them in their original (and extremely durable) CF or SD storage, and a backup copy on a cost effective bulk drive. And anything that is Really impressive is getting stored on the laptop's internal drive as well, and probably uploaded to online storage.

Everything can fail. For the particular usage, backup during traveling, I think it is fair to say the main failure mode of mechanical drive is a lot likely than the failure of SSD. And multiple backup copy?? we are talking about traveling here. How many harddrive are you going to bring?