Hard disks that can read CF cards without computer

Phew, that was a long title!

I'm looking for an external hard disk that I can use while on a trip to store the photos from the CF card without having to use a laptop.

I just heard about them, do you guys have experience with them? Are they recommended? Do you recommend any particular model? I'm looking something on the cheap side .

For example something like this: XS-Drive 2 XL.

Any thoughts?

We use a 40GB Jobo GigaOne all the time - stick a card in it, push copy button and then leave it to do its stuff. When the card's copied the GigaOne powers itself down, so you can just leave it and get on with other stuff (like more shooting).

It creates a new folder everytime you plug a card in, so there's no chance of overwriting images numbers from different cameras - and if you accidentally put the same card in twice, you get two copies of it in separate folders. Battery lasts a long time too - our son and his wife took ours to New Zealand for 3 weeks and never needed to recharge the battery while they were away.

Works really well for us, and allows us to back-up cards as we go during a wedding (so we've got 2 copies of every image before we leave the venue).

No idea if the other similar devices work this well, because we've never used them.

Rob

There are many of them out there, you can search 'personal storage devices' for more examples. I personally have and have been happy with a hyperdrive for about a year. Its worked perfectly for me and travels well.

Thanks for the info Rob.

That device looks good, and it's not very expensive (£90 from here). Can it handle big CF cards (4Gb)?

I've done some research and I found this other device: Vosonic VP2160 for £90 the 80Gb model.

Another cheap solution I found is this device from Hong Kong, £16.50 shipping included, but you need to buy a 2.5" hard disk to attach it to.

Anyone with more experiences with these devices?

I've also got a 40GB Jobo Giga One.

Had no problems with it. Just pop the card in and let it do its stuff.

Seriusly thinking of upgrading to the Epson viewr though as I can then see the images asa well though they are expensive.

John
North Wales

Thanks for the replies.

I found this thread and finally decided to go for the cheapest option, that ebay item. I bought an 2.5" 80Gb hard disk for £40.50, so the final price was £56 (110$).

I hope it works OK, from the thread the user seems to be happy..

erpetao wrote in post #2948358
Thanks for the replies.

I found this thread and finally decided to go for the cheapest option, that ebay item. I bought an 2.5" 80Gb hard disk for £40.50, so the final price was £56 (110$).

I hope it works OK, from the thread the user seems to be happy..

Please let us know what your experiences are!

This is one of the popular digimate reader/writers. Do some testing with the 80Gb drive when you get it. Digimates support FAT32 so don't format with NTFS. Also, at least one revision won't support partitions larger than 40Gb so even if you do manage to get it to appear to accept 80Gb you should try writing 80Gb to it through the card slots then testing that you can read it all back OK off the disk.

I use an archos 604. It is expensive but it does have a really nice screen for looking at your pics and is an mp3 and movie player in case you are bored taking pics

olly_k wrote in post #2948417
Please let us know what your experiences are!

It just arrived!!

It's smaller than what I thought, it looks very nice! I put the 80Gb hard disk (it arrived yesterday) inside, and let it charge for about an hour.

First I plugged it to my computer and created an 80Gb FAT32 partition using swissknife (Windows XP doesn't allow you to create a FAT32 partition bigger that 32Gb).

Then I tested it with two different cards. First, with an SD card from my mobile phone. Then, with a Compact Flash (4Gb) from my camera. It seems to be working pretty well, it shows you the copying percentage, and it's quite fast.

After I finished copying both I plugged it to my computer and I could access all the files without any problems.

For the price I paid (£56) I think it's a very good buy! I still need to do more testing. I'll let you know if I have any problems with it.

Good choice, i have one of these as well, cheap as chips and works very well.
i've had mine for about 2 months now and it has never let me down.

Any idea why my Giga0ne 40gb does not mount on my Mac with OS 10.4.9?
Thanks,
Joe

erpetao wrote in post #2988691
It just arrived!!

It's smaller than what I thought, it looks very nice! I put the 80Gb hard disk (it arrived yesterday) inside, and let it charge for about an hour.

First I plugged it to my computer and created an 80Gb FAT32 partition using swissknife (Windows XP doesn't allow you to create a FAT32 partition bigger that 32Gb).

Then I tested it with two different cards. First, with an SD card from my mobile phone. Then, with a Compact Flash (4Gb) from my camera. It seems to be working pretty well, it shows you the copying percentage, and it's quite fast.

After I finished copying both I plugged it to my computer and I could access all the files without any problems.

For the price I paid (£56) I think it's a very good buy! I still need to do more testing. I'll let you know if I have any problems with it.

Great info!

Does anyone know if it will handle a drive bigger than 80gb?

rambler71 wrote in post #3022707
Does anyone know if it will handle a drive bigger than 80gb?

From the description on the Ebay page, it says:

Imagine, install a 20 GB or even up to 80 GB hard drive into this Digital Partner.

So my guess is that it won't work, that's why I bought an 80Gb hard drive. Anyway I can put there 8000 raw photos, I have enough space for at least for 20 days!

erpetao, thanks for the swissknife info. It was useful !