Hitachi Microdrive

One other minor issue, if you are the sort of person who will stick the spare card in your back pocket or something. You can wash a CF card, you can't wash a microdrive.

Citizensmith wrote:
One other minor issue, if you are the sort of person who will stick the spare card in your back pocket or something. You can wash a CF card, you can't wash a microdrive.

And you definatly cant put a microdrive in your pocket with your sunscreen (which you later realised had a broken lid)

R32Bum wrote:
And you definatly cant put a microdrive in your pocket with your sunscreen (which you later realised had a broken lid)

Ouch.

I recently picked up the PD70X with a 40GB hard disk for around $200. With its speed and battery life, I can go on shooting for a really long time.

I already had 1 GB 2 CF cards - so finish one, load it into the PD70X and you're ready with 2 free CF cards always.

Can someone explain to me what a "compact flash microdrive" is? Is it just a microdrive that's made to fit into a compact flash slot and there really isn't any solid state component? Is this how a hitachi microdrive is described?

Thanks for all your help.

It's a miniature HD with moving parts and everything. I have two that are labeled IBM though Hitatchi made them. They have operated flawlessly over the past three years. When I bought them CF's were quite a bit more expensive that MD's. Would I buy one now? No.

hello

could you post here some sites with good price that you know.


regards

At this moment for you what is the best? CF cards or microdrive?

if you have to choose one or the other what was your choise?


please post and comment,

pros and cons of each

CF cards are more reliable, faster, and use less energy. Microdrives used to be the only way to get a decent storage size. Now CF cards get plenty big too. Additionally microdrives have moving parts. Movng parts can break.

Basically, CF cards all the way all the time.

Any scientific studies to back that up? I have both CF and MD and I've never had a problem with either but I keep seeing people claim that CFs are more reliable. I find this rather peculiar when I review the various discussion forums I follow where I see numerous posts concerning corrupt CFs, missing images etc. yet very few concerning the much maligned MD. Admittedly this is all anecdotal but, considering iPods contain MDs and there are a few million iPods floating around out there, they must be working reasonably well I'd say. My 4G Hitachi MD stays in my camera most of the time.

I agree with Citizensmith especially with power consumption. I tried both and on a MD, it chews up more power especially with frequent power on and offs due to power required for spin-ups. With CF, there is no startup and power is consistent.
Also, as to durability, CF cards are much more reliable. I had dropped a few times and still ok. As long as there are no contact points (soiders) broken, then the card will work. Someone here even mentioned that their CF card survived going through the washing machine.
Micro drives are not bad. They are definitely best bang for the buck when it comes to decent size but CF/solid state technology has come a long way and prices have gone down quite a bit.

I have been using a combination of CF cards and Microdrives for about five years. During that time I have had two failures. Both were CF cards. In my experience failures per usage rate the CF cards have a much higher failure rate.

This does not mean the microdrives are more reliable than CF cards. It is more an indication that either can fail. I try not to drop my storage media or run it through the laundry, but under normal usage both have proven satisfactory.

Currently I use Sandisk Extreme CF cards for my initial pictures. When the CF cards are full I switch to my IBM, Hitachi or Sony microdrives. The Extreme cards are specifically designed for the temperature conditions I often encounter in outdoor winter and summer photography and they are very fast. The microdrives provide good, reliable, reasonably priced excess capacity.