WhatÕs going on everyone? I have begun shopping around for a portable hard drive for my travels coming up. I have been a bit surprised at the HUGE selection there is for this type of thing. I mean, finding a camera I wanted was hard enough. Deciding on an HD that will protect the fate of my photos is even harder. I went to Mike's Camera, and their selection was crap. I have searched B&H, Best Buy, and just googled some stuff. I can't really decide on which on to go with.
What I'm looking for is a portable harddrive ideal for traveling. I don't want a screen, I don't really care about seeing my shots. I need it to be secure and be made by a company that people trust. It doesn't really matter if its Flash or HD I suppose, but I'm looking for 40-60 gig range. Lastly, some are powered by the actual camera, some take battery, some need power from a wall. I prefer one that doesn't need external power since I don't know how often I will be near an outlet. I also don't want to spend too much, just a basic HD with no bells and whistles.
If anyone has had good experiences with a portable travel HD (or just knows a good one) and wants to share some info I would greatly appreciate it!
Wow, those are great items. The first one seems great, but it seems it needs to be connected to a computer...so can't do that. The second is a GREAT option. How have you liked it? Have you had any problems retrieving photos? How long do 4 AA batteries last?
Actualy, what you want isn't a portable hard drive, but rather a photowallet or something similar. It sounds like you want to be able to just hook up the camera to the drive (or perhaps stick in a memory card) and automatically offload everything. Those will be a bit more expensive than just a portable drive, and there are a few out there but not nearly as many. Some options: http://bobatkins.com/photography/digital/portable_storage.html http://luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/P-2000.shtml
Posted by Scott Buckel on April 3, 2006 at 10:17 PM
Jon - I vaguely remember Jerry Greer posted a message about a portable digital wallet like device. As I remember it looked very good and I would have bought one, but I like traveling with a laptop. The best part is it could use recharageable batteries.
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on April 3, 2006 at 10:24 PM
Yeh, the one that Adam posted looks great, and it runs on AAA!! I'll see if I can dig up that HD you are talking about that Jerry posted.
Adam, does the HyperDrive work well? Does it have verification that tells you everything went smoothly? I'm leanings towards it right now, but want to check out some others first.
Posted by Steve Wachtel on April 3, 2006 at 11:11 PM
Jon:
I have been using an Epson P-2000 for a year and have been happy with it in general. I've not used any others, so I can't make any meaningful comparison for you. I'll offer my pluses and minuses:
Plus:
- The screen is pretty nice and allows you a little comfort in knowing that the files actually landed successfully after a transfer
- Added to the comfort of knowing the pics are there, the screen gives you an opportunity to do a rough culling during lulls or after the shooting day is done whilst one is relaxing with a BEvERage
- The battery holds up fairly well; I've not really had it fizzle on me on a shoot, but I am careful to plug it in while in the car or lodging
- Epson was pretty quick to offer a download for D2X RAW compatibility; I've not looked since, but I am guessing they are probably continuing that kind of support
Minus:
- Expense - Epson is still rather proud of the P-2000/4000, it seems
- Only zooms in on JPEGs... since I shoot RAW, and only the RAW (not the combo RAW/JPEG which takes up more card space), I can't use the zoom feature. Ummm... admittedly, I've not looked lately to see if they upgraded the firmware to make zooming a RAW possible
- Battery is a special rechargeable... can't run on normal batteries in a pinch or over a long trip without recharge access
One final thing to recommend... get more than 40Gb. With cameras shooting bigger RAWs, the P-2000 and it's 40Gb drive can fill up surprisingly quick if you get on a roll.
Hope this helps a little...
Posted by Adam Schallau on April 3, 2006 at 11:17 PM
Wow, those are great items. The first one seems great, but it seems it needs to be connected to a computer...so can't do that. The second is a GREAT option. How have you liked it? Have you had any problems retrieving photos? How long do 4 AA batteries last?
I like it a lot. I've had zero problems. If I remember correctly the manufacturer claims one set of batteries will backup up to 80GB of data.
Adam, does the HyperDrive work well? Does it have verification that tells you everything went smoothly? I'm leanings towards it right now, but want to check out some others first.
It does have data verification.
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on April 3, 2006 at 11:31 PM
Thanks for all the help everyone. I'm leaning towards the hyperdrive. If anyone has any other item I should look at, or has had a horror story with the hyperdrive let me know!!
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on April 4, 2006 at 12:35 AM
I think I might be leaning towards this Nexto CF. I read about bad cust. service and some major problems with hyperdrive. I have not decided yet, but just an update.
Posted by Adam Schallau on April 4, 2006 at 12:52 AM
Usually if you search enough you'll find bad comments about almost every product out there. The Hyperdrive did suffer from some flaws in previous versions, but the current version seems to be pretty good.
yeh, honestly, I think the hyperdrive is the best I have seen, but the horror stories scare the heck out of me. If it fails on me...there would be nothing I can do.
Jon,
Lifted the following from Tim Grey's daily "DDQ". Tim knows what he is talking about.
I am traveling with my laptop and would like to use an external hard drive to store my photo files. What product would you recommend? I would like something physically small and very durable.
==========
As a general rule, I highly recommend going with a bus-powered drive. This means the drive will be powered by the USB or FireWire connection to the laptop. In some cases you'll need auxiliary power. This is sometimes provided with a second USB connection to the hard drive, or via an external power connection. I've had hit-or-miss results with various model laptops, and have found that it is difficult to predict whether your particular model will support a bus-powered drive. Regardless, a bus-powered drive with external power is still better than a "standard" external hard drive. However, if a bus-powered drive works without external power on your laptop, you can expect that it always will.
There are many bus-powered drives available. I've had good luck with FireLite drives from SmartDisk (www.smartdisk.com). However, you've indicated you also need a drive that is durable. Standard bus-powered hard drives are certainly not what I would call durable. Fortunately, there is a good solution. Fortress hard drives are highly durable bus-powered external hard drives, and they provide an excellent solution for photographers who travel extensively, especially in situations where equipment has a higher risk of getting dropped or shaken around. I highly recommend
Be careful using the portable hard drives, Darren and myself have had both bad experiences with ours and we have two different models. I am sticking using my laptop for on the road.
Posted by Scott Buckel on April 4, 2006 at 6:09 PM
All,
I really like using a laptop and an addition external hard drive to hold a second copy of the images. I have heard that downloaer pro will copy files to both the hard drive andth laptop at the same time. I have also heard that it can insert copywrite and other info in the IPTC fields as well.
In fact the Tim Grey suggestion above really recomends that approach (that bus powered comment can only come from a computer), as I know he definitely suggests a laptop and external hard drives.
I am still intrigues with the possibliity of addtional back up that is powered by batteries especially rechargeable batteries.
The Epson P-4000 / P-8000 models are also highly thought of. I've been using a FlashTrax (SmartDisk) for a couple years now and it's worked well. The battery is maybe good for 4-6 GB of data, though, so I have an extra one. It also comes with a 12V plug to charge it from your car battery. The older model as pictured on Bob Atkins' site (my model) is no longer available, but they have a newer similar one.
Discussion
15 repliesWhat I'm looking for is a portable harddrive ideal for traveling. I don't want a screen, I don't really care about seeing my shots. I need it to be secure and be made by a company that people trust. It doesn't really matter if its Flash or HD I suppose, but I'm looking for 40-60 gig range. Lastly, some are powered by the actual camera, some take battery, some need power from a wall. I prefer one that doesn't need external power since I don't know how often I will be near an outlet. I also don't want to spend too much, just a basic HD with no bells and whistles.
If anyone has had good experiences with a portable travel HD (or just knows a good one) and wants to share some info I would greatly appreciate it!
Here's another option that I've been using for a couple of months: Hyperdrive
http://bobatkins.com/photography/digital/portable_storage.html
http://luminous-landscape.com/reviews/accessories/P-2000.shtml
Adam, does the HyperDrive work well? Does it have verification that tells you everything went smoothly? I'm leanings towards it right now, but want to check out some others first.
I have been using an Epson P-2000 for a year and have been happy with it in general. I've not used any others, so I can't make any meaningful comparison for you. I'll offer my pluses and minuses:
Plus:
- The screen is pretty nice and allows you a little comfort in knowing that the files actually landed successfully after a transfer
- Added to the comfort of knowing the pics are there, the screen gives you an opportunity to do a rough culling during lulls or after the shooting day is done whilst one is relaxing with a BEvERage
- The battery holds up fairly well; I've not really had it fizzle on me on a shoot, but I am careful to plug it in while in the car or lodging
- Epson was pretty quick to offer a download for D2X RAW compatibility; I've not looked since, but I am guessing they are probably continuing that kind of support
Minus:
- Expense - Epson is still rather proud of the P-2000/4000, it seems
- Only zooms in on JPEGs... since I shoot RAW, and only the RAW (not the combo RAW/JPEG which takes up more card space), I can't use the zoom feature. Ummm... admittedly, I've not looked lately to see if they upgraded the firmware to make zooming a RAW possible
- Battery is a special rechargeable... can't run on normal batteries in a pinch or over a long trip without recharge access
One final thing to recommend... get more than 40Gb. With cameras shooting bigger RAWs, the P-2000 and it's 40Gb drive can fill up surprisingly quick if you get on a roll.
Hope this helps a little...
I like it a lot.
It does have data verification.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1023&message=17630648
I think I might be leaning towards this Nexto CF. I read about bad cust. service and some major problems with hyperdrive. I have not decided yet, but just an update.
btw Adam, i LOVE your photography.
Lifted the following from Tim Grey's daily "DDQ". Tim knows what he is talking about.
I am traveling with my laptop and would like to use an external hard drive to store my photo files. What product would you recommend? I would like something physically small and very durable.
==========
As a general rule, I highly recommend going with a bus-powered drive. This means the drive will be powered by the USB or FireWire connection to the laptop. In some cases you'll need auxiliary power. This is sometimes provided with a second USB connection to the hard drive, or via an external power connection. I've had hit-or-miss results with various model laptops, and have found that it is difficult to predict whether your particular model will support a bus-powered drive. Regardless, a bus-powered drive with external power is still better than a "standard" external hard drive. However, if a bus-powered drive works without external power on your laptop, you can expect that it always will.
There are many bus-powered drives available. I've had good luck with FireLite drives from SmartDisk (www.smartdisk.com). However, you've indicated you also need a drive that is durable. Standard bus-powered hard drives are certainly not what I would call durable. Fortunately, there is a good solution. Fortress hard drives are highly durable bus-powered external hard drives, and they provide an excellent solution for photographers who travel extensively, especially in situations where equipment has a higher risk of getting dropped or shaken around. I highly recommend
I really like using a laptop and an addition external hard drive to hold a second copy of the images. I have heard that downloaer pro will copy files to both the hard drive andth laptop at the same time. I have also heard that it can insert copywrite and other info in the IPTC fields as well.
In fact the Tim Grey suggestion above really recomends that approach (that bus powered comment can only come from a computer), as I know he definitely suggests a laptop and external hard drives.
I am still intrigues with the possibliity of addtional back up that is powered by batteries especially rechargeable batteries.
The Epson P-4000 / P-8000 models are also highly thought of. I've been using a FlashTrax (SmartDisk) for a couple years now and it's worked well. The battery is maybe good for 4-6 GB of data, though, so I have an extra one. It also comes with a 12V plug to charge it from your car battery. The older model as pictured on Bob Atkins' site (my model) is no longer available, but they have a newer similar one.
Ken