Posted by stuart scott on May 24, 2006 at 11:44 AM
Has anyone (in the UK) bought a Compact Drive PD70x
http://www.compactdrive.com/
Any problems with ordering and shipping to the UK, or other comments on it?
It looks very tempting with the battery life and speed.
Even if it only has European plugs I'm thinking it doesn't matter if you can recharge the AAs in a separate charger
I think this is now superceded by the Hyperdrive HD80 unit - and yes I have the HD80 100gb version - which I imported direct from the USA - a few months ago they were doing a free shipping offer. You can source the Hyperdrive in different hard drive sizes ready to use or just buy the case unit and install your own laptop 3.5" HD, but when I researched the units, the complete unit was cheaper to acquire than buying the case and a separate 3.5" HD unit to retrofit, however if you have a spare laptop size 100gb 3.5" HD unit lying around.......
The AC power unit is UK compatable
Battery life is very good, unit is simple to use and fast, it is the Ronseal of the backup drive systems - it does what it says on the tin, cheaply quickly, no RAW file recognition issues and no review facility to waste battery charge! Connects simply to your computer as a USB hard drive unit for file transfer when back home.
My only niggle is that it checks spare hard disk space when first switched on so it takes a couple of minutes to boot up before it can be used.
The unit has a checksum facility for secure data backup, but this slows the unit down considerably so haven't used this, so far every card transfer has been accompanied by the LCD smiley face at end of card transfer!
My 100gb unit worked out just about half the price of the Epson 4000, takes AA batteries so you can buy a duplex secure backup system for the same price plus you can confidently travel abroad with them as just about everywhere sells AA batteries without worry that you cannot recharge on the go if something dire does happen with your rechargeables or have no field power. The Epson and other units tend to use bespoke NiMH batteries which cost a packet compared to a 4 pack of 2500MAH NiMH AAs
About 2 months ago the Fredmiranda Discussion forum website was going hyper over the unit so USA demand quickly outstripped supply - it is produced by a small "garage" operation - so there may be a delay in filling orders at present - it caused an unecessary bad reputation for the unreliable supply of units.
Bought the 40Gb PDx70 direct from http://www.eastgear.com/shop/index.php?cPath=17_66 - the order was confirmed by email with a delivery date and time given for 3 days in advance. Item was delivered 10 min before the quoted delivery time. Can't complain on delivery.
The PDX70 is really a very cost effective, quick but no bells & whistle storage device - came with a UK main adaptor. As previously mentioned runs on 4 AA batteries so field downloads can be achieved.
INitially I thought the 2 plastic end caps [1 for the battery compartment & the other for the CF & switch end] looked a bit frail & breakable but so far after 9 months usage I have no issues on this point.
In retrospect I think it would be nice to have a viewing screen on the device but then the device would be quite a different cost.
Tom
Discussion
2 replieshttp://www.compactdrive.com/
Any problems with ordering and shipping to the UK, or other comments on it?
It looks very tempting with the battery life and speed.
Even if it only has European plugs I'm thinking it doesn't matter if you can recharge the AAs in a separate charger
ta
stu
The AC power unit is UK compatable
Battery life is very good, unit is simple to use and fast, it is the Ronseal of the backup drive systems - it does what it says on the tin, cheaply quickly, no RAW file recognition issues and no review facility to waste battery charge! Connects simply to your computer as a USB hard drive unit for file transfer when back home.
My only niggle is that it checks spare hard disk space when first switched on so it takes a couple of minutes to boot up before it can be used.
The unit has a checksum facility for secure data backup, but this slows the unit down considerably so haven't used this, so far every card transfer has been accompanied by the LCD smiley face at end of card transfer!
My 100gb unit worked out just about half the price of the Epson 4000, takes AA batteries so you can buy a duplex secure backup system for the same price plus you can confidently travel abroad with them as just about everywhere sells AA batteries without worry that you cannot recharge on the go if something dire does happen with your rechargeables or have no field power. The Epson and other units tend to use bespoke NiMH batteries which cost a packet compared to a 4 pack of 2500MAH NiMH AAs
About 2 months ago the Fredmiranda Discussion forum website was going hyper over the unit so USA demand quickly outstripped supply - it is produced by a small "garage" operation - so there may be a delay in filling orders at present - it caused an unecessary bad reputation for the unreliable supply of units.
Mike
NB seem to be back ordered again -
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/401693
The PDX70 is really a very cost effective, quick but no bells & whistle storage device - came with a UK main adaptor. As previously mentioned runs on 4 AA batteries so field downloads can be achieved.
INitially I thought the 2 plastic end caps [1 for the battery compartment & the other for the CF & switch end] looked a bit frail & breakable but so far after 9 months usage I have no issues on this point.
In retrospect I think it would be nice to have a viewing screen on the device but then the device would be quite a different cost.
Tom