Portable Storage Devices

[Carlb]

Has anyone one here had any experience with these things and are they any good? Anyone got any recommendations.

Basically I have just bought a new camera (Fuji F30) and was looking at getting some more memory cards for it as there is no way a 512mb card would last me for a weeks holiday with pictures at full quality. For not much more than the cost of a couple of 1gb memory cards you can get these 30/40gb portable storage devices with in built card reader and thought that they may be a viable alternative, particularly as you can't change cards underwater! Finding one with an xD slot is proving to be a bit of a challenge though, but xD > CF adaptors are available for about £30.

So to repeat the question, are they any good or are there better alternatives?

[wilbo]

Mrs Wilbo is looking for something similar for her photos.. this site seems too have a decent selection - including the xd to cf converters

[wreckweasel]

You triggered my noseyness, so I came across this;

X-Drive II
http://www.aquaindigo.com/index.html
DigiMagic 1.8' HD Portable Storage device

I've got to be honest, it looks like SD cards are cheap enough, more reliable and less bulky for travel.

PS. This mob are doing a deal on a device thats SD capable. Vosonic X'S-DRIVE II Plus Portable Storage Device 9 in 1

[DIVE BUDDHA]

when i was on holiday in egypt on the liveaboard there was a guy with a video ipod

with a 60 gigabyte storage drive what he kept all his taken photos on and

video from the days diving !!!

and when played back on the screen i could not believe the clarity of the

playback !!! i do know these devices are not cheap but very easy download via a little lead that connects the 2 devices and i was well impressed with the results

Apple Store - U.K. - iPod

[sidthejedi]

Might be worth looking at the Creative devices - they tend to cost less per Gb of storage than IPods...

[Carlb]

I already have a 2-3yo creative zen 40gb MP3 player, and whilst I think that it is a lot better than the ipods that were available at the time it can't do quite what I want, and AFAIK neither will the newer ones. The key elements of these things is that they are battery powered and that they incorporate a card reader, meaning that they are completely self contained devices that you can use to copy the contents off a memory card so that the card can be reused. A laptop/PC/Mac is not needed to work them. They are also small enough to pop in your hand baggage without worrying about weight, packing etc etc.

I was thinking that with one of these devices I could wait till I got home from holiday and then sort out the pictures. However if they are too expensive/unreliable then it's either a fistful of memory cards or a laptop. I would rather not go the laptop route as I already have one, but it isn't really up to the job due to weight/disk space/age. A new, lighter, faster one with more capacity would set me back the best part of £1,000. The fistful of memory cards is a viable option, but as I have more than one camera, and they different kinds of cards then if the price is right one of these things becomes a viable alternative.

(BTW I do quite like the new creative mp3 players, but they don't really offer much in the way of extras over my current model)

[Tim Ingmire]

I use an Archos AV400 which has a nicely sized screen, a CF slot and a 100Gb hard drive! I have it chock full of photos, MP3's and the 1st new Doctor Who series. It rocks. It is faster to transfer my photos to that and then to the computer rather than direct to any computer.

I used to use an iRiver device but that had no card slot and needed to be connected to my camera. This was really slow and just not workable.

[Okeanos]

I just take 3 x 1gb cards with me, its a hard job filling them up with a 6mp camera. And a 512mb for above ground shots.

[Narked@50]

Just going out on a limb here - but I've been drinking, so what the hell!

Sod all the fancy card rubbish and buy a £400 laptop, you know it makes scense. What else are you going to do with all those "spare" hours on a dive trip, get a hold of your favourite photo manipulation software and you'll have all the editing done by the time you get home - one less job to do, believe me, I've been there!

Expensive? extreme? - just have a look at you chosen sport?

James - still drinking!

[dizzydog]

i use the XS Drive 2 XL VP2260. It works well ive took it around the world and never had a problem with it. It also makes a handy card reader and spare hard drive.