Portable CF reader/HDD?

[Mad Dave]

Hi Guys,

I think I need a portable HDD with a CF card reader, for storing all my D70 images whilst on the move. Now, ive seen some funky bits of kit, but my budget is really only £150 maximum. Jessops do a CD burner with a CF slot but its a bit big. Whilst browsing through a photography mag in WHSmiths yesterday, I saw a news story about a new portable 20gb drive with CF slot. It didn't have a screen but was only £141 - problem is, I can't remember the name of it. It was something like 'USB tech' or 'USB Trax' or something.

Can anyone shed any light on this?!

Dave

[Podie]

Jessops sell something along those lines… not sure of price though

[RobDickinson]

I bought a 40gig version of this :

www.vosonic.co.uk/vp3310.html

From these people :
https://secure3.ozhosting.com/powermarket/pm_stores/PINStore/client/store.asp

Excelent quick service, snook past customs even though they DHL'd it in 3 days. Cost £110 or so.

Other options:
Sameish from the UK:
www.fotosense.co.uk/digital_harddrive_storage.html

www.mydigitaldiscount.com/s.nl/c.ACCT139057/sc.2/category.3/.f

G-mini 400 has a CF slot but you wont get one for £150 in the UK I dont think.

Or get a cheap laptop and use that.

[hansgerd]

I have one of those Vosonic drives with a 30 GB hard disk. The problem with most of the portable drives is that they are driven by a build in accu. the Vosonic is good for about 10 - 12 download of a 512 MB CF card. After that the accu needs to be recharged. That's why a have an eye on this battery driven drive: www.eastgear.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=17_66&products_id=310

[Mad Dave]

Thanks guys.

Rob> That looks pretty good - I may well have to order one of those. I'd prefer to buy from the UK, but presumably that will cost more.

Dave

[chim_knee]

See this post for some good advice too if you want.

[Ex-biker]

I have just bought one of these (arrived Fri):

www.crown-digital.co.uk/ishop/883/shopscr36.html

Add to this a 40gb hdd for around £50 (I got one from ebuyer), like this:

www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=165190

40gb back up for less than £100!

I have had a little trouble formatting the new drive. This is done now, but not how I really want it (I want a 30/10gb partition.
I will post further info when it is up and running.

[Ian_H]

Ex-biker said:

I have just bought one of these (arrived Fri): www.crown-digital.co.uk/ishop/883/shopscr36.html

I've used one of the units that Ex-Biker has just bought for the last 3 years or so (in fact I just bought another one, couldn't resist it at that price), it's an excellent piece of kit and has never let me down.


Cheers
Ian

[Ex-biker]

This looks pretty interesting:

www.ephotozine.com/news/fullnews.cfm?NewsID=1911

[Mad Dave]

Ex-biker said:

I have just bought one of these (arrived Fri): www.crown-digital.co.uk/ishop/883/shopscr36.html Add to this a 40gb hdd for around £50 (I got one from ebuyer), like this: www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=165190 40gb back up for less than £100! I have had a little trouble formatting the new drive. This is done now, but not how I really want it (I want a 30/10gb partition. I will post further info when it is up and running.

That looks great - theyre based quite near to me actually so I think ill ring them in the morning and see if I can go over and get one. I think ive even got an old 4.6GB drive lying around here somewhere. Not that big, but it'll do me for my weekend in London.

One question though - does it automatically create different directories? If not, how does it get around the fact that if you format the CF card it will use the same file naming system - therefore you could end up writing over your images on the HDD!

Thanks guys

Dave

[Ex-biker]

I haven't got that far yet.

However my camera is set so it numbers continuously as opposed to resetting after each format.

[Ian_H]

Mad Dave said:

One question though - does it automatically create different directories? If not, how does it get around the fact that if you format the CF card it will use the same file naming system - therefore you could end up writing over your images on the HDD! Thanks guys Dave

Everytime you download a card it creates a new directory on the drive.


Cheers
Ian

[m12_nathan]

My D70 names each file uniquely Dave, if I format a card it starts with the next number in sequence unless I manually reset the counter.

[Mad Dave]

Thanks guys. Im going to call that place in the morning and hope that they have some, and that they also dont mind me collecting it (some mail order places dont let you collect).

Thanks

Dave

[Mad Dave]

Thanks for all the help guys - I picked up an Image Tank this morning from Crown Digital - very helpful people actually. The drive I had lying around was a 6.03GB so thats in there now and im just testing it out. It seems quite slow to copy the contents of the CF card across to the internal drive, but I shant grumble as it was such a bargain!

[_dobbo_]

You could also by a bigger drive from ebay

Like this 20GB one which is currently at 5 squids with only a few hours to go...