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We are heading to the US in August and I want to be able to back up the photos from my CF cards. A friend suggested backing up to an iPod but I'm not so sure. Has anyone got any suggestions? We won't be carrying a laptop so will need alternatives.

Hi

I have used vosonic portable hard drives in the past for the same purpose.
google vosonic
or look for "power by numbers" who can supply
there are other suppliers in Australia as well

good luck

Thanks. I'll give it a google!

sevencolours wrote:I have used vosonic portable hard drives in the past for the same purpose.

There are quite a few of these around.
I went with a basic empty hard drive enclosure "Hyperdrive Space" and put a 120GB 5400rpm drive in it. It looks like they have some pretty newer versions now.

You will want to decide on what features you are after. Do you want to be able to view your images on a colour display? How much hard drive space will you need?
You could look at the Epson P-3000 or P-5000.

Daniel

Just doing a bit of a search for PSDs. I will going to the US in a couple of months time, and trying to find something to store photos on, smaller than a laptop.
http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/olin-160gb-photo-storage-unit-dm110/
Found this, and was wondering if anyone knew if it would accept NEF files, or is it just too cheap and nasty to take the risk.

Bob

Bob it is not a well known brand, it may be quicker to email the vendor direct. I would expect it should be able to store them, just not view them but it doesn't seem to be a viewer anyway.

Bob, as it is only a storage device on steroids it should be able to store any file format that is on the CF card. Basically it is just a mobile storage unit and not a viewer. If it were a viewer you would need to know what files can be “read” and viewed.

Thanks people, I only need to store the images, so it might do the job. Thanks again.

Bob

Bob,

I have a vosonic 6230i and generally like it. I have had it a few years an I suspect that there are better units out there. A couple of things to think about is that while the upload to a computer gets you USB 2.0 speeds the download from the card is slower. I seem to only get about 4Mb/s download speed which means to empty a 2Gig card takes about 9-10minutes. While this is not too long it brings us to battery life. Running a hard drive for 30 minutes a night on a tip from a small battery they soon need a recharge. Look into what the download speed from card to unit of the one you posted is. If operating away from mains power for weeks or more get one that goes faster or get a second battery.

Nobody

Hi
Welcome to the Forum, Nobody.
I did buy the Olin unit, and it seems to work well enough, although it is quite slow to transfer from the card. As I don't think I will be a long way from power, it shouldn't be a problem. At least it's very small and won't take up too much space in my carry on.

Bob

You can think about....

Asus EeePC approx $300 at msy...also can get GST back too
External pocket lappy drive..$80

You can use EeePc to surf web and reply to emails via wifi hot-spots. It is cheap enough that if it gets stolen it is not a big deal. Size is awesome. Get the linux one and install window on it.

Vince

I had a similar issue last year before our trip to Spain, etc. Didn't want to spend
more than I had to, and I ended up with a Digimate III DC PARTNER 80Gb PSD.

It takes several different cards. It does not display your shots, just stores them.
There is a simple colour display, but that is just to show what is happening.

I dumped the contents of my SD cards (which included photographs and video)
onto it each night. (I was using my travel camera, a Canon S3)

The battery in it doesn't seem to be very effective, but I have only needed to
use it when I had mains power so it doesn't matter.

It functioned perfectly, getting 3,500 shots and 100 or so videos home without
a hitch. Very happy with it, taking it to Malaysia next week

The 80 Gb model is $181.

You can see them here

I've used a PDX-70, now rebranded as another Hyperdrive unit (http://www.hyperdrive.com/HyperDrive-HD80-s/2.htm) for several years now, and it works really well. The main thing I like about it is its speed. I'm actually in Washington DC now and I'm playing with my new D300 at last; I have a couple of 4GB CF cards which are enough to store a day's shooting, and like Greg I dump the images to the PDX each night.
I also bought an eeePC, mainly for web surfing and emails while I'm away, and it works well too- certainly lighter than a conventional laptop. I didn't bother bringing an external HD to backup my images this time, but I will be doing that when I go on a photographic tour to China in Sept, just so I have 2 separate sets of shots.

There really are several choices available to you - just depends on your budget and how much you want to carry.

Frank

The advantage of a unit like the Epson P3000 which I use is that you can view and discard any images which do not measure up (it has a zoom facility). Downside is cost.

Creative Zen Vision:W? 60gb unit, more of a music and video player (which might be handy...you never know) and has a CF card slot.

I'm with shutterbug.

I just came back from a 4.5 week trip around Europe. Brought along an Asus eeePC 900 20Gb (which I had installed Windows on). I simply hooked up my camera to it via USB and transferred my photos to its harddisk. With the necessary software installed, I can view photos in any file format I throw at it. Reviewing photos were a lot easier on its 8.9" screen compared to the D300's 3" screen. If I needed more storage, I simply hooked up an external harddisk via USB.

I also used it for internet if there were any wi-fi hotspots, a movie player, a notepad/journal, and a power supply for my phone and Nintendo DS (I had USB cables for both of these). At a tad over 1kg (including the power adapter), it's not too heavy to carry around.

Ben

This sounds like a better alternative to buying a bunch of new cards for my OS trip, especially since i'm not likely to need a heap of cards again.

Does anyone know if internet cafes in Europe allow you to transfer photos from a camera/memory card to your own portable hdd?

extrapolating from poor areas of India, I would say that they definitely would.

Thanks.

After spending hours searching for an answer and reading horror story after horror story of using internet cafes i decided to bite the bullet and order a PSD. I'd hate to go all the way to Europe only to finds i'm screwed for storage or something has been corrupted.
I got a Vosonic 5700 without the HDD. I'll by my own HDD. At least i know what i'm getting and i can get a much larger HDD for the same money the units with the HDD included cost.