Microdrives

[r2160]

Hey all

Just come back from a trip to Spain and was thinking about microdrives.

I noticed Hitachi 4gb microdrives on ebay.

Are they worth it? What about speed compared to say an ultra 2?

Glenn

[sirhc55]

Hi Glenn - I believe the concensus would be to forget microdrives - they are prone to damage and also failure. A normal CF card is far more reliable and safer in the long run

[birddog114]

Hey all

Just come back from a trip to Spain and was thinking about microdrives.

I noticed Hitachi 4gb microdrives on ebay.

Are they worth it? What about speed compared to say an ultra 2?

Glenn

Glenn,
Welcome back ! Hope you have had a good trip!
Forget about the microdrive! That won't help you much btw.
The failure rate is sooooooooooo high, slow, more power consumption and it'll drive you mad.
Let's it go into the history.

[Nnnnsic]

The only time in recent memory I wanted to use the Microdrive we have here was when we were in Melbourne earlier this year for the Grand Prix and I wanted to use it for taking pictures in the Melbourne Auto Show.

It was still too slow for me and the cars were stationary.

Stay away... stay well away.

[TonyH]

I own a Microdrive (2.2gb) along with 2 Ultra 2gb cards and Kingston 2gb cards.

The microdive comes out only every now and then for a play. They are cheap and under certain circumstances unreliable.

If you are taking shots that you want to be able to download (guaranteed) don't buy one. I bought mine 18 months ago before really knowing what was what.

The main problem with them I found is humidity: they just lock up and don't work, with continual shooting they can't keep up and lock up. Sometimes they magically unlock, other times it is a reformat and of course loosing all of your data.

During my learning phase about microdrives I was in Bali in very humid conditions, the microdive just locked up and didn't work. Of course panic set in thinking all of the shots on that drive were gonners. Fortunately after leaving it for around 2 weeks on return home I was able to download the shots successfully.

They are too much trouble for valuable work.

Regards Tony

[gstark]

Glen,

I stopped using mine well before Leigh started (and then stopped) using it. For photographic purposes it makes a wonderful, small paperweight.

Forget about it.

[cordy]

I own a 1gb microdrive and as the others have said forget about it. Mine is somewhat erratic in the way it behaves, i've lost photos before.

I'll use my sandisk ultra II's well before the microdrive, its only there in case of emergency.. Oh and most microdrives are sloooooooooooow....

Chris

[r2160]

Thanks Guys

the main reason I was told that they were faster than cards.

I was trying to take some action shots and while the astone is a great card, access is just a little slow when doing multiple shots. I guess I will stick to the 1gb Ultra II.

Glenn

[birddog114]

Thanks Guys
the main reason I was told that they were faster than cards.
Glenn

Negative!

I was trying to take some action shots and while the astone is a great card, access is just a little slow when doing multiple shots. I guess I will stick to the 1gb Ultra II.

That's the nature of the D70, turn NR off + use uncompressed (From menu) will help also. Even you use the Sandisk III or Transcend 80x, writing speed won't change with the D70 in burst mode.

Get the D2x

[gstark]

Thanks Guys

the main reason I was told that they were faster than cards.

By a salesperson, no doubt.

In fact, this is somewhat true - thr rotational speed is certainly faster, as a CF card is totlaly solid state. That makes the read and write speeds of the CF card far quicker than that of the microdrive.

[tasadam]

Get the D2x

You're a true salesman birdie, except you don't tell fibs like "Microdrives are faster"

I love this forum. I learn something new every time I visit. Thanks all.