Storage solution needed for 4 week trip - please help!

I'll be touring Thailand for 4 weeks and need a cheap storage solution for my images.

 

I'll be using a 5D, and my husband will have a 30D. We'll probably lack any kind of discipline when it comes to

how many images we take. We don't want to rely solely on CF cards, so we're looking into portable storage

devices. Our budget is limited for this, though, so we wouldn't be able to buy a storage device, and enough CF

cards to not have to wipe any of them.

 

I've read that Hyperdrives are very reliable (something like an HD80 or the Space). Even so, I'm not sure I'd

want to just rely on one of these, and buying two is over budget. I'm also investigating cheaper alternatives

that we could buy two of, so that if one goes down, we'd have another copy. The probem with this is that cheaper

alternatives are just that - cheap and poorly built.

 

We've looked at getting an Asus EEEPC laptop/netbook, and then taking our two external drives as well - heavy but

maybe a better solution?

 

Another option that I'd like opinions on is getting a pocket surfer like the one they talk about here:

 

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=297830&forumid=2

 

and like this:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pocket-Surfer-Wireless-Internet-Appliance/dp/B000YCRRZK/ref=sr_1_42?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1225753460&sr=8-42

 

I can't find much information as to whether it's usb compatible though. Would this work?

 

I leave in less than a week - after a busy season, it's only now that I'm thinking about myself, this trip, and

getting into a last minute panic.

 

Please help!

if youre not going to rely on a hyperdrive, then maybe you could consider a sony portable dvd burner or one made by another company. . . you could burn DVD's, multiple copies if you want and then reformat the cards. . .

"I leave in less than a week - after a busy season"

 

Based on that, I would buy more CF cards and not have to wipe any of them.

 

If you're going on a trip that you won't repeat often, you don't want to experiment with new (to you)

technology *and* erase your CF cards, which are a proven way of storing images.

 

 

Eric

Tony - I wondered about a dvd burner. I do know another photographer who had one break during a trip - he only noticed after several days. That's the downside (the same as for drives that have no viewer): it's hard to tell whether everything's properly saved. Have you had better experiences with Sony ones?

 

Eric: the thing is, I can go through 5 x 4GB CF cards in one day shooting a full wedding. So, for 4 weeks, even though I won't be doing anything like reportage coverage of my trip, I'd need to buy soooo many CF cards to be sure of not running out whilst stuck on a remote island. That's why I thought a drive with lots of memory would be a good idea. I'm not overly concerned about the dealing with technology that's new to me - so long as it's reliable and doesn't require major surgery to maintain it. Do you still think CFs are the way to go for me?

I was just over there too, have a great time! I used the Smartdisk Flashtrax unit with a CF slot and pop-up screen. It was

great b/c I didn't have to use camera battery or time while transferring, just pop in the CF card. Also, you could check to

make sure the images were there since it thad the screen, which made me rest easier about erasing the cards. Of course,

no hard drive is fool proof, so you just need to decide how much "safety" you need. Not sure on your budget, but it was

around $300, I think.

Thanks Amber - I'm looking into the Smartdisk. Where in Thailand did you visit?

 

Another option that's occurred to me is to wait until I'm in Bangkok and buy something there where it should be cheaper - so long as I can find the right thing. Does anyone know how feasible this would be?

OK, I have been in a similar situation, although my trip was only a week and I was able to make do with extra CF cards. Honestly, for the price of laptops right now, you can hardly beat that solution. The bonus is you also have a laptop to get online and communicate with the world, if you choose to. The secondary solution that comes with most laptops today is a DVD drive, and the third if you have internet access is web based storage. One thing to keep in mind however is that if you are not in a hotel or location with free and fast web access, it can take a long time for uploading large RAW files. Anyway, for $599 or less you're on your way and it is an investment you won't regret in the future. Getting a 15" size or smaller will keep the weight down as well...

I always take my laptop and an external HD when I travel but I know many either can't or don't want a laptop. Don't know your budget but here are some alternatives......

 

http://drobo.com/

 

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=63061068

 

or their newer version

 

http://www.wolverinedata.com/

Lindsey:

 

The problem as I see is that you don't have sufficient time to test anything new to you at this point.

Even a laptop. As cheap as memory cards are these days, it just wouldn't be worth the risk to me.

 

Now, if your trip was a month or more out, and you had time to buy, test, and possibly return one of

these solutions, I'd say go for it. A week out? I'd be buying CF cards if I were in your position.

 

 

Eric

I've used a Hyperdrive for several trips. Just keep the batteries charged. Works great, never had a problem.

It's a risky idea to try something new on a trip you won't repeat.

 

My advice is that you just buy extra CF cards. I traveled Europe for five weeks with just one 8GB SD card in my Nikon D80 shooting at its maximum resolution (but no RAW). Of course, I had two extra cards in my bag (and a lot of other things) but never used them.

 

As you already noted, discipline has a lot to do here.

 

Marcelo

Before I go on to ask more questions... point taken, Eric and Marcelo; I'm giving it serious thought.

 

Bruce - this is what's annoying me. I'm in the UK. You have all of these fantastic gadgets over there in the US and I can't find them here! To make it even more annoying, guess where I'll be after Thailand?... Texas, for Christmas (family thing)... where I could have any of these things delivered easily.

 

Does anyone know of a Wolverine stockist in the UK? Google finds nothing. I'd read that they'd ceased trading actually, although that could be wrong. All of their products here certainly show as no longer available.

 

At this point, I'm either going to spend £150 on CF cards tomorrow or take my chances on Bangkok (unless in a moment of pique I click the hyperdrive buy button of course).

Barry - I meant to ask: which Hyperdrive do you use?

Use an iPod to store photos - you will need a card reader. This is what my son used on a trip to Italy about 5 yrs ago.

 

Fred

Friends of mine recently visited Sochi on the Black Sea coast and just "winged it" with cards. They had no problem with a supply. According to this, http://www.globeforums.com/forums/asia/166575-digital-camera-cards-in-thialand.html the supply of cards is more than ample at your destination.

 

bob

I'd also suggest getting a bunch more CF cards. Most other storage devices (except a DVD burner + laptop) will only store the one copy. A laptop is a target for theft and a lot to lug around for a month if you are going on exotic hikes Don't put all your photographic "eggs" in one basket and just buy lots of CF cards and a way of storing and sorting them. I've heard the cards can even survive being underwater as long as they dry out fully before being used again. Having a limit on your photos may also make you think more about each shot and help you to make each one count. Since you say your shooting weddings and using a bunch of cards a day already, just imagine how many more you're going to need when you upgrade your camera. If you're not planing on upgrading soon you could always buy the cards now and sell them when you get back, or keep them for back to back to back weddings :-)

I travel in Thailand and Vietnam every year. Unless you are going to be stuck in the jungle (pretty hard these

days), you can burn DVD's everywhere. Or upload to a site and keep it safe until you get home. I have an Asus eee

that I brought the last couple of times. But laptops can be stolen or dissappeared.

Bob, Jamie and Malte - thanks. Yes, I'm thinking of taking this route. As it happens, I have a 5d Mk ii on pre-order (didn't get released in time, for me to take d**m it), so I'm well aware of the need for more cards soon. I'm just trying to save money before Christmas, really, and I have been needing another back-up device for weddings (had a close call when my super new-ish Mac Pro started crashing and wiping files from all open windows).

 

It's really good to know that there are DVD-burning cafes everywhere. My only concern regarding this is that I have 10 away-from it-all days: 6 on a remote island with no shops but with fantastic scenery, and then 4 in the jungle. But I can probably wing that with enough cards and that aforementioned, erm, discipline.

I use a full blown portable computer. Does not have to be a fancy model, just one that will burn a CD. I have a

MacBook 13" no options. It also has my second allowed installation of photoshop.

 

We use it at home to take anywhere in the house as it connects to the wireless router.

 

Download and then burn two CDs. Then check them to be sure the images are safe and correct. Some people

mail one copy home.

 

Upload to Smugmugg or Carbonite for later retrieval.

 

Under no circumstances should you use public computers as the CD may not work when you get home. No way

would I use a blind device.

I've been using a HyperDrive HD80 for almost three years with no problems. It's more more portable than a laptop and more rugged than a laptop or DVDs. It (and my images stored in it) have survived backpacking trips around Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam (and Korea, Japan, and England).

 

Internet cafes are common in the heavily-touristed areas, but I never saw them when I got away from the tourist areas. (That doesn't mean that they weren't around, but if they were there, there was no English signage.)

Another note about HyperDrive: they do have international delivery. When I bought mine, it was shipped to Korea

within a week.

 

And another note regarding "erm, discipline": To hell with that! You'll have spent an entire day in airports and

planes, with additional time in buses and boats (and maybe several hours of hiking) to get to your destinations,

which you may never visit again. The last thing you want to worry about is whether you should or shouldn't take

the shot because you may run out of storage. Take twice as much storage as you think you'll need, shoot anything

and everything you like, and exercise discipline during editing after you get back home. You won't have any

serious regrets about the extra hundred dollars (or fifty pounds) you spend on a bigger drive, but you'll

definitely regret missing shots that you wanted on your multi-thousand dollar trip.

I was just thinking, can PDA's or smart phones connect to cameras via mini USB ports & transfer files ? if thats possible and if u hav any PDA/smart phone with huge storage u can look for an appropriate cable and give it a try.

 

i know, it sounds geeky ... still ... :-)

 

regards,

Asus eepc 1000H - 10", intel gma 950, 1 gb (one module only, if you want to change it, you must take out that only one and put antoher module - recommanded is 2gb for vista or/and xp) and 160GB HDD.

Packard Bell 12.1" , intel x3100, 2gb, hdd 160gb hdd.

 

You can use them everywhere you go...you have battery inside, maybe you can take a car charger...

You can take raw or jpg how many do you want now...

I hope so it helps.

Have a nice trip.

Another vote for the Hyperdrive. I've taken mine to Turkey, Morocco and Europe for month-long trips and never had any problem at all. Small, reliable, simple.

 

Dan

"I do know another photographer who had one break during a trip"

 

if you spend enough time in this business you'll meet people who have broken just about everything there is to break. I've dropped $10,000 lenses, broken tripods, smashed cards, dumped hard drives in the water, flooded CF cards that were in my pockets, left items in locations that I could not afford to return too, it's just life, nothing is absolute. . .

 

I use CF cards, hyperdrives, and DVD's. In truth, i've never, ever had a Hyperdrive failure. Why do you need to see the images to know if they saved? The Hyperdrive space that I use does not show a photo, it does tell me that the data stored/saved, i dont need to see the images, i know what I captured and if I really want to look at the images, i'll do it on the back of my camera (who needs two tiny little monitors) before I save them. Data is data, if it saved, looking at a digital file of it wont change that. I'll give you this much, it may make you feel better to "see" them on your tiny hyperdrive screen, but if it saves, it saves. . .

 

I'd stop fretting over this, no matter what you do you will not have enough redundancy, there is a risk in all digital media, just like there was when we use to send off film. . . Just do your best to reduce the risk as much as you can and your budget will allow. . . Heck, you could have your great taken from you, the plane might even crash on the flight over. The point is you cant eliminate the risk, and with your limitations, you can only have so much redundancy.

 

Good luck, and get back to worry about making images. . .