Portable card backup with firewire port & data verification???

[david_l.]

I am looking for an accessory that will allow me to dump my flash cards on the road with

file copy verification (not just file name check) and can act as an emergency boot drive for

my Mac - thus the firewire interface requirement. I was on the edge with the CompactDrive

PD7X but lack of a voltage regulator, firewire, and verifiaction put this out of the loop. The

Belkin and newly released Apple plug for the iPod seems interesting but they do not verify

files and the iPod is not bootable. I heard the Mindstor devices have a firewire interface

(anybody boot OSX off this drive?) but has serious reliability problems and the company is

out of business to boot. Any advice or device that I have missed?

[eric_konieczny]

I am looking at Portable storage devices also, and am hard pressed to to find one that matches my needs also.

 

I am looking for one that can handle CF and memory stick, plus data verification with the LCD, but none can handle all this without a extra adapter. If it already costs $500 for the Epson, I sure don't want to have to buy extra adapters.

 

As for now, I might just settle for the CompactDrive PD7X, and wait a year for something better.

[bobatkins]

Do you need verification? I wanted that too, but ended up with a portable hard drive without verification (tripper). It's never glitched on me, though I'll admit to sometimes saving two copies of a card if I'm feeling expecially paranoid.

 

Maybe the best and most secure backup system would be to use two storage devices, maybe a CD burner and a portable hard drive. Even without verification chances are slim that both would glitch, plus you still have a a backup if one fails, gets stolen or even if you drop one over a cliff.

 

Doesn't help with the booting though. Again, how often have you ever had to do an emergency boot from an external drive. Can't you boot from a CD if all else fails?

[david_l.]

Actually Bob, we all need verification. Every time you copy digital data small errors are

generated. After several generations errors could corrupt your data and render it

unreadable. That is why your CD/DVD burner or data backup software runs a verification

before finishing a copy. Dumping a 2 or 4 GB card is guranteed to generate an error or two

and applying murphy's law, it is sure to reveal itself in the most important photo on the

card. I have been using DSLRs since the mid-90's and have had many files damaged or

corrupted.True file verification - while time consuming helps prevent data loss during

backup.

 

Secondly, I'm typing this on a Mac that is running OSX installed on an external RAID. I have

duplicate copies of my system on internal and external drives to prevent any slow downs

in oeration due to system problems. Saves me an expensive trip to a computer repair

service who will do the exact same thing with a broken computer (boot from a external

drive.) On the road, a second drive, such as a 2.5" hard drive in external case is a necessity

for laptop users who are doing more than emailing and web browsing. There are a

plethora of devices out there that are designed for flash card backup that have 2.5" or 1.8"

drives inside but slower USB 1.1 or 2.0 interfaces (yes USB 2.0 throughput capability is

higher than firewire but in real world application firewire 400/800 is consisrent, faster,

and more stable - ever use an external USB 2.0 burner, got coasters?) I only costs a few

cents more to license firewire so has anybody done so?