Portable storage devices.

[john_charles_samphier]

Greetings Everyone.

I am searching for a portable storage device on which I can download the images

on CF cards, in order to clear the card's memory for further shooting. The

camera I have is the Kodak DCS Pro 14n, and I want to store RAW files of up to

14Mb each.

I don't just want to view a thumbnail, as I know of instances where images were

supposed to be saved, although they couldn't be seen on the storage device, but

later when trying to download the images to a computer, they were not there.

Could anyone advise me on makes and models of these devices which can store the

images in RAW files, but also allow them to be seen on the screen. Obviously,

I am not a millionaire, so the lower priced recommendations are preferred.

Thank you in advance.

John Samphier.

[SteveH]

My wife and I do a fair amount of travelling to photograph critters, among other things. We

tried and sold the Flashtrax (slow, and eats batteries). The Epson P2000 looks nice, but we

haven't tried it. We've finally settled on a small laptop (a Mac) with backup to a portable

hard drive. There's another thread around today about good portable PC laptops. The

Lexar firewire CF card reader is really fast, a helpful item with the larger files.

[keith_van_hulle1]

I think Steve has the better solution. Doesn't the Epson only display the JPG requiring you shoot in RAW+JPG (I could be wrong). Besides, at their price (and the Jobos), you could buy a small laptop and have a lot more bang for the buck.

 

For just data xfer and storage, Wolverine units are highly recommended and a good deal. 60Gb for ~$150 or so.

[marc_van_lommel]

I have a Xs Drive II VP2160 with xD card and other multi card download possibility, it has no way of checking the files are actually downloaded, apart from the COPY OK! warning ... so, everytime I download and erase my cards I have to wait until getting home to see they are actually copied ...

 

I would in the future like to by one with LCD, like epson has or the manufacturer of my present device ... there are a few on the market and prices range from 250-600 US$ according to what HD space you want.

[marc_van_lommel]

One more thing, when there is corrupt file on the card the transfer will stop and copying will fail, there is no way to tell the device to skip the file and go one copying ... so, basically you're stuck as you can't transfer the files and erase the card.

 

Until now it worked fine, the price was about 150 US$ with a 40 GB hd

[romain.chappaz]

i been using a 60 g photobank. its small and accepts all the cards. i used it in cuba and when i go for a long period of time away from home.

you cant see the photos but its fast and easy to use. i also made it in 2 hd so as to have one section with mp3 and movies. the Transcend USB 2.0 Photobank cost about $ 160 at the time. comes with charger and usb cable.

[jimstrutz]

Might be tough to find a portable drive that displays RAW from a Kodak DCS Pro 14n. There are some that display other RAW formats though, so maybe. I also think you would have better luck with a small laptop.

[w.smith]

iPods come to mind, JC (and I'll bet the iPhone as well). They display the JPG's of RAW/JPG

combos.

They ain't cheap, but then you get 4 devices for the price of 1: a PSD, an MP3 player, a

video player, AND a portable harddisk.

[JosvanEekelen]

As stated earlier, it may be difficult to find a unit that displays Kodak RAW files. If you can forget that option the Compactdrive units (AKA Hyperdrive) are fast and reliable.

[lheusinkveld]

I have the Epson P2000. It displays RAW files, and no, you do not have to shoot RAW + Jpg. I haven't checked, but with two newer versions available you might get a used P2000 fairly inexpensively. You cannot zoom or crop RAW files, but it is small and light and highly reliable as a storage device. Also the big screen is wonderful for reviewing images. I recently added a Dell Latitude X1 laptop to my gear (2.5 lbs). It reads CF and SD cards directly. When I travel I copy from my cards to both of these devices, which gives me redundancy and a chance to work on the pictures if I have time, not to mention email and other goodies. It also means I don't have to bother with burning DVD's while I am travelling. Having had a DVD with critical files fail on me recently I am a lot less confident of their reliability and longevity.

[john_charles_samphier]

I would like to thank all of the people who responded to my question regarding PSD's. All of the answers were helpful, but given the cost of the units which could conceiveably store my work, I think I will go with the suggestion to buy a small laptop computer, instead. Thank you all for your time and suggestions. Regards, John Samphier.