Portable and affordable storage/backup devices?

[evan_c1]

<p>I'm taking a 5 week trip to Asia in a few weeks and anticipate taking horrid amounts of digital photos, like 7,000-10,000 in Nikon raw. Ideally I would like to avoid taking my laptop or tons of memory cards, so I was wondering if there are any portable backup solutions similar to the Colorspace Hyperdrive that are more affordable. Ideally the unit will be under $100 in price, include more than 40GB of storage, and have a built in CF card reader with one button to transfer the contents of the card to the device with a confirmation that the transfer was successful. A color screen and other more advanced content review features are not necessary.</p>

<p>Any suggestions?</p>

[carbon_dragon]

<p>Someone might be able to suggest a device that has worked well for them, but I have to wonder if you aren't going to want to see larger sized images to see what you're getting, in which case something like a 10" netbook with a 120GB hard drive and a card reader might be a reasonably small and better solution. It wouldn't be powerful enough to do much image editing, but you could maybe at least see the images by installing the Nikon image software on it.</p>

<p>I can't tell you what to get now, but I have a netbook from HP (2140) which has an ExpressCard slot (for a cardreader maybe), a large hard disk, good screen real estate, and a useable keyboard. It's a bit more than your price range or was when it was new, but a more modern netbook might be better and cheaper. I know I wouldn't want to carry it either, but I can't help but feel that I'd want to see the images at least that big.</p>

[curt wiler]

<p>You need at least 160GB of storage to be on the safe side for that many images. I will second the netbook idea. On my last long trip I shot about 180GB worth of images, downloaded to a 10" netbook with a 500GB HD and simultaneously backed up on a Colorspace Hyperdrive also with 500GB. That way if either fails I can still download my images. You can probably get an adequate netbook for under $300.</p>

[jim_momary]

<p>For my vacations and long trips(where I don't want to carry a notebook, silly me) a net book and an external hard drive for redundancy is most effective and not too physically large. The 'useful' screen size is a plus. A real keyboard rather than a dozen 10 function, press button A 3 times while holding button B, suits me better, also.</p>

<p>In the end, remember, it's just memory. The human interface to whatever device is the part that to me seems more 'friendly or terrible". My 2 cents.</p>

[joshuamck]

<p>+1 to Netbook with external drive(s) idea. Try to have at least 2 copies of your files, preferably in separate places (e.g. 1 drive in your hotel safe, 1 in your day bag). Never delete files from you cards before copying to your backup drive, then from the backup drive to your main drive where you inspect the files for integrity (this ensures that both copies worked, as it's highly unlikely that a copy error to your backup would suddenly be fixed when you copy from the backup to your main drive). If the files are important I'd add a DVD burn from a net cafe whenever you get a chance then send the disc home.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>A laptop with a built-in DVD burner, a 500 GB external USB drive, a card reader and a stack of blank DVDs would be appropriate for the number of pictures you intend to take. A 40 GB drive won't work when you need to store over 200 GB of images (do the math!). You're going to burn at least 50 DVDs too, not counting selvege and coasters.</p>

<p>You can buy the external drive for about $100 and 100 DVD+Rs for about $30, but you won't find a stand-alone backup device for that, even one with only 40GB. Why not ask for the moon?</p>

<p><em>where I don't want to carry a notebook, silly me</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

You got that right ;-)</p>

[evan_c1]

<p>Thanks for the responses everyone. I was hoping to avoid taking a computer but it looks like it may be unavoidable; I also have a lot of work to do as far as sorting and editing my current backlog so I may just insure my 15" macbook and lug it along with me.</p>

<p>As far as the device I was asking about, I intended to get several of them and backup each full card onto at least two of them.</p>