Mass Storage Devices

[ligia_dovale]

As a wildlife photographer going digital, who spends quite a bit of

time in the woods away from civilization and computers, I urgently

need a portable mass storage device.

 

While checking the previous posting about mass storage devices for

digital imaging in this forum, realize that there have not been any

updates since October last year. If any one has tried the 40 GB

Image Tank or any other, large capacity mass storage device, please

let me know about your experience and recommendations. Thanks!

 

Ligia

[dmanthree]

Any mass storage device has two inherent problems: need for some power source, be it batteries or AC, and; a single point of failure for image loss. I never trust my digital images to a single point of storage, especially when it involves a rotating device. CDs are good, but you can't burn CDs during extended trips into the woods. Hard drive devices are OK, but it's a HD, and tromping through the woods can't be the best thing for a hard drive, and I don't fully trust them for a non-backed up storage point. I suggest the painful way out; buy as many CF cards as you will need for the trip. They're the most reliable of the alternatives, although not the cheapest.

[efusco]

Might a portable battery powered CD burner like this <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/news/0304/03040401jobostenocp100.asp" target="_blank">A Pacer Disk Steno CP100</a> suit your needs. It utilizes a rechargable Li Ion battery that only lasts 60 min so, if you have no means of recharging in the field, you might need to invest in extra batteries--assuming they're replacable.

[craig_bridge]

If you are away from a car or other vehicle for days, how are you going to recharge your batteries (or didn't you realize that was a worse problem)?

 

If you are working from a vehicle you see at least every other day, battery chargers and laptops with CD burners are viable.

 

Large CF memory cards have come down in price. A 1GB one will hold about 500 D1X images (fine JPEG). Equivalent of 14 rolls of 35mm film. How many bricks of film do you usually carry?

[ShunCheung]

The main question is how long you are away from civilization. If it is a day or two or three, the solution is lot easier. If you need to store the images from a week of shooting, especially for wildlife when we tend to shoot a lot more frames, it may be an issue.

 

I have been using a MindStore Digital Wallet and am quite happy with it. But usually I am not gone for days. Battery life is an issue but so is that for your DSLR. But in my case I get to recharge things daily. Yes, these things can fail but too is your camera and lenses. Once my 500mm/f4 got stuck in its maximum aperture. At least in the digital era I would have found out the problem immediately by reviewing my images. If you are really concerned, maybe get two of these storage devices so that you have a backup in case there is a hard drive failure.

 

You sure can get a lot of CF cards to last the entire period. Again, if it is a couple of days, it is doable. If it is a week of shooting, the cost adds up rapidly.

[bobatkins]

You can get solar powered rechargers that should enable you to power mass storage devices in the field. You're going to need one for your camera batteries anyway if you're away from civilization for that long.

 

My worry about the portable CD writer is just how long it takes to transfer the data. The longer it takes the more power it consumes (and the longer you have to wait of course). My guess is that if you're transferring GB of data, a hard drive will consume less power per byte and so give you more storge capacity before requiring a recharge. It's also $300 (and not yet available) vs around $200 for a 20GB hard drive.

 

The upside of a CD writer is that (assuming it's writing properly which would be difficult to check in the field), the loss of one disk can only cost you the data on that disk vs. everything for a hard drive failure.

 

On the other hand I have not heard any horror stories about failures of the portable hard drives. That's not a lot of comfort though if your hard drive turns out to be the one in a million that crashes.

[j._scott_schrader]

I'd suggest waiting a few years and they will have cameras out

that will have a button for a download to your desktop computer

at home. You will simply send the image up to a satelite, and it

will transfer the data directly to your desk top storage device(s)

back at the office. Problem solved. This technology has been in

R&D now for a while. It will be a reality eventually.

[dmanthree]

One more thought: if you're just *going* digital, and are going to be away from civilazation for a while, why not just shoot film and get a Photo CD?

[barry schmetter]

While we're on the subject, do any of you tech-heads know if an iPOD can be

used as a storage device for digicams in the field?

[bill_oneill]

Hi Ligia,

 

I'm not sure what your time away from power (car, AC, local hardware shop) is going to be but if, like me, you take these 2 - 4 week excursions into the wilderness, I'm with David, use film. Besides the power headaches, with the right technique and equipment, good film will produce better results anyway. While the image quality of digital is getting better at a satisfying rate, the portability issue lags behind somewhat.

 

Ligia, I used to design power supply systems. If you like you can e-mail me directly with particulars (what power options are available for the Image Tank, etc.) and maybe I can come up with something for you. If we're successful we can share the results with the forum.

[ligia_dovale]

Hi there!

 

Thanks so much for all the answers this far.

 

Let me explain a little bit better about the upcoming wildlife digital trip situation. I will be flying with camping equipment, the 500 mm f/4, etc., so taking the laptop is just too much to carry. It will be one week of camping away from the vehicle and one week somewhere else in a regular room. Understand that there is at least one electric outlet somewhere near the campground to recharge the batteries, so that part of the problem is solved. However, the storage of the images is my main concern. When the opportunities are good for photographing wildlife action, I shoot over 10 rolls of regular film per day. That means that I could easily fill up more than one (1 GB) microdrive per day while shooting in the fine, large Jpeg mode. Even being conservative and using only one microdrive per day, I would still need 14 of them for the entire trip. The two (1 GB) microdrives that I have would not be of too much help.

 

After reading your recommendations, I now have another concern and that is, the possibility of having a portable mass storage device that might fail, that would be absolutely terrible!

 

Perhaps going back to regular film for this particular trip is the best solution.

 

Thanks again,

 

Ligia

[bobatkins]

Any device might fail, including the two microdrives you already have or the processing line at the lab that develops your film - or camera (including your backup body). Nothing is certain. You could buy TWO portable hard drives and store you images on both of them. The chances of two failures would be very remote. Or you could buy both a hard drive AND a CD burner. The possibilities are endless if absolute safety of your images is critical and you have enough money!

[jpoutasse]

Perhaps this portable CD burner would be the answer for you.

I understand it's very new on the market but seems to be cost effective.

http://www.jobodigital.com/products/disc_steno_cp100.htm

[ShunCheung]

Now we understand your situation better. If battery power is not a problem, that helps a lot. My wife shoots video and battery power is always an issue.

 

If a laptop is completely out of the question, Image Tank or Digital Wallet should be a good solution. The hard drive is the weakest link in any computer. If you are really concerned, get two image tanks. Even though you shoot 1G per day, a 20G device should last your whole trip. My problem is that I shoot RAW and 1G is only like 100 images. However, in digital we don't need "in camera dupes" and can delete the images that are obviously bad.

 

Or you can get sufficient 1G CF cards to last your entire trip. The main issue is whether you do this somewhat regularly or this is a one-time deal. For most people, it seems to be hard to justify a couple of $400 Image Tanks or over $1000 worth of CF cards just for one trip. In that case it would be nice if we could rent these storage devices.

 

There are no guarantees in life. As I said, once my 500mm/f4 failed in the field, and I didn't know until I saw a bunch of over-exposed slides afterwards (because the aperture was stuck at f4). Most of us don't actually own a 2nd 500mm/f4 and bring it all the time.

[ligia_dovale]

Bringing two 500 mm f/4 to the field? I had not even remotely thought about it! However, two years ago, I brought the 500 mm f/4 and the 300 mm f/2.8 to AK plus lots of extra photo equipment totaling 62 pounds (solo trip.) You make those mistakes once! Now, I am trying to travel light, that is why I had already canceled part of the upcoming trip where I would have stayed away from electricity for a week, so that I would not have to carry a Turbo and more batteries that add bulk and weight. After reading your latest advice, I might get the two portable mass storage devices and/or the Disk Steno CP100 ... and/or more microdrives! One thing is for sure, there is no inexpensive or easy way to go. If a ship the laptop, then there is the possibility that it could be banged or mistreated in the shipment.

 

In regard to digital failure, I have already had my share. During my first digital, wildlife photo trip at the beginning of the year, and after about six thousand shots, the D-100 refused to transfer the images from one of the microdrives. I tried deleting some of the files that apparently were corrupted, but the problem persisted and I was reluctant to reformat the microdrive and lose all the images. The solution came from �Ontrack, Easy Recovery,� a software program that repairs and restore corrupt files. By using this program, I was able to transfer the images.

 

Note: The D-100 is extremely slow in reading the TIFF or the RAW files, big problem for wildlife action shots, opportunities are missed while the camera is frozen reading. That is the only reason why I have had to opt for the large, fine JPEG mode for wildlife.

 

Ligia

[mark_williamson2]

I use Mindstor digital wallet. Sadly these guys have gone out of business. I find that a battery pack is good for about 1.5 hours of use. This doesn't sound like much but it only takes a minute to two to download a card. I have found a set of batteries reliable for loading 5 gig in the field and have tested them to load 9 gig at home. To maximize battery life I use all of my cards and then download them all at once.

 

On longer trips I have built a second battery pack, the Mindstor uses standard cells with a standard plug connector so a second battery set is a snap.

If I every need to replace the Mindstor I will be looking for a unit with a similar extra battery feature that uses standard commercially available batteries rather than a proprietary format.

 

Several people have worried about the hard-disk failing, I think that with a little care these type of units are very reliable in the field. I store mine in the poor mans pelican case, a store brought food storage box with a sealing gasket and some packing foam.

 

Recently I have been checking out small solar cells that could charge a battery, the idea being to have a cell that could charge a camera battery (I use a 10D) or a Mindstor battery whilst left in the the sun for a day. This seems quite achievable with a lightweight solar cell.

[tom_keenan]

I agree with Mark. I just returned from one week in the field. I travel with 2 D1x batteries, 3 CF 256MB cards, and one Minds at Work Digital wallet 10 GIG with an extra battery pack. I only have two batteries for the wallet so I do nothing except turn it on...download as many cards as I can...and turn it off. I can bring home about 1200 RAW (8MB) files with this set up. I have never had trouble with the digital wallet but I agree with the above posts that it is probably the weakest link. I have never actually brought 1200 files home so I don't know the exact limits of my setup. I would recommend buying an extra battery pack or two for anyone with the Minds at work wallet (since they are no longer around). I notice that they are available on ebay at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2926571953&category=15202

[alex_p._schorsch]

Just for everyone's information Brunton makes a cheap solar charger for AA size batteries, check out their site www.brunton.com.

[ShunCheung]

Most people cannot afford even one 500mm/f4, so I was just kidding about buying and carrying a backup, although I can use a 300mm/f4 with 1.4x TC in case I have another 500mm failure.

 

It is well known in the computer field that hard drives are the weakest link, primiarily because of the many mechanical parts and spinning. As a software engineer, I have had my share of hard drive failures both at work and at home. Since those digital wallers are pretty small, if your images are that important and you can justify an extra $400 or so, a second digital wallet would be the first item to have a backup.

 

Incidentally, microdrives have the same vulnerability. Given that 1G CF cards are much cheaper now, I would favor CF cards nowadays.

 

Not sure solar cells is the power solution. For one thing it takes a long time to recharge batteries that way, and you are very dependent on sun light. If you are constantly on the move or the sun is not out, recharging becomes a problem.

 

Finally, does anybody actually bring a laptop to the field? I think eventually I'll bring one instead of some 50 rolls of film. A more compact one that can write DVDs seems to make sense. There will still be the battery issue though.

[a._goldeneagle]

<P>1. Go digital: waiting for infinite convenience is idiocy,

especially with nature being eradicated permanently for sake of

civil-ignorance's temporary establishment.</P>

 

<P>2. Bring 3 of the hugest fast memory-cards you can ( always one

in the camera!, and if one gets corrupted it can be retired, while

still working )</P>

 

<P>3. <A HREF="http://www.dansdata.com/">Dan's Data</A>'s review of

the <A HREF="http://www.dansdata.com/xsdrive2.htm">XSDrive</A></P>

 

<P>4. You can get extra-duty laptop-drives ( the X in the

part-numbers indicates, in the IBM labelling system, enhanced

availability ), like:<BR>

the <A HREF="http://www.hgst.com/hdd/travel/tr60gh.htm">Travelstar

60GH</A>, and<BR>

the <A HREF="http://www.hgst.com/hdd/travel/tr40gnx.htm">Travelstar

40GNX</A></P>

 

<P>5. You may need to buy <A

HREF="http://www.maxell.co.jp/e/products/industrial/battery/li_ion/index.html">extra

batteries</A> for the thing from places like

<A HREF="http://www.alliedelec.com/search.asp">Allied

Electronics</A> or <A HREF="http://www.digikey.com">DigiKey</A> or

<A HREF="http://www.mouser.com">Mouser Electronics</A>: they may be

able to special-order 'em.<BR>

The Image Tank/Bank may take more-normal, or more-gettable

batteries<BR>

( damned if I could find any of these Maxells around... it's

Hitachi/Maxell, by the way, so finding a Hitachi Industrial supplier

probably means having found

a Maxell supplier... and don't check fancy batteries, I don't know

how well they survive ultra-high-energy x-ray machines, and anything

with cmos or

static-ram may well be slaughtered by checked-luggage-scans, now,

too: I <I>have</I> seen that.. )</P>

 

<P>6. Motors kill power, and spinning-up a DVD up and burning it (

strong laser ) kills LOTS more power than does spinning-up a

laptop-HD and recording into

it...</P>

 

<P>7. Solar will be a problem, unless you've got some special means

of transforming the solar power ( very variable current, somewhat

variable ( iirc! )

voltage ) into the Image Tank thingy</P>

 

<P>8. If you need RAID ( Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent

Disks ), then you can bring a jeweller's screwdriver and a spare HD,

and change 'em in

the field, so your data exists always on 2 drives ( test that the

Image-Tank thing doesn't format 'em on noticing a change! ). This'd

be inconvenient,

and you'd need an anti-static-bag for storing the other drive, but

if weight is a prime limit...</P>

 

<P>9. Anyone who says "drives fail .. and CF's don't" needs their

head examined: memory-card file-recovery software wouldn't exist,

then, would it?</P>

 

<P>10. Ultra-miniature machines, running on the Transmeta chip, are

half the size of laptop machines ( costlier, smaller, lighter, oft

more battery-power,

but still fragiler than an Image Tanker, what with the screen, the

extra connections into it, and all )</P>

 

<P>11. If you're crazy enough to prefer a burner to a simple drive (

burner means having a bigger motor, a burning-laser, an openable

mechanism, etc. ) then

try to get Panasonic, since their engineering seems sanest ( I've

seen too much sleazy engineering in many other brands, and techs

seem to consider Panasonic

the trustworthy, non-failing brand, and my experience matches

that.</P>

 

<P><A HREF="http://www.mec.ca">MEC</A>'s got solar-chargers for AA

batteries ( iirc ) and the like, sane prices, them</P>

 

<P>Right. That's it for this, Cheers!</P> <BR>