Digital storage

[retep d]

Hi,

I'm looking to purchase a storage device onto which I can down load my images in the field. (RAW files are very storage hungry!)

I've narrowed it down to two devices, a) the SmartDisk FlashTrax, or b) the Epson P-2000.

Anyone with experience of either of these two devices?

Peter

[Stewart J.]

Peter, click on "Search Forums" then type in "flashtrax", theres loads of info and views.

All the best

Stewart

[retep d]

Peter, click on "Search Forums" then type in "flashtrax", theres loads of info and views.

All the best

Stewart

Many thanks for this Stewart.

Peter

[Stewart J.]

Many thanks for this Stewart.

Peter

Glad to assist.

Cheers and good birding

Stewart

:bounce:

[Dave Adshead]

Peter,
I've been using an Epson P2000 for the past 6 months, in February I took it to India with me for 1 months holiday and did a lot of travelling, it served me very well. The LCD screen is superb and any jpeg images can be zoomed in and examined for focus, also the histogram can be displayed. However these options are not available with Raw images. It's a good piece of kit and I would recommend it.

[retep d]

Hi Dave,
I've heard that the Epson has a better quality of viewing screen than the Flashtrax and that the new Firmware allows the viewing of RAW files. Its nice to have advice first hand - many thanks.
Peter

[Dave Adshead]

Peter,
Yes, it was always possible to view Raw files, but you cannot zoom in, read the histogram or play them in slide show mode. To do that, you could always shoot Raw/jpeg, then you would be able to do all the previous.
Since February, I have upgraded the firmware twice, I'm hoping that some time in a future upgrade, Epson will give these facilities to the Raw image.
Dave

[postcardcv]

I've not had first hand experience with these devices, but looked into them a while ago when thinking of buying one. All the info I could find seemed to suggest that the Epsom was the best option, especially for viewing images.

I ended up not buying one, they just seemed to expensive - you can get a laptop for about £100 more than the Epsom. I just got a couple of memory cards (a 2gb and 2x1gb), which see me through a day out. This of course doesn't work so well if you are away from home for a few days, so I am also considering getting something like the Vosonic X'S Drive II. They don't have the screen, so you can view images, they are purely a memory dump, but at £129 for 40gb it's worth considering.

[fr0sty]

Postcardcv

This sounds like a good product. However having just started working with digital images I have one basic question ; I understand that when a memory card is downloaded it stores the images. However if the card is then reused and you try and store more images what happens. As the camera will again start numbering the images at 001. How does the device cope with this as I would not wish to over write the original image?

Regards

[citrinella]

Postcardcv

This sounds like a good product. However having just started working with digital images I have one basic question ; I understand that when a memory card is downloaded it stores the images. However if the card is then reused and you try and store more images what happens. As the camera will again start numbering the images at 001. How does the device cope with this as I would not wish to over write the original image?

Regards

I don't have Vosonix, I have a Canon DigiMate. Every time I download to that it creates a new folder, no risk of over-writing. Does Vosonix do something similar ?

What camera do you have ? I have a 300D. In the menu options you can choose your picture numbering system - restart or continuous. I have mine set to continuous so hopefully will never get two images with the same number*. Can you do the same ?

Mike.

* Unless I buy another camera with the same numbering system.

[fr0sty]

Mike

thanks for the info. Just tried your suggestion about the sequential numbering, and it works - thanks. I still have so much to learn!!

[Corvus Corax]

Hi all,

One other idea worthy of note for mass storage / reviewing is a cheap 2nd hard drive for a laptop.

I picked up an IBM T21 laptop (not cutting edge by any means) for £150 with a 20Gb hard drive, DVD/CD-RW, 256 Mb RAM, XP and loaded it with Photoshop elements 3 & RAWShooter which is more than enough for review & basic manipulation of photos.

For bulk storage, a brand new second hard drive of 60Gb and ultrabay caddy (uses the cd drive bay) were bought for £68 on e-bay which together with a PCMIA Compact Flash card adaptor (£8 in Jessops) means I have an all singing, all dancing media viewer with 14" screen, removeable 60Gb hard drive and 2.5 hr battery life all for under £250.

It's small & light enough to fit into my photo backpack and has proved worth it's weight in gold on holidays & photo trips.

Just a thought. . . .

[citrinella]

I still have so much to learn!!

Don't we all <g>

[postcardcv]

I don't have Vosonix, I have a Canon DigiMate. Every time I download to that it creates a new folder, no risk of over-writing. Does Vosonix do something similar ?


It does exactly that - it makes a new folder every time you download from a memory card. Another good thing about the Vosonic device is that it has built in slots for Compactflash (Microdrive), SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, and XD picture cards - it you should be ok using it even if you change your camera. Also warehouseexpress currently offer it with a free car charger, which woul dbe very useful when away.

[retep d]

Peter,
I've been using an Epson P2000 for the past 6 months, in February I took it to India with me for 1 months holiday and did a lot of travelling, it served me very well. The LCD screen is superb and any jpeg images can be zoomed in and examined for focus, also the histogram can be displayed. However these options are not available with Raw images. It's a good piece of kit and I would recommend it.

Dave,
After a lot of soul searching I have gone the Epson 2000 route. Still getting to know it although it is very straightforward. I have an asignment this weekend so I'll be trying it in anger. I'll let you know how I get on with it.

Karl - I did consider your set-up (cheap laptop + extra hard drive etc) and it has a lot going for it but in the end the weight factor made my decision for me. By the way hows the hide doing?

Peter

[Corvus Corax]

Peter


Karl - I did consider your set-up (cheap laptop + extra hard drive etc) and it has a lot going for it but in the end the weight factor made my decision for me. By the way hows the hide doing?


I honestly believe the significant performance & practicality of the latop more than justifies the weight (only around 750g) - with the swappable drives I can also burn CD's in situ enabling me to instantly share pics with people I am birding with.

Extra advantage is that laptops are allowed as an unweighed piece of extra hand luggage for flights which gives me an extra bag to hide field guides & camera bits in.

The hide is fine, window nets fitted (had to sneakily use my beloved's sewing machine whilst she was out) and only mild derision from my next door neighbour during a mid week test run - ah well he who laughs last . . . .

Will post some results later next week as I am planning a trip to track down a rather elusive Dipper on the River Usk.

[iporali]

I am also considering getting something like the Vosonic X'S Drive II. They don't have the screen, so you can view images, they are purely a memory dump, but at £129 for 40gb it's worth considering.
I have used one for 2 years - works very well as a portable storage, card reader & external hard drive. Excellent user interface: two buttons (power and copy). Li-ion battery life could be better.

Ilkka

[Rob Hutchinson]

It does exactly that - it makes a new folder every time you download from a memory card. Another good thing about the Vosonic device is that it has built in slots for Compactflash (Microdrive), SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, and XD picture cards - it you should be ok using it even if you change your camera. Also warehouseexpress currently offer it with a free car charger, which woul dbe very useful when away.

When downloading onto the Vosonic, can you select which photos you want to download from the CF card or does it transfere everything that is on there...?
Any other comments on this product welcome.

Rob

[Rob Hutchinson]

Does anyone use (or looked into the possibility of using) an external hard drive and downloading the photos via a PDA with a CF / SD slot?

[iporali]

When downloading onto the Vosonic, can you select which photos you want to download from the CF card or does it transfere everything that is on there...?
Any other comments on this product welcome.

Rob
Rob,

With the "old" Vosonic X'S Drive II you cannot select the photos for downloading: it just copies the whole card onto the hard disk inside a folder (from a CF card to folders CF0001, CF0002 etc., from an SD card to folders SD0001...). Sometimes there are several subfolders on the flash card (like panoramas etc.), and everything is copied correctly organized.

The hard disk drive can be installed and upgraded very easily by oneself (normal 2.5" laptop drives). If the first drive becomes full, I would recommend using it as a backup archive and just installing a new drive into the box. Just be careful with small screws, connector pins and the flat cable connector. I am still on my first 40GB, but I used the X'S drive to switch the content of my laptop onto a larger hard drive. Also the battery is self-replaceable. The only (very!) small shortcoming compared to direct downloading to a computer (Mac) is that through the X'S Drive the file icons don't contain the small image thumbnail (but you can see the preview by selecting the file).

The newer models are probably much more versatile with all their media player capacities, but the vII actually does just what I need.

Best regards,

Ilkka

[Rob Hutchinson]

Rob,

With the "old" Vosonic X'S Drive II you cannot select the photos for downloading: it just copies the whole card onto the hard disk inside a folder (from a CF card to folders CF0001, CF0002 etc., from an SD card to folders SD0001...). Sometimes there are several subfolders on the flash card (like panoramas etc.), and everything is copied correctly organized.

The hard disk drive can be installed and upgraded very easily by oneself (normal 2.5" laptop drives). If the first drive becomes full, I would recommend using it as a backup archive and just installing a new drive into the box. Just be careful with small screws, connector pins and the flat cable connector. I am still on my first 40GB, but I used the X'S drive to switch the content of my laptop onto a larger hard drive. Also the battery is self-replaceable. The only (very!) small shortcoming compared to direct downloading to a computer (Mac) is that through the X'S Drive the file icons don't contain the small image thumbnail (but you can see the preview by selecting the file).

The newer models are probably much more versatile with all their media player capacities, but the vII actually does just what I need.

Best regards,

Ilkka

Thanks Ilkka,

This does sound like just what i'm looking for, would be interested to hear whether the 'updated' version - VP2260 XS-Drive 2 XL allows you to select which files you would like to download. I intend to keep my very best shots stored on the memory card until I have a chance to back them up onto a secong hard drive but don't want to be saving the same photo over and over again - would be a waste of memory on the Vosonic.

Any comments appreciated,
Rob

[Saphire]

I have the Xs drive 2xl and no you still cant pick which files you upload to the disk. With there being no viewing screen there is no way you could tell anyway.

[Saphire]

http://www.xsdrive2xl.com/faq.htm. I have just found this webpage that will tell you the facts.

[Rob Hutchinson]

http://www.xsdrive2xl.com/faq.htm. I have just found this webpage that will tell you the facts.

Thanks Christine,

Seems you need to go for the higher spec - VP3320 to be able to pick and choose which files to transfer & review the files stored.

Rob

[Saphire]

Yes it looks like it. I didn't need the screen as when I return from an outing I download to pc then copy to cd so I can then delete them all off my hard disks. I am probably foolish as the cd is my only backup.

[iporali]

I intend to keep my very best shots stored on the memory card until I have a chance to back them up onto a secong hard drive but don't want to be saving the same photo over and over again - would be a waste of memory on the Vosonic.
I think saving the very best shots in several places would not be a bad idea, but it is really very easy to remove unnecessary images by plugging the drive in the computer and just trashing the files you don't want to store. I can't imagine it would be any easier by doing it on the X'S Drive. :t:

Ilkka


ps. Please anybody, don't rely on the CD-Rs as the only image archive medium. Hard drives are much more reliable, faster and nowadays less expensive per megabyte.

[Rob Hutchinson]

I will be holding photos on the vosonic for weeks at a time without having a chance to back them up onto a CD so I really want to keep the best shots stored on the card just in case anything was to happen to the hard drive - seems like the 3320 will be the way to go, will let me choose which files to download so I won't end up backing up the same file ever day!

Would be interested to hear from anyone with good alternatives to the vosonic, I don't need a screen to view the pics so don't want to pay extra for the Flashtrax or Epson.

Rob

[Leo S]

I went for this PSD as it has quite a following over on www.dpreview.com , and looked like the best choise to me :

http://www.compactdrive.com/product.php?p=pd70x

I have not tried it in the field yet, but in my tests at home, it performed just as advertised, and I'm 100% happy with it! It's compact, fast, easy to use, and you can buy spare drives(slim-line laptop, available from most places) for it up to 100GB(and possibly even 120GB may also be available I've been told).

I paid around £160 all together for the 80GB version - from this place:

http://www.onestop-digital.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=28&products_id=125&osCsid=e03a369b6381d444cda6bb386bdedb34

Please note - this shop is in Hong Kong! However, it was packaged in such a way that there was very little chance of it being stopped at customs, and I was not charged any Duty/VAT.

After having ordered I found it cheaper here(but did not ivestigate any further):

http://www.macway.com/

Leo

[Colin Key]

Have not thoroughly read all posts in this thread, but I use my iRiver HD340 hard-disc music player as an external storage device. With my CP4500 it has USB OTG (on the go) facility which allows me to download all my shots (without bothering to trash the worst ones) while in the field. I can also view the shots on the device in reasonably good colour/definition.

Also, I use the hard-disc player as a voice recorder (field notes) and have all the "Bird Sounds of Europe & North-west Africa" (Jean C Roche) CD's copied to it. Not only a good reference in the field for bird song and calls, but, using a set of battery-powered Altec Lansing iM4 speakers, I can call-in birds with amazing results.


Colin

[Leo S]

I use my iRiver HD340 hard-disc music player as an external storage device. With my CP4500 it has USB OTG (on the go) facility which allows me to download all my shots (without bothering to trash the worst ones) while in the field.
Colin

How much data can it hold, and what is the data transfer rate like Colin?

What put me off most of the PSD's on the market is how slow they are at transfering data, which is their primary purpose... if you are in the feild you want to get those photos off your card as quickly as possible so that you can be using it again as quickly as possible... which is why, IMO, the PD70X has the edge over other PSD's...

Leo

[hollis_f]

What put me off most of the PSD's on the market is how slow they are at transfering data, which is their primary purpose... if you are in the feild you want to get those photos off your card as quickly as possible so that you can be using it again as quickly as possible... which is why, IMO, the PD70X has the edge over other PSD's...

Leo

Or you use two cards, so while one is downloading to the PSD t'other is being used.

More important for me is 'How much data can I store without needed more electricity?' I'd rather have a slow device that can download 10GB on a single charge (even if it takes two hours) than a speed demon that can only do 3MB before it needs feeding again.

[Colin Key]

How much data can it hold, and what is the data transfer rate like Colin?

What put me off most of the PSD's on the market is how slow they are at transfering data, which is their primary purpose... if you are in the feild you want to get those photos off your card as quickly as possible so that you can be using it again as quickly as possible... which is why, IMO, the PD70X has the edge over other PSD's...

Leo

Hi Leo,

My iRiver H340 has 40 Gb capacity, as much as many mid-range laptops! (the larger of the new Apple iPods has a 60 Gb capacity but I am not sure that it has "on the go" downloading).

To be honest I am not sure what the download speed is. I use large capacity cards (512 Kb or 1 Gb) so tend to transfer photos to my HD player in the evening when I am away from home for a few days; just plug-in, connect up and leave it to it.

Colin

[Leo S]

Or you use two cards, so while one is downloading to the PSD t'other is being used.

More important for me is 'How much data can I store without needed more electricity?' I'd rather have a slow device that can download 10GB on a single charge (even if it takes two hours) than a speed demon that can only do 3MB before it needs feeding again.

Good point...

Two cards is a good idea anyway(if one packs up you don't want to be stuck with nothing!).

The PD70X claims up to 50GB on a single set of 4 AA NiMh batts... I've not tried rechargables in it yet, but in my haste to use it for the first time, I put in a new set of Duracell(Not reccomended!), and that managed to transfer around 12GB, before dying after 30-ish mins. So a set of NiMh should do much better. Speed and endurance are NOT mutually exclusive!

Leo

[jimtfoto]

Hi,

I'm looking to purchase a storage device onto which I can down load my images in the field. (RAW files are very storage hungry!)

I've narrowed it down to two devices, a) the SmartDisk FlashTrax, or b) the Epson P-2000.

Anyone with experience of either of these two devices?

Peter
Peter:
Epson now has a P-4000 (80gb capacity) which came out about six weeks after I purchased my P-2000. I also own a 30gb Flashtrax and would recommend the Epson products over the Flashtrax. The Flashtrax will not display RAW files (Epson will, but will not let you zoom in as it does with the associated JPG files) and the display lacks clarity. The Epson displays are tack-sharp.
I would also recommend you look at purchasing a second battery for whichever unit you end up buying. My wife and I were on a two-week shooting "vacation" in Florida recently and used the P-2000 heavily. We found the battery would be drained after about 14 or so downloads. Luckily I had the Flashtrax along as well. One of the first purchases I make when I head into the city tomorrow will be a backup battery for my Epson.
Cheers,
Jim

[hollis_f]

Peter:
Epson now has a P-4000 (80gb capacity) which came out about six weeks after I purchased my P-2000. I also own a 30gb Flashtrax and would recommend the Epson products over the Flashtrax. The Flashtrax will not display RAW files (Epson will, but will not let you zoom in as it does with the associated JPG files) and the display lacks clarity. The Epson displays are tack-sharp.
Jim

There's something just out that may be competition for the Epson. The Jobo Giga-Vu Evolution (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-7888-8103) looks very nice. I own the Giga-Vu Pro and if this has an Epson-like screen and has speeded up the data transfer then I might be tempted.