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external hard drive that takes a beating...?
hi all...i'l be shooting many high-res RAW files on the road, lots of off-road action in Africa, so......i'm looking for a bomb-proof USB powered external hard drive that can handle the vibrations of enduro travel. ideally, it has to be pretty small and light, preferably up to 250 GB of storage.
any advice? peace, |
That's an easy one iPod classic, mine is always with me and is stilling working great.
My laptop on the other hand is in for a second lot of repair now. iPod mounts on any PC/Mac you can carry all your files with you and plays music and movies for when it's wet and you don't want to ride. |
Laptop HD (2.5 and 1.8") tend to be a bit more robust than ones meant for desktop use.
Apart from that I don't think it matters that much what you get, since it sounds like you will only be using it when stationary, ie no vibrations when the drive is running. If that is indeed the case there is no need for all kind of fancy gell casings, just put it someplace safe amongst eg clothing. It is when being used (spinning) that the drives are most vulnerable, and laptops like Toughbooks, meant for use in harsh environments, have the drives in special shock absorbing cases to protect them. Pieter |
I would just like to mention, on one of my previous trips, some 12k miles or so, my Sony video camera literally fell apart in my hands. Almost every screw came loose from the vibrations! Because it's a small and light item, i would recomend carrying it on your body where it's properly suspended and free from vibrations. I saw some really cool ones in the Mac store in Las Vegas, $200 for 500GB, about the size of a ham sandwich. I shoulda bought it! Small enough to put in a zip-lock baggie and store in your pocket.
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It's not my laptop drive that's failed its the components being SHAKEN off the board mostly cracked soldering and the such. It was stored in my pannier upright and next to the bike side of it, and it was encased in a nice travel bag to reduce vibrations go figure.
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ipod capacity...
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and...can you download directly from camera just in case my laptop decided to pack it in? thanks, |
I've had my eye on this one. Has anybody here put it to the test?
LaCie All Terrain HD/250GB/$289.00 http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10722 |
Hi yes 160GB holds 14,800 or it might be 148,000 Images at that resolution whatever one it is that's still loads...and Yes I think it's griffin that makes the dock between the iPod and a camera, you will have to google it as I can't remember what it's called.
I'm currently USING my iPod and as I'm doing a RTW for the next two years so I do know what I'm on about, the iPod is going to hold up better then an external hard drive because it's next to your skin in your jacket where are are a lot less vibrations then if it was in your luggage like my laptop was. Just my 2 cents but I always aim to be the voice of reason. :cool4: |
The Lacie looks pretty good. After thinking about this some more, i think i like the i-pod idea the most. You don't need, or shouldn't use 250GB...your putting all your eggs in one basket, right? As rugged as a rotating drive is, it still will have it's vulnrabilities. The i-pods are cheap off E-Bay and available, with 60-80GB of storage, thats a lot of photo's! You still need to download into a hard-copy though. I think this is the only option until we see the solid-state harddrives (Like i-pod 8GB) come in larger sizes.
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solid state devises is the safest =usb pendrives sd/mmc/memstick/pci'e etc:eek3: TDMalcolm |
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Personally I use solid state devices (or film) for a long rough trip. If you use digital remember to always store all your pics on at least two different places! Disks are usually certified up to a certain elevation (typical 10.000 feet) and there is a reason for this…. |
I agree solid state is the way to go. I used my iPod to download photos from my camera on a lengthy Europe (walking) trip a couple of years ago before I was shooting RAW. I don't think 250 GB is unreasonable nowadays.
You can buy the small camera connector for the iPod directly from Apple for $29.00. The only negative I saw was that it really sucked the juice from the iPod during the transfer, but I guess any bus powered device would.... http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...&nplm=M9861G/B |
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Western Digital Passport Portable 250 Gb Hard Drive
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It's also sleek and sexy.:yes: http://www.wdc.com/global/images/pro...Portable_2.jpghttp://www.wdc.com/global/images/pro...Portable_2.jpg Stephan |
Solid state might be the way to go, but it will cost you if you want 250GB.
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True...any solid state device with no moving parts would be better than one with mechanical, the price point for 250GB affords you several laptop hard drives at the price of a 250Gb solid state device.
I bought a laptop HD and stuck it in a removable Rosewill case... A laptop HD is much more ruggedly built than a desktop...thank IBM... The HD I used... Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint M Series HM120JC 120GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache ATA-6 Notebook Hard Drive - OEM BUT the HD I'd recommend...Hitachi Travelstar...took over IBM's HD division is whats used on the Space Station... Newegg.com - HITACHI Travelstar 7K200 HTS722020K9SA00 (0A50940) 200GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Notebook Hard Drive - OEM The enclosure I used... Newegg.com - BYTECC HD-201U2 (SILVER) Aluminum 2.5" USB2.0 mini External Enclosure - Retail HTH This equipment went RTW with me last year, and held up through many deserts, creek crossings, dropped bikes, etc...its still what I'm using today. HTH edde |
Robust
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Think Geek Crap
Why would you spend $800 on a 100 gig external hard drive when you can spend $100 for one(including enclosure that will do the same job?)...
Actually you're paying $60 for HD and $740 for the case... Overrated/overhyped/overmarketed crap... Keep it simple and use proven stuff...like your old school GS or my K75...although I do have driveshaft and final drive envy...yours was so much better built than mine! |
Whatever you do, burn a CD or DVD once in a while and send it home. That way, if you get robbed, you'll still have your pictures. I took 2 4GB SanDisc flash drives with me last year on my trip. One packed it in ... My laptop was a Fujitsu P5020 and it survived just fine. Trick is to pack it horizontal, not vertical, and on top of your clothes. I bought a Tupperware container and lined it with fleece material as well. Worked like a charm.
If I had to do it again, I'd go with a small 2.5 inch USB powered $100 or so thin you can buy everywhere. It's backup after all... If the computer packs it in, you've got the 2.5 inch ... if the 2.5 packs it in, toss it and buy a new one when you can. Size is going to be an issue. Pack as little as you can. No need for a 7 foot drop resistant drive case... |
I've got a smaller version of the Lacie drive, took it on a 15k mile trip around the US last summer, worked fine. I would rather have solid-state, but if anything with this kind of capacity exists, I imagine it would be horribly expensive.
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I'm another contender for the ipod classic, mine is 80gb and small and really durable not to mention you can listen to your tunes too!
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I've got the same Western digital 250GB drive as Stephano, attached to my Eee-PC for photo's and video. I haven't used it in anger yet on a prolonged trip but I'm hopeful it'll survive along with my Eee in bubblewrap inside a Peli case in my topbox. It's definately small enough and the right shape to put in an inside pocket so I may go that route. I like to shoot on-board video so I soon use up memory. Some days though I think life was so much less bother when all I needed was 10 rolls of Fuji and my Nikon FM2.
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Memory card solution
If u know how HD works, its just a question of time when bad blocks and errors starts to appear on HD used under heavy conditios. I use Canon DSLR with CF card. Prices are acceptable - 16 GB for 200 USD. If using SD cards, price is 16 GB for 100 USD. I have 2 cards like this - i can store 3200 (1600x2) pictures in 10mpix RAW format - enough for one month of travelling between two civilized spots, where i can burn CF to DVD and send home. Bit more expensive, but safe and simple solution.
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ipod as storage
For what its worth, I have tried to use my ipod video and the apple camera adaptor to download images from my Canon camera and I have found that downloading a 1GB card with RAW images on is about the max I can download before the battery on the IPOD went into the red, I don't believe that this is a suitable device for the task in hand, though there are several CF / SD / card reading hard-drive backup devices that might be more suitable.
Cheers John |
Storage
Others might disagree, but this is my experience:
- stay clear of any iPod with a hard drive. I had a 40GB iPod replaced 3x (!!!) on warranty - ALL of them because of hard drive failure. And, no, i didn't even use it for running or the gym (vibration). Just walking from & to work. First one gave up 6 months after purchase, 2nd one 3 months later, 3rd one another 5 months later. No more warranty = no more ipods. This experience also made decide against a MacBook Air – they have the same drives as iPods have. - stay clear of LaCie drives. I had 2 desktop drives fail on me within 4 weeks. I work professionally in design/photography and heard the exact same comments from various Photographers and Art Directors: a lot of LaCie drives failed on them quite early - both desktop and mobile hard drives - try Western Digital drives (renowned for their build-quality). - a friend of mine just finished riding from London to Sydney. He used a Freecom ToughDrive. No problems whatsoever. - If in doubt, go for lower capacities. I heard rumours (!) that: smaller capacity = mechanically less sensitive. - an expensive but safe alternative: CF cards. 7dayshop do some very cheap Sandisk cards, 8GB for £34: 7dayshop.com - Online Store 8GB should be good for about 500 RAW files on a 10 megapixel camera. After that: go to an internet cafe and do a rough edit to free up some space. Stay clear of cheap eBay Sandisk cards – most of them are cheap copies with less write speed and less reliability. Bjorn |
Re: Western Digital
I've seen them giving up loads (used to work as a IT guy in the shool with loads of computers). Also I'd look away from any IBM drives. The only company that who's drives have worked for us was Seagate, both ultra-fast rotating SCSIs in the servers and ATAs on desktops and 2.5" in laptops. And it was the only company giving 5 years warranty for their HDs, too. |
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TDMalcolm |
Corsair 32GB Flash Survivor USB 2.0 Flash Pen Drive - CMFUSBSRVR-32GB - AWD-IT.CO.UK
Take 2 of these if budget will allow..... |
shoot jpg instead of raw.. more bang for the buck!
and the lacie 250g is rugged and takes lots of abuse. j |
I have just added up all my photos from my last bike trip, 10months UK to Cape Town. I am a keen photographer and take many photos. After a month or two I did't really bother deleating my bad photos as I just got lazy. I was using a 10Mp camera, mostly shoting in Jpeg but also quite alot in RAW. I was surprised to find that adding up all my photos they only came to about 36GB. My friend who shot more RAW than I used half of his 100GB portable hard drive, he was on the road for 9months.
I just burnt DVD's in each capital city and sent them home, all made it. I found no matter how carefuly I packed my DVD's (caselogic etc...) that they still got buffed on the underside, so you really need to post them home as soon as possable! I am this time planning (RTW 5years) and looking at taking a portable storage system, hard drive/ipod/something. With the ipod can you see your pictures on the screen? Also could someone please clarifie for me the difference between solid state and hard disk,-which one is better and what does an ipod use? Thanks, please be patient with me, I new to this! |
jobo giga vue extreme portable hard drive with screen
hi
i have recommended this before on the hubb and i will again! i initially had problems with a hard drive you could write raw files straight to, having lost money due to high street and duty free assistants not quite knowing what they were talking about!! even that some hard drives will copy raw files, but not necessarily from your camera, or they will from a compact in jpeg, but not from an slr even in jpeg regardless of pixels- a different form of file??? not sure on that, just that i would check carefully the files you want from your camera will write on the hard drive you choose! the extreme is expensive, but you can copy straight from the sd/cf etc card review delete etc, as well as store. you can also backup onto one of the screenless cheaper jobo's, and it checks there are no errors in its copy. it has a rechargable battery which does about 5*4gb cards before needing a charge. more info, and a review on here:- Computing & Software - Hard Drives - Portable Drives - Warehouse Express j |
check this out...
judging by how top end laptops are now running solid state hdd's and the capacity is slowly creeping up, i think it will be very soon, that we will see this:
Solid State Disk, Flashdrive, Flash Solid State Hard Drive, ATA-133, PATA, IDE, Parallel ATA E-Disk Altima being mainstream. this is currently available, my research shows that it has been on the market since 1st quarter 08, but i couldnt find a price....any comments!? 400+gb solid state hdd... the future but at what cost?! |
hp elitebook 6930p
or this? kinda ruggedised, low power consumption, good size, not toooo expensive, actually buyable i think?
HP EliteBook 6930p first with 24-hour battery life News - PC Advisor although the review i had read said it needed the led screen option to reach 24hour operating, but that it also had a solid state hard drive. now i cant find any mention of ssd anywhere! sorry |
Another option to consider is paying for an account on flickr or something like that, then upload every now and then from internet cafes. Computer backups are supposed to be stored off-site, so when you get stuck in a river and your waterproof cases aren't(waterproof), the backups are still safe.
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Having more than enough memory cards for a full days shoot, then copying to dvd at the end of each day, is probably the safest and easiest option.
I'm guessing you're already doing this. Just my thoughts. |
I have used a 250gb portable HD from Ibank and download the cameras each evening in the tent. We have ridden some pretty gorky roads with a lot of corrugation, construction, and potholes and never had a problem with the laptop or the hard drive. I put some loctite on the screws for everything that looked like it might shake loose. No problems. Admittedly, we only rode 13000 miles last year and only about 1000 on non-tarred surface, but the road through wyoming and nebraska was enough to rub the shine off your teeth. For Normal field trip use, the 4gb chips in the camera hold a gawdaful bunch of shots, but I still download and burn a disc each night just in case the camera gets nicked or soaked. We are only waiting for springtime to arrive to begin the RTW and have bought all gear with longterm use in mind.
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Decided to go for a ToughDrive from FreeCom. Comes with USB or FireWire cable attached to the drive, so less packsize for cables.
Despite some tough roads (i.e. Tajikistan), the hard drives held up 100%. Other things that DID break: rear shock, 1 lens (Sigma - the Canon ones all stayed fine), right indicator & flyscreen ;) That said: the hard drives are so well-cushioned (above my sleeping mat) and they can't bounce around inside the panniers either (hard luggage). I believe ANY half-decent drive would be no problem. The only ones I'll steer clear off forever are the LaCie ones. Had 2 drives refuse service on me within the same week. (Desktop machine, never dropped any drives). Not much fun trying to retrieve information from a physically corrupt drive... Bjorn |
Try These
I am a big fan of Transcend products in general and always use their memory. They are as good as anything else and often a fraction of the price.
Storejet 25 MOBILE range 320GB Transcend StoreJet 25 Shock Resistant External Mobile HDD for Notebooks and Desktops |
Having worked in IT in secondary and Tertiary for a while now you soon find out what lasts and what doesn't, basically coz they don't care.
An external HDD is the biggest portable capacity you will get cheaply. Yes the platters are thinner and therefore more fragile. But the whole drive is made to be portable and with this in mind, more robust than it desktop brothers. The main vulnerability with HDD is when they are powered up (spinning) this is where they die very quickly if treated harshly. Rapped up in clothes in a pannier they will be fine. SSD is better again but still very expensive per Gb when compared to external HDDs. Great if you can afford it. The cheapest way to get solid state is a USB pen drive. They have 64Gb drives now at fairly reasonable prices. Uploading photos straight to a web store (cloud technologies) like microsofts live mesh is great if you have access to a net connection with a fast uplink. Most don't and if you are dealing with large files it going to be a pain. If you want to be computer less you can get external HDDs that act as a host so you can plug your camera directly to it and copy the photos across. Or another funky device that allows you to plug your memory cards in and copy the photos across. I think the cheapest and most redunant way would be, big memory cards, a visit to an net cafe or if you have a laptop copy off, burn to DVD and send home. That way you have the photos in at least two different places. It all depends how geeky / organised you want to get. I my self will take a Western Digital 500Gb passport drive, some 8cm 1.4Gb DVD discs, big memory cards and burn then send home at a net cafe. Sorry to go on.:( Cheers |
I see they selling 80gb memory sticks now, dont know if that will help?
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