Mass Storage

[Clutchcargo]

What I was hoping for was a reader that supports USB drives or at least will support full size HDs. This way it's easy and cheap upgrade when you need more storage and I can use some of my existing hardware.
Unfortunately it sounds like this product doesn't exist. I guess the Image tank and like products are about as inexpensive as they get. I'm also trying to avoid products that are quickly obsolete, remember the click drive.
For my next trip which is Bonaire in <2weeks, I think I found a place (Bonaire Access in the Harbourside Mall) that can DL the flashcard and burn a CD, so I'm covered for this next trip.
Thx for all the suggestions.
Cjh

 

[domino22]

I have the oly 5050 and bought the flashtrax. I have two 256 cards and can get about 77pics per card shooting shq at the highest deal. First time with any of this stuff in Bonaire last week but it worked great for me. And I have no clue to what I am or was doing. But out of 900 to 1000 photos I have about 30 to 50 that are wall worthy. But still working on figuring out how to tweek and print. Note bought the Nixvue and it came in broke. Had to scramble fast and bought the flastrax local on a Sunday. Saved the trip so to speak.

 

[nlbford]

Genesis once bubbled...

That disk is backed up to DLT tape whenever I make any significant change (e.g. download a new dive, etc.) DLTs are considered "archival class" media with an expected retrieval life of 100 years. My "regular" working storage is dumped nightly by an automatic process, alternating tapes between two so if it dies DURING the dump I have the last day's tape intact.

It's not the cheapest option, but DLT is one of the best investments I have made. My DLT archives have both saved my butt several times as well as made life much easier when it comes to archiving and more so DE-ARCHIVING by using Retrospect to catalog all my tape histories and the files on them tapes.

I recently added a portable 120 GB firewire drive I carry most of the time for traveling as a back up since DLT isn't conducive to traveling. I just copy over all my files after downloading and have them all in one place and easily backable-upable later.

 

[Genesis]

After I sold my former firm and departed post-transition, they decided they didn't want the dual-15/30 DLT drive that had been there for quite some time, as they were outgrowing it and were going to do some things differently.

I was able to pick up the drives and a few dozen tapes, some still in sealed packages, for very close to nothing.

(This is no small issue, as the TAPES can be upwards of $50 each!)

Now, four years later, that pair of drives has close to six years of use on it. I take it apart and clean it every six months or so, and run a cleaning tape through it when it barks at me about error rates, but other than that I've done exactly NOTHING to it. It runs EVERY night.

I have, on several occasions, had to restore files or even an entire drive from those cartridges. It has NEVER let me down.

You can find DLT drives on eBAY for nice and cheap nowdays. Be aware that the 15/30s require a special tape (DLT-IIIxt) to get the full capacity; a DLT-III will only give you 10/20 gb! Those IIIxts are expensive and hard to find now, as they were used only in that one drive native (although the 4000 and 7000 series drives can read and write them.)

The best buys are the 20/40 and 35/70 drives, as those are still popular and media is reasonable. You will need an SCSI card for your machine to run any of these of the appropriate style (most of the 20/40s and 35/70s are Fast SCSI-SE; the later incantations tend to be LVD which needs a different connector on the card)

 

[Meddler]

I use the Vosonic V-MP3H Digital Storage Bin

It does the job ok, but its very disapointing. Having said that it still saved me a small fortune in CF cards as I took about 2000 photos over 10 days

The user manual is awful. Copying files from the CF reader without overwriting files of the same name is not adequately explained and not intuitive. I only found out how by accident.

The screen is not much use at all for viewing pictures and display is incredibly slow for 5Mp pictures off an Oly C5050.

The battery is built in, so you cant carry spares without having to recharge. The battery lasts about 2 hours.

The mp3 player doesnt read the artist/album/track info from the mp3 files so all you get to identify the music is some 8.3 filenames and directories. There are no playlists either.

I havent tried playing video off the thing yet, but I dont hold any great hopes of it being any better at that than it is at the other stuff it does. It certainly doesnt play the quicktime movie format that the Oly C5050 uses.

Oh and its a house brick.

I believe that the Archos MM jukebox doesnt have these drawbacks. If I could go back in time knowing what I know now I wouldnt buy it unless it was substantially cheaper than the Archos

Of course the argument against using a portable hard disk is that you put all your eggs in one basket. If one out of 10 CF cards breaks down you have only lost 10% of your pictures. And they are easier to conceal if you are worried about theft.

 

[Former FLL Now MSP Diver]

Completely off topic, but I saw your screen name and it brought back a sudden flash of memory of a cartoon show with horrid production value from my unfortunately far too distant childhood.

It was all done with still drawings of the characters with film of moving human lips superimposed on the faces. All in black and white. The show was named after the main character - Clutch Cargo. He, along with Swampy, Spinner and a dog flew around the world looking for adventure.

Marc