What Portable Storage Device?

[Buttoneer]

I currently have a Jobo Gigaview 40gb card reader/storage device that I take on trips with me. It transfers the entire contents of a CF card with the press of a button and has served me quite well for a few years now.

I've never filled it, even using RAW, so while I don't need to go up in size it's something else I'm looking for - I want to be able to view my RAW images and selectively delete them. The key here is to avoid having to do this in-camera so that I maximise battery use for actually taking shots rather than reviewing them. I'm not sure this is even possible, and maybe I'll just have to content myself with viewing JPEG thumbnails etc but perhaps someone here has already done the research?

Not sure if this is the right forum, perhaps we need a new 'accessories' one?*




*That's a joke, I think we need less not more...

[David Kilpatrick]

|I have been using the same device, but it's now a bit limited. My solution is an ASUS EeePC (Linux, solid state, wireless built-in with Firefox/Thunderbird pre installed) plus a low-cost USB powered 320GB Freecom portable hard disk. Browsing and deleting is easy with the EeePC operating system's preview function, but I have to shoot raw+JPEG. I have installed uFraw and GIMP to allow browsing raw files, or processing them, but it's not fast or very easy on the small screen.

David

[Buttoneer]

Thank you. So that's something like £400 all in? And I'd have to go with RAW+JPEG anyway. Probably comparable to the more sophisticated devices on the market in terms of price anyway.

Also a little heavy on the travel space side compared with my Jobo which is not much bigger than a packet of cigarettes.

It sounds like I'll have to make compromises somewhere anyway.

[David Kilpatrick]

Your Jobo does not handle all your internet, Skype, writing, calendar etc! Also, putting the two side by side, the Asus is slimmer and just a bit bigger footprint (A5) but not so far off in weight. Its battery charger is half the weight and size of the Jobo and has a 3m cable so you can trail it out of hotel rooms! I carry a multi card reader. which adds a little to the package, and my choice of HD is not the smallest. If you only wanted a 40GB or 80GB storage there are now some really tiny devices around. You can also get very low cost solid state USB memory sticks - 16GB - and SDHC cards - 8GB. These work fine with the Asus.

I do also use a HyperDrive 80GB which is about the same size as the Jobo. It offers no previewing, no raw viewing, nothing - just a multi card reader dump to HD - but it will run from AA cells and can be used in the field, with vey fast transfer times compared to the Jobo.

Oh, and nothing like £400. The small Asus - the 7 inch model 702 Linux, not the bigger later ones - is about £150 and the 320GB HD was £65. So under £220, plus using a card reader I already had.

David

[bfitzgerald]

Acer are now doing an alternative to the Asus super portable laptop.

http://www.acer.co.uk/public/page4.do?l ... 1862223825

Just a quick browse on prices:
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Qu ... nKey=11105

With 1Gb of ram, should be ok for non super heavy work, and it offers significanly more storage space than the Asus machine, for less too. I would be tempted to give that a bash.

[David Kilpatrick]

Son Richard bought a couple of these, one for himself and one as a birthday present for one of our grandkids - who had wanted an Asus. He says the Acer product is pretty flaky and the youngster managed to trash the operating system within 24 hours. They are cheap but apparently not as well thought-out as the Asus, or with the same build quality. He has an Asus too (we both upgraded ours to 1GB ram straight away, because it takes old Mac Powerbook memory modules, Asus being the company which makes most of the Powerbooks and iBooks for Apple - we bought max memory upgrade for my Powerbook, and used the two removed memory modules for two Asus). Oh - I also bought a mini Belkin mouse to use with the Asus (and my Powerbook) as I find the touchpads hopeless for speed of working.

David

[pakodominguez]

probably what Buttonere is looking for is a nice little, but expensive, Epson P-7000 (this is the nu model, replaceing the previous P-xxxx http://www.adorama.com/IESP7000.html) with CF/SD and more card slots, suport JPG and RAW (previous model support MRW, so I guess it will support ARW

[Buttoneer]

Your Jobo does not handle all your internet, Skype, writing, calendar etc!

True, but I carry a portable drive around because I don't want to have to carry around a laptop etc, however light. I have a small Fujitsu table PC which does the trick if I am in the position to take a laptop with me. When I went to Equador a couple of years back my luggage allowance for the flight into the Amazon basin was 10kg. The Jobo was a matter of grams out of that, which is important considering how much of my allowance was taken up by a Bigma.

Also, putting the two side by side, the Asus is slimmer and just a bit bigger footprint (A5) but not so far off in weight. Its battery charger is half the weight and size of the Jobo and has a 3m cable so you can trail it out of hotel rooms! I carry a multi card reader. which adds a little to the package, and my choice of HD is not the smallest. If you only wanted a 40GB or 80GB storage there are now some really tiny devices around. You can also get very low cost solid state USB memory sticks - 16GB - and SDHC cards - 8GB. These work fine with the Asus.

My Jobo is really very small (115x78x25mm) and comes with a plug and cable without a brick on it. Here's one, just so you know exactly what model I'm talking about:

It's really very small and discrete (115x78x25mm), will fit easily into a hotel safe or the bottom of any backpack etc. Your laptop, brick, card reader and external hard drive are considerably bulkier and less flexible. I'm certainly not writing off the idea, it's a good one, but we're not comparing like with like.

I do also use a HyperDrive 80GB which is about the same size as the Jobo. It offers no previewing, no raw viewing, nothing - just a multi card reader dump to HD - but it will run from AA cells and can be used in the field, with vey fast transfer times compared to the Jobo.

Now this is what to compare it with, though Epson and now jobo have devices with colour screens and review facilities etc. The package is not much bigger than the Jobo but it just does more. That's what I'm after. I hoped there might be one with RAW flexibility but I guess that's a magnitude of processor power too far.

Oh, and nothing like £400. The small Asus - the 7 inch model 702 Linux, not the bigger later ones - is about £150 and the 320GB HD was £65. So under £220, plus using a card reader I already had.

OK, so that's a pretty good deal actually, as well as flexible. I'll look into it, but it will need to be considerably smaller than the Fujitsu to be worth changing.

Thanks again for the advice.

[David Kilpatrick]

My Jobo is really very small (115x78x25mm) and comes with a plug and cable without a brick on it. Here's one, just so you know exactly what model I'm talking about:

Sorry - with you calling it a Gigaview, not a 'Giga One', I thought you were referring to the larger model (the GigaVu Pro) which can interpret the raw files - because you referred to raw files, and deleting them. The Pro costs over £400 and can read and zoom into raw files, displaying them on a large colour LCD screen, but it does it slowly. The Giga One is like my HyperDrive, just a quick way to collect your card contents. Of course the Asus replaces the functions of the GigaVu, including its upgradeable WiFi file transmission and metadata editing, fully (and more) at lower cost. I have just plugged my GigaVu back in, it gets neglected for months I am afraid. There may or may not be a firmware upgrade to read Sony raw files - I stopped using it after the A100, I think, was the last Sony camera it supported. Will have to look.

David

[David Kilpatrick]

I'll look into it, but it will need to be considerably smaller than the Fujitsu to be worth changing.

It's A5 - 8 x 6 inches roughly. I was able to hold it, open, in my left hand while shooting an event with my A700 in the right hand, then drop the camera to neckstrap and type the names of the people with my right hand quickly between presentations. It is about the size of a paperback book. I don't have any special recommendation for it, last trip I took my Mac Powerbook instead, but combined with a small light high capacity HD it will be needed for A900 shoots.

David

[bfitzgerald]

My own experiences with Acer, have mostly been good, without question some makers score low on my list. HP is one, Dell is another, though the latter seems to have improved a bit over the last few years.

At the end of the day these are low end products, for a certain type of users. You simply won't get mega quality at this price level, x5 and yes you can! They are marketed as small and portable systems, not for power users and doing heavy processing tasks. The Asus is using solid state memory, which has an advantage of being more robust, but the storage capacity is weak for the needs of digital users. On that basis, I would strongly suggest the Acer machine over the Asus. Not that I have a problem with Asus, running my AMD pc for a few years with their motherboard, and no problems at all.

There are other options, one being the super economical HDD enclosure option, I picked up a Thecus Nano, simply slap in a laptop HDD, of your choice..format with fat 32 and off you go, you even have a power pack for AA's, and a USB port, so you can transfer images from a card reader, it lets you know if the transfer worked ok, or if there was a problem. Nothing flashy now, but cost effective it is..

I have worked with pc's for years, and one brand consistently sticks out as being junk. Maxtor hard drives.. If you have one, get rid of it right now..they are just waiting to die!

As for Apple, I remaind impressed with the OS, but not so with the hardware, which is just a normal pc, with a bigger price tag. But I admit, as I build my own computers, Apple would never be on my list anyway. I don't rate the ipod's either..seen too many problems with those, to warrant a risk.

[Buttoneer]

Sorry - with you calling it a Gigaview, not a 'Giga One', I thought you were referring to the larger model

Sorry, my bad.

I have just plugged my GigaVu back in, it gets neglected for months I am afraid. There may or may not be a firmware upgrade to read Sony raw files - I stopped using it after the A100, I think, was the last Sony camera it supported. Will have to look.

The current compatibility list shows that it will work with my Alpha, so that's good news. I guess I might have to check whether that includes cRAW as well as RAW but that's a positive result.

I also note from the site that they do a nice GPS addon and the 'extreme' version of the Gigaview will merge the date with the pics. Nice.

But big and expensive.

It's tempting to stick with what I have actually, but I hate the getting back and having to sort out and rate all the images at the end of a week away. I'm sure my mind will see the price as good value the next time I have to do it...

[bfitzgerald]

Forgot to mention that Samsung have a new mini notebook out, this time though, with a "half decent keyboard"

http://whatlaptop.co.uk/YXhBM5g.html


Price around £299 so I am told. Evidently the battery life is rather good too, so I would put this one over the Asus or the Acer, Samsung score highly around these parts, their stuff is solid, esp memory and HDD''s, probably the top maker for reliability.

Hey think back 10 years when I was working in IT in London, and for £300 you got a big fat nothing! A laptop would cost you £1500 odd, and compared to what we have nowadays, we really don't know how good we have it!

[David Kilpatrick]

The Asus is using solid state memory, which has an advantage of being more robust, but the storage capacity is weak for the needs of digital users.

In practice, it has no storage capacity - 1.6GB free after installing GIMP etc. The purpose of the Asus EeePC is not to store, but to act as a transfer device with wifi, webcam, Skype, Open Office (and a whole suite of Unix open source apps), plus the rather unique ability to view JPEGs and zoom in to 100% from the operating system's file browser, without opening a further application - and to do this pretty fast. I have not checked the Acer sublaptop screen quality; the Eee has very good colour and contrast compared to the GigaVu, which is extremely desaturated and poor in contrast (but it is a touch screen with stylus, which may explain its restrictions).

David

[Buttoneer]

Price around £299 so I am told. Evidently the battery life is rather good too, so I would put this one over the Asus or the Acer, Samsung score highly around these parts, their stuff is solid, esp memory and HDD''s, probably the top maker for reliability.

Decent hard drive size too. Looks like a winner and really ought to give Apples Macbook Air a good seeing to. It's one possible achilles heel is the Windows O/S, which may be sluggish on the Atom processor but we'll have to wait and see to find out.