Backup for your PC when you travel with the M8

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eleskin

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I am just wondering what would be best to back up my M8 files if my PC (Powerbook G4 15") would die in the field . A massive storage drive that I could plug my memory cards in? How about one of those small micro PC's I see at Costco for $400 where I could just plug in one of my drives into? Any thoughts?
 
What is the disk capacity on those mini-PCs? About the same as an image-tank type of backup device I suspect.
 
Well,
I would not use the mini PC to store the photos. It would only be a processing device. I would use an external hard drive for that, in the 750-1TB range. I just thought the mini PC would take up very little space when on the road, and would only serve as a backup so I could get into my hard drive. I thought this would make sense since the Powerbook would be my primary device. Either that or a used 12" Powerbook.
 
Can it handle that? CS4 requires at least 2Gb RAM and a decent processor. And I doubt that the screen is precise enough to do your colour correction. Maybe the smallest Macbook would be more practical, with Aperture and decent colour rendition.
 
This article talks about photo storage drives:
http://www.macworld.com/article/53197/2006/10/novdigitalphoto.html
Buy a Photo Storage Drive Another option is a dedicated photo storage device, such as SmartDisk’s 40GB FlashTrax XT ($400), Epson’s 80GB P-4000 ($700), or Digital Foci’s Media Buddy (40GB, $189; 60GB, $219; 80GB, $249). All three devices include memory-card slots for transferring photos and can run on batteries. The FlashTrax and P-4000 also have LCDs for previewing photos.
Click to expand...
 
eleskin said:
I am just wondering what would be best to back up my M8 files if my PC (Powerbook G4 15") would die in the field . A massive storage drive that I could plug my memory cards in? How about one of those small micro PC's I see at Costco for $400 where I could just plug in one of my drives into? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

While you are comparing prices for things, have a look at the Archos 5 and a dock - with the dock you can connect any USB device over and copy files off it to the Archos. As a bonus you get a pretty good MP3 player/DAP and an excellent video player which is capable of surfing the web. It reads RAW formats too. The 250 GB one with dock ran me around $450.
 
The Asus 900HA (~< $300 street price) comes with a 160GB hdd. Upgrading to 500GB (standard SATA3 2.5" drive) would be an extra $150.
 
Just use the original memory cards as backup. They're cheap enough so you could take as many as you need and never have to delete any photos or reuse them. If you lose the files on disk, you have the originals as a backup.

/T
 
elshaneo,

WOW!, nice backup drive the Hyperdrive is. How well have pros liked it ?

I may get one without the hd in it and buy a hd from NewEgg (750gb-1TB). Looks sweet!

This is nice if a HD ever fails, you can re-use the device!!!!
 
Bring a stack of DVDRs and burn everything onto them, mail a set home, keep one. Cheap and one less spinning drive to worry about something happening to.
 
I carry a Wolverine HD with built-in card slots. Mine's a 60GB (I think) and I paid around $140 for it on closeout. By now I'm sure they're available with much higher capacity at similar savings. Frankly though, I bring 12 2GB SD cards, shoot RAW, and have never needed to use the Wolverine. I'm rarely away for more than a week though, and I shoot digital as if it were film I was paying for :D
 
These netbooks like the MSI Wind are cool - they're not good with RAWs but shooting DNG+JPG and then using Breezebrowser you can certainly do a 'cull' on the plane/train/coach/toilet.

Mine has a 120GB harddisc - loads of photos and some movies to watch too.
 
I've been using a Wolverine MVP for several years, but I'm thinking of getting a Netbook like an Asus. It is small with a larger screen for reviewing my shots and has plenty of storage capacity with the option of adding thumb drives for more storage if necessary. The cost is comparable to many of the portable storage units and cheaper than some.
 
SD cards are cheap these days so you don't need to erase it immediately after upload. I have at least 6 cards on rotation and it may be weeks before I will erase a card to reuse. I have a friend who never writes over a card but keep them like negatives but he only shoots low res jpegs so can afford to do this. Cataloging will be by date only of course.
 
eleskin,

Yeah my friend, that's what I did, I bought the Hyperdrive device without the Hard Drive, and bought a 320 Gb Hard Drive locally, overall the final price was very reasonable.

The Hyperdrive works as advertised, I'm really satisfied ;-)
 
Usually I want some internet capability, writing capability and quick shot review capability on a trip. An Asus 901 provides that for me now, along with two Western Digital Passport USB powered 2-1/2" drives. When I got them the 320Gb size was the largest; now they're bigger. All shots get stored on both, so I have backups. One HD goes in my camera bag and the other in my wife's suitcase. All of this is smaller than the 12" Powerbook I used to use, and the Asus has a large battery capacity.

If I'm not taking any computer, I use some Nexto DI backup devices. I bought them without drives some years ago, and put in 120Gb drives as they didn't take larger drives at that time. They're the fastest backup devices on the market. No screen to view images, just a screen to show progress, controls etc. Well over 1Gb/minute and as configured I get about 120Gb of transfers from one battery charge, and very compact.

Henning
 
More SD cards and don`t erase until you get home. Put the pics on a laptop if you want and burn a CD, or two and mail one home if you feel really unlucky. The pc is for field processing and looking at how things are going.

I just use more cards and the laptop.
 
I've got an Asus EEE 901 which has a decent screen for checking out jpegs and an SD-card reader; and a 100GB mobile hdd. Though I do want to get more SD-cards...
 
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