ReF
07-12-2005, 05:42 PM
a few of you are probably looking for and are confused about portable storage devices. problem is, it seems that very few people have tried these and it's rare to get feedback about them. well, being someone how has an unsuitable laptop for mass photo storage and too small of a budget to upgrade, i purchased the wolverine flashpac from bhphotovideo.com.
the 60gig version cost me $250, which is might sound expensive at first, until you remember that a 1gig high speed memory card cost about $90-$100. the flashpac is fairly fast, offers slots for all the main types of cards, is small, USB2, is good on battery life, and can be used as an external hard drive. there is also a 40gig version for $200 and an 80gig for $300. a pretty good deal considering that there are devices that size selling for the same price and can ONLY be used as external hard drives. i've also used it to store and transfer about 45gigs of pictures and videos without a problem. you cannot view your photos on it.
i've also used a device called "roadstor" which is a card reader/cd burner. it is much slower, larger, can transfer less pictures per charge, costs about the same ast the flashpac, and you still have to pay for and carry around enough cd's. i was also afraid to have it burning cd's while driving(it took a long time), because i was afraid any skips while writing to the cd could cause corrupt/unusable data/loss of picture files. the advantages are that the device can display images when hooked up to a TV and storage is virtually limitless as long as you keep supplying cd's. that flashpac might fill up if you were away long enough (and shot in RAW). i should also say that i didn't actually try to display the images on the TV - the instruction indicated that it was capable but i only had if for a short time. i think there is a DVD version as well.
overall, i am much happier with the flashpac.
pictures of the flashpac next to regular sized wallet and quarter. it's small enough to slip into your camera bag.
the 60gig version cost me $250, which is might sound expensive at first, until you remember that a 1gig high speed memory card cost about $90-$100. the flashpac is fairly fast, offers slots for all the main types of cards, is small, USB2, is good on battery life, and can be used as an external hard drive. there is also a 40gig version for $200 and an 80gig for $300. a pretty good deal considering that there are devices that size selling for the same price and can ONLY be used as external hard drives. i've also used it to store and transfer about 45gigs of pictures and videos without a problem. you cannot view your photos on it.
i've also used a device called "roadstor" which is a card reader/cd burner. it is much slower, larger, can transfer less pictures per charge, costs about the same ast the flashpac, and you still have to pay for and carry around enough cd's. i was also afraid to have it burning cd's while driving(it took a long time), because i was afraid any skips while writing to the cd could cause corrupt/unusable data/loss of picture files. the advantages are that the device can display images when hooked up to a TV and storage is virtually limitless as long as you keep supplying cd's. that flashpac might fill up if you were away long enough (and shot in RAW). i should also say that i didn't actually try to display the images on the TV - the instruction indicated that it was capable but i only had if for a short time. i think there is a DVD version as well.
overall, i am much happier with the flashpac.
pictures of the flashpac next to regular sized wallet and quarter. it's small enough to slip into your camera bag.