Memory Card Backup Storage

[CorisCapnSkip]

Does this device exist, and, if not, how close is it to being invented?

I'm wondering about a portable device (smaller than a laptop) with the capacity to store images captured on a memory card. I'm thinking of, if a person is traveling outside their own country or in a remote region of it, so they can't run to a corner drugstore every day, and don't have access to a computer or CD burner, is there ANY device that can take a reliable impression of the images on a memory stick? Or, if the camera is damaged or stolen, is everything just TOAST? Because, instead of just losing a 36-shot roll of film, you've lost 10 or 20 times that?

I've heard tell of putting pictures on an iPod, but presumably they have to be in a computer or on a CD, then transferred to the iPod using a computer? There isn't an iPod-type device with a built-in memory card reader, you just stick your memory card in and transfer your pictures? If not, someone better invent one!

[David Metsky]

Yes, there are many products that are basically a small hard drive you can download memory cards to. Some have video screens that you can use to organize and review images, others don't. I'll let others chime in on the current brands and models available today.

Keep in mind that memory cards are getting incredibly cheap, and memory cards with no moving parts are actually more reliable then a hard drive without a backup. How much memory do you need? You can buy 8G SD cards for $20 now. If the storage device costs $100 that is 40G of memory cards.

[SpecialK]

Wolverine makes a variety of portable storage devices in the 80-200 GB range.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-alias=electronics&field-brandtextbin=Wolverine

[Phill D]

Interesting as I've been thinking along the same lines recently. To me having seen how my son's Ipod Touch operates I'd have thought that it would be the perfect companion to store & review photos when travelling, plus it enables you to stay connected to the internet whenever there are wifi connections so taking a laptop wouldn't be necessary. Before our recent holiday trip to the US I Googled ipod image storage and yes there are devices that will allow ipods to do this even from apple themselves. However, if you read the reviews (Amazon had several) all is not rosy & data transfer rates, battery life & compatibility seem to be current issues. So much uncertainty around that I took the laptop in the end (heavy!!). I also looked at the other storage & viewing devices and decided that they are all way too expensive for what they do & buying a specific lightweight laptop would probably be the better option using cheap USB memory sticks as backup. If Apple get their act together & make a decent ipod to card/camera backup device then I'd have thought they ought to clean up until then I for one am going to stick with a laptop & maybe build a few more muscles:rolleyes:

[CorisCapnSkip]

Thanks, Phill, that's what I was afraid of. Don't suppose they'd welcome suggestions?

[David Metsky]

How much memory do you think you'll need?

[Margus]

Does this device exist, and, if not, how close is it to being invented?


I used the help of google and turned out that the device which you are looking for is already available. It's named SATA HD USB Docking Station with Card Reader (http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/sata-hd-usb-docking-station-card-reader/) and it does allow copying data directly from different types of memory cards to a HDD drive. Thanx for interesting question :)

[David Metsky]

I used the help of google and turned out that the device which you are looking for is already available. It's named SATA HD USB Docking Station with Card Reader (http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/sata-hd-usb-docking-station-card-reader/) and it does allow copying data directly from different types of memory cards to a HDD drive. Thanx for interesting question :)
Oh, they've been around since the start of digital cameras. The problem is that memory cards keep getting cheaper and more reliable, and hard drives still fail.

[CorisCapnSkip]

How much memory do you think you'll need?

Hard to say. When traveling to civilized parts in the old days, I would take rolls of film to a drugstore for developing so I wouldn't be hauling around large amounts of undeveloped film. I guess the same would apply to memory cards, just take one in and have a CD made. I was just thinking ahead in case of any future travels to less civilized parts.

[wholesalediy002]

I used the help of google and turned out that the device which you are looking for is already available.
Wholesale Electronics (http://www.wholesalediy.com)

[K1W1]

For $300-$400 you can get one of those little Asus EE PCs with the 8" screen and not only store your images but do basic image manipulation, email them or upload them to a photo hosting site and stay in touch with your email.

These things are not as small as a hard drive / reader or burner / reader combination device but they are not overly expensive and they do offer way more features.

[CorisCapnSkip]

Wow, that is more than my camera cost but a neat idea.

I do have two Sony 4GB memory cards, one of which had a number of pictures accidentally deleted I'm trying to recover. I want to shoot a bunch of pictures on the other card and delete them the same way so we can experiment on that first before trying to recover the images on the important card, so, I'll need some way to tell them apart. Is it okay if I take some of the Sharpie pens I use for marking CDs and color the writing on one card in one color and the other card another color, or will this crum up my camera, which is a Sony DSC H7?

[K1W1]

I do have two Sony 4GB memory cards, one of which had a number of pictures accidentally deleted I'm trying to recover.

Recovering deleted photos is easy there is no need to experiment. Photos are only data and data recovery programs will get it back for you unless you have overwritten it.
So the first thing to do is DO NOT use the card with the deleted data.
Second get some data recovery software. There are heaps around some free some you pay for. The one I use is called Art Plus Digital Photo Recovery (http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/dpr.htm) and it's free.
Third run the software on the card and recover the images. You will be surprised what you recover. I have even got back files I deleted months earlier.

[David Metsky]

I second that. Recovery is not a destructive process, so there's no need (or value) in experimenting. Just see what the software can find.

[CorisCapnSkip]

Okay, and guess what else I just found out. Supposedly if I use the software that came with the camera I can transfer pictures from the camera to my computer. Should I do this, or try doing it with the memory card reader on my printer, or try both and see which works best? In either case, I'll be able to save the images I shot on the second card, some of which were pretty good, before deleting them.

[David Metsky]

It's not clear what you are saying. If you deleted the photos on your card, the Sony software may not be able to find them. That's what the image recovery software is for, to find those "deleted" images and recover them. Does the Sony software say that it does that?

None of these attempts should change anything on the cards, so you can use any and all of them over and over again. As long as you don't take pictures with that card you can apply all these recovery techniques again and again until you find what you are looking for.

[jekostas]

Jeff posted a free download link to Lexar Image Rescue 3 in the Hot Deals forum. It's a rather good program, despite not costing anything

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40692

[CorisCapnSkip]

A guy who has a software recovery program took my two memory cards yesterday. I gave him the important one plus one on which to experiment, on which I took a bunch of pictures I then put on my friend's computer and deleted the same way. This guy said it was lucky I only deleted, NOT reformatted. He said he might have it ready today. He may have called when I was busy talking to someone else and I haven't heard back since.