Going on a Cruise, Storage questions....

JETninja · 03-15-2009, 07:24 PM

7 Day Cruise, K200D in my Sig. Figure my Teen will bring his K-M too. I know I could buy more 8Gb cards (good sale at Bestbuy this week even) but was wondering if there was anyway to get the data to a portable HD. Was thinking of say a WD or other 250Gb unit for under $100, but don't figure to have access to a PC. I didn't know if there was some way to connect it to the Camera and have the camera move the pics from the storage card to the HD.

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks!

*Tom S.* · 03-16-2009, 06:08 AM

This is what I use:

Digital Foci | Photo Safe II 80GB Stand-Alone Data | P19-080

I copy my files to it, and leave the originals on the card (I have 2 16GB cards), so I have a backup of each photo.

*bwield* · 03-16-2009, 07:21 AM

Another popular route is getting a Netbook. They are extremely portable and not as expensive as some of the other portable photo viewer storage devices.
They are definatly more $ than something like the photo safe, but they also have some more uses like basic editing and better viewing of shots.
I've heard really good things about the Asus ones and they can be had for about $300 (at least up here in Canada)

alohadave · 03-16-2009, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by JETninja

7 Day Cruise, K200D in my Sig. Figure my Teen will bring his K-M too. I know I could buy more 8Gb cards (good sale at Bestbuy this week even) but was wondering if there was anyway to get the data to a portable HD. Was thinking of say a WD or other 250Gb unit for under $100, but don't figure to have access to a PC. I didn't know if there was some way to connect it to the Camera and have the camera move the pics from the storage card to the HD.

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks!

Depending on your cruise ship, they may have computers available to use. You could bring an external USB hard drive and offload your files that way.

rormeister · 03-16-2009, 01:02 PM

I am very intrigued with HyperDrive from Sanho Corporation. It's probably what I'll pick up for my next jaunt to Europe. Have a great time!

Confused · 03-16-2009, 02:37 PM

Hi JETninja

Firstly I hope you have a fantastic time during your cruise and please don't forget to post some images upon your return ! Might I tactfully suggest that for the sake of simplicity whilst also taking into account your limited budget, the best idea would still be to obtain a sufficient number of additional quality brand-name SD cards to take with you as originally intended ? Prices are so incredibly cheap compared to some years ago that this really shouldn't be an issue nowadays.

Warning: Don't wish to worry you unduly, but really thought you should read the following post below regarding Bestbuy !!!

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/p...-best-buy.html

Obviously any choice you make about the storage capacity of the card(s) purchased ultimately remains your decision, but personally I have always erred on the side of caution and restricted myself to a maximum size of the 2GB ones. Admittedly it's fairly unlikely, but should Sod's Law ever strike and the card fail for whatever reason, then at least you might potentially have only lost a few hundred images, whereas the prospect of losing literally thousands of irreplaceable photos in one fell swoop with an 8Gb card really doesn't bear thinking about ? Regrettably, such things can happen……sad but true !

Bwield's idea of a obtaining a Netbook is not entirely without merit, but somehow I seriously doubt whether you'd find a brand new one for $100.00 ? Should you plan on travelling regularly to foreign climes in future and can justify the additional financial outlay, then probably in many people's opinion the best of the current bunch of these mini-laptops would be Samsung's NC10, which reportedly has an amazing 7hr battery duration (6-cell LI-on).

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-NC10-1...DateDescending

http://www.google.com/products/catal...478#ps-sellers

However, do bear in mind that unfortunately Netbook's don't include integral CD/DVD burners, which further adds to the cost and bulk (external/portable burner + blank discs) of yet more stuff to carry around with you !

Lastly Tom S's idea about the Digital Foci Photo Safe II 80GB Data Storage Unit is also worth considering, but at the end of the day it still remains a portable hard-drive and as everyone knows, hard-drives are still prone to catastrophic failure or damage.

Best regards
Richard

bretti_kivi · 03-17-2009, 03:12 AM

...but the Netbook means another copy, which is a good start in my book. Besides, if you can then snag an hour Internet access - possible? - uploading becomes an option.

Depends what you want, how much you'll take, though I'd hazard 5-6 8GB cards would cost almost the same as a cheap netbook. Carrying a 160GB 2.5" or two isn't *that* heavy....

Bret

WheresWaldo · 03-17-2009, 07:33 AM

2mb cards can fail too.

I for one use the netbook approach, easy to fint in my wife's ovresize purse ability to sit at Panera Bread and upload while eating lunch, or to store on the 160Gb HDD. Some of these are even cheaper than some Hyperdrive type solutions, and they can do more than just store images.

Dell Mini 9 just $299
Asus 900A - $299

There are others with larger 10" screens and bigger drives

MSI Wind U100 - $299
many others starting at $320+

I went slightly different, bought the wife a MSI Wind (10" screen) netbook and bought myself a Samsung Q310 (13.3" screen) portable. Different inteded uses so different requirements. Both allow me to download images with built in card reader and both allow me to upload with Draft-n speed and broadband (where available). On the Samsung it does have enough power and speed to do some simple editing in the Pentax software suite or even in Lightroom.

No need for a CD burner or carrying blank CD's. With the advent of netbooks I see the digital safe market becoming smaller and smaller. Why have a single purpose HDD when you can have a multi-function netbook at nearly the same cost.

Confused · 03-17-2009, 01:18 PM

In repy to both Bret and WheresWaldo:

You each make perfectly good points, but to be fair, JET's original budget stated that he

Was thinking of say a unit.......for under $100

thus either $299 or $320+ is kinda exceeding the first figure threefold !

Best regards
Richard

JETninja · 03-19-2009, 11:03 AM

Thanks all! My Son is going to bring his Laptop it looks like (he just got a White K-M) so we'll use that. Just have to lock it up with the Purser probably.

I have many devices (4 cameras, phones, iPaqs, etc) that use SD (and SD Mini) and have only had one no-name card go bad. The 8Gb unit I use works very well (Class 6) and I'm good a getting on to the computer after I shoot. (caught the Airforce 1 landing yesterday, great fun!) I do have a 2nd un opened one that I'll bring along as well, maybe let the kid use it on his new toy. (he's using a 2Gb atm, have lots of those laying around)

Taking the entire family (1st time for my 4 boys) on a 7 day Mexican Riveria Cruise, costing us mucho $$$$, but the oldest ones wont be around much longer probably, so.... (plus I'll hit 50 during it, major party time coming!)

I'll be sure to share some pics!

Thanks again!

alohadave · 03-22-2009, 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by JETninja

Thanks all! My Son is going to bring his Laptop it looks like (he just got a White K-M) so we'll use that. Just have to lock it up with the Purser probably.

I have many devices (4 cameras, phones, iPaqs, etc) that use SD (and SD Mini) and have only had one no-name card go bad. The 8Gb unit I use works very well (Class 6) and I'm good a getting on to the computer after I shoot. (caught the Airforce 1 landing yesterday, great fun!) I do have a 2nd un opened one that I'll bring along as well, maybe let the kid use it on his new toy. (he's using a 2Gb atm, have lots of those laying around)

Taking the entire family (1st time for my 4 boys) on a 7 day Mexican Riveria Cruise, costing us mucho $$$$, but the oldest ones wont be around much longer probably, so.... (plus I'll hit 50 during it, major party time coming!)

I'll be sure to share some pics!

Thanks again!

The laptop should be safe in the cabin.

Try to get some pics of him using the White K-M, I'd love to see how it looks in the wild.

HawaiianOnline · 03-22-2009, 11:23 PM

Both Belkin and a company called SIMA had products similar to what you're asking for One was called the Hitch and it allowed transfers from one USB device to another (i.e. from a flash card reader to a USB portable hard drive). Neither are in production. You might be able to find one on eBay or something. Personally, I would go for the netbook idea. Far more versatile and, having owned a Hitch myself, far fewer cables to deal with. I also have used a data storage device like the Hyperdrive and the Wolverine ESP 5000 series.

rfortson · 03-23-2009, 01:10 PM

I use the Flashpac 60GB version from Wolverine Data. It's a basic card reader/hard drive that acts like an external drive once connected to a computer. You can get it for around $100 and more for larger capacities.

I also tried the Epson P-2000, which had a very nice screen, but I never used it, and it was much more expensive.

RROARKE · 03-23-2009, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by rfortson

I use the Flashpac 60GB version from Wolverine Data. It's a basic card reader/hard drive that acts like an external drive once connected to a computer. You can get it for around $100 and more for larger capacities.

I also tried the Epson P-2000, which had a very nice screen, but I never used it, and it was much more expensive.

i just visited wolverines site... the flashpac 80 is on sale for $109 with a $20 rebate= $89 plus if you join there mailing list you get a coupon for $20 off an order of $100 or more that should make it $69 that seems like a pretty good deal! btw good til end of this month

JETninja · 03-24-2009, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by alohadave

The laptop should be safe in the cabin.

Try to get some pics of him using the White K-M, I'd love to see how it looks in the wild.

Will do! I did post a couple pics of our camera's side by side in the DSLR forum in a thread from a Dude that got a Silver K200D,,,,,