Archiving SD on the Go

[PKraft]

Just found this neat little device which seems wonderful to archive SD cards while on the Go.
No laptop or PC needed. Comes with 40 GB, 80 GB or 160 GB HDs.

Emtec Photo Cube: www.emtec-international.com/en/produit.php?categorie=STMOB&gamme=DISQUES%20DURS&ss_gamme=PHOTOCUBE ("")

Can be formatted to FAT 32 into up to four partions.
Or use EASEUS partition tool to get one partition for the complete HD.
It comes FREE. More info and downlaod here: www.partition-tool.com

[ilauzirika]

This looks intersting, and the 80gb (I don't need more) is 130€.
The only thing that i need to know is how it handles different partitions (needed to mantain the avchd file structure in each transfer).

Thnaks for the find.

[trez]

Telling truth I don't think I'm gonna need it. The SDHC cards are cheap - I'd rather get 5 16GB cards which give me 80GB of storage space and not waste my time dumping them to HD while on location...

[PKraft]

Telling truth...
Interesting point of view.

[Hidef1080]

That's nice piece of equipment and while I wouldn't need it I can see how it could come in handy.
Indeed if it can charge via the USB when you do connect it to a computer, I think the 120 gig drive would be sweet.
Maybe I would need that come to think of it...:)

[ilauzirika]

Telling truth I don't think I'm gonna need it. The SDHC cards are cheap - I'd rather get 5 16GB cards which give me 80GB of storage space and not waste my time dumping them to HD while on location...

True, But you you don't have to use it to get more space, you can have it as a back up in case something happens to the cards.

[mcsmooth]

Right, I do see more people using it for backup, although I'm sure it could come in handy for those times when you unexpectedly run out of space. Soon enough when we have 128GB cards, that might not be an issue.

Tough call, if I was that worried in the field, I'd prob rather spend a bit more on a cheap laptop where you can actually see the files and review videos on screen to make sure not only the files are ok, but also the shot. On the other hand, this is way more portable and would allow you to start editing the minute you get back to the computer.

[MOVING PICTURE OBSESSED]

HMC is a sweet deal. However, the reliability of SD cards for sacred video matters scares me. My primary source of income are interviews in Law Enforcement and Major Corporation matters. I shoot DVX while making a DVD backup. I've never had a dropout or tape jam problem. I'd like to go tapeless with HMC. This cube backup device sounds like an interesting portable solution. I don't have a lot of time between tapes to mess around with copying cards to say a PC HD ( hard drives scare me as well). I guess I can shoot 8 g card on lower mode to get a little over an hour, backup to DVD while recording and then backup the card to this picture cube device while popping in a second 8gig into HMC? This would give me a DVD backup and a picture cube backup I guess? Where is best place to get this cube device? Other on the go archiving recommendations for recording do or die material on SD cards are highly welcome. :zombie_smiley::dankk2:

[trez]

True, But you you don't have to use it to get more space, you can have it as a back up in case something happens to the cards.

Good point. If you can archive the card with one touch of the button, then it makes perfect sense...

[shrigg]

Barry Green posted the Nexto Extreme ND-2700 (http://www.nextodi.com/en/product/eXtreme_en.html) in the HMC mega thread but I think it deserves mention here as well because it's much cheaper and much faster... Perfect for backing up HMC150 footage. Has anyone tried this? The one-button backing up looks fast and easy. I assume it'll increment the PRIVATE folder names when backing up multiple cards. That'd suck if it just overwrites when backing up a second card....

I'm close to ordering one to house my Macbook Pro's original 160Gb SATA drive but would like to hear how it really works. Don't make me be the guinea pig AGAIN, lol

Here's (http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/SPD/nexto-extreme-nd-2700-portable-storage-unit-nexto-extreme-nd-2700--8000070B-1208441113.jsp) the vendor which sells these cases... $129 with no hard drive, more with a SATA drive included

[PKraft]

Darren,
here is the manual for download: www.nextodi.com/en/support/download_files/eXtreme_Manual_English.pdf

I am not sure but I don't think the folder number is incremented with each new card that gets copied onto the machine. And the machine only does see one partition, I mean only the first of all that are available. This does not give a lot of flexibility.

[shrigg]

Thanks for that link. Looks like the New Copy function makes a new folder and copies the contents of the SDHC card to it. This Nexto SATA solution looks simple, fast and ideal for field backups...

[MOVING PICTURE OBSESSED]

thanks Srigg this looks better than the picture cube box.

[Justyn]

So this is a nice stop on the pipeline. Shoot and lock the cards. back up, and then put the card in a secure spot. Better than my P2store which was 1600 bucks and could only store about 2.5 hours at 24p 720.

[shrigg]

So this is a nice stop on the pipeline. Shoot and lock the cards. back up, and then put the card in a secure spot. Better than my P2store which was 1600 bucks and could only store about 2.5 hours at 24p 720.

Yeah that's what I thought too. My MacBook Pro's old 160Gb hard drive will hold ten 16Gb cards... 16+ hours of footage. I don't think I'll ever come close to shooting that much in a day, even with two cameras.

[Evro]

I just bought one of these:

http://www.tinnou.com/images/com-258c.jpg

http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=767253777&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001 http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=900605546&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001 http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=2008417333&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001 http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=1149608590&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001 http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Digital-Partner-Image-Photo-Hard-Disk-SDHC-CF-Storage_W0QQitemZ250245560774QQcmdZViewItem?_trksi d=p3286.m20.l1116 (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com.au%2FDigital-Partner-Image-Photo-Hard-Disk-SDHC-CF-Storage_W0QQitemZ250245560774QQcmdZViewItem%3F_trk sid%3Dp3286.m20.l1116)

It's essentially the same thing as the Emtec Photocube, however it's around $30USD, all you need to do is buy an internal 2.5" IDE notebook hard drive and you're good to go. I have a spare 80GB hard disk that will be perfect for it :)

[Johnnyfive]

This is also interesting:

http://www.memorykick.com/

Looks a little fancier and thus must be more expensive.

The links don't seem to work on the site though.

[shrigg]

Let us know how that works! I'm especially curious if it'll play the hmc clips..



I just bought one of these:

http://www.tinnou.com/images/com-258c.jpg

http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=767253777&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001 http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=900605546&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001 http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=2008417333&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001 http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=1149608590&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001 http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Digital-Partner-Image-Photo-Hard-Disk-SDHC-CF-Storage_W0QQitemZ250245560774QQcmdZViewItem?_trksi d=p3286.m20.l1116 (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5336062087&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com.au%2FDigital-Partner-Image-Photo-Hard-Disk-SDHC-CF-Storage_W0QQitemZ250245560774QQcmdZViewItem%3F_trk sid%3Dp3286.m20.l1116)

It's essentially the same thing as the Emtec Photocube, however it's around $30USD, all you need to do is buy an internal 2.5" IDE notebook hard drive and you're good to go. I have a spare 80GB hard disk that will be perfect for it :)

[PKraft]

Let us know how that works! I'm especially curious if it'll play the hmc clips..

Play the clips?? For 30 bucks? Never ever :-)

[shrigg]

Good point. I'm still curious about it tho. Wonder what the LCD displays?

[Evro]

Absolutely! ;) I believe the only thing the display on any of these things only serves to show you copying progress and battery level. My brother a stills photog has one that copies CF cards and it cost him around $600 and it can show him previews of his raw images.

I think for a device to play AVCHD files on the go you'd be looking at the $2000 price point ;)

All I want is a simple device to back up my SD cards while I'm out shooting weddings because things can get a little crazy on the day and over the years I have lost batteries, lens caps & cables.

[PKraft]

Wonder what the LCD displays? A simple list of clip names. Not very revealing.

[longshanks]

anyone know how long it takes to dump a 16gb card on one of these?

[Evro]

I hope to receive my little SDHC store sometime next week and will be more than happy to give you the figures - once thing you can be certain of is that lots of smaller files will take longer to trasnfer than one big file - anyway we'll see ;)

[Evro]

I finally received my little DigiMate III :)

I temporarily installed an old 30GB laptop IDE hard drive in it and it works beautifully once you work out how to operate it from the badly translated English instruction manual. The unit is about the size of an iPod but a little bigger & thicker, the battery lasts about 2 hours and took a little over 40 minutes to copy a full 16GB SanDisk Ultra II SDHC card and can do so with the PSU plugged in as well, however, you still need to make sure you have enough cards on hand before relying on offloading and reusing.

It cost me about $35USD (inclusive of shipping from Hong Kong to Australia.) I'll probably buy another one if this unit proves to be reliable.

[longshanks]

wow, thats great! can you put in any 2.5" hard drive? what about battery? is it a built-in and can you plug it into a USB port for charging or power?

[Evro]

Hey Longshanks,
1) This particular model only takes 2.5" IDE drives
2) It comes with a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery (easy access via a sliding door)
3) The unit can be charged via USB cable too
4) the case is made of a metal alloy which seems strong enough
5) It has a colour display about the size of the original iPods, it does not display file details, only disk partition sizes/available space and copy progress in terms of % completed

I still can't believe how darn cheap these things are, only time will prove their reliability - I'll tell you after 6 months of serious event use ;)

[ilauzirika]

More possibilities.

Over this week I've been trying a mini acer one (http://www.acer.com/aspireone/) laptop that I recieved as a price for a video contest. This little beast wheighting no more than a 1-2lbs is a great way of backing up your cards on the go. As this is a windows xp loaded machine (you can either buy it with xp or linux) you can install mpc player and play not in realtime (even though sometimes it does) the files to check that everything is in the can. You also have the possibilitie of leave it transcoding if you can.

The specs of the pc are this:

1.6ghz intel atom processor with 1g ram. 110 gigs of free disk space.

I/O: two sd card slots, one of them works as an expansion slot (it makes your hard disk bigger by merging the card with the hard disk.). one vga out, wifi, ethernet connector and thre usb 2 connectors. EDIT: forget to say that it has a mic input, and headphone output (I know pretty standard, but you never know).

this isn't by any means an editing laptop, but you can use it to back up or even transcode your footage to dvchd pro while you ar shooting to other cards.
And you can always use the onboard webcam for video chats with the producer of your film that is in another country at that moment. You can also use the computer as a dvd player (even though it doesn't have a cd/dvd bay).

Price: I think that it is around 300-350$

well, that's it for now........and no, I'm not being paid by acer.........

BTW, if you have any questions just ask.

[kaydawgy]

I'm leaning toward the netbook route in case of emergency "oh my god, i ran outta SD space" for wedding video shoots. It's just peace of mind to SEE the footage has been backed up before formating your SD cards on the fly.