Is anyone got a suggestion for an inexpensive, possibly even a "add-your own hdd" device that can read SDHC cards and copy the contents of said card on to a HDD in the field? I'm looking for a solution that could take either a 500GB 2.5inch laptop drive or a 1-2GB 3.5 inch sata hdd. I have seen a few photo oriented devices but they are expensive and usualy have smallish (120GB) internal drives. I know a laptop is the preferred solution, but I am trying to travel light and would prefer to invest in something like this rather than another half dozen SD cards since I have hdd coming out my you know what...
GH2 Field backup, video file copying without a laptop or computer
- Thread starter jbcon
- Start date
Here's the one I use, along with my own HD drive. Reliable with a very good transfer rate:
http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-COLORSPACE-UDMA-Casing-Only-p/hdcsu-000.htm
http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-COLORSPACE-UDMA-Casing-Only-p/hdcsu-000.htm
ive got the hyperdrive....not the fanciest thing but does a great job at dumping cards on field. get the body only, its cheaper to buy the hdd yoruself and stick it in. ive got 750gig hdd in it now which is overkill haha...only cause i can =) you can review your photos but not your video though. if only
skibovision
Active member
I'm going to have to disagree with the hyperdrive. I am assuming the reason you so badly need to dump footage in the field is to reuse cards correct?
If so dumping them on one HD is bad new. I use a laptop an 2 hard drives. I dump the footage to each drive and verify the transfer. SD cards can take a beating and your data will be safe. A spinning disk hard drive could take one harsh drop even when in a case and you could break the drive and lose everything.
Ask yourself this. What's going to cost you more time/money/headache: buying a laptop and two drives, or reshooting and entire days footage when something happens to your drive right after the shoot?
If you shoot narrative your footage is the result of your crews labor and time not to mention your money. If you shoot corporate, especially high end, your talent (CEO's) will not understand that they have to block out another span of time to reshoot something.
Do it right, not twice.
edit: P.S. I run a hack that gives me about 77mbit/sec. I have 4 32GB cards, 4 16GB cards, and 48GB cards. I have never run out, and I still backup footage to two drives in the field
If so dumping them on one HD is bad new. I use a laptop an 2 hard drives. I dump the footage to each drive and verify the transfer. SD cards can take a beating and your data will be safe. A spinning disk hard drive could take one harsh drop even when in a case and you could break the drive and lose everything.
Ask yourself this. What's going to cost you more time/money/headache: buying a laptop and two drives, or reshooting and entire days footage when something happens to your drive right after the shoot?
If you shoot narrative your footage is the result of your crews labor and time not to mention your money. If you shoot corporate, especially high end, your talent (CEO's) will not understand that they have to block out another span of time to reshoot something.
Do it right, not twice.
edit: P.S. I run a hack that gives me about 77mbit/sec. I have 4 32GB cards, 4 16GB cards, and 48GB cards. I have never run out, and I still backup footage to two drives in the field
Sol M.
Veteran
I agree that one drive is not enough if you're offloading cards for reuse. The hyperdrive is still a viable option since you can get the OTG adapter and sync to an additional external drive (or several), thus having redundant backups in case a drive fails.
This was an option that I strongly considered for an upcoming project with 5 consecutive weeks in the field, but decided instead to get a netbook. For the same price ($350 w/OTG adapter and bare HD), you will sacrifice a bit of portability (though a netbook is pretty darn small), but you gain quite a bit of functionality and versatility aside from the ability to offload memory cards, whereas devices such as the hyperdrive are very much unitaskers.
This was an option that I strongly considered for an upcoming project with 5 consecutive weeks in the field, but decided instead to get a netbook. For the same price ($350 w/OTG adapter and bare HD), you will sacrifice a bit of portability (though a netbook is pretty darn small), but you gain quite a bit of functionality and versatility aside from the ability to offload memory cards, whereas devices such as the hyperdrive are very much unitaskers.
as jive said, you can have redundant backups with the hyperdrive. dropping a hyperdrive is no different to dropping a laptop or external drive. it comes down to how portable you want to be. if you can afford to carry a netbook/laptop then carry one, at least you can review footage with it. but if your in the bush or something, having a few cards and backing them up on a hyperdrive as a second copy is a pretty good solution. horses for courses =)
Thanks for all the input, these are some viable options. The hyperdrive seems like the next best thing to having a full laptop, or other device on hand and is something I may look into for future trips or jobs.
To answer the question previously, yes, I am asking this so to free up SD cardswhile in the field...
... after thinking more about it, I concur with the thought that Solid-state SD cards, and HDD hard the way to go due to the danger of a conventional spinning platter hdd failing in the field. In the end, since I am down to only a couple of weeks before the shoot, I have decided to go the route of investing in more sd cards. After 24 hrs of testing a 100mb/s hack on my GH2 I discovered that I can get away with no illeffects by using the Patriot Lx class 10 cards which I already have a ton of an are fairly cheap now to buy more, I originally had shyed away from using anything but the Sandisk Class10 cards, but after two days of testing I couldn't get my camera to break if I tried using the cheaper cards and this hack (LLPowel Flow Motion V2).
I found a source for the Patriot 32GB's for a decent price and am more comfortable with extra cards versus trying an unknown drive in the field for the first time. Once I get all my gear packed and can determine if I can fit two weeks worth of cloths, plus all my gear in one checked suitcase and the two allowable carry-ons bags I might be able to fit my laptop, but at this point was not planning on taking it and originally was thinking a small HDD would be easier to find room for than a whole computer, but more SDHC cards are even better. Since this is not a paying gig I am trying to do the best I can with what I have and travel very light with out incurring the added expense of having to pay to have checked additional cases. I can only hope, I won't find it hard to get through TSA with all my gear in my carryon... gotta love that.
To answer the question previously, yes, I am asking this so to free up SD cardswhile in the field...
... after thinking more about it, I concur with the thought that Solid-state SD cards, and HDD hard the way to go due to the danger of a conventional spinning platter hdd failing in the field. In the end, since I am down to only a couple of weeks before the shoot, I have decided to go the route of investing in more sd cards. After 24 hrs of testing a 100mb/s hack on my GH2 I discovered that I can get away with no illeffects by using the Patriot Lx class 10 cards which I already have a ton of an are fairly cheap now to buy more, I originally had shyed away from using anything but the Sandisk Class10 cards, but after two days of testing I couldn't get my camera to break if I tried using the cheaper cards and this hack (LLPowel Flow Motion V2).
I found a source for the Patriot 32GB's for a decent price and am more comfortable with extra cards versus trying an unknown drive in the field for the first time. Once I get all my gear packed and can determine if I can fit two weeks worth of cloths, plus all my gear in one checked suitcase and the two allowable carry-ons bags I might be able to fit my laptop, but at this point was not planning on taking it and originally was thinking a small HDD would be easier to find room for than a whole computer, but more SDHC cards are even better. Since this is not a paying gig I am trying to do the best I can with what I have and travel very light with out incurring the added expense of having to pay to have checked additional cases. I can only hope, I won't find it hard to get through TSA with all my gear in my carryon... gotta love that.
Phenixone
Well-known member
NEXTO DI also has a few good solutions for this: http://bit.ly/LfDRYQ