Out-of-country Documentary - What do I need?

[CINEMANIAC]

Hi, I am doing a documentary in Chile for 3 weeks with the HVX, have a good Bogen tripod, backpack, a 4GB P2 card & MacBook Pro ready to go, but I need some advice on which backup solutions to pursue - I will have a base but may be away from it the entire day. I plan on shooting in 720/24pN, and plan to offload to the laptop every 10 mins of shooting (I can't afford more cards at current prices).

However I do need an external shotgun mike in the $200-$350 range, and some backup options. Does any one have recommendations?

I do not like the idea of USB OTG because I can't check if it worked and it's too slow. Would this Other World Computer portable drive work as a drive to use with my computer when I'm on the road or is it too expensive? Also, does it work as an OTG drive if I change my mind?
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MOFWU100GB54/

For dumping footage when I get back every day to my base, should I get a 500GB 7200RPM 16MB buffer drive for $300 or pony up for Raid 0?
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/MS2F7500G16/
http://eshop.macsales.com/Customized_Pages/Framework.cfm?page=mealp/mealp_raid.html

Also, is it worth to get RAID 1 or just two separate hard drives? (or just bring a lot of DVD-Rs)?

Thanks for your help! My budget is less than $1000 but I plan on needing a lot of space for the documentary, do you think this would be the best system to go with? Or can I rent a mike for a month?
Any advice or suggestions are always appreciated!

 

[THoff]

Since you will never exceed 4GB, single-layer DVD media seems like a good fit. No moving parts, cheap, it's immediately accessible just like P2 media, and you can make two or more copies just to be safe. If one disk goes bad for some odd reason (rare), you still have another copy, unlike with a hard drive. Archieve in another format when you get back home.

If you burn DVDs, my recommendation is to NOT burn at the maximum speed that the drive and media allow, just burn at 4x. Don't put labels on them, use permanent marker. Keep the DVDs in a small Pelican case or something where they won't get scratched or crushed.