External Hard drive

[britinozz]

Does any one know what device is out there that can directly transfer images from camera to hard drive with out a pc. I have just heard that you can obviously its been around for a while but planning a cruise to Alaska Next year so starting my research now so if any one knows where and what i need please let me know.
Cheers

[MissionMan]

Here are some options:

http://www.nextodiusa.com

http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-...-UDMA-s/64.htm

Try do a search in google for something like "photo storage devices for travellers"

[arthurking83]

I suppose any Android based device can, but none of these seem to have any real storage space!

You can get photobank devices that are basically portable hard drives with inbuilt card readers that will transfer any file on the card to the hard drive, but they(or the good ones) are quite expensive!

That is, a basic USB host capable tablet + cheap portable hard drive combo will usually cost you less(approx $400, if you shop right).

You can use the tablet as a browsing device and for any other purpose you deem appropriate.

For transferring iamges, you'd connect a USB hub to the tablet and then connect both the camera and external hdd to the tablet via the USB hub. Find all the images on the camera and transfer them to the external hdd.

Note that not all cameras support the Mass Storage device protocol any longer, so the camera connected to an Android device may not show up as another external card .. which is what is supposed to happen.

I'm yet to acquire a USB port/card reader device for my table yet, so I have no idea if this WILL work for me ...... yet!

For this process tho, I do have my Win7 tablet if I ever need any external storage space for my images .. and this system is not only foolproof but is my preferred system.

A Win7 tablet(Gigabyte) cost me just under $700 and no other devices or peripherals were needed, and it came with a 320Gig hdd... so in a way, is (almost)ideal as an image bank.

There are probably other solutions to this age old problem, but they tend to cost quite some money. I accepted this as an issue to be dealt with, rather than procrastinate over it due to the cost factor.
So my preference(s) then came down to what can this fairly expensive device also do for me!!

I still like the Android tablet I recently got myself, but now that I have some experience with a few different options .. for value for money, the Windows based mechanical hard drive tablet option is close to ideal .... if you are a Windows user and not Mac or Linux!!(although I guess that Linux could easily be loaded onto the tablet).
I don't know of any Mac OS tablet devices available on the market.

Note tho!! Windows 8 is almost due to public release(apparently October), and Win7 on a tablet is not ideal .. it works but there are some compromises that need to be made for many programs(not just Windows itself).
Because my tablet's screen is capacitive touch, a stylus doesn't work on it(so I'm also looking for an ideal capacitive capable stylus).
I've trialled Win8 on the tablet and it seems to be a much better OS for a touchscreen device .. so if you decide to go with a Windows tablet, keep this in mind!
And from what I've read about the next incarnations of Win8 tablets, their processing power will be a couple of order of magnitudes above current similar devices.

** the 320G hard drive was nice to have, but it was a very slow high latency device that really made the tablet slow to load and do anything, when compared to most modern PCs. I relented and loaded a 250G SSD and the difference was startling .. should have done that a lot earlier.**

Do you have a budget limit .. either strictly imposed by any other half!! ) or philosophically restricted(as I do).

[Kaktus]

Check out this link : http://www.digitalfoci.com/photo_safe.html

Could be what you're looking for.

[MissionMan]

I suppose any Android based device can, but none of these seem to have any real storage space!

You can get photobank devices that are basically portable hard drives with inbuilt card readers that will transfer any file on the card to the hard drive, but they(or the good ones) are quite expensive!

That is, a basic USB host capable tablet + cheap portable hard drive combo will usually cost you less(approx $400, if you shop right).

You can use the tablet as a browsing device and for any other purpose you deem appropriate.

For transferring iamges, you'd connect a USB hub to the tablet and then connect both the camera and external hdd to the tablet via the USB hub. Find all the images on the camera and transfer them to the external hdd.

Note that not all cameras support the Mass Storage device protocol any longer, so the camera connected to an Android device may not show up as another external card .. which is what is supposed to happen.

I'm yet to acquire a USB port/card reader device for my table yet, so I have no idea if this WILL work for me ...... yet!

For this process tho, I do have my Win7 tablet if I ever need any external storage space for my images .. and this system is not only foolproof but is my preferred system.

A Win7 tablet(Gigabyte) cost me just under $700 and no other devices or peripherals were needed, and it came with a 320Gig hdd... so in a way, is (almost)ideal as an image bank.

There are probably other solutions to this age old problem, but they tend to cost quite some money. I accepted this as an issue to be dealt with, rather than procrastinate over it due to the cost factor.
So my preference(s) then came down to what can this fairly expensive device also do for me!!

I still like the Android tablet I recently got myself, but now that I have some experience with a few different options .. for value for money, the Windows based mechanical hard drive tablet option is close to ideal .... if you are a Windows user and not Mac or Linux!!(although I guess that Linux could easily be loaded onto the tablet).
I don't know of any Mac OS tablet devices available on the market.

Note tho!! Windows 8 is almost due to public release(apparently October), and Win7 on a tablet is not ideal .. it works but there are some compromises that need to be made for many programs(not just Windows itself).
Because my tablet's screen is capacitive touch, a stylus doesn't work on it(so I'm also looking for an ideal capacitive capable stylus).
I've trialled Win8 on the tablet and it seems to be a much better OS for a touchscreen device .. so if you decide to go with a Windows tablet, keep this in mind!
And from what I've read about the next incarnations of Win8 tablets, their processing power will be a couple of order of magnitudes above current similar devices.

** the 320G hard drive was nice to have, but it was a very slow high latency device that really made the tablet slow to load and do anything, when compared to most modern PCs. I relented and loaded a 250G SSD and the difference was startling .. should have done that a lot earlier.**

Do you have a budget limit .. either strictly imposed by any other half!! ) or philosophically restricted(as I do).

You can use an iPad (the camera connector ($35) comes with a USB connector and a SD card connector so you could use either to upload files to your iPad. The iPad connector kit supports RAW and JPG. The USB connector allows you to plug a camera directly into the iPad). The major issue with an iPad is the amount of space available (64GB max) so unless you are uploading them to dropbox after that, you may run out of space.

I'm inclined to go with the option of a cheap windows netbook if cost is a factor. If you're really worry about size, the 11" tablets are as small as an iPad/Tablet and offer more storage space at a similar or cheaper price along with far more functionality. If budget isn't a problem you could look at something like a Macbook Air (or the equivalent windows versions which are just as small) and have full editing capability as part of your arsenal for travel.

[arthurking83]

You either want a netbook as already said with either Linux/Android/Windows so that you have the ability to upload to an external hdd external to the device, as space is always limited on most modern portable devices, or you want a device with a large(r) internal storage space(Windows tablet).

uploading many files to Dropbox, whilst it sounds ideal in an ideal world is (IMHO) not really a viable option! .... wayyyy too slow and not always an option.
As far as I understand it, you could connect a wireless external hdd to an iPad to gain an external hdd capability, and there's no reason for it not to work, unless the wireless hdd manufacturer is idiotic enough not to support iOS!!, but of course wireless hdd's are more expensive than their wired counterparts for any given size.

I don't see those photo bank storage devices as good value for money, unless ultra compactness is the main priority.

[britinozz]

I suppose any Android based device can, but none of these seem to have any real storage space!

You can get photobank devices that are basically portable hard drives with inbuilt card readers that will transfer any file on the card to the hard drive, but they(or the good ones) are quite expensive!

That is, a basic USB host capable tablet + cheap portable hard drive combo will usually cost you less(approx $400, if you shop right).

You can use the tablet as a browsing device and for any other purpose you deem appropriate.

For transferring iamges, you'd connect a USB hub to the tablet and then connect both the camera and external hdd to the tablet via the USB hub. Find all the images on the camera and transfer them to the external hdd.

Note that not all cameras support the Mass Storage device protocol any longer, so the camera connected to an Android device may not show up as another external card .. which is what is supposed to happen.

I'm yet to acquire a USB port/card reader device for my table yet, so I have no idea if this WILL work for me ...... yet!

For this process tho, I do have my Win7 tablet if I ever need any external storage space for my images .. and this system is not only foolproof but is my preferred system.

A Win7 tablet(Gigabyte) cost me just under $700 and no other devices or peripherals were needed, and it came with a 320Gig hdd... so in a way, is (almost)ideal as an image bank.

There are probably other solutions to this age old problem, but they tend to cost quite some money. I accepted this as an issue to be dealt with, rather than procrastinate over it due to the cost factor.
So my preference(s) then came down to what can this fairly expensive device also do for me!!

I still like the Android tablet I recently got myself, but now that I have some experience with a few different options .. for value for money, the Windows based mechanical hard drive tablet option is close to ideal .... if you are a Windows user and not Mac or Linux!!(although I guess that Linux could easily be loaded onto the tablet).
I don't know of any Mac OS tablet devices available on the market.

Note tho!! Windows 8 is almost due to public release(apparently October), and Win7 on a tablet is not ideal .. it works but there are some compromises that need to be made for many programs(not just Windows itself).
Because my tablet's screen is capacitive touch, a stylus doesn't work on it(so I'm also looking for an ideal capacitive capable stylus).
I've trialled Win8 on the tablet and it seems to be a much better OS for a touchscreen device .. so if you decide to go with a Windows tablet, keep this in mind!
And from what I've read about the next incarnations of Win8 tablets, their processing power will be a couple of order of magnitudes above current similar devices.

** the 320G hard drive was nice to have, but it was a very slow high latency device that really made the tablet slow to load and do anything, when compared to most modern PCs. I relented and loaded a 250G SSD and the difference was startling .. should have done that a lot earlier.**

Do you have a budget limit .. either strictly imposed by any other half!! ) or philosophically restricted(as I do).

Thanks for post ha ha yep i have a budget and it doesnt come close to what ive i can afford right now .I will look at just transferring them on the cruise ship i think maybe the best and cheapest option.

[Rattus79]

A point regarding the Ipad transfer device - You can only copy them off the card. You can not use the card reader as a photo viewer until all the photos are on the device.

When travelling for an extended period, I just take my lappy with me. But I have a camera back pack with the option for a 17 inch Lappy.

I run 2 backpacks - a daily cart around (lowpro flipside 200) that I chop and change on a day to day basis depending upon what I think I will be shooting and a larger (lowpro Runner 300 I think) that carries the bulk of the gear including the lappy. I generally leave this in the hotel for the day.