Portable photo storage devices

By Aimee Baldridge, CNET.com on 05 August 2004

Make your photos portable, and store more shots on the road with these portable photo products.

If you don't want to carry a laptop computer when you travel or if you like to go out and take a lot of pictures on weekend afternoons, consider adding a portable photo storage device to your camera bag. You'll be able to download your photos to it directly from the camera's memory card so that you can reuse the card as many times as you like.

Portable photo storage devices don't all work the same way, though; some store your images on little hard drives and some burn them to disc. If you already own a gadget that can store digital files -- such as an MP3 player, a thumb drive or a portable hard drive -- but don't have a way to connect it to your camera, an inexpensive USB bridge might be able to turn it into a photo storage device.

To figure out which one will best meet your needs, take a look at our comparison charts for a rundown of the pros and cons, the key specs, download speeds and battery life of current portable photo storage devices.

Hard Drives and Disc Burners
Compact hard drive devices are available in a range of storage capacities and portable burners can record the images on your camera's memory card directly to a CD.

Bridges and Links
You can hook up your camera to a variety of storage devices with these gadgets.

• Back to intro • Hard Drives and Disc Burners • Bridges and links

Hard Drives and Disc Burners

Hard Drives

Hard drive-based portable photo storage devices offer compact designs and large capacities. You can load just about any kind of file onto them, although not all of the devices display every type of image file on their LCDs. Most companies periodically upgrade their firmware to support new file types and features, so check with the vendor's Web site to make sure you have the latest version before taking one of these on a trip.

Description	Pros and cons	Performance and specs
Delkin eFilm PicturePad (20GB, 30GB, 40GB, and 60GB capacities available)	Pros: Compact; image-viewing and verification functions; some RAW file display supported Cons: Short battery life; slow image display; small LCD; slow USB 1.1 upload to computer	Download time: 6 minutes, 45 seconds (see note on how we test below) Battery life: 9 486MB downloads (see note on how we test below) Weight and size: 290g; 146 x 82.5 x 29mm Interfaces: USB 1.1; RCA video output; USB 2.0, FireWire, and direct print adapters available Camera media supported: CompactFlash Types I and II; SD/MMC and Memory Stick with optional adapters Display: 1.8-inch colour LCD with zoom, pan, rotate, and slide-show capabilities; outputs to NTSC or PAL TV; displays JPEG, TIFF, and selected RAW files Power supply: Interchangeable and rechargeable 1,400mAh lithium-ion battery; AC adapter

Download time: In our download-time test, we transfer 486MB of data, which includes 76 image files of various types and sizes, from a 512MB SanDisk Ultra CompactFlash card.

Battery life: In our battery-life test, we fully charge the device's included battery, then run our download-time test (above) repeatedly until the battery dies. If the device has an LCD, we allow it to leave the screen on or automatically shut it off during downloads, according to its default functioning. Please note that viewing images on an LCD between downloads will result in shorter battery life.

Disc Burners

Both of these portable CD burners have built-in slots for camera memory cards and don't need to be attached to a computer to work, although you can use them that way too. They burn images directly from your camera media to a CD-R or CD-RW. If you print without a computer at home, you can use these to archive your image files while remaining PC-free. As with the hard drives, most companies periodically upgrade their firmware to support new file types and features, so check with the vendor's Web site to make sure you have the latest version before taking one of these on a trip.

Description	Pros and cons	Performance and specs
Apacer Disc Steno CP200	Pros: Fairly compact design; battery powered; DVD and audio CD playback; spans CDs for recording from a high-capacity card; multi-session burning Cons: No image display on device	Burn time: 12 minutes, 15 seconds (secure mode); 5 minutes, 54 seconds (fast mode) (see note on how we test below) Battery life: N/A (see note on how we test below) Weight and size: 54g; 157 x H33 x 184 mm Interfaces: USB 2.0; RCA video out; headphone jack Supported camera media: CompactFlash Types I and II; SmartMedia; Memory Stick; Memory Stick Pro; SD/MMC Display: Status LCD; JPEG photo and MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video output to NTSC or PAL TV with photo rotate, zoom, and slide-show functions Power supply: Included AC adapter; interchangeable and rechargeable 1,800mAh lithium-ion battery

Nixvue Vizor	Pros: Image and thumbnail index display on LCD; menu-driven controls; audio CD playback; displays TIFFs and some RAW files; spans CDs for recording from a high-capacity card; multi-session burning; file-transfer verification Cons: No battery power; no power switch; slow menu navigation and display; no DVD playback; remote control costs extra	Burn time: 7 minutes, 35 seconds (see note on how we test below) Weight and size: 630g; 134 x 170 x 50mm Interfaces: USB 2.0; RCA video out; headphone jack Supported camera media: SD/MMC, Memory Stick, CompactFlash Types I and II, SmartMedia and xD-Picture Card with optional adapters Display: Monochrome LCD; optional 2.5-inch colour LCD; JPEG, TIFF, BMP, and selected RAW photo and MPEG video output to NTSC or PAL TV with photo rotate, zoom, pan, slide-show, and EXIF display functions Power supply: Included AC adapter; optional cigarette-lighter adapter available

Burn time: In our burn-time test, we record 486MB of data, which includes 76 image files of various types and sizes, from a 512MB SanDisk Ultra CompactFlash card to a CD-R.

Battery life: In our battery-life test, we fully charge the device's included battery, then run our burn-time test (above) repeatedly until the battery dies. If the device has an LCD, we allow it to leave the screen on or automatically shut it off during downloads, according to its default functioning. Please note that viewing images on an LCD between downloads will result in shorter battery life.

• Back to intro

• Hard Drives and Disc Burners

• Bridges and links

Bridges and links

If you already own a compatible storage device, such as a thumb drive, a portable hard drive or a USB MP3 player, one of the little gadgets listed below can provide a cheap way to turn it into a portable photo storage device. You'll have only the most rudimentary features and you won't be able to view your images on the device. On the other hand, these bridges and links are extremely compact and lightweight. Just make sure you do a test transfer to make sure all of your gadgetry is working in concert before taking one of them on vacation.

Description	Pros and cons	Performance and specs
Delkin USB Bridge	Pros: Connects cameras to storage devices directly via USB; compact; inexpensive; file-transfer verification function; uses convenient power source Cons: No display	Transfer time: N/A (see note on how we test below) Battery life: N/A (see note on how we test below) Weight and size: 51g; 82.5 x 63.5 x 19mm Compatible input devices: USB mass storage or PTP devices with the FAT12/16/32 file format Compatible output devices: Most USB mass storage devices with the FAT12/16/32 file format; CD-R/RW (ISO 9660); external disk drives; USB thumb drives; memory card readers; USB MP3 players Display: None Power supply: Two AA batteries

Belkin Digital Camera Link for iPod	Pros: Connects cameras to iPod directly via USB; compact and stylish; inexpensive; file-transfer verification function; uses convenient power source Cons: No display; not compatible with iPod Mini	Transfer time: N/A (see note on how we test below) Battery life: N/A (see note on how we test below) Weight and size: N/A Interfaces and supported camera media: USB-A connection to camera; supports all mass-storage DCF-format and PTP-compliant cameras Display: None Power supply: Two AA batteries

Belkin Media Reader for iPod	Pros: Connects camera memory card to iPod directly; compact and stylish; inexpensive; uses convenient power source Cons: No display; no file-transfer verification function; not compatible with iPod Mini	Transfer time: N/A (see note on how we test below) Battery life: N/A (see note on how we test below) Weight and size: N/A Interfaces and supported camera media: CompactFlash Types I and II; SmartMedia; SD/MMC; Memory Stick Display: None Power supply: Four AAA batteries

Transfer time: In our transfer-time test, we download 486MB of data, which includes 76 image files of various types and sizes, from a 512MB SanDisk Ultra CompactFlash card in a SanDisk ImageMate 6 in 1 card reader to a 512MB SanDisk Cruzer Titanium thumb drive.

Battery life: In our battery-life test, we fully charge the indicated batteries, then run our transfer-time test (above) repeatedly until the battery dies.

Portable photo storage devices

By Aimee Baldridge, CNET.com on 05 August 2004

URL: http://www.cnet.com.au/portable-photo-storage-devices-240000544.htm