Bigger Flash Card or Portable Drive?

[jfender]

In August, I'm going on a week long trip with my children to visit family in Colorado. I know that I'm going be taking TONS of photos. I already have 2-256mb cards. My family members (I'm pretty sure) will have computers with CD-ROM drives I could use for downloading...I can always take my USB card reader along.

BUT, I'm thinking maybe a portable hard drive might be be something to consider. Or, a large sized CF card.

At a minimum, I need to buy an extra battery pack. And I'd like to buy a car charger. But, I'd consider skipping the car charger for the extra media storage.

The only other thing I can add to this is I'm not sure where else such a portable drive would get use in my "normal" everyday living. Obviously, this won't be my last vacation, and the chances are the next time we go somewhere, a PC or laptop won't be available.

So, what do you think? Do you have portable drive you'd recommend?

Thanks in advance!

Joy

[castledude]

I have one of these http://www.iomagic.com/Products/show_al ... 6N1USB20GB

It costs less than a 1GB card and holds 20GB, you can replace the drive with larger sizes. It can be used as a stand alone reader also. A USB2.0 version now exists for getting the data off the drive faster.

If you want other use you might look at this one http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/s.nl/c ... /id.179/.f

It is similar to the first one but can also be used as an MP3 player so it gives you some extra use between vacations.


I use mine even on normal trips. It just feels more secure to know I have two copies of my data, just in case something gets glitched before I get home.

[jfender]

I hadn't thought that the drives could be 20x the space for the same price as a 1GB flash card.

Appreciate the info....definitely leaning more in that direction.

Have you ever personally ordered from digital discount? They have some other things I'd be interested in.

Joy

[castledude]

No I haven't.

I found the address on Steves-digicams http://www.steves-digicams.com/ his site is usually pretty reliable.

I just checked them on http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2211.html they have a good review.

I bought mine when they were selling them at Radio Shack. They were selling them out at $140 for the 20G model. At that time that was lower than the price of a 512M SD card. Been using it about once a week for 4 months now and really like it.

[segay]

In August, I'm going on a week long trip with my children to visit family in Colorado. I know that I'm going be taking TONS of photos. I already have 2-256mb cards. My family members (I'm pretty sure) will have computers with CD-ROM drives I could use for downloading...I can always take my USB card reader along.

BUT, I'm thinking maybe a portable hard drive might be be something to consider. Or, a large sized CF card.

At a minimum, I need to buy an extra battery pack. And I'd like to buy a car charger. But, I'd consider skipping the car charger for the extra media storage.

The only other thing I can add to this is I'm not sure where else such a portable drive would get use in my "normal" everyday living. Obviously, this won't be my last vacation, and the chances are the next time we go somewhere, a PC or laptop won't be available.

So, what do you think? Do you have portable drive you'd recommend?

Thanks in advance!

Joy