Compact drive

[flowerpot99]

Hey guys I saw a compact drive(40Gb - 60GB) at the IT fair going for $199 - $399.
Erm this is the one

http://www.eastgear.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=17_66&products_id=310

Anyone using it? Is it good?Can it be used as a card reader?

 

[AMDer]

u mean the 40G one going for just $199?

a 2.5" 40GB harddisk is going for around $120~$130. that means the storage is going for only $60~$70?

wow...is it worth it guys?
if ok, i rush down today and buy liao..

 

[nikkie]

i bought the hdd and portable hdd casing separately. my casing costs only $25 and it has never given me problems.
though the shopguy keep insisting there is a difference between the expensive ones and mine. they try to convince you to pay more. the profit for the casing is too high. my friend got similar casing from china (where he worked) for only about $18 and it also worked perfectly. in fact the distributor price is only $12 per piece. they work fine as long as you connect directly to a USB port, not via hub, as it is draws power only from the USB connection from your PC.

 

[AMDer]

huh?
but the one flowerpot99 is talking about is not only a normal portable harddisk u are talking about.
i think the one flowerpot99 is referring to is for use on-the-go one. for example, for CF,MS,SD,MMC...etc that u can transfer from yr digital camera into the harddisk without the use of PC.
imagine u are at botanic gardens and your memory card is full, u dun have extra memory card and u still nedd to take more pics. so this compact drive will allow u to transfer all the pics in the memory card into the harddisk without the need of a PC so u can take pics with a empty card again.

am i right? anyone?

 

[GitS]

huh?
but the one flowerpot99 is talking about is not only a normal portable harddisk u are talking about.
i think the one flowerpot99 is referring to is for use on-the-go one. for example, for CF,MS,SD,MMC...etc that u can transfer from yr digital camera into the harddisk without the use of PC.
imagine u are at botanic gardens and your memory card is full, u dun have extra memory card and u still nedd to take more pics. so this compact drive will allow u to transfer all the pics in the memory card into the harddisk without the need of a PC so u can take pics with a empty card again.

am i right? anyone?

absolutely right...very good price now, paid 399 for it a few months ago...
runs on batteries or ac/dc indispensable if you shoot raw

 

[flowerpot99]

huh?
but the one flowerpot99 is talking about is not only a normal portable harddisk u are talking about.
i think the one flowerpot99 is referring to is for use on-the-go one. for example, for CF,MS,SD,MMC...etc that u can transfer from yr digital camera into the harddisk without the use of PC.
imagine u are at botanic gardens and your memory card is full, u dun have extra memory card and u still nedd to take more pics. so this compact drive will allow u to transfer all the pics in the memory card into the harddisk without the need of a PC so u can take pics with a empty card again.

am i right? anyone?

ya ya thats the one I am talking about. $199 is for the body without HDD. Can get the HDD from other place too. So can bring many HDD if 1 is not enough Anyone using one now? Good :thumbsup:??

 

[flowerpot99]

absolutely right...very good price now, paid 399 for it a few months ago...
runs on batteries or ac/dc indispensable if you shoot raw

Ermm when did you brought it? Now they selling $299 for 40GB is it cheap? Or should I wait till June IT fair?

 

[piggynken]

Hi just got mine yest at 299 for 40GB
Well, tech stuff will keep dropping when you wait but
tech will keep changing and you keep thinking of new stuff liao..

1 fren who bought an XdriveII cost 400+ end of 2003
and another fren who bought the same thing cost him 300+ end 2004.

But by then xdrive comes up with new models liao..

 

[flowerpot99]

I guess if it is good enough then I dun have to go for newer model. I'm the kind that go for value and needs.
Just need to know the following abt this product, if anyone know can just tell me abt it, tks in advance

1. durable?
2.Any 2.5" HDD(laptop one) can be used with it?
3.Can be used as a card reader when connected to computer?
4.Can do copying from card to card?
5.Any other features?
6.When was it introduce since if its this year I guess price will still go lower.
7.Any other better and cheaper alternatives around?

:embrass: Sorry for asking so many questions

 

[CAMEDIA]

i bought the hdd and portable hdd casing separately. my casing costs only $25 and it has never given me problems.
though the shopguy keep insisting there is a difference between the expensive ones and mine. they try to convince you to pay more. the profit for the casing is too high. my friend got similar casing from china (where he worked) for only about $18 and it also worked perfectly. in fact the distributor price is only $12 per piece. they work fine as long as you connect directly to a USB port, not via hub, as it is draws power only from the USB connection from your PC.

Yup, the profit margin are in fact very high for the casing. The above is the typical Sim Lim Sq tricks which they will try to convince u that it may not work and even resort to mentioning the warranty will void if u dont use their casing. :thumbsd: Anyway, the warranty is not by them but more with the manufacturer like IBM, Hitatchi, etc.

I have frequent China and bought many USB casing ($6-7 per piece which local is selling for $30-$60) for myself and colleagues and uptill now, everything is working fine. They sure sounded like as if their casing are not from the land of the dragon :bsmilie:

 

[ling13]

I have been wanting to buy this Compact drive for quit sometime.i did go for the I.T.Show.but i want to see more product before i buy this one.I login to thier web site today,i was so sad :bigeyes: to find out from the web site.It say that the producet they have discontinued. :dunno:

Its said "WE HAVE DISCONTINUE THE SUPPLY OF COMPACT DRIVE PD7X".

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ( March 2005 )

We are sorry to announce that we have discontinued the supply of Compact Drive PD7X. This is due to the fact that PD7X has high failure rate and thus we are unable to keep up good customer support on this product.

The manufacturer tried hard to turn PD7X into an ultra performance unit to suit most photographers. At the same time, however, they have given up or ignored many critical issues including the unit’s reliability

The high failure rate of PD7X has made selling these units an unprofitable business. The built quality of the product is far worse than what they promised and is not even close to what a professional photographer needs. The most famous ‘known issue’ is the missing regulator. Although they were trying to explain how a decent hard drive can sustain the fluctuated voltage, they never made a statement against ‘what if’ something like this really happens. The fact is that they try not to carry any responsibility for photo lost, considering this has already happened to some users.

The whole unit is built cheaply. The ‘dust cover’ falls off frequently and the two pins that holds the cover is so fragile that they break all the time. Although this may not be a critical issue, it annoys both users and resellers so much that sellers have to replace the cover for users all the time. :angry:

Unfortunately the same problem exists on the other end of the unit – the battery compartment. Most likely the clips that hold the hinge will break within one year from day-to-day usage. Once they are broken, the whole unit becomes unusable since the batteries can not be attached properly. Therefore it is highly recommended that users DO NOT change the batteries at all. Thus PD7X’s winning feature, which is the ability to change batteries, has faded out.

One other serious problem is the actual usable size of the hard drive is unpredictable. Although the software provided can format large drives (> 30 GB) to FAT32 with no error, not all space is actually usable. We have been reported that an 80 GB drive showed a ‘No more space’ error when only 4.5 GB of data was really stored on the drive. A few Mac users reported that the data became corrupted after the drive stores more than 30 GB of data. After reformatting the unit, the usable space became even less than 30 GB. Many evidence :thumbsd:

As we have discontinued the Compact Drive business, all future enquiries and customer supports including warranty issue will be handled by 3HDigital (the manufacturer) and their Authorized International Representative: www.compactdrive.com . For more information please contact: sales@compactdrive.com

We apologize for any inconvenience this caused. Thank you for your support and wish you all the best in the future!


http://www.compactdrive.net/index.html

Just want to let all the user and those ppl who want to buy this product,pls do read this page. :embrass:

I hope that they can come out something better then this,co swe are the customer who buy the prodct.

 

[leon]

I bought a QCool with 20GB HDD installed at a sls shop in late 2003 for S320. Very happy with it, though I am sure prices have dropped very much by now. Found a review at:

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/qcool-otg-iii-review.html

The unit reviewed differed slightly from mine (think his is newer, as the review pics show a more graphical progress display than mine).

 

[caseytan]

seems like compactdrive.net is a bogus site, even the China site http://www.3hdigital.com/en/distributor.htm never list the compactdrive.net as distributor. And the compactdrive.net is registerd using a New Zealand Address ? ? ?

Eastgear is the International Distributor, i suggest you call up EastGear to verify first.

 

[espn]

Sykestang is selling a digibin, tried it, it's good :thumbsup: - http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=120493

 

[flowerpot99]

OMG :bheart: I thought I have found THE ONE but seems like it was not to be..... It has so many function that I wanted and good battery life but why is the build quality so :thumbsd: :thumbsd: as said by some of the snappers?
Aiyo got to find some other compact drive that is wu pi wu qi again..(erm.. good and cheap) ;p

 

[John Tan]

I'm using a 20GB Archos ($899) where you can view photo after transfer into it.

Speed : 5min 10sec to transfer 1GB from extreme CF.
Battery : Had transfer 10GB while batt still have 2 out of 3 bar.

Other function: Record & View movies clip from TV/DVD/VCD easily.

 

[dennixg]

Vosonic X's-Drive Pro VP300 ($210 - Feb 2004)
HD is IBM 20 gig ($165 - Feb 2004)

Battery
litium Ion - just about 2 hours
I have an external battery adapter to extend another 2 hours with 8x AA rechargables.

It is also an MP3 player.

 

[piggynken]

Well I see that for True new Zealand website should be
http://www.compactdrive.co.nz/index.html

 

[EastGear]

Official Statement regarding compactdrive.net (18th March 2005)

EastGear (Singapore) Pte Ltd is the Manufacturer and International Sales Representative of the CompactDrive PD7X.

It has come to our attention that several websites that claim to be the distributors of CompactDrive have stated to have “discontinued the supply of CompactDrive PD7X” due to “high failure rate”

The statements can be seen at:

www.compactdrive.net
www.compactdrive.info
www.compactdrive.us
www.compactdrive.jp
www.compactdrive.co.nz
www.compactdrive.co.uk
www.compactdrive.com.tw

We wish to state for the record that ALL of the above domain names and websites are owned by one single entity, the former New Zealand Distributor for CompactDrive PD7X which goes under the trading name of CompactDrive International Co. Ltd / Top International Limited / Heard Park Group of Companies (here from referred to as Heard Park)

Heard Park has no point in time represented any distribution channels for the CompactDrive PD7X other than within New Zealand itself. Heard Park have been sanctioned previously because they insist on misleading consumers and companies by pretending to be distributors of other countries (namely United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan) and parallel importing into these countries when their distribution area is only limited to New Zealand.

We hereby denounce all statements made by Heard Park as totally false and erroneous. We wish to state for the fact:

1. That till this very day, Heard Park has not returned a single unit to the manufacturer for repair due to failure of any kind.
   
2. The manufacturer has always listened to end users feedback and kept in close contact with our distributors. We have never “given up or ignored” issues pertaining to the unit’s reliability. In fact, the CompactDrive is one of the most reliable portable storage device in the market. Till this day, no user has ever lost any images or data as a result of any systematic reliability problems.
   
3. As recent as 11th March, 2005, Heard Park was still in correspondence with the manufacturer to export stock to EU. The order was delayed indefinitely due to disagreement in payment issues.
   
4. As of Christmas 2004, Heard Park has a very low stock count and has not reordered since. They have complained about poor business due to increasing competition from other distributors in the region and on the Internet.

We urge all discerning readers to see past the product discontinue statement as a veiled attempt to discredit and tarnish the product and product brand name and at the same time, to promote a competing product.

The CompactDrive PD7X was never discontinued at any time. In fact, all other distribution channels around the world are enjoying brisk and healthy sales of this product. The CompactDrive PD7X continues to be the fastest selling portable storage device in Asia, Europe, US and the rest of the world.

The CompactDrive continues to be one of the best portable storage devices in the market. It has the world’s fastest transfer speed as well as longest battery life in the market.

In fact, the CompactDrive PD7X recently won the prestigious DIMA (Digital Imaging Marketing Association) 2005 Innovative Digital Product Award, at the recent PMA (Photo Marketing Association) International 2005, held in Orlando, the biggest photo equipment trade show in North America.

For more information see:
http://pma2005.pmai.org/Convention_Daily/showDaily.asp?news_id=25260

The CompactDrive PD7X has also won a string of other awards which can be seen here:
http://www.compactdrive.com/reviews.htm

The manufacturer has a highly vested interest in the CompactDrive trademark and regards these statements as highly defamatory and slanderous. We are currently seeking legal advice from our lawyers and will go all out to protect our trademark and seek damages from entities that choose to spread lies and false information

We regret Heard Park decision to abandon their CompactDrive PD7X customers and to simply blame poor businesses on “high failure rate”. EastGear Pte Ltd (www.compactdrive.com) will undertake all support issues from Heard Park customers.

With immediate effect, Heard Park and any of their holding companies will cease to be the distributor of the CompactDrive PD7X and will not be allowed to trade using the name CompactDrive.

 

[Jia Wang]

Kudos to Eastgear for the reassuring clarification.

I'm a Compact Drive user myself, and have not encountered transfer failures or loss of data etc... I was a bit surprised at the claims made by the bogus sites initially, as personally, I've thought the Compact Drive was pretty good. It's good to know that those claims don't carry much weight...