Would you use microdrive (harddisk type storage) for your digicam?

[eawtan]

Please discuss your point of view.

 

[Canew]

Yes, simply because it offered more storage space at a lower price. (strictly bang for the buck) - enables me to take in RAW without constanty worrying about storage and repeated changing of flash memory based CF cards.

 

[longkangman]

Yes, why not if the microdrive can sync up with the cam system.
Being using one for very long time and never fail on me.

 

[yanyewkay]

the 8GB one is selling for ~$250-$300? that's about 5X cheaper per GB?

I guess it wun be long before someone will start bringing in other factors such as my wife prefers brand x, the packaging sux or the salesgirl wasn't as pretty as the other shop.

 

[slacker123]

use it all the time... to shoot in raw without regards to space constraints

seriously best bang for the buck..

will eventually switch to 8GB compact flash cards when the economies of scale roll towards the consumer side.. =)

 

[Hobbesyeo]

Microdrives can die on you if you are not careful handling it.:sweat:
Dropping it on the floor is almost certainly fatal.

 

[syl]

Microdrives can die on you if you are not careful handling it.:sweat:
Dropping it on the floor is almost certainly fatal.

Not true. See what someone wrote in another thread:

""people people, pls dun be so ignorant. A microdrive will not spoil if you drop it 2 metre. Even if you drop your normal hard disk, it may not necessarily dies also.

All disks are design and rated to accept at least a few "Gs" of force. If the disk is not spinning, it can take a lot of abuse, but when it is spinning then it is different thing.

When does the microdrive spins? Answer: When the camera is operating.

Thats means for your microdrive to drop and spoil means you have to drop your camera. When you do drop your camera, do you think the $200 microdrive is significant compared to your $3000 "L" lens and your $2500 Canon 20D for example???

My buddy used to work for Seagate. His job? Knock hard disk and test them again and again.



Further reading on the Seagate drives; from www.seagate.com:

Reliability under high-vibration conditions. People often strap an MP3 player onto their hip or arm during running or other
physical activities. The resulting motion can introduce harmonic frequencies into the drive, which may cause the read heads to go off
track. This can result in the music skipping or even stopping completely, depending on the amount of buffer space in the system.
ST1 drives differ from other HDDs because they were designed to account for the harmonic distortion caused by high-vibration
movements. The drive incorporates Seagate RunOn technology, which enables the drive to detect when these unwanted harmonic
frequencies occur and automatically compensate by keeping the read heads on track. Consequently, the RunOn technology can
increase the reliability—and customer satisfaction—of an OEM’s handheld consumer electronics device.
Protection against shocks from mishandling. When many HDD-based devices are dropped, the read/write heads remain over the
media. These hard drops create a shock that can cause the heads to slap against the media so that pieces of the head are scattered
in the drive and a microscopic dent is left in the media.

Knowing that drops happen, Seagate built the ST1 Series with G-Force Protection, which protects the drive against shock by moving the
heads off the media when the device is powered off. Thus, during a drop, no parts make contact with each other inside the drive. G-Force
Protection makes any handheld device using ST1 drives more robust and more reliable as well.""

Quote by 'burmesterhifi'. My apologies from quoting you but you have answered this question so well that it ought to be reproduced here.

 

[Canew]

Microdrives can die on you if you are not careful handling it.:sweat:
Dropping it on the floor is almost certainly fatal.

Hobbesyeo, maybe you can take some hint from this post: http://forums.clubsnap.org/showpost.php?p=1955611&postcount=47

 

[smtan24]

Just curious where to buy Micro Drives? They don't seem very common.

 

[Paul_Yeo]

I didn't know Micro Drive can take drops :embrass:

 

[yanyewkay]

yes it can. Wun want to talk too much into it as it will stir up some heat.

 

[DeSwitch]

My 8Gb MD stays in my 350D for now. Good value and I can shoot RAW all the time. Those who had not even tried to shoot in RAW, should try out to see what you had been missing. Most mistakes in settings like light conditions can be fixed easily.

Latest generation of MD can take shocks. If MD is in camera most of the time (mine is 99% of the time) the only way to drop is to drop your camera. Thats more distarous, right?

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: for the new Micro Drive. I was a non-beliver until I use one.

 

[Paul_Yeo]

My 8Gb MD stays in my 350D for now. Good value and I can shoot RAW all the time. Those who had not even tried to shoot in RAW, should try out to see what you had been missing. Most mistakes in settings like light conditions can be fixed easily.

Latest generation of MD can take shocks. If MD is in camera most of the time (mine is 99% of the time) the only way to drop is to drop your camera. Thats more distarous, right?

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: for the new Micro Drive. I was a non-beliver until I use one.

bcos my CF cards are always reused for each events and weddings and thus, i will always take out ...just in case i accidentally format them.

when i take out the cards, thus, there will be more prone to drops and mishandle

 

[archlover]

i also already use my 2 gigs microdrive for like a year...
and it got no problem... and i bought it really cheap...
so? why not Microdrive?

 

[Paul_Yeo]

actually can external hard disk take drop if platter not spinning? :embrass:

 

[yanyewkay]

actually can external hard disk take drop if platter not spinning? :embrass:

yes. i have dropped mine before during installation. From desk height of ~1.1m onto solid tiled floor. Still working after ~3years

 

[unseen]

I was a non-beliver until I use one.

Hmmm you sound like quite a few christian converts that I know...
ROFL..
anyway for me, the MD's staying in my camera unless I forsee big bursts of speed being needed.. LOL Last time I shoot, must keep in mind card space limited. now with 8gb.. i don't think i'll really need to worry much, even if I go overseas for short trips..

Oh yes.. I've dropped my new 160gb 3.5" hdd before just before installing it in.. in my haste to grab it i actually kicked it again..
I almost died on the spot.
Luckily, it's been running non stop for the past 9mths in my PC liaoz..

 

[judeseah]

unlesss the 2 MD CFII cards i bought from
ATF(resellers for Seatgate during the SITEX05) r duds,
the working speed is not there for MD.

just wondering,
how long does it take u guys, users of MD, to format ur 4GB card?
took me more than 10mins.
review can be very tedious after the first few pics,
n to jump ten frames take forever.

drop, i m not too corncerned about this.
use to QC for Conners(God rest its soul).
20yrs old tech n its supposed to take 1G from 30cm w/o problem.

jude

 

[trlnlty]

i use Sandisk ultra II cf all the way ..

mainly because i shoot sports and often times i burst 5-10 shots in a row.. i need the speed + reliability of a cf card.

was just thinking about the previous (locked) thread and noticing the speed difference..

16 secs over 2 mins.. thats almost 10% difference.. i dont know how this would equate to real life usage but i wouldnt want to be caught in the situation where i wouldnt be able to shoot something because my camera was busy writing stuff in the card..

just my .02

 

[StreetShooter]

No, I'd rather use expensive CF cards and transfer my pictures every now and then to a Compactdrive where the hard disk WILL crash (with ALL my data) if I ever drop it.

Seriously, I'll just stick to my present system of two 1GB CF cards and a Compactdrive, and just never drop any of them. I think it's safer than having a Microdrive fail while in the camera (I know, I know it never does that, right?).