I could use some help with possibilities for storage "on the move". My wife is going on a vacation soon and I am trying to come up with the best possible solution for the following scenario. We need the ability to securely save each days digital photos. Possibility #1 Using a note book PC with a cd burner and appropriate software to burn cd,s each night back at the hotel. Possibility #2 Go to a PC/internet place and upload each day's photos back home to our main PC. Possibility #3 Use one of the new portable digital photo hard drive/viewers (virtual photo album) and load all daily pictures into the system. Possibility #4 Don't know if this is even a possibility. If there is some way to use a portable CD burner with a go between piece of hardware (geared for thids purpose) that would allow burning right off the memory card. If #4 is possible, I would prefer this option. 2 Copies could be burned for each complete set of pictures. One could be mailed home and the other could be taken through customs. I like this option(if it exists), because the discs are safer than a hard drive storage. If the hard drive fails, all is lost. Anyone have ideas for this situation? Thanks

Hmm, if you already have a notebook computer and are taking it with you, I would stick with that option. After that, you could burn them or keep on the hard disk for transfer to your pc at home(depending on the size of the laptop hd). If you can upload your pics to your computer from an internet place, will they let you install the software and such to get your pics online to start with? I dont know, I suppose it would depend on who is running it... Or... if you're using compact flash storage, there are some very large capacity memory cards available such as 1 gb, they might even go higher than that(not sure though). I have no idea what the other memory cards go up to as I myself am a cf card user and only know about them :) The drawback with using one card for all your pics is if something goes wrong with the card, you lose everything. I hope some of this is of help... -darren

Attached Link: http://www.mindsatwork.net/

Look for something called a digital wallet. Im not sure just how expensive they are, but basicly they are a hard drive with a built in compact flash card slot...that way you can just download your days photos to the "wallet" , up to 20 gigs depending on the model, and get them on your computer later via USB....and now firewire....

The problem with 1 gig microdrives are that they tend to generate a lot of heat which will impair the function of some cameras. Plus they contain moving parts and are quite vunerable to data loss by dropping...etc.

With those options, if it was me, I'd go for the laptop and burner option. I don't believe option #4 exists (at least, I haven't seen anything like that). Digital wallets are cool, but they have the same problem that all magnetic media has. One strong magnetic field or power surge could wipe out all of your images. With a laptop/burner combo, you could keep your photos on the laptop hd and have hard copies burned onto CD. Sort of double safety net. -=>Donald

Attached Link: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/mediacompare/

You dont have to use the microdrive, compact flash cards can go that high, and higher(see link). The Mindstor looks very cool...

I just stick with a large number of CF-cards. Not larger than 256 Mb and switching cards regularly. That way, if something goes wrong, the damage is limited. In some cities (eg Gent, Belgium where I live), you can find stores where they'll be happy to burn your photos on a CD-ROM. If you have the luxury of taking a notebook PC with a CD-burner, then I'd certainly go for that. Internet transfers,... hmmmm ... unless you get a really fast transfer speed, you're going to have to wait a long time (and pay a lot) for several hundreds of Mb to upload. Digital wallets are expensive : last time I saw one it costed about 700 USD (in the US that should amount to 400 - 500 USD; yes, VAT is killing us) for a mere 4 Gb. (you could buy a lot of CF memory for that amount of money) Option #4 would be a real dream ... but dreams, alas....

Having been there, done that (ie. had access to a laptop, didn't have funds for lots of memory cards) I would recommend the laptop/burner option. Quick, easy, and like mentioned above you have the backup of your pics being on the laptop and on the cd. I wouldn't even entertain the idea of Internetting it across - reasons already gone over. Oh, just one thing though - depending on where you are going, make sure you don't 'overstep' the mark if you've been taking bedroom piccies..... crossing country borders with a cd full of (even very personal) pics of that nature might not be acceptable..... snigger Oh, btw, quick way to wipe a cd of personal info - home accounts, ex girlfriends (unless needed in future for blackmail) etc etc........ lie the cd flat on top of a tumbler, and microwave it for about a minute. Great fireworks show, data totally corrupted and the plastic becomes so brittle it snaps like candy. lol. (Don't ask. I had a pile of cd's that hadn't worked when burning progs onto them, and decided to find ingenious methods of destruction for a laugh when I was bored.....oh, and it produces a neat crackle effect for a texture.) (",)

Thank you for all the helpful posts. Seeing as my wife is in the market for a laptop, the answer is clear. Any features in the laptop that are a must? Never had one before. Oh Jordy, no matter how much I've tried, my wife is not a willing participant in the "photgraphic skin game". Oh well, mabe in my next life. sigh

Whenever people ask me what they should buy (desktop or laptop) I always suggest making a 3 part list. On it, put down what you need it to do, what you'd like it to do and what you might want it to do in the future. With a desktop, the last one isn't as important because they are so easy to upgrade. For a laptop, it becomes a little more important. Use that list when shopping for your laptop. Right off the bat, get the largest HD you can afford. If your wife will be doing anything of a graphic nature then get the most memory and fastest processor you can. Go with an active matrix screen (TFT variant), your eyes will thank you later. If you're shopping over the internet, go to a local store before buying and try it out. That's a must if just to see if you like the size/design and definitely (sp?) try out the keyboard. Search for reviews on the internet to see if there are any problems with the model you are looking at. Check battery life and type. Worst thing in the world is a really cool laptop with a battery life of 60 minutes. And finally, don't get pulled in by the gee-whiz factor. That means, don't get sucked into buying a laptop with 15" screen, 2.5GHz processor, 2gigs RAM and built in subwoofer if all you're going to do is use MS Office and surf the internet on it. That goes the other way too. If you need to spend a couple hundred more for a feature that you don't need, but really want then do it. Helps keep the "I shoulda" thoughts from popping up after you guy. Final note, once you do buy...stop looking at laptops. You will invariably, this is without fail, find a system that is cheaper with the same/more features or in some way better if keep looking. It doesn't matter when you buy, this is a universal constant. -=>Donald

Laptop with CD Burner would be the best way. Last Summer I went to Siggraph in San Antonio and took over 1,000 photos. I purchased the Iomega PhotoShow, which is a 250mb Zip drive with both SmartMedia and Compact Flash slots. With a 12v adapater I was able to dump my pictures to the Zip drive while driving around. I always dumped the pics to 2 seperate disks. This worked very well. At night we hooked up the photoshow to the TV and viewed slideshows of the photos we took today. I filled up the Zip disks I brought with me, but was able to buy more at the local Wal-Mart. I paid $149.00 for the drive and each 250mb disk cost about $13.00. This was a cheap way of storing my photos. I don't think Iomega makes these anymore, but you might still find them in stores. Not sure why these did not catch on more.