Will Thompson
Well Known Member
Really, how many?
Dierk Haasis said:Recently I found one very good reason to use smaller cards instead of larger ones: Since we usually format any card after use [that's after downloading files], new files will be written from the beginning of the card first, then go on to parts farther to the end, meaning that the former sectors will be written over more often, thus increasing failure probability for those parts.
Nill Toulme said:I'm also not in the format-every-time camp. I've put more than a quarter million frames through various cards of just about every type (including a lot of microdrives), and I bet I haven't formatted them, all together, more than a dozen times.
Nill Toulme said:With memory as cheap as it is now (the very fast 12GB in each of my cameras cost me about $225), I also don't see the point of the portable hard drive things.
Looks cool! But hauling a laptop to use it plus the cost of the laptop exceed the cost of 40 GB of CF cards in both weight and cost.ChrisDauer said:Memory Cards? How quaint It's very 2005 of you.
J/K!
One word: WiFi
http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/09/nikon-scores-fcc-approval-for-d200-dslr-wifi-transmitter/
Formatting would cost me time, not save it, as it would be an extra step. Among the many extremely useful things that Downloader Pro does for me (including automatic folder creation, file renaming, downloading, backing up, and confirming the downloads) is automatically clearing the card.Sean DeMerchant said:... The real reason is that formatting a card is anywhere from two to ten times faster than deleting huge numbers of files in camera. You can talk about reliability all you want, but you only need to practically do that every month or two for nearly identical benefit. But the time savings can matter if you start counting it in missed shots due to a failure to empty the card by accident.
I'm not sure I follow your argument. Are you saying this is for use of the HD device strictly for field backup, as opposed to freeing up the CF cards for reuse? I would agree that could make sense in extended field situations. For multi-day trips I've always just used the laptop though.Dierk Haasis said:Using prices in Euro in Germany, 80 GB:
1 X's-Drive II Plus, pre-configured = € 125
40 Sandisk 2 GB Extreme III* = € 2,200
Prices for memory cards may be dropping but the difference to me still looks mighty impressive. HD technology's tried, tested and improved for more than 2 decades, notebook HDs have been proven to be very stable in every respect. Getting two or three of those [with card reader built in, batterie powered] is much cheaper than getting enough cards in the same storage space range - and it is safer even when only probabilities are taken into account [that is, technology in both is considered to be equally robust].
In this example it is assumed that only part of the CF-card is actually used for shooting, the rest is for backup [although I don't see how to do that without a computer and a card reader**].
Nill Toulme said:What I'm saying is that I don't see the point of these HD-devices as substitutes for adequate CF capacity.
Sean DeMerchant said:Looks cool! But hauling a laptop to use it plus the cost of the laptop exceed the cost of 40 GB of CF cards in both weight and cost.
enjoy,
Sean
Nill Toulme said:I'm not sure I follow your argument. Are you saying this is for use of the HD device strictly for field backup, as opposed to freeing up the CF cards for reuse? I would agree that could make sense in extended field situations. For multi-day trips I've always just used the laptop though.
What I'm saying is that I don't see the point of these HD-devices as substitutes for adequate CF capacity.
Nill
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www.toulme.net
Nill Toulme said:Formatting would cost me time, not save it, as it would be an extra step. Among the many extremely useful things that Downloader Pro does for me (including automatic folder creation, file renaming, downloading, backing up, and confirming the downloads) is automatically clearing the card.