PD70x Review

May 29, 2006 : 9:16 PM

PD70x Review

While it sounds like a bad Robocop villain it's actually an amazing Portable Storage Device (PSD) that every traveling photographer should own.

Before I took my holiday in Europe I knew I had to have a way to store all my photos. I didn't want to carry around a laptop and I knew the iPod transfer was out of the question due to speed and no RAW support. So I started to research PSD's and found this quite ugly looking PD70x. I researched about 20 other models and brands but they were either way too expensive (like the Epson one) or just too slow.

I opted for an 80GB 5400 speed HD (the 5400 speed wont affect the transfer speed to much but should give extra battery life) in my PD70x and it cost me just under $400 AUD. A bargain considering its worth.

So what is a PD70x. It's basically a 2.5" HD with a card reader built in. It runs off batteries (or mains power) and lets you copy your photos from your memory card (takes about 8 types) and then you're good to go for another round of photos.

I was able to take 5800 RAW shots with just two 1GB Compact Flash cards. ALl up between me and Ervi we did 50GB of photos no worries. Transfer speeds were the best part. It could rip down 1GB (well 977MB) in just under 2 min.

The size is about the size of an Atari Lynx (or2 IPOD 40GB's). So it's not pocket sized but fits in your bag easily.

There are models out there with display screens; MP3 players but I just wanted a photo storage device. The PD70x offered the fastest transfer speed and the option for battery power. So if I'm in the jungle with no power I can still run the MOFO on 4xAA's. I did about 20-25GB on one set of batteries (they were the expensive lithium) and that was more than I expected.

I could not have traveled with out this little device and I made a few mistakes like copying the same files twice (on more than one occasion) but that was my fault for not formatting the cards after transferring.

I recommend anyone who travels with their digital camera to get a device like this. The PD70x looks shit but was the fasted I could find when comparing transfer speeds online and that’s the main thing that mattered. The iPod transfer solution I tried when in Indo last took me over 45 minutes for 1GB and drained my battery to 0, even after a full charge!

The cheapest place I coudl find was Mrgadget but there are plenty of places you can purchase one.

Posted at May 29, 2006 : 9:16 PM
Archived in: photos

While it sounds like a bad Robocop villain it's actually an amazing Portable Storage Device (PSD) that every traveling photographer should own. Before I took my holiday in Europe I knew I had to have a way to store all my photos. I didn't want to carry around a laptop and I knew the iPod transfer was out of the question due to speed and no RAW support. So I started to research PSD's and found this quite ugly looking PD70x. I researched about 20 other models and brands but they were either way too expensive (like the Epson one) or just too slow. I opted for an 80GB 5400 speed HD (the 5400 speed wont affect the transfer speed to much but should give extra battery life) in my PD70x and it cost me just under $400 AUD. A bargain considering its worth. So what is a PD70x. It's basically a 2.5" HD with a card reader built in. It runs off batteries (or mains power) and lets you copy your photos from your memory card (takes about 8 types) and then you're good to go for another round of photos. I was able to take 5800 RAW shots with just two 1GB Compact Flash cards. ALl up between me and Ervi we did 50GB of photos no worries. Transfer speeds were the best part. It could rip down 1GB (well 977MB) in just under 2 min. The size is about the size of an Atari Lynx (or2 IPOD 40GB's). So it's not pocket sized but fits in your bag easily. There are models out there with display screens; MP3 players but I just wanted a photo storage device. The PD70x offered the fastest transfer speed and the option for battery power. So if I'm in the jungle with no power I can still run the MOFO on 4xAA's. I did about 20-25GB on one set of batteries (they were the expensive lithium) and that was more than I expected. I could not have traveled with out this little device and I made a few mistakes like copying the same files twice (on more than one occasion) but that was my fault for not formatting the cards after transferring. I recommend anyone who travels with their digital camera to get a device like this. The PD70x looks shit but was the fasted I could find when comparing transfer speeds online and that’s the main thing that mattered. The iPod transfer solution I tried when in Indo last took me over 45 minutes for 1GB and drained my battery to 0, even after a full charge! The cheapest place I coudl find was Mrgadget but there are plenty of places you can purchase one.