Expert: Bobbert - 12/20/2009

Question
Bobbert,
I am wondering if you know of a portable hard drive that I can directly import images from my camera (Canon EOS 20D). I am looking for a hard drive that does not require a computer to be used as I planning on traveling and will be unable to bring a laptop with me. Thank you,

Answer
There are a number of devices designed to connect to a camera, or more directly, the camera's media card, and copy/store the contained information. A decently stocked photo or electronics shop should have such a device, Sony and Archos tend to produce decent quality models. There are also versions which allow you to burn a CD from the memory card (however, given the current capacities available for memory cards, this would be somewhat of a step backwards). However, such devices are usually somewhat expensive, and unless you're expecting to capture a VERY large number of images (tens or hundreds of GBytes worth of data), a high capacity memory card or multiple memory cards would likely be more cost effective. Also consider that memory cards do not require electrical power beyond that provided by the camera, whereas a hard-drive device will require its batteries to be charged in order to receive new data.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.

-bob