2.2G CF II card costs under $150, let you record DV for over 30minutes

[DZM]

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http://www.gs-magicstor.com/english/product/product_a_07_x.htm

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/ProdHARDDRIVEMAGISCTOR.hmx?updepts=HD-IDE&DNAME=Hard+Drives%2DIDE

It is available from mwave.com for $149, compatible with Canon 300D, Sony828 and Minolta A1

[UICompE02]

It's pretty cool that these are getting cheap, but one thing that most people never mention about these micro-drive type CF cards is they have a limit at what altitude they will work properly.

I wanted to get one of these big guys because I have no problems filling my 512MB CF card and 2 256MB cards in a few hours. But I live at 6500 feet. The drives will work at this altitude just fine, but not above about 9,000 feet. In fact, using them above that could cause permanent damage to the head and media. I'm very regularly shooting above that altitude -- Just a warning for all you mountaineering types :)

[phixt]

Does anybody know if microdrive CF cards drain a camera battery noticeably faster than solid-state ones? The specs say 18mA idle and 275mA writing..how does this compare to a normal card? 2.2GB for $150 is hard to resist, I might spring for this one...

[Ice Czar]

It's pretty cool that these are getting cheap, but one thing that most people never mention about these micro-drive type CF cards is they have a limit at what altitude they will work properly.

I wanted to get one of these big guys because I have no problems filling my 512MB CF card and 2 256MB cards in a few hours. But I live at 6500 feet. The drives will work at this altitude just fine, but not above about 9,000 feet. In fact, using them above that could cause permanent damage to the head and media. I'm very regularly shooting above that altitude -- Just a warning for all you mountaineering types :)

so they are sealed? would have thought they where vented like a 3.5" HDD
(spin pressure vent or whatever that little hole is called)
Ive been coveting a Microdrive for the E-20N, so thanks for the heads up
no Trail Ridge Road, Mount Elbert or Pikes Peak
and I'll need to break out the map for the rest of it too :(

[UICompE02]

so they are sealed? would have thought they where vented like a 3.5" HDD
(spin pressure vent or whatever that little hole is called)
Ive been coveting a Microdrive for the E-20N, so thanks for the heads up
no Trail Ridge Road, Mount Elbert or Pikes Peak
and I'll need to break out the map for the rest of it too :(

Well, I read that they actually are vented, but still have altitude limitations. I'll have to see if I can dig up that link again - that was several months ago I discovered that.

Yep, it's a tough limitation for those of us in Colorado. I'm above 9,000 feet almost every other day!

[UICompE02]

Well according to this page: http://www.steves-digicams.com/microdrive.html the IBM/Hitachi microdrives (I'm assuming others are built similarly) are good up to 3,000 meters, that's about 9,850 feet.

The Microdrive does need "AIR" to float the heads and typically above 10,000 ft the mass of the air is too low and the drive requires a pressurized environment similar to an aircraft or spacecraft. At high altitude the air bearings begin to loose support from the air molecules needed to provide the "air bearing" for the Negative Air Bearing Surface (NABS) design of the head. If this "air bearing" is removed or lowered (as is the case with low density air at high altitudes) the head damages the media and you could have loss of data. The drive is vented to maintain equal pressure inside and outside to provide the air and to maintain the same pressure. This eliminates the need for sealed and rigid covers that can tolerate pressure differences.
The OEM Functional specification defines the warranty range for operating altitude as 3,000 M or 9,000 ft (3ft/M). If the customer is mountain climbing with a GPS or digital camera above 9,000 ft the drive might have problems. (Mt Fuji ~ +13,000ft, Mt Raineer ~ +14,000 ft). Please note, this is the operating environment. Non operation at high altitudes, including vacuum, have no ill effects on the microdrive. Within passenger aircraft, the cabin is pressurized to 9-10,000 feet hence the drive would experience no difficulty operating in an aircraft cruising at 35-45,000 ft !



That's a pretty trustworthy site, but here's an official spec page for the Hitachi 3K4 microdrive (2 or 4GB): Hitachi GST 3K4 Spec [PDF!] (http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/72E7515208DBA25486256D8E004EAFE4/$file/3k4_ps.pdf)

Looks like those of you living below the ocean at -300m are in trouble too. :D

My camera has been above 14,000 feet about 6 times already, so no microdrives for me... I'm just patiently waiting for 1GB+ CF cards to really become affordable - it won't be long!

[FLECOM]

those magicstore drives have had terrible reviews over in dpreview and friedmiranda's site... dunno, just a word of caution