Backup CF cards on the road. no laptop
 

I am getting ready to travel to Costa Rica with a Canon XF300 video camera. . I will not be taking a laptop.

Can anyone recommend a CF card backup device that will allow me to copy my data so I will have it in two places for backup. Several years ago I had a device that would do this but it only held 80 gigs. I anticipate having 300 gigs. Thanks for any advice

Clay

Something like this? :
Videoguys.com - NextoDI NVS-2500 500GB Video Storage Pro

Something like that bot not nearly that expensive. Have you used this device with the XF300?

I swear by mine and highly recommend them to anyone using CF or SD cards. Very fast, reliable and if you put an esata card in your edit rig, the transfer when you get back to your edit bay is superfast. I don't think there's anything out there cheaper and considering what it actually is, (card reader, hard drive, computer software) I think it's a bargain.
Peace of mind is worth it!

(can I get an endorsement deal?) no really its that good!

Just out of curiosity - do you back up to two NexTo's or do you still put all your eggs in one basket? If your shoot is really important, I think it would be worth it to carry two backup units. Personally, I would opt for a laptop in addition, but a pair of NexTo's would be super! (I have one, and am quite impressed with it, but I only use it for redundant backup.)

I only have one Nexto. I do however, have enough cards to continuously shoot for 6 hours and I generally leave the footage on the cards and the Nexto til they get archived on two separate raid hard drives back at my studio.

Where it gets dicey in my setup, is when I work with other shooters and back up their cards to my Nexto. I ask them to keep the footage on the cards for a day if possible which gives me the chance to archive. There's always that risk of losing footage with a tapeless workflow but I use the philosophy I found back in the early days of digital audio recording...if it's not in two places, it doesn't exist.
I feel that other than live shows, I could feasibly reshoot most of the projects I do. Unlike when I was doing music production and the performance of lifetime could be lost forever. It took several years for us to stop dual recording to computer and tape. Raid systems were the solution once they got to a reasonable price point.

I'll just throw in my endorsement also for the Nexto.
I have a 2500 that I use with my XF305 and Nanoflash, and it has proven to be easy and flawless.
It's not cheap, but nothing worth risking my footage and reputation should be cheap.
Two thumbs up.

Anyone have any experience with the Hyperdrive?

HyperDrive COLORSPACE UDMA

Clay

Hi Clay,

Just wanted to add my endorsement of the Nexto. I currently have this model:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/613210-REG/Nexto_DI_ND270500G_Nexto_eXtreme_500GB.html
It doesn't have the playback/check capability of the higher end 2500; but I really don't need it. Plus, I can save SD card files (photos and video) as well.

Best,

Another vote for the NVS2500 from me. Made my life so much easier. You can plug an external USB drive into the Nexto and it will write the files to that as well as the internal drive, but it does slow down the transfer due to the USB bottle neck. There is a new NVS2525 that comes with an external eSata drive and this does dual copies at full speed.

clay-

i thought i saw a nexto offered in the classified.

be well

rob