Backing up more by switching Nexto's internal hard drives
 

I need several terabytes to back up nanoflash files during my typical one month's stay in rainforest. For me, the best method appears to be switching Nexto internal 2.5 inch hard drives.

It is easy to unscrew the eight tiny screws with the provided screwdriver and open up the case. My Nexto Video Storage 2725 came with a note "Do not use Samsung hard drives". You guessed it - the factory installed hard drive was a Samsung. No problem in pulling it smoothly out and plugging in a new one. It takes only a few seconds to plug-out-plug-in the drive, and another few sec from Nexto to format the new drive.

Nexto 2725 proved to be picky about the hard drives though. Best to use the same model that sits in factory installed, if possible.

Here is the Nexto support list of compatible HDD's for 2725 Nexto DI - Next Generation Storage with Digital Interface

Of the hard drives verified to work with ND2725, I tested Seagate Momentus 7200.4 series and 5400.6 series 500GB drives. A new 7200.5 series 750GB drive has recently come out, which I also tested. The only one working without flaws in my tests was the 7200.4 drive. The 5400.6 drive sometimes failed to copy from my Sony EX3, but backed up flash cards all righ. The 7200.5 drive failed every time to copy from the EX3, and displayed wrong capacity - about 500GB worth of space was lost.

The drive originally included with my Nexto 2725 was Samsung Spinpoint M7 HM500JI (500GB 5400rpm 8M). Although not officially reported compatible by Nexto support, also other specimens of this same drive worked fine.

Switching hard drives is better than "sync" for me because it saves time and the tiny 2.5 inch internal hard drives are easy to pack and carry. Since I record simultaneously on nanoflash cards and Sony SxS cards I have a back up against hard drive failure as long as I store the two lines of recordings on different HDD's.

I wonder if these internal HDD compatibility findings apply to the Nexto 2500 and 2525 models - they have more recent firmware for starters, so they might accept a wider range of external and internal hard drives. Also these models do not need to communicate directly with the camcorder.