HYPERDRIVE iPad Hard Drive HD 250GB con monitor


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HYPERDRIVE

HYPERDRIVE iPad Hard Drive HD 250GB con monitor

Codice: 8980681

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hard disk 250 GB a batteria con monitor
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Review Score: 7.83
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HyperDrive iPad Hard Drive Review

Introduction

Ever since Epson launched their first portable multimedia storage viewer / hard drive about 6 years ago I have always wanted to own one. Unfortunately I could never justify the high price premium considering their relatively small hard drives and slow transfer performance. Two weeks ago that all changed with the introduction of the new HyperDrive iPad Hard Drive and in this review I'll not only explain why I chose this model but will also detail my experiences, both good and bad, with this new product.

The difference between a Portable Multimedia Drive and a Typical Portable Hard Drive
At a minimum, portable multimedia drives offer built-in card slots that make it easy to transfer files directly from a flash memory card (SD/SDHC, CompactFlash, Memory Stick, etc.). They also all have the ability to run off battery power (usually built-in rechargeable), allowing you to upload memory cards from your digital camera while away from home. Most models also have a color LCD display for previewing your photos and some models can also handle video playback as well. The LCD display helps to provide the peace of mind of knowing that the copying of files went smoothly, an important thing to know before re-using that memory card.

Portable hard drives on the other hand are just that; notebook sized hard drives that allow you to store and carry extra data, but that require a computer in order to view and transfer files. Portable hard drives also need an AC outlet or powered USB port in order to operate and provide no media slots for transferring files to them while on the road.

Why I finally purchased a Portable Multimedia Drive
For me, a portable multimedia drive has always been priced as a luxury item, and one that I just couldn't justify. Price alone really wasn't the problem as much as value. I'll use the current Epson "P" series (P-3000, P-6000, P-7000) as my example. Epson sells the P-3000, their lowest cost portable multimedia drive, for $399.99. While the drive features a large 4.0" color LCD screen, the hard drive size is only 40GB. A 40GB drive is barely larger than most of my CompactFlash cards that I use daily for digital photography and video - and they want $400 for this? Compare that to the price of a traditional portable hard drive where you can purchase a 500GB drive for around $50-$70 everyday.

While an LCD screen and the ability to transfer files on the road is definitely worth a premium, it's not worth a $300-$350 markup when you're only getting a 40GB drive. If you move up to their P-7000, their top of the line model, you'll get a rather small 160GB drive, but will be asked to hand over $799 ($699 at B&H). That' at least a 7x price premium over the price of a traditional 500GB portable drive.

A few companies, such as HyperDrive, Nexto, and MemoryKick have helped to bring the price/performance more in line, but their premiums and feature set still made me think twice as to whether this was a want vs. need item. Another part of my hesitation had been performance and battery life. I wanted a drive that not only offered fast transfer speeds but also enough battery life to handle the transfer of large amounts of data per charge. The addition of a color LCD wasn't a real priority for me as long as their was a way to verify that the transfer went smoothly. About 21 months ago I reviewed the Nexto eXtreme portable multimedia drive and liked both its speed and battery life but still wasn't crazy about the price tag for the 160GB and 320GB versions. Since then prices for the Nexto eXtreme have come down a bit, about $299 for the 320GB version at Amazon, but competition today has made the Nexto eXtreme unit feel a bit more dated.

The HyperDrive iPad Portable Drive
The biggest reason I finally made the decision to purchase one of these drives was the price / performance and feature set of the new Sanho HyperDrive iPad portable drive. Introduced just a few weeks ago the HyperDrive iPad portable drive has specifications that seem to make this the ultimate portable hard drive. Not only could I use the drive to backup my photo and video files in the field, I could also connect it to my iPad and transfer photos to it for larger viewing, editing, and/or uploading to share on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, or directly to my SmugMug portfolio.

While the price of the HyperDrive iPad with a hard drive already installed was still a bit hefty for my taste I was able to purchase the HyperDrive iPad without a hard drive, and then use a 500GB 2.5" drive from a WD Passport portable that I already owned without having to incur any additional expenses. It was a simple matter of popping the case off the WD passport drive, unplugging the drive, and connecting it inside the HyperDrive I then formatted it inside the HyperDrive and was ready to go. A process that took me no more than 10 minutes - and that's only because I had never done it before. If I had to do it again it would take me just probably no more than 3 or 4 minutes in total.

Even if you don't have an extra drive laying around, purchasing the HyperDrive iPad without hard drive, then buying a hard drive separately will save you about $200, which is almost 50% less than what HyperDrive charges with the 500GB already installed. Here's a chart with the different drive options and prices.
 

HyperDrive iPad (Case Only)   $249
WD 500GB 2.5" SATA Drive 500GB $55-$60
 
  Total $310

HyperDrive iPad with Drive Pre-Installed 120GB $299
  160GB $349
  250GB $399
  320GB $449
  500GB $499

 

Capturing video with today's high-definition digital SLR's uses up a lot of memory. Filling up a 16GB memory card is an easy task since it only holds about 48 minutes of video. By carrying the HyperDrive iPad drive with you you'll be able to quickly transfer your files while away from home without needing to carry a laptop computer with you. As lightweight tablets like the Apple iPad become more popular, more and more of us are opting to leave our laptops behind, but since tablets themselves are limited to 8GB, 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of memory they are not viable solutions for backing up a multi-day vacation's worth of photos or videos. With the HyperDrive iPad drive you'll have a backup companion that can handle all of the images, video, and data you can throw at it, while also offering a connection to your iPad.

The HyperDrive iPad has a lot of features that seem to make it an ideal in-the-field portable backup solution for photographers and videographer's

  • Full Color 3.2" LCD screen
  • Very fast transfer speeds from memory cards (40MB/s) and to your computer (66MB/s)
  • The world's only hard drive that connects to the iPad to transfer photos, movies, and other media
  • Connects as a USB hard drive to your Mac or PC
  • Import / backup any data from memory cards directly to the built-in hard drive - no computer required
  • Browse through RAW/JPEG photos on the HyperDrive LCD screen
  • Photo Viewer features histogram overlay, rotate and zoom viewing options as well
  • View detailed EXIF data
  • Built-in hardware based CRC copy verification (checksum data verifier)
  • Manage files on the drive: Copy/Past, Move, Delete, etc.
  • Recover deleted images or data from corrupt cards
  • Built-in hard drive and memory card diagnostics
  • Update the firmware via software
  • Supports any 2.5" SATA drive (currently up to 1TB in size)
  • Rechargeable battery can backup 250GB of data on a single charge
  • Built-in dual media card slots handle 12 memory card formats
  • User replaceable drive and battery (small screwdriver needed, provided)

Functionality

Now that I've discussed what I love and don't love about the HyperDrive iPad portable drive it's time to get into it's performance and feature set in more detail.

 

3.2" TFT LCD Display (320x240)
The HyperDrive features a fairly bright, but low-resolution (320x240) 3.2" LCD display. The screen is plenty usable to check and verify that your transfer went well by bringing up a few photos, but it's processor is quick slow to use the drive as a playback device. Despite the slow load times the HyperDrive does support most of the major RAW formats including: Nikon NEF, Olympus ORF, Panasonic RAW, Pentax PEF, and Canon's CRW & CRW formats. Support for new RAW formats can be added via firmware updates, assuming Hypershop releases those updates.

Direct Transfer from Memory Cards
It wouldn't be a multimedia drive without accepting multi-forms of media. The HyperDrive iPad features two slots that will allow you to transfer data from any one of 12 different media card formats including: CompactFlash, SD Memory, SDHC Memory, MultiMedia Card MMC, Memory Stick MS, MS MagicGate, MS Select, MS PRO, MS PRO MagicGate, xD, and xD Type H/M cards. The only format it doesn't accept is the new SDXC format, which might pose a problem as video-hungry camcorders and DSLR's users start switching to these higher-capacity SD cards.

While there are a many other multimedia drives on the market that also feature memory card slots for direct data transfer, the HyperDrive iPad is the fastest one I have ever tested with data transfer rates of almost 2GB per minute. Below is a chart of transfer speeds using a variety of memory cards from different brands and rated at different speeds.
 

Memory Card Data Transferred (MB) Time to Transfer
SanDisk 4GB Extreme III
Rated: 30MB/s
3,918MB 2:23 seconds
27.4MB/s
Lexar 8GB Professional UDMA 300x
Rated: 45MB/s/td>
3,918MB 2:47 seconds
23.5MB/s
Kingston Elite Pro 16GB 133x
Rated: 25MB/s
3,918MB 1:56 seconds
33.7MB/s



Using three different brand memory cards with three different speed ratings the HyperDrive performed very fast with all three cards. Even at its slowest it was able to transfer 4GB of data in just 2 minutes, 47 seconds. More interest is the fact that transfer speeds were fastest with the slowest rated card and slowest with the fastest rated card. i don't really have an explanation for it, though I did each test twice in order to confirm the tests.

 

Replaceable Battery and Drive
The HyperDrive iPad accepts standard 2.5" SATA drives, which are currently available in sizes up to 1TB in size. If you outgrow the drive you initially started with you can always remove it and slide in a larger one. You could then install the drive you just removed into an inexpensive 2.5" USB drive housing for less than $10 for use with your desktop or notebook computer.

The internal rechargeable battery is also replaceable if it should ever lose its charge, though you will have to remove two tiny screws to slide off the housing cover. With a little more thought and planning they could have added a slide-off battery cover to make it easy for users to swap batteries out in the field.

Auto Power Off
During a recent wedding I discovered a nice surprise. After transferring the contents from a memory card to the HyperDrive, the drive automatically powered off - saving battery power and preventing me from having to baby sit the drive. I just pop in a memory card, put the drive back into my camera bag, and continue shooting.

Memory Card Recovery Feature
Another great and potentially business-saving feature is the built-in memory card RECOVER option. When you select the "RECOVER" icon from the main menu, the drive will scan the inserted memory card in order to recover files from it. This would be needed if for some reason your card became corrupt.

iPad Compatibility

 

One of the "plus" features of the HyperDrive iPad is its compatibility with Apple's iPad. What does this mean for iPad owners? It means that the hard drive has special firmware built-in that will allow the iPad to see the drive, when connected through Apple's Camera Connection Kit, as an external storage device. As of this writing the HyperDrive is the world's first and only iPad compatible USB hard drive. There are ways to hack a jail broken iPad to open up external hard drive compatibility, but the process isn't simple.

Thanks to its iPad compatibility, the HyperDrive iPad free's you from having to transfer media to the iPad using iTunes. With the HyperDrive you can carry your photos and 720p HD videos (.mp4) with you and quickly transfer them to the iPad for on-demand viewing. Using the Apple Camera Connection Kit, the iPad is able to connect to normal SD cards and USB thumb drives. However, due to a 32GB size limitation, larger larger USB hard drives cannot connect to the iPad. The HyperDrive iPad Hard Drive overcomes this limit with its unique (patent-pending) ability to turn individual file folders into virtual 32GB drives on the fly.

I should clarify that the HyperDrive or any external device cannot be written to directly from the iPad. Instead, when connected, the iPad allows the user to view thumbnails for compatible files located inside folders named "DCIM" and then allows the user to transfer all or selected files directly to the iPad for further viewing and / or editing.
 

hyperdrive ipad connected to ipad
Apple iPad loading thumbnail from folder on HyperDrive iPad Portable Hard Drive

 

When you transfer photos and video from a memory card into the HyperDrive iPad Drive, the HyperDrive places the contents of the card into a new folder, using a sequential numbering system (.001, .002, etc.). It then copies the contents and file folders on the memory card into this new folder. When you insert a new card, it creates a new main folder. The HyperDrive also features an "Import New" option, which compares the contents of the memory card to the appropriate folder on the hard drive and then only copies files that have yet to be transferred. This feature worked for me as long as a different card wasn't transferred between this process.

The HyperDrive iPad Hard Drive features a variety of other file management features that I won't get into too much detail in this review. But I do want to mention them so you'll know some of its other capabilities. By selecting the "Manage" icon in the main menu you'll be able to cut, paste, delete, hide, rename, sort, and create new folders. The HyperDrive's software will also allow you to erase or format cards, test a card, view how much of the card is free (or used).


Now for the Bad News
The feature list above is very impressive and from the testing I have done the HyperDrive lives up to virtually all of its promises. BUT, and this is a big BUT - there is one thing you aren't told before buying the drive - and it might just be a deal breaker for many of you. The HyperDrive iPad Portable Hard Drive will not charge while in use. At first glance this might not seem all that important, but if you had planned on using the drive as you would any portable drive - powered and connected to your PC - you'll be out of luck once the charge on the internal battery is depleted. This means that you can't keep the drive powered up for quick access or for editing since the battery will quickly drain as you use it. When I'm on the road and filming events I often take my MacBook with me in order to edit these video files. My MacBook only has a 160GB drive in it, of which only about 30GB is actually free to use. This means that any video footage or photos captured and transferred to the HyperDrive will have to stay on the HyperDrive. With its inability to get power during use I won't be able to edit my files as I would if I were using any other portable hard drive known to man.

This is a HUGE mistake and one that most likely will not be corrected. I contacted Hypershop's customer support and they were very quick to respond. Unfortunately, their reply was that the drive needed to be designed this way in order to be compatible with the iPad's USB / power requirements. It was mentioned that this was a hardware issue and could not be resolved by a software (firmware) update - though that answer doesn't make a ton of sense to me. The same USB port provides a charge when the unit is off - so it obviously has the correct hardware connections to pass power through the USB port. It would seem to me that a software update could resolve this problem by not allowing a charge when you select the iPad icon on the main menu.

For those that strictly want to use the drive as a way to backup data while on the road, and who would also like the ability to transfer data to their iPad (iPad camera connection kit required), the HyperDrive iPad portable drive is one of the best devices on the market - and the only one that features the iPad compatibility. However, for those that would also like to the use the drive to edit from while on the road - you should either look at the HyperDrive ColorSpace UDMA version (without iPad compatibility) or keep pestering Sanho to fix the power-while-on issue via a firmware update.

Battery life
Sanho claims that the 2600mAh NiMh battery has enough power to transfer up to 250GB per charge. I haven't fully tested the batter, but at a wedding last weekend I had no problems transferring over 125MB of photos and video from Compactflash cards with battery to spare. I plan to do a complete battery test early next week and will update this review with my findings.

Review Summary
While I really like the HyperDrive iPad Hard Drive and will continue using it for the purpose of backing up photos and video while on the go, I am not sure I would have made the purchase again if I had known that it cannot be externally powered or charged while in use. This huge commission prevents you from transferring data from the drive to your PC if the battery is low. It also prevents the drive from being used as a continuous storage device when traveling - restricting the ability to edit video directly from the drive itself.

While the HyperDrive features a 3.2" color display and supports both JPEG and RAW formats for most major camera brands (Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, Pentax), it takes about 4 seconds to load a RAW image, making it a tedious process to view the contents of a folder using the internal display. Once it does decode a RAW file, you can then quickly move backwards and forwards through your folder without the drive having to re-decode each image again. Interestingly enough, it actually takes the drive longer to decode JPEG images with initial load times of between 4 and 7 seconds when you first view a JPEG image. It would be great if there was an option to have the drive automatically decode a folder to help speed up viewing and navigation. Once an image is loaded you can quickly rotate it in 90-degree increments, display Exif data, and view a histogram.

The HyperDrive also does not offer any video playback support. You can transfer video files directly from memory cards, you just cannot play them inside the drive. This is one of those features that would be great to have, but the faster processor needed would surely increase the price and decrease battery life. Epson's P-series multimedia drives do offer support for basic video playback, the trade-off being a much higher price. The Epson's also offer slower transfer speeds and smaller hard drive / storage options.

In conclusion, if you want a portable hard drive that can handle your memory card backup and transfers while on the go - and you would love the ability to connect it to your iPad - the HyperDrive iPad Hard Drive is a great (and only) choice. If you don't need the iPad connectivity you would be better off going with the HyperDrive ColorSpace UDMA model which forgoes iPad compatibility but offers continuous power using the included power cord or USB cable and can also transfer data directly to/from other OTG compatible USB devices without a PC. Pricing for the HyperDrive iPad and the HyperDrive ColorSpace UDMA models are identical.

Additional Information

 

Disclosure Statement
We purchased this Sanho HyperDrive iPad Hard Drive for review and in-house testing. The unit has been in-house for approximately two weeks. The views and opinions in our reviews are always based solely on findings made during our testing of the product and are never based on whether or not we purchased the product for review purposes or were sent the product to review by the manufacturer.

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Prezzo per 1 giorno
o weekend
€ 36,60

€30,00 + iva

Come noleggiare:
staff@tuttofoto.com
055-890808