Size limit on CF cards for 900C?

Hi... I'm heading off on a trip and I want to backup all my photos: CF card to CF card (in PC card slot). Rather than blowing the money on a UMPC, I figure I'll use my 900C. The files will be large though (dSLR camera - 8 MP). Is there a limit on what size CF card the 900C can accept? I figure I'll get one 8 GB card or 2 X 4 GB cards.

I tried transferring 455 MB from a 2 GB CF to a 1 GB CF and it took about 18 minutes. Not fast, but not bad.

I tried hooking up a portable hard drive via the USB and while it worked, it was slow as ... well... slow....

Thanks.

Edited by ozone 2006-08-14 11:38 PM

AFAIK, any H/PC running CE 2.11 or higher can accommodate up to 32 GB. You shouldn't have any problem with those cards.

Edited by CE Geek 2006-08-15 3:54 AM

You camera uses CF cards for photo storage? Why do you need a hpc at all then? Just buy a bunch of CF cards and whe one gets full, pack it in your suitcase and use another....

Rich

Rich,
He was looking to backup the photos as well. I've only had one CF card ever fail on me but it was terrible because I lost some pictures that I will never be able to get back.

Yeah, Rich, why do you keep trying to talk people out of having H/PCs?

yeah i noticed that too.

LOL. No, I'm not trying to talk anyone out of an HPC, I was just trying to figure out the relationship between the Mobilepro and his camera. I didn't realize he was using it to back up his camera files. I had a pretty crappy lcd on my old HP Photosmart, but I could pop the memory card into my CF slot on my 790 with an adapter and view the pictures very nicely. Really enjoyed not having to squint to see the shot. I misread Ozone's opening sentence about "backup"

And all too often, people (very enthusiastic ones) try to sell these HPCs to the unknowing novice as if they will not only butter your bread, but mend your socks as well. They don't. And an HPC doesn't really need any selling at all, the quality and versatility of these devices speaks for themselves, I think.

Like most of you who visit this site, you are pretty knowledgeable about handheld computers. And I'm sure that you get questions all the time from your friends about "is this a good device to buy?" If you are a true friend you attempt to find out what their needs are first and then make a weighted decision about what best meets those needs. Sometimes it is an HPC, sometimes it is a Palm OS device, and sometimes it is a pocketpc. Sometimes it isn't even a CE device at all.

Ozone, what I would do is probably just use a USB flash drive on my 900C to back up my photos That way you can stick in your camera CF card in one slot, copy them to the pen drive and not have to swap back and forth using a buffer or anything. I think a USB pen drive might be cheaper than a CF card these days for the same size. I know I purchased a 4 gb pen drive from Best Buy for only $119 a couple days ago and it works on my 900C just fine.

You noticed that too Monica? Well now you and CE Geek both know where I'm coming from.

Rich

Edited by Rich Hawley 2006-08-15 6:33 PM

Ah Rich... you guru... you've probably forgotten, but it's me, the 'snake that won't let go over in Ontario'. I've been using Ozone for so long now that I just stuck with it.

But as for just sticking in and filling up CF cards as needed, you're absolutely right. I considered doing that. But I do like the idea of a backup and plus... hey, you never know when you need that bit of extra computing power (as in an HPC!) and a photo viewing. So, I figured instead of spending $600 on an Epson photoviewer - that really only lets me view photos and maybe video files - might just as well adapt an existing device for that purpose. Plus, I can view documents, etc. as need be. The 8 gb cf card can always be used for something else anyways.

As for the flash drive, I've had a hit-and-miss relationship with them. Don't know why. Mind you, if a 4 GB is out now, that wouldn't be too bad.

I haven't had to use the buffer though. I put one CF in the CF slot, and a second one in the PC card slot using a PC-to-CF adapter. I'm guessing the transfer rate is much faster than via the USB, which is only equivalent to USB 1.1. But if I'm wrong, let me know!

Speed of transfer is important. I've been using an dSLR and at any one time, I'll shoot 100 to 300 photos, and chew up to 500 MB at any one time. It takes a while to transfer.

And this brings me to another thought... everytime I think I'll ditch my HPCs, yet another reason to hang onto them comes up. I'll start another thread on that one...

Personally, I find my 790 quite nice for looking at digital photos - much better than the camera itself or any Palm or Pocket PC for looking at larger images.

Yep, cf to pcmica (with adapter) works good too, maybe better than USB. But I like USB because it then becomes so much easier to transfer to a desktop machine if the recipient doesn't have a cf slot.

And that's one thing I enjoy seeing on almost every new model desktop machines. Most of them have these multi card readers built in. Sweet.

Rich

well you know why i still don't have a pendrive (shame shame? ), a usb card reader & cf card (or even sd) in it is better and will work everywhere where the pendrive would as well! i just got a 2GB sd and i got a nice little usb card reader with it as a gift it could be mistaken for a pendrive by its looks

edit: except that my normal card reader doesn't work in the 900c (i'll try again though, maybe i was too impatient). maybe the new one works, i'll have to check...

So Rich... what brand of 4 GB USB key do you have that works with the 900C? My efforts have been largely hit-and-miss. Thanks.

I got a PNY Attache (did I spell that correctly)? Anyway, it seems to work just fine considering my USB port is only USB 1.1. But there is a definite speed difference versus the CF slot or PCMCIA slot.

I highlighted every non-hidden file in my Windows folder and copied them. To write them to my USB drive took me 1 minute and 7 seconds. To write them to a single speed CF card it took 32 seconds, half as long. To write them to the same CF card using a pcmcia adapter it also took 32 seconds. By the way that was only a little over 5mb. So Ozone, if your files are 500mb, or nearly 100 times the size of my test sample, you can imagine the time factor savings by not using a USB drive....might be much better to stick with CF.

Rich