Shel, Hyperdrive HD80 is the same as Compactdrive PD70X, both manufactured by Sanho. It is a complicated story which you can read by bits and pieces from various threads here: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1023 In short, HD80 is manufactured for US and sold in the US by Hyperdrive, while CompactDrive is the label manufactured for Asia (and maybe elsewhere), but also can be exported to the US. Hyperdrive and Compactdrive are sister-companies.
Overall, people refer to this device as being fast and reliable. NB: You cannot use an HDD larger than 120GB (due to addressing issues) (more exactly that is the largest HDD with which you can use the total capacity) So, whoever said about a 160GB HDD was not quite correct. Some models of HD80 (40 and 80 GB) are sold by B&H and Adorama (and elsewhere) while the rest are available only directly from Hyperdrive. Customer support is reportedly mostly reasonable, but sporadic. Sometimes Hyperdrive has some models on backorder. As for other brand names, I'd consider Wolverine FlashPak 7in1 (available online and at Fry's Electronics), which is rebadged Vosonic, if I am not mistaking, VP2160 XS-DRIVE II PLUS. I've used the Wolverine, and it is fine, but a bit too slow. THere is also tiny EZDigiMagic. There was something I didn't like about its specs/features. For other VOsonics see: http://www.vosonic.co.uk/storage.htm If you want to be able to review the images: Epson P-4000 Photoviewer (reads RAW as well) (or earlier P-2000 series), or some of the Vosonics: http://www.vosonic.co.uk/mmviewer.htm Unfortunately, Hyper/Compactdrive never brought out on the market the MD80 model which was supposed to be as fast as HD80, but smaller. Reportedly, they've been having problems. http://www.compactdrive.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=29 (It was presented at a show in December 2005 or January 2006, and first was promised for February, then for May, and ... still not there.) HTH, Igor -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
