Cheap, light laptop for in-the-field backups

MarkE

MarkE

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Hi,

I'm off to Kenya next month and expect to take a gazillion photos in the week that I'm there (certainly more than I have card space for), so I'm looking at options for doing in-the-field backups, and wondered if anyone could suggest anything?

My requirements are:
1. Lightweight and small. I've got internal flight luggage limits, so can't be a full laptop (thinking ultrabook or something)
2. Reasonable battery life and power. I'm looking to backup photos to an external USB3 hard-disk, so it'd need to provide enough power to that, and also I'll have limited charging capabilities so can't run off the mains
3. 2xUSB support so I can plug a card reader in and take photos off CF and SD cards and copy them to an external hard disk
4. Some way of viewing RAW photos (doesn't need to be photoshop, lightroom etc)

Ideally:
1. Low cost. I don't anticipate much use from this after the trip (unless I do something similar again)
2. Windows or Mac system so I can install Adobe CC

I've been looking at an ASUS Transformer T100 but there seems some question marks over whether it can power an external USB3 hard drive. Does anyone have one and could comment?

I have a HP Stream 7 Windows tablet which is my backup plan in case I can't find anything, which I can cobble together a card reader and drive using USB OTG, hub and external battery pack but it's a bit Heath Robinson and I don't expect much battery life.

And if anyone is selling anything that might work, I'd be happy to consider second-hand options.

Thanks a lot,
Mark
 
Mark,

I would look for a netbook, I take my Samsung netbook with me when we go away. The kids can use it and I can backup the pics to it. Not sure if there is one available with USB3.

Kev
 
you could use a cheap android tablet with a large memory card in.
Also does your camera support a USB on the Go cable you might be able to transfer straight to a USB drive?
 
Can you not buy something like a Nexto Di field backup device? Or a WiFi, card reader, USB device (I use a MobileLite for this, controlled from an android phone).
 
Might be a bit large, but we recently bought some Asus T200 refurbished units for out and about. Has a 500gb hard disk built into the keyboard base which we use to store backups.
 
Thanks a lot everyone. Those MobileLite's look interesting, but I need something that'll read CF cards. I wonder if there's a way to connect a card reader and a drive at the same time via a USB hub...

Nexto Di looks a possibility too. I had something similar for a trip about 5 years ago but it was really unreliable, but this one looks a bit more pro.

In terms of netbooks, I've been looking at an ASUS X205TA. Form factor, weight, battery life and price ticks the boxes. Not much internal storage but I can live with that as I'll be backing up to an external drive.

Got a few weeks to come up with something, so keeping looking. Thanks for the suggestions :)
 
I know that you are after something cheap but I was in the same situation as you and went for a MacBook pro 13 inch just for the battery life and that I knew that I could depend on it
I thought that I may as well get something that will last me for years to come
I went to Zambia last november and the mac was perfect for backing up my photos each day it was really hot there but the mac didn't miss a beat
I used to use a netbook, small laptop but the battery life was not very good
 
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Cheers all - eventually picked up a Lenovo S20. Got it via Tesco Direct with various clubcard vouchers and other money-off offers. Not the nippiest of machines, but it's light, got a decent sized hard disk and USB3 so it'll do.
 
stryvya said:
Or one these:- http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IOEMSQ8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00
Click to expand...

I've been looking at these for the multiple uses they have and ended up settling on the RavPower WD03. The one thing that stops them from being the perfect on the go backup devices is that there's no way of connecting a cf card reader and an external hard drive at the same time. There isn't enough power to run both through a hub. If they had two USB ports, these devices would be amazing.
 
hsuffyan said:
I've been looking at these for the multiple uses they have and ended up settling on the RavPower WD03. The one thing that stops them from being the perfect on the go backup devices is that there's no way of connecting a cf card reader and an external hard drive at the same time. There isn't enough power to run both through a hub. If they had two USB ports, these devices would be amazing.
Click to expand...

There is a 6000mAh 6in1 model and I note that they all has one full size USB and one micro USB. Is the micro USB fully enabled for power and data and if so is there a mUSB to USB cable to say use with a card reader and the USB to an external HDD? Would the 6000mAh power source have enough power to 'drive' both?
 
I have one of these : http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive/iUSBport2/
As it has 2 USB ports you can use a card reader and a hard drive, allowing CF cards to be copied. The only problem I had was that it did not recognise a 64GB SDXC card I wanted it to copy - but that may be because the card reader didnt support it. I used this in Iceland as a backup device. It was not particularly quick, but other than the 64GB problem, it didn;t miss a beat.
 
Box Brownie said:
There is a 6000mAh 6in1 model and I note that they all has one full size USB and one micro USB. Is the micro USB fully enabled for power and data and if so is there a mUSB to USB cable to say use with a card reader and the USB to an external HDD? Would the 6000mAh power source have enough power to 'drive' both?
Click to expand...

I've done quite a bit of reading and my understanding is that the micro usb is only for charging and doesn't handle any data. There is another device called Hootoo Tripmate TM05 that has enough power to run a USB hub with multiple devices attached but the port isn't usb 3.0 and I imagine it would be quite frustrating trying to backup multiple cards in that manner.
 
MarkE said:
Cheers all - eventually picked up a Lenovo S20. Got it via Tesco Direct with various clubcard vouchers and other money-off offers. Not the nippiest of machines, but it's light, got a decent sized hard disk and USB3 so it'll do.
Click to expand...

Just had a look at this myself, not a bad happy for £200, I'm looking for something like this to take traveling with me to back up shots etc. How do you find it copes with basic tasks like a few edits in photoshop or Lightroom, also what is the battery life like?

Joe
 
Joeturner11 said:
Just had a look at this myself, not a bad happy for £200, I'm looking for something like this to take traveling with me to back up shots etc. How do you find it copes with basic tasks like a few edits in photoshop or Lightroom, also what is the battery life like?

Joe
Click to expand...

I've put Lightroom and Photoshop on it, as well as Canon DPP and a few other bits and pieces and seems OK for simple edits if you only have one major program running (only 2GB mem). It's an Intel Baytrail processor so it's quite good on power - I seem to be getting about 3 - 3.5 hours of it in normal usage if I'm not hammering it. You certainly wouldn't want to use it as your only PC as it'll slow right down if you try and do too much but it'll do what I need it to do - backup photos, review what I've got and play around with a few edits.

I was debating between this and a Asus X205TA, which had good reviews for excellent battery life but rejected that as it only has a single USB 2 port and a 32Gb SSD, whereas the Lenovo has 320Gb HD (so can backup to it's drive as well as a USB drive) and USB 3, for faster transfers.

Feels solid and well made and is nice and light, which is a major plus point as I'll be tight on baggage weight limits. Just a couple of things to look out for if you are thinking of one. Some reviews say it's a touch-screen netbook but it's not (unless I'm being stupid and haven't enabled mine!) and check it out for the Lenovo Superfish spyware program being pre-installed (Google it). Mine had it but it's the work of 10 mins to deactivate and remove it
 
MarkE said:
I've put Lightroom and Photoshop on it, as well as Canon DPP and a few other bits and pieces and seems OK for simple edits if you only have one major program running (only 2GB mem). It's an Intel Baytrail processor so it's quite good on power - I seem to be getting about 3 - 3.5 hours of it in normal usage if I'm not hammering it. You certainly wouldn't want to use it as your only PC as it'll slow right down if you try and do too much but it'll do what I need it to do - backup photos, review what I've got and play around with a few edits.

I was debating between this and a Asus X205TA, which had good reviews for excellent battery life but rejected that as it only has a single USB 2 port and a 32Gb SSD, whereas the Lenovo has 320Gb HD (so can backup to it's drive as well as a USB drive) and USB 3, for faster transfers.

Feels solid and well made and is nice and light, which is a major plus point as I'll be tight on baggage weight limits. Just a couple of things to look out for if you are thinking of one. Some reviews say it's a touch-screen netbook but it's not (unless I'm being stupid and haven't enabled mine!) and check it out for the Lenovo Superfish spyware program being pre-installed (Google it). Mine had it but it's the work of 10 mins to deactivate and remove it
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed reply pal, just what I was after cheers :)

Joe
 
I have an Asus Transformer PC here, but I can't find a passport USB drive! I'll see if I can dig one up later and let you know.
 
I use an older Asus Ee netbook - with a 500GB drive - wipe spare space clean for each holiday. Usually holds enough. I then back this up to 64 GB usb sticks so that I can use Camera cards again. I use the EOS free DPP software for a few edits.
 
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