Customer Reviews

HITACHI MD4GBA 4GB MicroDrive 3K4 with Travel Kit

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Well, this is certainly a nice product. Much quicker than a 4Gb flash card, very sturdy and works in most CF cameras. But, are you ready to shell out more than $400? I know I am not, so here's a nice shortcut:

Step 1: Browse for the Creative Labs Nomad MuVo 4 GB MP3 Player on Amazon.
Step 2: Buy the player for $200.
Step 3: Unscrew the back of the player.
Step 4: Take out the 4GB Hitachi microdrive and throw away the player.
Step 5: Pop the microdrive in your cam, format it and voila!

There you have it for only $200, instead of the listed $480!

Just got back from a 2 week African safari and took my 4gb Microdrive with me for use in my Nikon D70. The microdrive (and camera) perfomed magnificently during the entire trip. I had been concerned about the stability of the product but after dozens of hours travelling bumpy dirt roads in a range rover and getting covered day after day in layers of dust, the microdrive was like the energizer bunny--it took a lickin' and kept on tickin'.

The microdrive stored 1300+ high resolution large JPEG photos and I never missed a shot.

It is being said that the Creative MuVo MP3 player contains this drive for a lesser price. For one, the price has dropped to about $20 higher than the price of a MuVo II 4GB, and comes with the very useful travel kit.

There are alot of people complaining that the Hitachi contained in the MuVo wont work with the Sony F828 camera. This is a myth, the drive in the MuVo players released PRIOR to the Sony F828 where compatible, newer models are NOT.

In short, you cannot use this drive which is contained in the MuVo II because it is now incompatible. Dont waste your time, buy this drive, it is a good value.

I also do not recommend scouring ebay for an older model of the MuVo which is compatible.

My wife and I currently own 2 Hitachi 2gb Microdrives, along with 2 Kingston Elite Pro 2gb CF cards and 2 Sandisk 1gb CF cards. The Hitachi 2gb cards came packaged with our 2 Canon 10D's when we originally purchased them.

We have since added 2 Canon 20D's to our arsenal. We have been using the Hitachi microdrives without any problems what-so-ever for over 3 years, shooting more than 40,000 images among all 6 cards, although we tend to recycle through the 2GB cards a lot more often than the 1GB cards.

We are currently looking at options for addition digital storage. We already have a Wolverine 60gb stand-alone storage device, but the charged battery isn't sufficient to download enough images during a long day's shoot. So, we are looking at other options, but we will probably add another 8gb of memory cards for the short term.

I've noticed that the Kingston Elite Pro 2gb cards are currently only $119, while the Hitachi 4gb microdrives are $179. Since my previous experience with the Hitachi microdrives has been excellent, I would prefer the microdrive over the higher priced CF cards.

Some complain about the more fragile nature of the microdrives compared to CF cards, but they are actually no more fragile than the equipment you stick them in. My advice is don't drop your camera. Don't drop your lenses. Don't drop your microdrive. Don't drop anything you care about.

Excillent and built like a small tank! No problems at all and fast.

My grade = A+

The Hitachi 4GB Microdrive (CF Type II card interface) came bundled with my Sony A-100 (Alpha) camera. I never-ever had a problem with it. I can't say that it had to operate under a lot of stress - the highest it's been is about 12,000 ft. in Colorado - but whatever it had to do it did well. Here is my evaluation:

Pros:
- trouble-free operation - once it was formatted, no additional maintenance was ever required
- pretty good storage capacity - over 1000 pictures on a 10M camera storing 'fine' quality JPEGs
- better than a flash card at handling repeated write/erase cycles as its capacity to store data does not degrade

Cons:
- a little bit slow - but it did manage 3-shot bursts pretty well, takes a while to 'zoom' into a picture already taken
- draws more power than a CF Type I flash card that a typical D-SLR camera would accept
- less expensive alternatives are currently available

I am awarding it 4 stars and not 5 because anyone looking for a D-SLR card today must be aware that better alternatives are available. My camera just received a 16GB CF card that, on a dollar-per-gigabyte comparison, comes at half the price. However, if anyone is looking for a very small hard disk-like extension, the Microdrive is the way to go.

This is a marvelous product. I had heard in the past that solid state flash cards are better, but I had a problem with one and have had no problem with this Hitachi product.

After 40,000 shots, 2 cameras, 1.5 years and many drops, this chip still performs perfectly. I've used it heavily and aggressively and have had a great experience at a great price. Its almost as fast in write speeds but slower in read speeds during computer upload. There are some myths about the chip that its slow and fragile, which I'll explain below is just totally wrong.

Speed:

On my old Canon 20D, I got its full claimed buffer in RAW and JPEG. On my newer Canon 5D (12.8 megapixel), I get 17 instead of the 19 claimed RAW pictures during continuous shooting, and I pretty much can't run out the JPEG (well over 50). I've used the Sandisk II, and after some testing, I found that the write speed was almost the same, but the read speed is about 1/3 slower when loading onto the computer. Not a big deal, since the write speed is a bigger priority while shooting. Yesterday, I loaded the whole 4gb chip into Apple Aperture in 14 minutes.

Space:

On the 20D or 30D, you'll get almost 500 in RAW, but on my 5D, I get under 280, so I'm now shopping around for a 8gb chip. You might try the 6gb rather than the 4gb since its getting cheaper.

The "Fragile" Myth:

People always say that the microdrive is more "fragile" than the compact flash, which I can say with absolute certainty is B.S. Most people who criticize the microdrive have never used it or known anyone who used it - last time I checked, judging without knowing is called ignorance, no offense.

Anyway, I shoot my college football team, for the college newspaper, and frequently I do landscape and wildlife photography, so I'm frequently taking the chip in and out of my camera and dropping it on occasion. I've have used the camera at 20 degrees, in the hot and humid Florida sun, and have had a light sunshower, but yet the chip keeps going after 1.5 years.

Also:

All microdrives are made by Hitachi, even from Sony. Hitachi bought the division from IBM a few years back, and Hitachi will sell under other names for more market share. Don't waste your money on stupid brand image, just buy the one you find cheaper, which is probably the Hitachi.

Many people say, this chip doesn't work with this camera, especially on older reviews. If the firmware on your camera is old, it may not support any large chip, so update your camera first.

I would just like to say this drive is awesome! I haven't had any problems with it. As a CIS major, I would like to remind folks that you have to back up your data regularly. You can never rely on any hard drive no matter what kind of drive it is forever, some drives can work for a week, months or years, but will eventually fail. 4GB is a lot of data so if you fill up one of these drives, you are likely carrying a lot information on it. I feel for the folks who lost their data but it can happen to any of us at any time. Back it up regularly if it's important. Also I would suggest you buy your drives from a reputable company where you can take it back if it fails within the return period. Checks out the return policy of the company before purchasing hard drives, some companies give a 30-day return policy. You may have to pay a little more for the product for the better return policies but it's worth it.

I ordered this a about two and half weeks ago through an Amazon marketplace seller. It worked fine for my digital shoots out of studio for about a week, in fact, I used it on two shoots and all was Ok. Then, it died inexplicably. Nothing I could do could save it - My Canon 20D could not format it, and windows XP couldn't format it. It crashed -plain and simple. BUT - Amazon's stated policy is that there are no returns or refunds to Marketplace sellers after ONE WEEK - so I'm stuck with the piece of garbage. I even emailed the seller who stated the same.

Do yourself favor - if it seems too good to be true, it is. I have two IBM Microdrives that have worked perfectly for almost a year each now. If you are shopping for a Microdrive, go with IBM or above all else, buy DIRECTLY from Amazon, not through one of their affiliates.