I just stumbled on a very cool product that copies CF cards to a SATA hard-drive. You can get the box in various capacities, including a 500GB drive for $329 (mydigitaldiscount.com).

The Nexto Extreme box has a eSATA and USB 2.0 interface to connect to your PC/MAC. You insert the CF card on one end and copy to the internal SATA drive. They quote 1 GB files can be copied in 40 seconds. This rate exceeds the 1GB / 60 second write speed (in the XDR) when using the 100 Mbps CODEC. So, you can offload a CF card faster than the XDR will write data to a new card.

The box is battery powered and you can purchase a secondary battery for $20. It can also be powered from a wall wart.

I am ordering a box today for test next week. But this looks like an excellent solution to backup footage or to free up space on a CF card. It also offers the convenience of 500GB (or 8 hours at 100Mbps) on one portable drive.

I'll report back soon on the test results. A copy of the brochure is attached.

Mike, Thanks for posting this... it does look like a cool product....

I can't wait to see how you like it....

on the same subject...

WD now has the My Passport Studio in the 500gb drive that is three way interfaced..

USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and Fire Wire 800.... ( it works with Apple and Windows PC)

I'm picking one up in the morning to test with the Lexar 800 readers....

at the price of the Nexto, I may end up with both solutions... :-)

The most important feature of this box is the bit by bit verification. I also like the SATA interface! Looks like a great device for downloading cards when out and about without the computer.

Cheers
Robert C. Fisher

The most important feature of this box is the bit by bit verification. I also like the SATA interface! Looks like a great device for downloading cards when out and about without the computer.

Cheers
Robert C. Fisher

Hi Robert-
You can also buy the NexTo as an empty box for $129 and then add your own hard drive. I found the Seagate 320GB 7200 RPM drive with 3Gbps SATA interface for $90. So, for around $220 you can back up over 5 hours of 100Mbps video onto a single hard drive.

You can then mount the drive (via an eSATA to Express card interface) onto your laptop and start editing or do a backup to another drive/tape.

I got my 500GB NexTo drive this afternoon. It's a very nice package with eSATA and USB cables, power supply and a nifty carrying case.

We offloaded a 300X 16GB Transcend card to the hard drive at the rate of 25 Mbytes/sec (200 Mbps). I suspect the 133X 32GB would offload at about the same rate, since the read speed of these cards are essentially identical.

The eSATA read speed was very fast at almost 65Mbytes/sec, while the USB was down around 25Mbytes/sec. So, obviously eSATA is the best way to connect it to your PC/MAC.

All in all it looks like a great solution for media management and it's very affordable. You can get the 500GB NexTo drive at mydigitaldiscount.com for US $329. They offer drives in smaller capacities at correspondingly lower prices.