I am leaving next week to shoot a documentary in Eastern Europe. I want to off load the tapes to an external firewire hard drive after each day of shooting as a backup. We are doing this for security reasons. What would be the easiest way of doing this? Could I use a laptop with a simple capture program? I plan to hand carry the HD back to the states and FEDEX the tapes back to the USA. This is being done because where we are going is still a little like the wild west. Our tapes could possibly be confiscated by customs officials. We are planning for all scenarios concerning 3 weeks of footage. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

you do not say what kind of tape you are using, but if it is DV or HDV, the easiest would be to shoot directly on both tape and HDD, so no transfer will be required.

Yes it is HDV from a JVC cam. Some interviews will allow recording to bot tpae and HDD, but some shooting will be run and gun type, so we will have to transfer it. Thanks.