SnapperTalk

Portable photobank devices that can copy files from a digital camera card to a hard disk without the aid of a computer have been around for a while, but so far haven’t appealed to me – mostly on cost grounds and the doubt that I really need such a device. In the search for a new hard drive enclosure, however, I came across one that offers some photobank-like functions but at a very low price.

The Venus On-The-Go 25 hard disk enclosure offers all the same features as most other usb hard disks – it accepts all standard 2.5″ hard drives (IDE, not SATA) and provides a USB 2.0 interface for connecting to a computer (shame, but no firewire).

Where this device differs is in featuring the new “USB On-The-Go” functionality, which basically allows usb devices to talk to each other directly – rather than only to a computer. What this means for the photographer, is that you can plug this hard drive directly into a digital camera, card reader, or thumbdrive and with the press of a button copy all the files over to this device. It even contains a rechargeable and user-changeable lithium-ion battery so you can do all this on the move. I think it’s a Nokia BL-5C.

I fitted mine with a Seagate Momentus 160gb 5400rpm 2.5″ hard drive and so far I’m impressed. Nice features include:

Small dual-voltage Nokia-style wall charger
USB-to-power cable for charging the battery directly from a laptop’s usb port
Mini-USB to USB cable for connecting to a digital camera, or for connecting to a computer, by reversing the cable.
Very strong anodized-black aluminium enclosure
Quick-release, but secure latch that opens the enclosure without the need to remove any screws.
Multi-colour LEDs to indicate charging status, On-The-Go status, and disk access.
Well-fitting neoprene carry case.

To operate it you just flick the On-The-Go switch to “on”, connect the device to the camera or card reader via USB, press the backup button, and voila all the files are copied into an automatically created folder on the hard drive (DSK0001, DSK0002 etc). I’ve tried it with a Canon 1D MkII, Lexar JumpDrive Lightning usb flash disk, generic 16-in-1 card reader and all worked fine, although the USB 1.1 interface on both cameras was painfully slow – but that’s not the fault of this device.

One thing to note is that it may not work with all card readers – e.g. my Sandisk Imagemate 12-in-1 reader wouldn’t, and it seems to be a question of how much power this device can put out over the usb port versus how much the reader requires.

This can’t replace a full-featured photobank such as the JOBO GIGA Vu PRO, but for those with spare laptop drives lying around the price of only £30 makes it a bargain. I purchased mine from Scan Computers in the UK.

Venus OTG brochure [PDF, 1.06mb]
Venus OTG manual [PDF, 2.50mb]
Another review at Virtual Hideout with more pics