Anyone use the Wolverine FlashPac storage device?

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

I bought today a 40Gb Unit..
A little test:

How fast is the CF interface:
427 Mb in 4'30'' (it should be 10-11 minutes for Gb)

How hot it runs:
no noticeable difference after my test

How many cards you can download per battery charge:
too early ti say... in the docs the data is "6 Gb for battery charge"

A problem I had:
as soon I started it I found an "Init failed" error. I was going to
bring the unit back to the store when I noticed that on the docs it is
said the Wolverine uses FAT32 while the disk was formatted as NTFS. I
had to partition the 40 Gb as 30Gb + 10Gb as FAT32. That's stupid,
stupid, stupid... am I missing something?

Thanks,
Fabio


Bill Hilton wrote:
> Has anyone used this device? It's a lightweight external hard drive in
> various sizes from 40 - 100 GB that has a CF card slot, so you can
> download cards directly or connect to your computer with USB 2. No
> monitor for image preview, but that's OK for me since I'll use it
> mainly as a back up to the laptop while on the road.
>
> I'd like to get the 100 GB model (only $330) but would like to know how
> fast the CF interface is (takes 15 minutes per GB on my Nixvue, which
> is just too slow), how hot it runs (Nixvue runs hot) and how many cards
> you can download per battery charge. So if you've tried this device
> please I'd appreciate any answers you can give.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Bill

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

> Fabio writes ...
>
>Hovewer.. why they had to format the disk as NTFS if their sw
>isn't able to use it?

Hi Fabio, I got one of these Wolverines a few weeks ago ... the manual
says it "comes preformatted at FAT32. NTFS format is not compatible
with the unit". I was able to transfer to/from XP without problems.

Now that I've used it a bit I'll answer some of my own earlier
questions in case someone else is lQQking for a similar unit. I got
the 100 GB model for about $300 and it's smaller and lighter (and about
60% the cost) of a Nixvue 60 GB acquired a year earlier. I didn't get
the Epson P-2000 because the disk is too small (40 GB), if it had been
80 GB it would have been a different story since the LCD viewer is
excellent. Here are the Q's I posted earlier (July 20 post) ...

>I would like to know how fast the CF interface is (takes 15
>minutes per GB on my Nixvue, which is just too slow)

Took about 9 minutes per GB to read from a CF card, which is slightly
slower than the P-2000 but faster than the Nixvue.

>how hot it runs (Nixvue runs hot) and how many cards
>you can download per battery charge.

I copied 8 cards while battery powered with about 950 MB each card and
the unit was still running cool compared to the Nixvue. The battery
indicator light was still on the 3rd bar (out of 5 bars). By
comparison I can only get 5 GB downloaded into the Nixvue before the
battery is too low and gives dire warnings. I'm taking both units to
Alaska in a couple of weeks (I'm not taking a computer because I'm
flying in and camping, so want two CF reading disks to have some
backup) and will know a lot more when I'm done with the trip after
using the Nixvue and Wolverine side-by-side, but so far the Wolverine
looks like a good solution with plenty of storage space.

Bill