Reviewed by
JdeB , Intermediate

Price Paid
$300.00 at Henry's

Photography Experience
11-20 years , Outdoor

Summary
Hyperdrive Space has been a totally UNRELIABLE product. On my first trip, it worked as expected. Six months later on another trip, the drive corrupted with all my cards from 10 days of shooting. I could see that there were 'spaces' but could not get them off the drive. Many IT friends tried. Hyperdrive took no responsibility to retrieve data. An IT friend found a way to go through one at a time to find the non corrupt files and copy them back to a card. Took me 5 months to retrieve as much as I could- I had about 2,000 photos. Hperdrive admitted drive was corrupt and replaced the unit. Three monts later used the new unit on a trip. Worked as it should. Five months later, I am going on another trip, find the unit will not charge with either the AC adaptor or the usb connection. The new unit is less than a year old. Take it to Henry's they advise it could be a loose battery connection, this has happened a few times to other units. But they are going to charge me for the repair because they consider it not under warranty. I write to Hyperdrive to protest this should be covered as the unit is less than a year old and only been used once. They tell me "if you have an external AA battery pack, please recharge those battery, it should get the HYPERDRIVE to work." Then they send another e-mail saying "the external AA battery pack is not going to work. Need to get the external battery charger is $14.95 + UPS 3 DAYS $12(estimated) about $27." Apart from the fact everyone I talk to says that makes no sense, my question now is why do I have to spend more money to SEE if something that does not make sense works. Why cannot the Hyperdrive distributors in Toronto just fix this inferior product. And why am I even bothering you ask. I spent over $300 on this product and if Hyperdrive is selling an inferior product that does not live up to their marketing propoganda, they need to refund me my money if it continues breaking down. After handing over $300+ to a company, I object to having to just shrug my shoulders and say, oh well, l just will buy another brand. Why should I throw that money in the garbage behind the garbage product. Hyperdrive needs to ensure its products are not a rip off and customers get value for the money spent on Hyperdrive products. I am still waiting for them to respond to my request to get this unit fixed under the warranty. Hyperdrive should be standing behind the products it produces.

Strengths
Nothing

Weaknesses
Everything

Similar Products Used
None

Customer Service
Polite, but stalling - and offering questionable solutions.

Reviewed by
Dissapointed , Professional

Price Paid
$375.00 at B&H

Photography Experience
6-10 years , Outdoor

Summary
DONT BUY ONE! The drive fails. Consistently. This is the second unit I have purchased from Hyperdrive, thinking that I did something wrong to mess up the first one.......I guess it was not me. I lost quite a bit of work in the field with both units.

Strengths
pretty.

Weaknesses
They crash. Slow transfer time to computer. they crash.
You cannot date, or change in any way the folder names.
They suck.

Customer Service
Customer service is relativly prompt, but of ne real help what so ever. They tell me to replace the harddrive myself with a new one. A lot of good that does me when I am out of country on a shoot.

Reviewed by
SmartWombat , Expert

Price Paid
$149.00 at Sanho website

Photography Experience
21+ years , Sports

Summary
I saw this at PMA and mentioned it in the show blog.
After driving all round Las Vegas trying to find a dealer, and failing, I resolved to order one on-line on my return to the UK

Like other image stores, it is hard disk based and has to be treated carefully when switched on. Think of it as a laptop with five keys on the keyboard and a tiny screen.
You are putting all your eggs in one basket, so take care !

This is not an image display, it only stores the contents of your memory card onto the hard disk.
Also it's not a USB card reader like some other models.
It just acts as a USB hard disk on your PC or Mac.

The marketing claims seem true, including the 100GB battery life.
Impressive performance, several times faster

Strengths
Fast, light, slim, simple to use, long battery life.
Verification of files copies is built in, but can be turned off for faster speed & longer battery life.
You are warned if you try to re-copy the same card immediately.
After auto power-off, upon switching on the last message is re-displayed.

In my use so far I haven't taken it below 50% charge, even at Le Mans 24 hours copying 40GB of images.

Weaknesses
The backlighting is only on very briefly, so it's not usable in dark conditions without a torch to read the screen.

Performance depends on the speed of the memory cards, and on the hard disk speed.
Because I bought enclosure only, no disk (because disk is cheaper here in the UK) and I re-used an old laptop drive - I don't have full speed copying from the card.
My weakness in not buying one with a drive !

The case is held together with 4 tiny screws, there is no easy battery replacement.

Similar Products Used
Phototainer
XS Drive II

Customer Service
Completely painless (except to the wallet) ordering process.
Fast delivery on the web order, shipper handled taxes and import duty.