I'm going to be taking an extended trip to Africa for 3 weeks in August, and I'm assuming I'm going to go nuts with photo taking. However, I would really like to avoid spending $400-$500 on camera media that I'm only going to use just once. Can anyone recommend an external hard drive of sorts that's battery operated where I can copy my memory sticks to and keep them on there until the trip is over?

You're looking for a photo storage drive. 20gb should be enough to cover even the post trigger happy photographer (they go up to 100gb).

This one is $199, has a nice screen, and even plays mp3's (free shipping)
This one is $179 and does not play mp3's (free shipping)

That does look badass, but the internal rechargable is bothersome because I'm going to be in the desert for 3 weeks and probably not able to get the thing charged as often as you'd like.

I doubt you'll find anything that runs on disposable batteries, but who knows? They may be something out there.

How are you keeping your camera charged?

Those portable drives were pretty cool. I may get one in the future.

MrFurious--Since you need something to work on batteries, you may want to try this Sony Mini CDR burner on Amazon for ~$200. It is lightweight and can run on AC or 4 AA batteries with the external battery pack. The mini CDRs are only 200MB but they are really lightweight at least. Amazon also carries a 50 pack of 200MB mini CDRs for $26 that is listed in the similar items links. If you don't like it, you can always return it to Amazon no hassles.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...01569?v=glance

I'm curious as well as how you are keeping your camera charged, does it also run on batteries as well? What kind is it?

My digicam runs on AA batteries, and you can generally get 50 for $10 on Amazon.

This does look like a decent solution but with 512mb cards, it'd be burning 80 or so pics at 5MP onto a disc at a time. It does look super sexy though.

Yeah, unfortunately, those mini CDRs only hold 200MB.

I did a quick google on "photo portable dvd burner" and it came up with a couple products made by Delkin and Microsolutions. A 4.7GB DVD would definitely be able to handle those 5MP pictures easily.

The best was the Delkin DVD Burnaway. Even though it can only run on rechargeable/AC it has a car charger and backup rechargeable battery as extra cost accessories. Okay it's MSRP $399 but you don't seem to have many options considering your requirements.
http://www.delkin.com/delkin_products_burnaway_dvd.html

Maybe this and those two accessories would work for you. Hopefully, you'll be near a vehicle with a cigarette lighter adapter often enough so you can recharge both batts when you need to. Unfortunately, camels don't have that feature.

Cheapest, I quickly found online was $349 for the burner. Never heard of the company though. You may find other places that sell it. I saw buydig.com for $379. Read good things about buydig.
http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/s.n...ategory.470/.f
http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=DLKDVDBA

Get yourself an 20 or 40 GB iPod, then get the following accessory:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...More=T9184LL/A

and if you're concerned about the iPod's battery life, then this:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...More=T6714LL/A

I was thinking about the iPod solution myself and was looking at getting both accessories as recommended. The only question I have is does the Belkin battery pack recharge the internal battery of the iPod?

Here's what I'm thinking: What does the iPod use first when it's connected, the internal battery or the external battery? And does it actually charge the internal battery? Since the battery pack and that adapter use the same docking port on the bottom of the iPod, I don't want to end up where the iPod's battery is dead and it's running off of the external battery pack and when I try to plug in my reader it won't work.

The CDR solution does make sense though. I've still got some time to look around, however. Thanks for everyone's input because it's helping me think this out.

Memory sticks, as in Sony?

Yeah, I know. Sony Memory Stick Pro, so please commence with the "I told you to buy CF based cameras" schtick.

I used my Dell Axim X50v equipped with a 2GB CompactFlash card for this purpose while away for five weeks. My camera uses SD cards, and since the Axim has both slots, I was able to load both cards and simply cut/paste between them.

The Axim will take microdrives (similar to what is inside the iPod) in the CompactFlash slot as well if you want boatloads of capacity.

Just another option to consider. I almost went the iPod route, but figured the Axim would have more utility both during and after the trip (it can function as an MP3 player and GPS receiver, it has wireless Internet and Bluetooth, runs all kinds of programs, etc.) and was about the same price as an iPod.

Well, according to the Belkin manual, it is not supposed to charge the internal ipod battery! Furthermore, upon some investigation on my part, you cannot plug in both accessories simultaneously! My bad!

However, when reading through the comments after a review of the product at iPod Lounge it seems that if you put the iPod into disk mode, then the external battery pack may charge the internal batteries, though I'm not absolutely certain.

For this solution to work, either Belkin needs to get their act together and make a splitter cable/adapter for the dock connector so that you can connect an external battery pack and the digital camera link simultaneously to the iPod, or hope that there is a way to charge the iPod through the external battery pack (there is a home made solution here for 1st or 2nd generation ipods that could be adapted through a pocketdock combo adapter for 3rd and 4th generation iPods). There is also a solar charger that is available for the iPod, though you will need 8 hours of sunlight to be able to fully charge up an iPod (or so they say). Keep in mind that a data transfer of 500 MB over the digital camera link will take some time, so don't consume too much battery life listening to tunes!

Instead of investing money in a external hard disk, why not buy a bunch of extra sticks?

Could be less expensive

I have a 5 mega pixel camera, and with a 1GB card I can take 300 pictures at maximum resolution, at the second lowest setting is 700 pictures.

And yes, you should have bought a CF based camera

Costco's got them, so I might consider "renting" them. ssshh!

But seriously, I'm thinking 1000 shots in 17 days sounds about right, so that places it at ~3gb of memory sticks. Or am I too conservative in my photo estimates?