Photo Safe II: Digital camera storage gets huge

The Photo Safe II can store thousands of high-resolution digital images.

(Credit: Digital Foci)

Do you think the 4GB SD card for your digital camera is large? Well, it is, especially compared with a few years ago when it was a big deal to have a 512MB card. How would you like 160GB of storage space for a camera? Now that's really large.

Today, Digital Foci introduced Photo Safe II, a portable photo storage device that can spare your laptop from a photo-shooting trip.

The device is essentially a battery-operated external hard drive that has a built-in card reader with an automated copy function. The Photo Safe II's card reader can handle all popular card formats, including CompactFlash (Extreme III, IV, UDMA), MMC, SD/HC Card, miniSD, Memory Stick, MS PRO, MS Duo, MS PRO Duo, and xD-Picture cards. You just need to stick a card into the proper slot and press the copy button, the entire contents of the card will be copied to the Photo Safe II's internal storage at speed a fairly good speed, it takes about 3.5 minutes to copy 1GB (so about 11 minutes for your 4GB card).

The Photo Safe II automatically organizes the contents of each card by creating sequential numbered folder names. It connects to a computer via USB 2.0 and, when plugged in, charges its replaceable lithium ion battery. It also acts as an external memory card reader for the computer.

The Photo Safe II is compatible with both Macs and PCs and comes in two versions, 80GB and 160GB that cost $139 and $189, respectively. The device ships with a rechargeable lithium ion battery, dual-plug USB cable, AC power adapter, and a one-year warranty.