I decided to order an Image Tank
G2 to replace my “Old reliable” Image Tank. The reasons I thought
now would be a good time to upgrade are that the g2 has an internal rechargeable
battery, the ability to confirm the number of files backed up, the LCD tells
and usb2.0 connectity to my pc. The fact that the Image Tank G2 can also be
used as a portable USB2.0 hard drive is yet another reason.
This shot shows
a comparison of the older Image Tank on the left to the G2 on the Right
I already had a 40gig hard drive,
so I opted to get the “bare bones” Image Tank G2 without a drive.
Mounting a hard drive is super-easy and my drive is already formattee, so I
gigured it would be a breeze. I ordered my kit from: www.insidecomputers.com
and selected 2-day Fedex shipping for a very reasonable rate. To my surprise
the kit showed up the next day and I was a very happy customer.
Here’s what was included:
Image Tank G2
AC converter
Car Cigarette Lighter Adapter
Faux Leather Carrying Case
Driver Disk
Instruction Book
The G2 no longer has multiple slots
– they have adopted a CF Card Only stance, which is fine with me.
Mounting the hard drive was easy
and I only needed to loosen four screws to do it. Here’s what the unit
looks like inside:
The G2 with the
backplate removed. USB2 connection at lower center.
Simply snap in the hard drive, replace
the cover, and tighten the screws to have a complete unit.
The assembled unit
If your drive isn’t formatted,
simply power up the Image Tank G2 and connect it to your PC via the USB cable.
It doesn’t matter if your computer is USB1 or USB2 – either will
work. Your PC should detect a device and you can “right click” to
format it. The old Image Tank required the hard drive to be formatted FAT32.
I didn’t reformat it, so I’m not sure about the G2 - hopefully it
is NTFS compliant now.
Using the G2 is easy.
Backup photos: Plug in your memory card and push the EXE button to copy your
files. The G2 will create a subdirectory for you. When the download is complete
it will tell you how many files have been copied, so you can doublecheck you
got everything.
Copy to Computer: Plug in the USB
cable and your computer should auto-detect the drive as a USB Mass Storage Device.
Then you can access it to copy the photos or the subdirectories (if you have
more than one image backup) to your home PC
Erase Card: I don’t know why
you’d want to do this, but you can erase all the folders off your card
using the G2
Erase Subdirectory: If you have
duplicate items or after a backup to your PC, you can erase the photos on the
G2 independently – without having to hook it up to a computer.
Summary of Nice Features:
LCD Shows remaining space on your HD in megabytes
Confirmation of files backed up
Ability to delete files from the G2 while untethered
USB2.0 connectivity
Small size and long lasting internal battery
Battery remaining indicator in the LCD
44 downloads of a 256MB card on one charge.
If you decide to get your Image
Tank G2 without a hard drive, here is a link to a popular store with notebook
hard drives for sale:
From time to time they have 10%
to 20% off sales and you can get some good deals. Other recommended vendors
are Newegg.com and compgeeks.com
Conclusion: For the price the Image
Tank G2 is highly recommended for travelers who like to shoot a lot and don’t
want to carry a computer.
