Best Coolpix for HD and low light too?

"John Turco" wrote in message
...
Peter wrote:

"John Turco" wrote in message
...
Peter wrote:

"John Turco" wrote in message
...

heavily edited for brevity

I'm aiming for a 1TB eSATA drive, in the near future. eBay is the
place, to find bargains on such an item; I should be able to get
one,
at about $100 USD or so.


Heck that's expensive. Look at Microcenter. I have been dealing with
them
for years and have found them to always be reliable. they may not
always
have the lowest prices, but dealing with them has worked for me.
Besides,
I
live about 15 min from one of their brick & mortar stores. Also, check
B&H, they are also reliable.


I want something reliable, though...which may not be the cheapest
device,
available.

I agree. I try the lowest price is not cheap enough if the quality is
lacking. You could get an ordinary SATA drive for whatever the best price
for you drive is. Enclosures run about $30. Just Google and you'll find
some
reasonable prices.

deleted extraneous quoted text

I think I've settled on an Acomdata "PDHD1000UFSE" 1TB drive, which has
eSATA, USB and FireWire interfaces! As an added benefit, it contains a
Samsung 7200 HDD (according to my Google research).

An eBay seller currently has a "Buy It Now" price of $105.69 USD (+ $3.99
shipping), but...I can't afford it, at the moment. If/when I ever purchase
a PDHD1000UFSE, I'll post back.



Smart decision. Most likely the price will drop in a short time and some
other model will come along. Meanwhile even though that drive suits your
needs, it's always good idea not to buy what the budget won't allow.


--
Peter

"John Turco" wrote in message
...
Peter wrote:

"John Turco" wrote in message
...
Peter wrote:

"John Turco" wrote in message
...
Peter wrote:

"John Turco" wrote in message
...

heavily edited for brevity

I'm aiming for a 1TB eSATA drive, in the near future. eBay is the
place, to find bargains on such an item; I should be able to get
one,
at about $100 USD or so.


Heck that's expensive. Look at Microcenter. I have been dealing
with
them for years and have found them to always be reliable. they may
not
always have the lowest prices, but dealing with them has worked for
me.
Besides, I live about 15 min from one of their brick & mortar
stores.
Also, check B&H, they are also reliable.


I want something reliable, though...which may not be the cheapest
device,
available.

I agree. I try the lowest price is not cheap enough if the quality is
lacking. You could get an ordinary SATA drive for whatever the best
price
for you drive is. Enclosures run about $30. Just Google and you'll
find
some reasonable prices.

deleted extraneous quoted text

I think I've settled on an Acomdata "PDHD1000UFSE" 1TB drive, which has
eSATA, USB and FireWire interfaces! As an added benefit, it contains
a
Samsung 7200 HDD (according to my Google research).

An eBay seller currently has a "Buy It Now" price of $105.69 USD (+
$3.99
shipping), but...I can't afford it, at the moment. If/when I ever
purchase
a PDHD1000UFSE, I'll post back.


Smart decision. Most likely the price will drop in a short time and some
other model will come along. Meanwhile even though that drive suits your
needs, it's always good idea not to buy what the budget won't allow.


Okay, on September 7, 2010, I bought a PDHD1000UFSE, from a different eBay
seller (an individual). "Buy It Now" $71.99 USD + $15.17 shipping = $87.16
final cost. (It arrived, on Sept. 14, '10.)

My Acomdata "PureDrive" was an open-box item, in a somewhat ratty retail
package. All else was factory-sealed and in perfect condition, with the
minor exception of the printed "QuickStart Guide" booklet.

Alas, neither my home-made desktop computer (Windows XP "Home" SP3), nor
my
eMachines "E725-4520" notebook PC (Windows 7 "Home Premium" 64-bit), would
assign the AcomData a drive letter! Much "Googling" followed, till I found
the required info (on Seagate http://seagate.com, of all places).

Seagate - Troubleshooting GPT Protective Partition Issues [207837]
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207837

Excerpt:

"What is a GPT disk?

"The GUID Partition Table (GPT) was introduced as part of the Extensible
Firmware
Interface (EFI) initiative. GPT provides a more flexible mechanism for
partitioning
disks than the older Master Boot Record (MBR) partitioning scheme that has
been
common to PCs.

"A partition is a contiguous space of storage on a physical or logical
disk that
functions as though it were a physically separate disk. Partitions are
visible to
the system firmware and the installed operating systems. Access to a
partition is
controlled by the system firmware before the system boots the operating
system,
and then by the operating system after it starts.

"The GUID Partition Table (GPT) Scheme was implemented under Microsoft
Windows XP
x64 edition, Windows Server 2003 (64-bit), Windows Server 2003 SP1 (all
versions),
Windows Vista, and the upcoming Windows Server codename Longhorn operating
systems.

"In a nutshell GPT Partition was developed to get around known, MBR
partition size
issues; the maximum size for a MBR partiton is 2 Terabytes (TB). GPT
partitions
enable this limit to be exceeded.

"Note: For more comprehensive information on GPT Protective Partitions,
refer to the
following Microsoft Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...e/GPT_FAQ.mspx

"GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitions are also found in Mac OS X versions
10.4.6
and newer. All Intel-Based Macs require a GPT partition on a boot volume,
whether
it be internal or external.

"Problem: When connecting an internal and/or and external hard drive to a
Windows
XP (or newer), 32-bit Operating System, the drive is inaccessible and Disk
Management
reports that the drive has a GPT Protective Partition on it. The drive
cannot be
repartitioned and formatted in this state.

"Cause: The internal or external hard disk was previously prepared on
either a Windows
or Macintosh computer with a GPT partition.

"Solution: Normal Disk Management facilities will not overcome this issue.
To prepare
this drive, you will need to use the Windows diskpart command-line
utility. The following
procedure provides the steps for cleaning a GPT Protective Partition from
a hard disk
drive connected to an existing Windows XP (or newer), 32-bit Operating
System."

Thus, I heeded Seagate's ensuing instructions. By right-clicking on the
"My Computer"
icon and selecting "Manage" from the pop-up menu, I launched the "Disk
Management"
window. There, I saw that the PureDrive was listed, as the accursed "GPT
Protective
Partition" type.

Running "diskpart.exe," I was able to delete the offending GPT partition.
Then, within
"Disk Management," I partitioned and formatted the AcomData, in NTFS (and
formatting
such a huge drive, took several hours, as I'd decided against doing a
"quick format").

Well, I tell you, I'd been on the verge of slitting my wrists! Getting
everything
working properly, was a major relief. (I was fairly confident that the
PureDrive
wasn't defective.)


Glad you got things working for you, within your budget.
If you slit your wrists we wouldn't have easy access to Marie's fantasy
images.


--
Peter