I have done quite a bit of traveling and need to process while I am travelling - so I can post the images and video online. For the past 6 years I have been using the basic 13" white Macbook along with a very small and sleek USB powered external 500GB HP SimpleSave hard drive (now available in 1TB size). My wife uses a 14" Acer laptop that she purchased for $400, 5 years ago. There is nothing we can't do with that combo. The laptop with external hard drive, was obviously a much more practical solution for me than the self contained Epson (which I had considered). FYI - I never worry about how big the hard drive in the computer is - - - I always store all of my data files in external drives, and use the built in drive for OS and programs. There is no better a way to safeguard precious data, than separating the 2.
While I have never yet had hard drive failures - one thing that I have come to appreciate over the years is the durability of solid state devices like Flash Drives and Memory Cards - and they should really be preferred as offering the most security for files. As far as I am concerned, they simply don't fail - even with dust and grime or dropped in water.
Memory cards are really coming down in price. Now that I am shooting more video with my cameras, I try to have at least Class 6 cards - but I also use several inexpensive $9.95 8GB Class 4 cards and have had no loss or failure or even any issue while shooting video. My current preference are several Lexar Platinum II 32GB Class 10 cards that I picked up at Walmart for $45 a year or so ago. That is all that I need for both my stills and video.
http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/lexar-3...String=&startSearch=&fromSearchBox=&addFacet=
Doing a web search, I see that these Lexar Class 10 cards can be purchased for $27.74 - crazy. Depending on the amount of storage you need, a few of these might be all you need and they would be the ultimate in storage from my perspective. -
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/809897-REG/Lexar_LSD32GBSBNA100_32GB_Platinum_II_100x.html . The only thing is that it appears to only be for SD cards - CF are much more expensive - - - OK for me as I shoot Micro 4/3 when travelling.
I also heavily use Flash drives and currently have several Lexar 16GB drives that I picked up for around $10. They are transportable and sit in my pocket on my key chain. For travel, my wife and I each have an older 4GB flash drive where all that is stored on them are photographs of all of our documents - driver's license, passport, boarding passes, etc - - - in case any documents get lost, we have a high quality photographic copy with us in our pockets at all times (we also have a copy of these photos on our laptops). Except for a quick transport of a few images, my use of flash drives is for that - as well I have one flash drive dedicated to all of my web hosting and web design files and contents, including an Apache server and other Portable programs that I can use on anyones computer if need be. While Flash Drives are a great alternative - you still need a computer to transfer from the memory card to the flash drive. And at $27 for 32GB memory card, there is no price advantage.
500GB or 1TB portable hard drives for around $100, are still the most cost effective option. I tend to fill a 500GB drive in the 2 months that I have been gone. This year, there will be five months of data - plus I am shooting 1080 video - - - so my storage needs will be even greater.
Oh - another thing that can be done for ultimate safety when travelling - - - is upload the files to the "cloud" as a backup (you still want to have hard device storage of them as well). Again though - you need a computer to store them via the internet.
Rob