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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The James Bond Case (Mobile Editing & Backup)

Ryan E. Walters

Ryan E. Walters

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After a lot of research and trial and error, I have come up with the following case that allow me to edit and backup in the field, regardless of power supply. My main goals were to having something that was portable, fast, reliable, and could run independent of power. So I developed this case to hold a 17" MacBook Pro, 2x 320GB Esata Drives, FW800 CF Card reader, 8' Stinger, and be able to plug in power without having to take the laptop out.

For a complete list of parts, details, and pictures, check it out here:
THE JAMES BOND CASE
 
Great post Ryan!

I've been wanting to do this myself, great ideas in here!

Combine this with the "marine-battery&inverter inside of a small cooler" that Steve Watters told me about, and you could stay out all day :-)
 
Shawn Nelson said:
Great post Ryan!

I've been wanting to do this myself, great ideas in here!

Combine this with the "marine-battery&inverter inside of a small cooler" that Steve Watters told me about, and you could stay out all day :-)
Click to expand...

Thanks. Glad to help. :)

That marine battery & inverter sounds like a good idea. :) It would be awesome if solar power was there, but from what I've found, the output is not quite there yet. But the weight of the foldable solar panels is appealing....
 
What about the newer 17" Macbook Pro, supposed to allow up to 8 hours autonomy? Do you see any drawbacks to using that one instead of the older model (besides the glossy screen)? I believe there is no FW400 on it, so there might be a problem for powering the Sonnett Fusion?
 
Steven-Marc said:
What about the newer 17" Macbook Pro, supposed to allow up to 8 hours autonomy? Do you see any drawbacks to using that one instead of the older model (besides the glossy screen)? I believe there is no FW400 on it, so there might be a problem for powering the Sonnett Fusion?
Click to expand...

The New MBP will NOT work. You have to have FW400 in order to power the drive. Hopefully in the future they'll have two FW800 ports, as you could use a FW800 to FW400 adapter ...
 
Schechman said:
I really like the setup, but how do you deal with overheating. That seems like it could be a problem with everything so tightly packed together.

-Sol
Click to expand...

Overheating has never been an issue. The MBP battery sits in the empty space above the Sonnette drive and there is about 4 - 5" of clearance, so air moves about freely. Even though it looks light, there is ample ventilation. (I have not tested this out in the middle of the desert, but under all normal situations it has been fine.) The bigger problem is keeping things warm with it is cold- which is where those hand warmers / packets come in handy.
 
Schechman said:
Oh ok I was just wondering cause I had trouble judging the space from your pics. About the new MBP would an express card work. I have never used one so I don't know if that could power a drive or not.

-Sol
Click to expand...

Two problems come up with that solution-
1. When I was looking into options, I looked into Express Card to FW (both 400 & 800.). And the ones that I found had a port to which you had to plug in external power, and from my tests using a USB2 to power supply cable it did not give enough power to my single external 250GB 2.5" eSATA disk. So powering two 320GB disks would not work. I do not know if there is an express card that does not require external power, but even if there is, then ...

2. These drives are only eSATA, and you need the eSATA ports which you only get from the Express card, so if you use Express to FW you cannot connect to the drives ....

I hope that helps. (I've done a lot of research and trail and error on this one...)
 
Schechman said:
About the new MBP would an express card work. I have never used one so I don't know if that could power a drive or not.
Click to expand...

No, you can't get power from ExpressCard, at least not enough to power a hard drive. I'm going to start working on a mobile backup solution soon. There are some good ideas here.
 
UPDATE: Recessed Male Plug-

UPDATE: Recessed Male Plug-

Just a heads up that I got word from Jerry Turner about the part number for the recessed male plug. (Thanks, Jerry. :) )

You can get the plug here: (part #8036k1)
www.mcmaster.com
 
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