Minds@Work MindStor

The unit seemed to work for the first few days on a trip to Australia, then mysteriously died. It would turn on for a moment, then shut off whenever I tried to transfer files from a card. Luckily I was able to retreive the photos on it as it functioned properly when it was plugged in to the charger. However, the whole purpose of having a portable storage device was lost, so I returned it.

It worked... for a while. It was fast.

Reliability.

I bought this thing in the hopes of limiting the number of CF cards I would need, and to eleminate carrying a laptop arround everywhere. Well all I can say is that this was one of lifes little lesssons. I never ever was able to get one to function. I had two that were sent back to Minstor that never worked when I got the third unit that still didint work I gave up. Great concept very poor execution.

None never worked ever. Very Effective Paperweight

everything about it

are you kidding?

Originally purchased in September 2002, this appeared to be a nice product; much better than the Image Tank I first bought that died within hours of opening the box! Function and reliability were fine until the unit hung up a few weeks later and wouldn't power down without removing the battery. I did the firmware upgrade and all has been well until January 2003. I pulled the unit out of my camera bag for an overnight charging prior to a lengthy on-site portrait session and noticed when I connected the AC adapter that the text that normally appears on the display didn't show up. I went ahead and let it charge a while, then went back to restart it on battery power. The unit would turn back off the moment you released the power button! I put in another battery pack that I knew was at least half charged and got the same result. It would run as long as you held the power button down (but the text would still never appear on screen), but quit the moment you let up on it. After several phone calls and e-mails to Minds@Work, I finally got a tech on the line and I explained the problem. He told me the unit must be returned and sent me the info he needed for an RMA. Now, after over 3 weeks of relentless phone calls and e-mails with zero response, I come to find out the company has most likely gone out of business leaving me and no telling how many other customers hanging with dead or malfunctioning units! Unless this information is found later to be incorrect, and the folks at Minds@Work fix this problem that so many people seem to be having, I wouldn't recommend ANYBODY buy this thing... you'll only be throwing away your money!!!

Was nice and fairly easy to use when it worked right, and was fairly fast to do downloads to my computer... when it worked right.

see review above

ImageTank

Totally stinks, and is now non-existent!

I compared all the alternatives I could come up with in June of 2001 and settled on a 10Gig Mindstor with the help of the Charles and his experienced opinion. The price was right and I found the menu and mechanics easy to understand and use. My only problem was the first day at Oshkosh was close to 100 degrees and I had mistakenly assumed that I could simply check the battery and go. It hadn't been charged in over two weeks but still read full. The first time I tried to download a microdrive worth of pictures, the unit failed. Now I charge it overnight and go. It hasn't failed me since. I've been able to dump my 340Meg microdrive on it five times in one weekend on one charge with no problems. The same charge enabled me to connect the USB cable to my laptop for viewing.

Easy to use Easy to understand Easy to update Easy on the wallet

Documentation didn't do justice to the features. An explanation of battery conditioning before operating would have been helpful

Model 1830 (30GB). Very poor engineering and quality control. When unit first arrived buttons were stiff/unreliable and unit would not power on and off reliability. Unit was used for six days over two consecutive weekends. After sitting idle for a month the unit would not operate. Unit would not turn off except by removing the battery. Internal logic was damaged and control buttons would not function. Unit was returned to Mindstor several weeks ago. Am still awaiting return. An extremely unreliable and poorly engineered device. Do not purchase this product

A good concept with both USB and firewire interface. Can be used as both a card reader, stand alone storage or an external drive.

Battery difficult to install, control buttons and menu navigation not intuitive, flimsy case, USB 1.1 instead of 2.0, short battery life, flimsy/weak battery and cable connectors, inadequate shock mounting of hard drive.

You have to send multiple e-mails and wait several days to get a reply. They expect 2-3 weeks to effect a repair or to replace a defective unit. They appear to be up to their eyeballs in deffective products. Add to the 2-3 weeks the shipping time each way, and a repair takes more than a month. They did not honor the rebate that was supposed to come with the unit.