What, more shopping?!
[Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, October 6, 2009]
I finally started to run low on space on my external drive. I keep all of my photos (from day 1) and music files on there, as well as backed-up documents like my journal, food log, and expenses. I arrived in Hong Kong this time with about 19GB free (out of a nominal 320GB).
Given that I can take upwards of 1-2GB of photos on a full day (but far less when I’m moving at a more leisurely pace), I didn’t have any guarantees that I wouldn’t run out of space before I finished my next mainland China jaunt, so I went shopping for a larger hard disk while I was in Hong Kong. I could have shopped while I was in Shànghǎi, but the common advice was to shop in Hong Kong for better prices and a greater likelihood of genuine articles.
I was also in the market for a remedy to my current SDHC card for my digital camera. Lately, the plastic casing has started to crack and lose pieces. It might be from my near-daily transferring of it between the camera and the integrated SDHC slot on the Dell Mini 9 (and earlier, on the Dell M1330). I suspect the Dell SDHC slot is the main culprit here, since it’s easier to insert/remove the SDHC card from the camera’s slot.
Mongkok Computer Centre is the place most resources recommend. It’s the same place I went to buy the AC adapter for my DS Lite. The Computer Centre is listed under the closest exit from the metro, and it’s a straight shot down Roland.
I couldn’t find a photo of the exterior from the last time I visited (but then, I didn’t look too hard for it in the archives), so I made sure to snap a photo of it this time.
I went on a weekday afternoon, so it wasn’t all that crowded, especially on the two upper floors.
As before, I did some homework to get reference prices before I visited. Most of the vendors here were pretty inflexible on the listed (cash) prices, although a couple of them budged a little.
I think I overpaid for the SDHC card (the vendor claimed that memory prices have been increasing lately), but I was okay with the difference, since I needed the card. Alternately, I could have bought a USB cable with the specialized plug for the Lumix LX-3, but the new card is class 6, as opposed to my previous card’s class 4 rating (higher number can result in faster response), and I already have the USB cable that came with the LX-3, only it’s back in Walnut Creek.
While I was there, I also considered buying a third LX-3 battery. Lately, the capacity on my generic Lenmar has gone from around 450 shots to 400, on a full charge, so I’m starting to distrust it. I’ve mostly been using that one instead of the original Panasonic battery that came with the LX-3. After further consideration, I’ll probably go back to pick up a spare, and maybe also a circular polarizer.
The hard disk price was in line with my reference price. I got a 500MB Freecom XXS this time. The extra space should last me another year at least.
It’s significantly smaller and lighter than the Iomega eGo, but then it’s not in a hardened shell, so I have to be a little more careful with it. Copying all the data from the eGo to the XXS took over 6 hours. I think this was largely due to the Dell Mini 9’s CPU getting squeezed for all it was worth by the copying, along with the meta data updating that Mac OS X does for mounted volumes. During the copy, the computer was largely unusable for anything else. Even after the copy finished, OS X took an extra hour or two to finish updating the XXS’s meta data before the CPU idled again. It’s a good thing I don’t have to do this too often!
I was originally planning on shipping the eGo back, along with some other extra gear, while I was in Hong Kong this time, but it turns out that the eGo has a lot more space available than I thought, after I deleted a bunch of files I didn’t need anymore! For now, I’ll keep both disks with me, backing up to both. It’s a good thing the XXS isn’t that heavy or bulky.
