Every now and then a device comes along that makes you think, how did I ever live without this? How many of us would ever think of venturing on a long drive without our cell phones? For me, that device is my Epson P-5000. Two years ago, while transferring photos from my card, to my G5, the computer decided to “burp”, okay not a burp, it was more like a projectile vomit!

For some strange reason my computer crashed and all I was doing was pulling off a few photos. Well this crash required a hard reboot; I pulled out my card, and started up the G5. Reinserted my card and got an error saying my card was unreadable! What? This was not good. This is the modern day equivalent of someone turning on a light while you’re rolling film! I tried a couple different recover packages but no luck. I needed to pick up the phone and arrange to reshoot the job. Luckily it was local and easy to redo.

My assignment yesterday required a thirty mile drive to the Amtrak station, a train ride to Washington D.C then a cab ride to the office, all to get an executive portrait of a VP before he headed out the door for a meeting, had I gone into the office today and had that crash incident happen again? Talk about the fecal matter impacting the air circulation device!

The Epson P-5000 is listed as a multimedia photo viewer. To me it’s an insurance policy that my photos will be safe until I transfer them to my computer. The P-5000 is a 80GB storage device with a 4″ color screen. You simple insert your compact card into the slot at the top of the device and a prompt asks if you’d like to back up the card. The real nice feature is that the P-5000 can’t write to nor format your card so there’s no fear of accidentally wiping your card clean, a nice feature that puts your mind at ease, especially after a long day of shooting, or when the chances of rescheduling that busy executive are slim and none. Another nice feature is the ability to backup a card, then clean that card off – in case you’re in the field and run out of clean cards. A typical 4GB card takes about 5 minutes to backup. The Epson P-5000 sells for $700 and connects to your computer via a USB cable, and has a built in rechargeable battery. It also has the capability to play music and video but I use mine just as a safety net in case my computer decides to misbehave again.