Customer Reviews:
 Simple to use, great back-up device September 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I use this with my Panasonic HDC-SD5 camcorder (see my review on that) and it works great as a back-up device once my SD card gets full. I normally only use 4GB cards because they transfer so easily onto a 4.7GB DVD-R disc. I transfer the video first to the blank DVD-R through a Panasonic VW-BN1 DVD burner (great device), and then back the data up to this hard drive prior to erasing/formatting the SD card so it's ready to go again.
Once this device gets full I will download the files to my external hard drive through my PC for storage, and then clean this hard drive off and start over again.
The instructions are very clear; make sure you take the time to read them so you will understand what all of the flashing lights are about, the proper procedure in using it, etc. It charges in about an hour so you can take it on the road or in the field with you sans the power cord.
When you put in the SD card, it will alert you if there is not enough room on the hard drive to take all of the data. It does this through lights indicating if the drive is full, at 75%, or at 50%. If all is a go (the copy light goes green), you hit the copy button, the green light flashes on and off while it records the data from the card, and then the same light turns solid green once the transfer is complete.
It also has a safety mode switch you can activate that will stop the data transfer if the device is moved, unlevel, or shaken during the transfer procedure. Oddly, it states in the instructions that it will stop anyway if this happens, so I am not all that sure why they have the switch...perhaps it makes it even more sensitive to movement during a file transfer. Anyway, I keep it on just in case.
If you should stop the transfer halfway, any data copied up until that point will be erased. Every time you perform a new transfer, it creates a new file in the order that you performed the transfer. Copying a fairly full 4GB SD card takes about an hour. I gave it four stars instead of five because 1) for the price, which interestingly is wide in range at the time of this review for some reason, it should really be 80GB instead of 40GB and 2) for only a 40GB storage device it is awfully large, heavy, and clunky, presumably because of its capability to be charged/store power.
Overall I am very satisfied with it. I hope this information was useful.
 Used this in Italy October 21, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Having the Panasonic HDC SD1 camcorder and 2 SDHC chips 4GB and was going to Italy. I thought this VW-PT2 40GB hard drive from panasonic would be a good place to store my video footage. However, I never used up the 2 SDHC chips. I did go ahead and copy all the video onto the VW-PT2 hard-drive basically as a backup copy in case I lost my camera or customs took the video camera.
Copying worked flawlessly. I only wish Panasonic would have a little light that said "DONE" or FINISH when the process was complete. I never really could tell when everything had been copied, so I just left the unit alone for an hour.
Transferring to my computer using Ulead VideoStudio 11 was fairly easy, having no experience with Ulead. It did take me sometime to figure out how to download the files, but once I did, it seems to working pretty well.
Overall, the VW-PT2 works great and stored my video data as advertised. The $199 for a 40GB hard-drive is a bit pricey, but I would recommend it for anyone traveling to use as a backup device for precious video.
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