The Digital Foci Photo Safe II is a bare-bones, budget card-offload drive: it copies cards to its internal disk with no screen and no frills — fine for FAT32-era cards, but it can’t handle modern 64GB+ SDXC cards or any real speed. The test results are below.
For a current option, see the Nexto DI NPS-10 review.
As part of my ongoing series testing portable memory card backup devices, I occasionally test older hardware to see if it still holds up for photographers on a tight budget. When you are traveling light without a laptop, or shooting a high-stakes event like a wedding, having a battery-powered hard drive that can clone your memory cards in the field is incredibly reassuring.
The Digital Foci Photo Safe II is an undeniably old model. Under normal circumstances, gear this old would have been discontinued and forgotten. However, because you can often find these used or heavily discounted, it occupies a price point that is far below anything else currently on the market.
For a time, there were several faster and far superior memory card backup devices on the market, such as those from NextoDI and HyperDrive. The primary virtue of the Photo Safe II was strictly its budget pricepoint. But this class of device has largely evaporated from the market, so if you can find one of these available, and it’s compatible with the kinds of memory cards you’re using, it might end up being a surprisingly good option now.
So, is it still worth picking one up today? Here is my hands-on review to help you decide whether the Photo Safe II fits your workflow, or if you’d be better off spending the extra cash on a modern competitor.
Core functions & workflow
This is a decidedly bare-bones device. It copies files from a memory card directly onto its internal hard drive, and that is where its feature set essentially ends. It performs a straight copy — there is no separate “verify” function to make a bit-by-bit comparison ensuring the data on the drive perfectly matches the memory card.
There is also no option to do an incremental copy. It takes the entire contents of the memory card every time you press the button, regardless of whether you’ve previously copied part of it.
Aside from basic informational displays (like the number of files copied or storage space remaining), the only other major function is the ability to delete the contents of a memory card. (Note: I highly recommend ignoring this feature. It is always a much safer practice to format your memory card inside your camera).
Memory card compatibility (the dealbreaker)
The Photo Safe II works with CompactFlash, SD, SDHC, Memory Stick, and MS Pro/Duo. It doesn’t support microSD directly, but you can easily use a standard SD adapter.
However, there is a massive catch: Because this is an older model, it does not support the SDXC standard. That means any SD or microSD card larger than 32GB will absolutely not work in this device (larger CompactFlash cards will, however).
The reason is that the device’s hardware only supports cards formatted with FAT32; it cannot read the exFAT filesystem used by modern high-capacity SDXC cards. This is a hard hardware limitation and cannot be fixed with a firmware upgrade. If you shoot with 64GB or 128GB cards, this device is useless to you.
There are three memory card slots on the device under flexible rubber covers, but you can only use one at a time. If you insert two cards simultaneously, the device gets confused and exhibits erratic behavior.
Filetype compatibility
While marketed strictly as a “Photo Safe,” the device makes no distinction between photos and video files. It will copy almost anything you throw at it.
It works perfectly with proprietary RAW files, JPGs, or TIFFs simply because it doesn’t process the images. It has no capability to render or display photos on a screen, so it doesn’t care what the file extension is. As far as it’s concerned, a file is a file.
Every new copy operation gets placed into its own dedicated folder on the device. When you get home, you simply connect the Photo Safe II to your computer and drag the folders into your Lightroom library.
Real-world usage & speed tests
There are two buttons on the front, just below a very basic monochrome LCD screen. The screen lights up bright blue when powered on, but only displays text and numbers.
The button on the left doubles as the power and selection toggle. If you have a memory card inserted, you use this button to toggle between Copy mode and Delete mode. Once the correct mode is selected, you hit the right button (EXE) to execute the command.
As the copy process starts, you get a 3-digit percentage readout of the progress.
The speed issue
This is where you run into the biggest drawback of the Photo Safe II: it is incredibly slow.
It copies from a memory card at a maximum of 5.0 MB/s. In my testing, that means 1GB of photos takes about 3.5 minutes to transfer. Compare that to the NEXTO DI ND2901, which rips through 2.5GB to 4.5GB per minute.
Once the copy process completes, it will display 100% on the screen for two minutes before automatically powering down to save battery. While it says 100%, you can press and hold the EXE button to display the total number of files copied.
If the copy fails — perhaps because the internal drive is full or the memory card is corrupted — you’ll get an ERROR display on the screen. This disables the auto-power-off function, but if you leave it unattended until the battery dies, there will be no error log indicating a failure when you turn it back on.
USB On-The-Go (OTG) features
The OTG in the name stands for USB On-The-Go. This allows the Photo Safe II to serve as the host when other devices are attached to it. In theory, this means you can access the hard drive directly from your smartphone or tablet.
In practice, it’s not that simple. An OTG adapter cable is included in the box, but it uses a micro-USB connection. If you are using an iPhone or a modern iPad with USB-C, you will need a separate adapter dongle. If you plug the Photo Safe II directly into a computer, it simply mounts as a regular external mass storage device.
There are no built-in wireless capabilities — the only way to access the drive is via physical cables.
Battery life & charging
On the positive side, you can charge the device using the supplied AC adapter or via standard mini-USB from a power bank (though USB charging is much slower). The lithium-ion battery is also user-replaceable, which is a rare and welcome feature.
On the negative side, the battery life is abysmal. Under ideal circumstances, the manufacturer claims you can transfer up to 16GB of data per charge. With today’s high-megapixel cameras, that is essentially useless for a full day of shooting. By comparison, the NEXTO DI can copy upwards of 200GB per charge. When the Photo Safe II battery does die, it takes nearly 4 hours to recharge.
What’s in the box?
- Photo Safe II OTG Device
- AC switching power supply
- Mini-USB cable
- Micro USB-OTG adapter with 90-degree head
- Instruction manual
Final verdict
The Digital Foci Photo Safe II simply cannot compete with modern backup drives on features, speed, or battery life.
However, that doesn’t mean it is entirely useless. Where it trounces the competition is on price. At around $149 for the 500GB version, it is less than a third of the price of the ColorSpace UDMA2. Its most direct modern competitor is actually the WD My Passport Wireless, which offers built-in SD card reading and Wi-Fi capabilities for slightly more money.
If you are looking for an extremely cheap, simple portable backup device, shoot on an older camera with SDHC cards (32GB or smaller), and never plan on backing up more than 16GB per charge, the Photo Safe II might still work for you. But if you shoot on modern 64GB+ SDXC cards or require any real speed, you must spend the extra money and buy a newer device.
Price & availability
Find them at:
I HAVE THE PHOTO SAFE 2 AND LOVE IT ,BUT HAVE A PROBLEM,,, I NEED TO REP-LACE THE BACK ITS GOT A CRACK… WHERE CANE I BUY A REPLACEMENT CASE BACK…ITS BLACK AND NEED A COUPLE OF SCREWS…
THANK YOU
HARLAN
I’d recommend reaching out to the Digital Foci support team directly. You can find their contact info here. I don’t know what they offer in the way of spare parts, but worth asking.
Harlan: If you are still looking for replacement parts for your Photo Safe, I have a brand new one in the box (never used) that I’d be willing to give you if you pay for shipping. Drop me an email at [email protected]. Thanks!