Photo enthusiasts often struggle with vacations. It's a great opportunity to load up your digital camera with great shots. But what do you do when your memory card is full?

You don't have to take a laptop on vacation to store photos. There are smaller alternatives to free up your digital camera's storage cards.

The easiest option: Burn the files to a disc at a drugstore. But if that isn't possible, consider portable storage equipment.

Storage comes in three categories: hard drives, disc burners and connectors for thumb drives or MP3 players. After transferring the photos, clear your card and start shooting again. They run on batteries, so they're as portable as your camera.

1. Hard drive. The FlashPac (www.wolverinedata.com; $180) holds 40 gigabytes of photos. That's about 8,000 photos using a 10-megapixel camera at its highest settings. Its built-in card reader accepts CompactFlash, IBM/Hitachi Microdrive, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Sony Memory Stick and xD cards. Its display shows file and status only. It does not display pictures.

If you want to see the photograph and not just a file name, the Epson P-2000 (www.epson.com; $400 after rebates) holds 36.5 gigabytes of photos. When you want to download pictures from your memory card, insert it into one of the built-in slots. The P-2000 is compatible with CompactFlash, IBM/Hitachi Microdrive, MultiMediaCard and Secure Digital cards. It has outputs to display your pictures on a TV. It also will store and play back video files.

The Zen Vision (www.creative.com; $400) xD card is a 30GB portable media player. It not only will store your digital photos, but it also will play back pictures, videos and music. It has a built-in CompactFlash slot. An optional card reader ($40) can be purchased for Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, xD, Memory Stick and microSD (TransFlash) storage cards.

2. Disc burners. Portable burners are a little more straightforward and offer fewer features. Insert your memory card and burn your files to a CD or DVD.

The Disc Steno CP300 (www.apacer.com; $350) and Digital Photo Copy Cruiser Plus (www.aleratec.com; $300) read most memory cards. The Disc Steno CP300 has a 1.5-inch screen and burns CDs and DVDs. The Copy Cruiser Plus only burns CDs, doesn't have a screen that can view pictures and runs on AC power. Both units can play DVDs and CDs on a television.

However, CDs are not necessarily a great medium. They hold only 700 megabytes of data — less than some memory cards. DVDs can hold 4.7GB. But that's still much less than a hard drive's capacity.

3. Linking devices. If your music player has a hard drive, it can store pictures. You'll need an accessory that will offload your photos. Of course, if your player is full of music, you won't have room for pictures.

The Apple iPod Camera Connector (www.apple.com; $29) connects to your digital camera's USB connection. It works with the iPod with camera display and iPod with video. Apple lists compatible digital cameras on its site.