back up photos

[never_here]

I plan to go on an extended trip, and take lots of photos.  Normally, i usually bring my laptop, and back up photos to external drive every night, just in case i lose camera, or sd card just dies.  However, this time, as i have an ipad pro 9.7, i want to bring that, instead of my bulky laptop.  Anyone know of any way i can back up my photos to an external hard drive without a laptop?  I know theres a wd wireless passport with an sd card auto back solution there, but its pricey, and i have plenty of other external hard drives i want to use.  Is there anything relatively cheap that i can buy to back up camera photos to a hard drive?  I also found a ravpower filehub thing with good amazon reviews, but many of them are 'i received this device at a discount for a fair review', and i dont like to read those, as it usually just talks about how awesome the device is.  

 

Also, i know i can backup my photos and stuff to my ipad, but i also take lots of videos, which will fill it up.  I'm already planning to load up movies and tv shows, and dont want to use my ipad as my 'main' backup solution.

[ALwin]

Don't delete/format the memory cards, just carry loads.  Like in the old film days when photographers just carry enough/extra film to cover their needs.  So instead of reusing memory cards, you just switch to another when one becomes full.

 

Just make sure not to lose any cards.

 

Any better solution will cost you money.  You either need to buy a battery powered external HDD with a memory card slot (like some WD models) or find a way to backup your photos to the cloud, which requires some form of network/mobile data connection.

[Reagan Reese]

Use Google Photos. Free unlimited backup at a reduced file size but I can't tell the difference.

[never_here]

first, thanks for the response

 

I understand that I could carry more memory cards, to use when one fills up, however, the thing is, i AM worried of losing my memory cards.  They are small, and sometimes things just happen.  

 

Also, google photos is great.  Using it now, however, its not a good solution when your travelling with limited to no internet access.  

 

Are there any lightweight photographers out there that have an easy way to back up photos from SD cards?  with an in-expensive solution?  

[ALwin]

3 minutes ago, never_here said:

snip

Can you transfer photos from a memory card to the iPad and then from the iPad to an external storage device?

 

Or each day load the photos to the iPad and at the hotel or where they have WiFi, transfer the photos to the cloud?  This could be slow with RAW files, if you have hundreds.

[never_here]

I can transfer photos to ipad no problem.  The problem is offloading it elsewhere.  There are solutions, but they are either 'expensive' or unreliable.  The sandisk one seems most promising, however, its an expensive, and limits to 128GB.  

 

I just use JPG files, but its the videos that will be a problem for me.  unfortunately, even with WiFi, and decent ones at that, i dont think the amount of footage i'll take will be able to back up online in timely manner.  

 

Its sad that its so difficult to fine a good solution, that is both reliable, secure, and in-expensive.  I mean with GoPro's being popular, and they even do 4K stuff, there has got to be a way to offload this stuff somewhere easily when you are on the go... without a laptop.

[ALwin]

Just get the WD portable drive with the SD card reader.  It's probably one of the cheaper solutions out there.

 

I know portable backup solutions that will take other types of memory cards, but they start out at a higher price just for the enclosure (no drive), so unless you use other memory card formats like CF, the WD drive will be better.

 

[xQubeZx]

If you can afford a raspberry pi will bring all this functionality for a very decent price. It takes a little time to setup and you will need a small keyboard unless you can use ssh on the iPad. But there you have 4 usb 2.0 ports you can connect your drives too. Thats the only way I can imagine without spending a bit more on say those WD drives. 

[ALwin]

Do the places you are planning to visit or the accommodations you are going to be using have an internet cafe or business lounge with computers?  If so, why not just carry a simple external drive and use the computers available for copying files.

[ShadowCaptain]

12 hours ago, never_here said:

SNIP

I bought  a £60 windows tablet purely for this purpose haha, basically gives me a full pc (albeit a crap one) 

but the best idea is to buy the WD drive with SD card reader - 

that said, if I was serious, id just take a laptop, and leave it in the hotel safe and just use it at night for backups and keep it on the laptop AND hdd - since you could also lose or drop the hard drive

[never_here]

responding to multiple people at once...

 

@ALwin, ya, i might go to places where i wont be near a city for a few days, though, at least i assume those remote places have no computers.  I like to think worst cases scenarios anyways, but i'm pretty sure i wont find a decent cafe, or of the sorts there. 

 

@xQubeZx, i was thinking rasberry pi, but not sure about the ssh thing.  i have a bluetooth on me probably, but i dont think i have a working screen for it?  I haven't checked out any forums for rasberry pi yet, but do you know if anyone designed a thing that could allow it to auto export files from one usb to another?  (or sd card to usb... etc?)

 

@ShadowCaptain, ya, checked out the windows 10 tab from insignia, and despite it fullfill my needs, and beyond, i'm not sure how long that thing will last, but its also another 'tablet' i'm carrying.  I'd prefer to keep just one tablet on me.  Also, i wont be able to leave my laptop at the hotel, as i will be moving around a lot.  Thus why i wanted to keep things as lightweight as possible.  

 

was really hoping something other than just the WDD wireless thing with very mixed reviews...  It seems kinda slow and unreliable... however, it may have to do.  

[ShadowCaptain]

19 minutes ago, never_here said:

SNIP

Sell your iPad and get a surface pro

There is no way to properly connect an iPad to an external hard drive, thats just a fact sadly, you are either going over a mediocre/slow wireless connection , or using something external to backup the SD card

there are dedicated devices, but they are expensive, and the cheap ones, are... well cheap https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro%C2%AE-Picture-Drive-EX205KB-Storage/dp/B00OFVNIRW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1461772244&sr=8-6&keywords=sd+card+backup

[never_here]

2 hours ago, ShadowCaptain said:

Sell your iPad and get a surface pro

There is no way to properly connect an iPad to an external hard drive, thats just a fact sadly, you are either going over a mediocre/slow wireless connection , or using something external to backup the SD card

there are dedicated devices, but they are expensive, and the cheap ones, are... well cheap https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro%C2%AE-Picture-Drive-EX205KB-Storage/dp/B00OFVNIRW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1461772244&sr=8-6&keywords=sd+card+backup

Haha, i know, its sad that despite what the ipad can do, it can't do the simplest of things, damn it Apple...

 

I also looked into other dedicated devices... but i always end up finding like $400+ ones around here in Canada.  

 

Ohh, i just found this.  Anyone used this before?

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Kingston-Digital-MobileLite-Smartphones-MLWG2/dp/B00KU2E9IW

 

 

[ShadowCaptain]

9 minutes ago, never_here said:

 

Ohh, i just found this.  Anyone used this before?

 

fine for streaming, and it will work but its slow, all of those wireless things are slow

[never_here]

8 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

fine for streaming, and it will work but its slow, all of those wireless things are slow

but, if i'm moving say files from SD card to USB drive, or external hdd, is it still slow? 

[ShadowCaptain]

33 minutes ago, never_here said:

but, if i'm moving say files from SD card to USB drive, or external hdd, is it still slow? 

but you have to transfer to the device over wifi

 

[Xafer]

When i went on a longer trip to Africa me and my dad had the same "problem" and solved it in two different ways.

I brought my SP3 and offloaded a bunch of photos there, and carried a bulk of sd cards too. This is the easiest way and probably the cheapest - You can get some nice carrying cases for your cards (Stick some marking tape on the filled ones)

 

My dad however decided to buy an sd card reader for the ipad to transfer his photos to it. Then he used an external drive with network capabilities when the ipad was full. 
This way is not only expensive but also more time consuming, time i spent shooting more pictures while he sat in a hotel room.

 

Personally i cant see the problem with carrying a few sd cards when you can find nice cases like this

[xQubeZx]

3 hours ago, never_here said:

responding to multiple people at once...

 

@ALwin, ya, i might go to places where i wont be near a city for a few days, though, at least i assume those remote places have no computers.  I like to think worst cases scenarios anyways, but i'm pretty sure i wont find a decent cafe, or of the sorts there. 

 

@xQubeZx, i was thinking rasberry pi, but not sure about the ssh thing.  i have a bluetooth on me probably, but i dont think i have a working screen for it?  I haven't checked out any forums for rasberry pi yet, but do you know if anyone designed a thing that could allow it to auto export files from one usb to another?  (or sd card to usb... etc?)

 

@ShadowCaptain, ya, checked out the windows 10 tab from insignia, and despite it fullfill my needs, and beyond, i'm not sure how long that thing will last, but its also another 'tablet' i'm carrying.  I'd prefer to keep just one tablet on me.  Also, i wont be able to leave my laptop at the hotel, as i will be moving around a lot.  Thus why i wanted to keep things as lightweight as possible.  

 

was really hoping something other than just the WDD wireless thing with very mixed reviews...  It seems kinda slow and unreliable... however, it may have to do.  

With SSH you dont need a monitor. Just plug it into the wall and connect to it from a SSH app on the iPad. (Over wifi, so you will need either a wifi stick or model 3 wich has it built in) Then connect to it via IP and from there you have access to the command line. If you know your way around linux you can transfer everything from command line but I bet someone has a automated script for stuff like that. You could also possibly have a FTP app which will let you see the files but I'm not sure if ios allows FTP clients. 

 

This is a project that will need a few hours to get working and so but if you get it working you will only need a raspberry and a power cord.

[never_here]

20 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

but you have to transfer to the device over wifi

 

bs, =_='

4 minutes ago, Xafer said:

When i went on a longer trip to Africa me and my dad had the same "problem" and solved it in two different ways.

I brought my SP3 and offloaded a bunch of photos there, and carried a bulk of sd cards too. This is the easiest way and probably the cheapest - You can get some nice carrying cases for your cards (Stick some marking tape on the filled ones)

 

My dad however decided to buy an sd card reader for the ipad to transfer his photos to it. Then he used an external drive with network capabilities when the ipad was full. 
This way is not only expensive but also more time consuming, time i spent shooting more pictures while he sat in a hotel room.

 

Personally i cant see the problem with carrying a few sd cards when you can find nice cases like this

ya, this seems more and more of a viable option.  However, instead of SP3, as i already have an ipad, and like it.... i think an 8" windows tablet would be nice.  Or android actually.  But need to see if i can find one with USB, or one with ability to use adapters, and etc etc.   Good to know though, sucks though... =_=

4 minutes ago, xQubeZx said:

With SSH you dont need a monitor. Just plug it into the wall and connect to it from a SSH app on the iPad. (Over wifi, so you will need either a wifi stick or model 3 wich has it built in) Then connect to it via IP and from there you have access to the command line. If you know your way around linux you can transfer everything from command line but I bet someone has a automated script for stuff like that. You could also possibly have a FTP app which will let you see the files but I'm not sure if ios allows FTP clients. 

 

This is a project that will need a few hours to get working and so but if you get it working you will only need a raspberry and a power cord.

Unfortunately, as awesome as it does sound, i'm not too confident i could get it working myself without help.  Viable option if i was more capable for sure.  

[Xafer]

3 minutes ago, never_here said:

bs, =_='

ya, this seems more and more of a viable option.  However, instead of SP3, as i already have an ipad, and like it.... i think an 8" windows tablet would be nice.  Or android actually.  But need to see if i can find one with USB, or one with ability to use adapters, and etc etc.   Good to know though, sucks though... =_=

Unfortunately, as awesome as it does sound, i'm not too confident i could get it working myself without help.  Viable option if i was more capable for sure.  

Do you need to offload the photos to a computer during the trip? Else you could just stash the sd cards and not need the tablet at all.

 

[never_here]

3 minutes ago, Xafer said:

Do you need to offload the photos to a computer during the trip? Else you could just stash the sd cards and not need the tablet at all.

 

ya... i'm worried about losing the sd cards.. May not be me, but my girl friend too, xD.  

Also, reason to offload it, is actually to create a duplicate copy of my photos and stuff.  If i lose my sd cards in some way, its duplicated in my hard drive.  I plan to keep that hard drive as safe as possible, but even if it accidentally dies, i'm hoping my sd cards stay safe... just need some some sort of redundancy.  Lastly, just in case i filll up my SD cards, i can re-use them.  Though, unless i go extremely crazy with videos, i dont see that happening.