Backing up photo's etc. on longer trips?

OwenM

OwenM

Thru Hiker
This is a question for the photographers on here.

What do you use for backing up your photo's? I have been using a WD My Passport wireless pro, I never founded it to be all that reliable and now it's given up altogether.
 
OwenM said:
This is a question for the photographers on here.

What do you use for backing up your photo's? I have been using a WD My Passport wireless pro, I never founded it to be all that reliable and now it's given up altogether.
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Do you mean while out on a trip, or once back home?
 
Probably a bit old fashioned but it works for me, I never back up whilst on a trip I use Sandisk Extreme Pro 128GB cards in my camera, I always have 2 in my trip kit, I've never had to use the spare to date in all the years I've carried it & simply back up to my hard drive on my PC via cable when I get home & then write to DVD from there for external life long storage.
 
For backing up the phone, I use a SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB SSD. This also has our home computer backed up on to it. When you've seen your city 80% destroyed in an earthquake, it makes you realise how vulnerable your back-up system might be, so I use something that I can carry every time I'm away. The computer is also backed up to Dropbox.
Like Seòrsa, I also just rely on the SD Cards for the cameras.
 
I guess it depends on the camera. My Fuji XT3 has 2 sd card slots so I can save RAW on one and jpg on the other.
 
Never rely on one backup location. Save locally to multiple drives or disks and remotely to a cloud device like Google Photos. As far as I recall there is a setting to backup images without any optimisation. Or alternatively to Google Photos store them on Google Drive and auto sync from your PC.
 
WilliamC said:
For backing up the phone, I use a SanDisk Extreme Portable 1TB SSD. This also has our home computer backed up on to it. When you've seen your city 80% destroyed in an earthquake, it makes you realise how vulnerable your back-up system might be, so I use something that I can carry every time I'm away. The computer is also backed up to Dropbox.
Like Seòrsa, I also just rely on the SD Cards for the cameras.
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That looks quite good is it easy to use?
 
ADz said:
Never rely on one backup location. Save locally to multiple drives or disks and remotely to a cloud device like Google Photos. As far as I recall there is a setting to backup images without any optimisation. Or alternatively to Google Photos store them on Google Drive and auto sync from your PC.
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Yes, I'm really thinking of when I'm really off-grid without wi-fi or mobile signal.
 
It comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable and a C to A adaptor.
It's lightning fast with a PC, much faster than thumb drives I've had.
With a phone, I've found it easy, but it might depend on your phone's apps.
 
OwenM said:
Yes, I'm really thinking of when I'm really off-grid without wi-fi or mobile signal.
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Ahh sorry misread. You mean from phone or digital camera? If you have and Android you can simply bung an SD card in and backup to cards. Really cheap nowadays for large storage.
 
From my camera's, I'll have one copy on the SD cards, as I said I've been using the my passport pro as a backup. I'm just looking for someone a bit better than that.
I think the sandisk one WilliamC mentioned sounds about right. I'll maybe order one.
 
The best memory for cameras is in the primary format. It's small, lightweight and generally very reliable.

QXD and CFExpress are great, more reliable than SD. Depends on what camera you have though and whether it will take them or your pockets are deep enough.

If there is a very special moment, I'll send them to my phone.

As a rule, never delete or format discs until the space is needed. It's extra free storage.

Pro's who need to rely on not losing a valuable shoot will generally use a camera with 2 card slots and set to record simultaneously on both.

Personally though, I've never had (touch wood) an SD card fail yet. They are cheap, capacious, and light.
 
Thanks for bringing this up @OwenM

I'm not a photographer but would hate to lose my pics & it's something I've not considered as I've transitioned through digital cameras to using my phone. I've gotten into the habit of numbering & naming my files each evening & saving to a internal folder on the phone. I'll likely now get an external drive with usb c for the phone as a backup.
ADz said:
If you have and Android you can simply bung an SD card in and backup to cards.
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Not all Android phones. Mines got 512GB internal, non expandable storage only.

I'd prefer the external backup anyway. If I lose the phone all but that days pics will be on the stick in my pack.
 
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old-skool-lite said:
Thanks for bringing this up @OwenM

I'm not a photographer but would hate to lose my pics & it's something I've not considered as I've transitioned through digital cameras to using my phone. I've gotten into the habit of numbering & naming my files each evening & saving to a internal folder on the phone. I'll likely now get an external drive with usb c for the phone as a backup.

Not all Android phones. Mines got 512GB internal, non expandable storage only.

I'd prefer the external backup anyway. If I lose the phone all but that days pics will be on the stick in my pack.
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If your phone hasn't got a slot or sim tray doesn't double up as sdcard tray then you have other options like external card readers or thumb drives you can plug into the USB port. All these options give you external backup on any Android device.
 
Teepee said:
The best memory for cameras is in the primary format. It's small, lightweight and generally very reliable.


Personally though, I've never had (touch wood) an SD card fail yet. They are cheap, capacious, and light.
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I've several cameras, but the ones I mostly take with me on multi day trips are the Canon M50 and a couple of Gopro hero 8s. The M50 has one SD card, the Gopro's use micro SD cards. I'm more worried about losing the micro SD cards than getting the cards corrupted.
 
Well, I ordered a Sandisk Extreme SSD with 1TB of memory. Only it doesn't have it's own battery, which means it can't download from the camera's or from a card reader. It is only 54g when the old My Passport was 396g, which accounts for the lack of battery. There must be a work around out there somewhere.
 
OwenM said:
Well, I ordered a Sandisk Extreme SSD with 1TB of memory. Only it doesn't have it's own battery, which means it can't download from the camera's or from a card reader. It is only 54g when the old My Passport was 396g, which accounts for the lack of battery. There must be a work around out there somewhere.
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Caveat: Not an expert.
The Sandisk Extreme SSD is solid state memory, similar to SD cards, so does it need a battery?
It works fine with my phone.
 
I think the WD My Passport wireless pro was a unique product and has now been discontinued

With regard to the battery, the transfer of files from one media to another requires power. Phones use OTG which controls and sends power, it seems that your cameras dont support that

The only solution that may work would be raspberry pi running from a powerbank with your phone being the display for navigation. But I wouldnt have a clue how to set it up. I know pi has a slot for sd card but form memory thats to run operating system. But there are add ons to allow you to get this done and ssd card would be one of the NVME looking things
 
Lyrrad said:
I think the WD My Passport wireless pro was a unique product and has now been discontinued

With regard to the battery, the transfer of files from one media to another requires power. Phones use OTG which controls and sends power, it seems that your cameras dont support that

The only solution that may work would be raspberry pi running from a powerbank with your phone being the display for navigation. But I wouldnt have a clue how to set it up. I know pi has a slot for sd card but form memory thats to run operating system. But there are add ons to allow you to get this done and ssd card would be one of the NVME looking things
Click to expand...
Cameras have WiFi to phone so no big deal
 
Interested in this because I have to carry a laptop & external hardrive around (ok in van and suitcase) to download or backup my gopro, drone, insta 360 files on sd cards whilst on walking holidays.

Is it possible to backup to an external drive without using my laptop?

Pondered on this for a long time.
 
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