backing up cards whilst out and about

Matt L

Matt L

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Matt
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hi all,

how do you lot back up cards whilst out and about on shoots?

Option 1) currently all i can think is netbook + card reader + had drive (depending on the size in the netbook) = looking at around £260ish (more for external hd)

Option 2) seen a canon media storage device (M30) = around £400 so this is out of the equation unless anyone knows of cheaper ones?

Option 2) i would rather get a tablet + hd + card reader if this is possible as it would be used more than a net book would.

so my questions are...
1) what do you use?
2) do you know if option 3 is possible?
3) am i missing any other ways of backing up cf cards whilst out?

Cheers
Matt
 
Option 3 exists without the external hard drive (iPad anyway).

I shoot with a D7000 which has 2 SD card slots so I use the 2nd card as RAW backup, which is very useful.

I've been asking this question myself for a while and was looking at getting a 13" MacBook and portable HDD, just couldn't justify the price for doing back up in the field.
 
I use my Samsung Galaxy S2, a USB host cable and CF and SD card readers. The only time I have used it was to get someone else's photos onto my phone.

I couldn't use an external hard drive unless it was powered by another source.
 
this will sound stupid but what is a usb host cable? :LOL: sounds like i could possible use my phone (sensation xe) however i would need to use my external hd (powered by mains) to backup on to it, how would it work as in copying/pasting? would i need an app or something?
 
I used to use a home brew version of option 2, a 2.5" HDD caddy with SD & CF reader built in and a spare HDD I had lying around. Look out for this in the classifieds, as it has been replaced by my iPad + camera connection kit, it much more useful as I can use Photosmith to add meta data to my images before I import them to Lightroom back at base. I haven't found the need to use a separate HDD with this method as I do not overwrite the cards.
 
whom said:
I use my Samsung Galaxy S2, a USB host cable and CF and SD card readers. The only time I have used it was to get someone else's photos onto my phone.

I couldn't use an external hard drive unless it was powered by another source.
Click to expand...

This is something ive looked at but could never find anything. FWIW im using a HTC Desire HD.

Do you have a link to this?

Sorry to jump on the OP, but this sounds awesome to me as i have a 32gb card in my phone which would be great to back up onto.
 
You could have a look at one of these http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive-COLORSPACE-UDMA-s/64.htm for on the go backup. A 250Gb size works out at around £250, which is certainly cheaper than the Canon M30.
I personally use a netbook and card reader, but I've got 4 16Gb CF cards and 3 16Gb SDHC cards, plus some small cards kicking about, so I've never run out of space yet.
 
Craikeybaby said:
I used to use a home brew version of option 2, a 2.5" HDD caddy with SD & CF reader built in and a spare HDD I had lying around. Look out for this in the classifieds, as it has been replaced by my iPad + camera connection kit, it much more useful as I can use Photosmith to add meta data to my images before I import them to Lightroom back at base. I haven't found the need to use a separate HDD with this method as I do not overwrite the cards.
Click to expand...

how did you manage that? well... how did you make it automatically back up the files without a computer/something in between card and hd?
 
I use on old Net book with a 120Gb drive and a 250gb external drive for redundancy along with a USB card reader. External drive goes in the hold of any plane and net book stays with me. Netbooks can be picked up very cheaply on eBay.

Tried jail breaking my iPad and using a USB hard drive instead but couldn't get it to work last time I was away.
 
Matt L said:
how did you manage that? well... how did you make it automatically back up the files without a computer/something in between card and hd?
Click to expand...

The case I plugged the HDD into is specifically for backing up photos, so I assume there is some sort of embedded system in there connecting everything and running the LCD.
 
I have started using a Nexto 2730, which is basically a smart caddy in to which I've fitted a 750 Gig Seagate drive, as the Nexto doesn't come with a drive installed, although it's really easy to do. It's a bit pricy at about £280 plus a hard drive (mine was about £75) but I've been testing their latest beta incremental backup software which is a great improvement.

Internal battery means you can easily and quickly back up in the field.
 
hassmaster said:
Option 3 exists without the external hard drive (iPad anyway).

I shoot with a D7000 which has 2 SD card slots so I use the 2nd card as RAW backup, which is very useful.

I've been asking this question myself for a while and was looking at getting a 13" MacBook and portable HDD, just couldn't justify the price for doing back up in the field.
Click to expand...

You can get iPad CF readers on Amazon. You can upload RAW to iPad but as far as I know, you can't export as RAW. However, If all else goes tits up, I can deal with having high res JPEG instead of RAW!
 
You can export as RAW into Lightroom using Photosmith.
 
woodc1000 said:
You can get iPad CF readers on Amazon. You can upload RAW to iPad but as far as I know, you can't export as RAW. However, If all else goes tits up, I can deal with having high res JPEG instead of RAW!
Click to expand...

that sounds pretty good tbh if the ipad can manage it

although the ipad route is about £150 more than if i went for a netbook and the netbook has alot more space.... hmmm (prices based on new).
 
simonblue said:
I have got an espson 3000,which is very good,picked up s/h at a good price :)
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I use the Epson P-2000 which I can now download CF UDMA cards & also SDHC cards (with the download file from Epson) althou its not as big as the P-3000 as the 2000 is only 40gb - can be found on ebay atm (used) quite cheaply....
 
Trig's said:
I use the Epson P-2000 which I can now download CF UDMA cards & also SDHC cards (with the download file from Epson) althou its not as big as the P-3000 as the 2000 is only 40gb - can be found on ebay atm (used) quite cheaply....
Click to expand...

Yep only paid £130 for mine :)
 
I've spent quite some time searching for the larger capacity Epsons (P-6000 and P-7000) but they seem to be out of stock everywhere I've looked (including Epson themselves). Are they no longer manufactured or are they about to be replaced with a newer model?
 
pablo_paul said:
External drive goes in the hold of any plane and net book stays with me. Netbooks can be picked up very cheaply on eBay.
Click to expand...

I would rather take the external hard drive with me on the plane and send the netbook in the hold with the luggage. :LOL:
 
ziggy©;4586417 said:
I would rather take the external hard drive with me on the plane and send the netbook in the hold with the luggage. :LOL:
Click to expand...
Keep them both with you. Netbook in your carry-on luggage and, if carry-on weight is an issue, put the external hard drive in your pocket.

If you don't have enough pockets then have a look at item number 280617132602 on Ebay. I used one on a few flights recently and it held a lot of quite heavy items...
 
Canon M80 is unbelievably slow and small.

iPad is a pain to transfer images and doesn't have enough capacity.

Hyperdrive Colorspace is fast, small and has a wonderful battery life.
 
Backing up while out and about? I don't.

I transfer the images at the end of the day to a computer. If I'm away for days at a time (like a holiday) I have my MBP with me anyway and everything goes on there.
 
I've been using a 750GB USB drive (picked up at Tesco for £40), an Asus eeePC 701 [total weight of that package is 1077g (just weighed it)] and a card reader to suit (50g tops).

Just the ticket... and the eeePC is ancient enough to be cheap to acquire (it's also very tight on internal disc space - mine has a 4GB SSD :eek:)
 
hunnymonster said:
I've been using a 750GB USB drive (picked up at Tesco for £40), an Asus eeePC 701 [total weight of that package is 1077g (just weighed it)] and a card reader to suit (50g tops).
Click to expand...

Plus the power supply?

That's almost four times the weight of a Colorspace (300g). When I travel every bit of space and weight is vital.
 
simonblue said:
Yep only paid £130 for mine :)
Click to expand...

Wont mention what I paid for mine (from a seller on Amazon ) incase I go to sell here at a later stage :confused: .... But it did come complete except for the stand, and the box was slightly tatty but the P-2000 ws immaculate and looked new...
 
hollis_f said:
Plus the power supply?

That's almost four times the weight of a Colorspace (300g). When I travel every bit of space and weight is vital.
Click to expand...

Yes, plus the power supply - if weight is that tight I'd just take even more memory cards... my pockets aren't limitless :crying:

Anyway - when the RasPi arrives it's tasked with being netbook replacement for this task... only need it to boot, autocopy the contents of the memory card (from the reader attached to the USB to the HDD attached to the USB) - net requirement one USB power supply...
 
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how much data are we talking here? i can't help but wonder if it would be cheaper with more memory cards and just swap them over? small, light and can be inexpensive :shrug:

by no means the best method, but another option perhaps?
 
hunnymonster said:
Yes, plus the power supply - if weight is that tight I'd just take even more memory cards... my pockets aren't limitless :crying:

Anyway - when the RasPi arrives it's tasked with being netbook replacement for this task... only need it to boot, autocopy the contents of the memory card (from the reader attached to the USB to the HDD attached to the USB) - net requirement one USB power supply...
Click to expand...

Now that's what I can do with my RPi when it turns up sometime near Christmas...

BB
 
andy1868 said:
how much data are we talking here? i can't help but wonder if it would be cheaper with more memory cards and just swap them over? small, light and can be inexpensive :shrug:

by no means the best method, but another option perhaps?
Click to expand...

:wave: andy... tbh this is quite possibly the route i will actually go now... tbf i had completely ignored/forgotten to think about buying a bigger card :LOL: :bang:

although the colourspace thing sounds good as does a netbook, all have their pros and cons in my eyes.
 
digital said:
I've spent quite some time searching for the larger capacity Epsons (P-6000 and P-7000) but they seem to be out of stock everywhere I've looked (including Epson themselves). Are they no longer manufactured or are they about to be replaced with a newer model?
Click to expand...

They do seem harder to find theses day,maybe a new model or their going to stop making them.
 
If I'm just out for the day - I don't. I'll back-up when I get home to the desktop PC and maybe the laptop. Hubby takes charge of periodic back-ups to external hard drives from the desktop PC.

For holidays, we back-up daily to the laptop and burn DVDs/copy to USB memory sticks. A Epson P-3000 would be fantastic, but due to the cost we recently bought a netbook instead so that we have something a bit more portable (which could also be used tethered).

As for what goes in the hand luggage and what goes in the hold... laptop and UBS sticks in hand luggage and we've probably put DVDs in the hold before.
 
I used to frantically back everything up as soon as I got home to be honest, but then one day I accidentally deleted some images that I wanted. What I didn't realise is that there is an imprint of every RAW file I've ever taken left on the card, even after deletion, and it's not that difficult to retrieve them.
If I were photographing a wedding or something I would definately take my laptop and back-up on the go, but generally I don't bother these days.
I'm told the data remains on the card even after re-formatting, though I have to admit I've not tried this :thinking:
 
As I understand it, when a card becomes corrupted (or hard drive for that matter) it is usually the index that tells the camera/pc etc where each picture is in the flash memory. When you quick format, this index is cleared so the camera will go ahead and put photos onto the card and their locations will be stored in the blank index . It will infact be overwriting the image still stored in the memory. The same probably applies to deleting an image, it just removes it from the index.

So as long as you don't continue using a card and overwrite the data with new pictures, the old pictures are still there but there is no index to find them. Instead the pc has to trawl through every bit of memory piecing the data together.

I think of it as a library full of books and a book at reception telling you where each book is. This library runs a policy of "if it's not in the book in reception and you need to put your book on the shelf then throw the old book out"
 
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