Backups Suggestions? Seeking help on LOW COST solution for SD card backup, with no computer.

emerson

All-Pro
Location
Maritimes, eh?
Name
David
Travelling soon, and looking for a reliable, simple, and convenient way to back up my CD cards. I am aware of the WD Wireless Pro, but would prefer to carry less hardware and spend less money.

I expect to take several hundred photos per day, over the course of nine days. I will carry my Apple iPhone 5s, and will be using the Fujifilm X100F. I have a Flikr account, but internet access where I will travel is uncertain.

Is it practical, for instance, to use the Fujifilm app to transfer files to a USB stick dongled to the iPhone? Or would this be so slow as to be unworkable?

A quick search of past posts doesn't turn up much, and tech changes so constantly that I suspect there may be a solution I'm unaware of. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
An "OTG" SD card reader that attaches to your phone will be cheaper, and you can be pretty well assured that you can get your files safe. Simple, affordable, and reliable.

But fast it won't be, especially if your phone doesn't have enough internal storage so that you can copy an entire SD card into it at one go.
 
I'm interested also.
A google search doesn't bring up much for me.
The wireless pro seems to be the cheapest all in one solution I've found.

Longshot, but maybe a local printing store can burn to dvd for you? Edit: no internet access = no store.
Or maybe a cheap used android phone with expandable memory and the OTG reader.

@Luke : You're on to something. How about this?
 
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lacie boss drive sd backup


A stand-alone, battery powered, portable backup drive is going to run $300.

The above "Duplicator" solution is by far cheaper. I just bought one- I will test it and report back on how it does. I usually take a Panasonic CF-52 or CF-53 with me on Vacation. A used CF-53 I5 runs under $150 these days. I want to see how the Duplicator fits into a camera bag and if it can run off of rechargeable AA's.


This device can do a "Sector Copy", ie 100% image copy, in addition to copying just the data on the card. I'll test copying Data from source SD Cards (multiple) to a larger destination.

 
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sd cards cost almost nothing. Couldn't you just bring 9 cards?

I totally agree with that. Easiest solution. Probably more reliable than any other solution (fewer error points).

I'm basically using my SD cards as an extra set of backup too - once a card is full I buy a new one. At least for any cards that have photos that are important to me.
(That obviously doesn't work for everyone - if you photograph a LOT)
 
I have had SD cards die on me, images are unrecoverable. I usually copy them same day to my "Toughy" laptop, and do not re-use the card until it is backed-up to another computer or external drive. The "Duplicator" would allow a cheap and portable solution, basically backup the SD card to another SD card upon removing it from the camera. That has some real appeal. Once the SD card is backed up to a computer, both SD cards can be re-used.

The seller accepted my $40 offer. I use SD cards for running embedded systems, As per the instruction manual found online- this device should handle bootable SD cards.
 
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I have had SD cards die before getting them home and copying them. For something important, this device is as close to having dual-slots in a camera. Once on two or three external hard drives, I re-use the SD cards. I've had more memory cards go bad than external drives.

One of my Laptop drives started developing bad sectors- it is 22 years old. I do stand-alone image backups of my computers. The Micron Trek II is still going strong, gets used as a terminal emulator in the Lab. The 4 batteries I have for it still hold a charge- which I find amazing when compared with modern laptops and cell phones. Higher density drives and cards tend to fail more than the lower density storage devices.
 
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That Duplicator thingie seems a bit risky in the sense that you don't have really good feedback if the files copied correctly. I wonder if it is doing a raw copy block by block or if it's file system aware and will copy file by file...

WD Passport Wireless costs a little but there's the mobile UI with which you can do random inspections about the files you've copied and it gives you assurance. It'll show you JPEGs and even raw files (tested with Olympus ORFs) when there's a preview image embedded.

Leave the SD cards alone after the backup and then you have dual backups :)

Sadly the WD Passport can't do secondary backups *to* a plugged SD card.
 
I read the manual- and the Duplicator has multiple modes to copy FAT-16, FAT-32, NTFS, and LINUX file systems. If not one of those, it performs block-by-block copies. I use FAT-32 for most everything, my cameras and embedded systems. The device itself runs Linux.
 
@Luke: Yes, this is my intention. But I'd like to backup the files to mitigate the risk of loss of I have an SD card fail, stolen, or lost.

@BrianS: "I have had SD cards die before getting them home and copying them." This is my concern, exactly.

@Mike: I'll look into the OTG reader. That sounds promising.

Thanks, all.
 
sd cards cost almost nothing. Couldn't you just bring 9 cards?
And depending on the size of the cards you'd only need a couple really. You could do the one card day, but a couple hundred pics per day doesn't really take up that much room, video is another matter.

I took a quick look over my LR catalog 1,000-1,200 RAW (granted lossless-compressed) from a 36mp D800 fit on a 64gb SD. I had a few events where I shot 1,400 - 1,600 with the D800 and I honestly don't remember changing cards, but I can't be 100% sure.
 
The "CarryFlash Mini-Duplicator" arrived and I've been testing out. The unit I bought was lightly used, open-box special. It comes with an AC adapter, works well with it. I am now running it on four NiMH AA batteries, 2.3AH batteries. It's working properly, I've used it to do "Data Copy" from one SD card to another, and "Image Copy". The device is small enough to put in a reasonable sized camera bag, even in a large side-pocket.

I paid ~$40 for this, open box. New- some places are charging $150. I would not buy it for that much. Wait for it to hit the $50 mark, a decent/portable solution to getting a fast back-up of data on SD cards. I'll probably leave a large card in the "copy to" slot when on vacation.
 
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