# how to backup photos in the field?



## chihiro (Jan 12, 2015)

Hello



I would like to ask if you can advice me/ give me any recommendations on how to back up photos in the field (from CF cards into hard drive) without bringing my laptop?

what are basically my options? 

:-\

Thank you very much


----------



## tron (Jan 12, 2015)

There are portal devices like Hyperdrive...


----------



## Pookie (Jan 12, 2015)

tron said:


> There are portal devices like Hyperdrive...



Are these portals to another dimension?


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 12, 2015)

I tried several products a few years ago. Just about all the devices I returned because they were not reliable, they were too much trouble to use in the field or the battery life was too short. The only one that was reliable, fast and simple was the *NEXTO* product. I have a slightly older version (2725) of the 2730. I also got the little extended battery. It came with a nice leather case which also will hold the extra battery on the side. I think the 2901 is the current model which is faster and uses USB 3 to connect to a computer. These aren't cheap but they work well and they are reliable. They are simple to use which is key. They require almost no user interaction. Turn it on, put in the media and it copies. Done. You can almost use it unseen in your pocket. And it's fast. The battery lasts for a long time. You can also connect other devices to it in the field and transfer either way so it's flexible to share images with another drive or device in the field.

I think the key to this device's effectiveness is that it's not trying to be a hybrid multi-purpose device. It's not trying to be a viewer for instance. It's focusing on being a simple and effective BACKUP DEVICE. If you want it to be super tough and more resistant to shocks, get one with and SSD drive.

http://www.nextodiusa.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Nexto-Portable-Backup-Solution-ND2901/dp/B00KYCSJQ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421079241&sr=8-1&keywords=nexto

I still have mine and I am still using it after about 3 years. Besides backups on week long trips, I also use mine to collect images from other people at events or trips so I can post them in one place for everyone. Much easier than having to fire up a laptop, mess with usb readers, etc. I just pop in their media and talk with them while it copies. Then it beeps and I pull out the media and hand it back to them. Done.


----------



## tron (Jan 12, 2015)

Pookie said:


> tron said:
> 
> 
> > There are portal devices like Hyperdrive...
> ...


Funny...

http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive/UDMA-2/ ;D ;D


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 12, 2015)

Pookie said:


> tron said:
> 
> 
> > There are portal devices like Hyperdrive...
> ...



Why not? What better way to get effective and fast offsite backup to the cloud!? ;D


----------



## Pookie (Jan 12, 2015)

RustyTheGeek said:


> Pookie said:
> 
> 
> > tron said:
> ...



Indeed...


----------



## chihiro (Jan 12, 2015)

thank you for all the replies

and what will you choose between Hyperdrive and Nexto? They are similar price.. whats the main differences?


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 12, 2015)

tron said:


> Pookie said:
> 
> 
> > tron said:
> ...



The Hyperdrive was one of the products I tried back in mid 2011. I was initially excited but then I found that the battery life was a bit limited and it took a while to transfer the files. Plus, it required a lot of user interaction to initiate the backup. I didn't want a small computer/viewer. I wanted a backup device. If I wanted a computer/viewer, I would either use my laptop, a netbook or a tablet. IMHO, most of the backup devices in this small niche category try to be too many things and miss the mark on their primary function, _media backup_.

The only way to know for sure is to do what I did. Buy at least two if not three or four products and try them all to see which one is the best one for you. The Hyperdrive has a lot of fans and over the past 3 years perhaps they improved it a bit.

I for one would love to hear what you learn, experience and finally decide! Good luck!!


----------



## infared (Jan 12, 2015)

Hey...this is a funny thread ....
I have a hyperdrive and I like it for storage. It is basically useless as a viewer...but at least you can interact with the screen and be comfortable that your images are actually saved. Some other hardrive type devices give no feed back.
Rusty is correct about the battery life.... I got some spares batteries and an auxhillary charger on eBay...but they are all lame. Also..if you try to plug in the hyperdrive and operate it from a wall outlet it will not let you start it up...it just stays in charge mode...but I found a way around that ....
Like I go on photoshoots and then want to back up in my motel room at the end of the day etc. I found that if you fire up the unit off of one of the batteries and then plug it in while it is up and running it will operate with wall power supply or at least with the battery being charged...so you can have confidence in downloading a large card that the unit will not kick out in the middle of a download due to the battery dying. The battery is really not strong enough to operate the unit. I would hope that the developers are aware of this and can find the Hyperdrive current and past customers a better solution.
But it is good enough to have some safety if you are out shooting something important.


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 12, 2015)

infared said:


> Hey...this is a funny thread ....
> I have a hyperdrive and I like it for storage. It is basically useless as a viewer...but at least you can interact with the screen and be comfortable that your images are actually saved. Some other hardrive type devices give no feed back.
> Rusty is correct about the battery life.... I got some spares batteries and an auxhillary charger on eBay...but they are all lame. Also..if you try to plug in the hyperdrive and operate it from a wall outlet it will not let you start it up...it just stays in charge mode...but I found a way around that ....
> Like I go on photoshoots and then want to back up in my motel room at the end of the day etc. I found that if you fire up the unit off of one of the batteries and then plug it in while it is up and running it will operate with wall power supply or at least with the battery being charged...so you can have confidence in downloading a large card that the unit will not kick out in the middle of a download due to the battery dying. The battery is really not strong enough to operate the unit. I would hope that the developers are aware of this and can find the Hyperdrive current and past customers a better solution.
> But it is good enough to have some safety if you are out shooting something important.



Wow. This is pretty much what I experienced with the Hyperdrive, et al. Because of this, I was/am perplexed how it remains so popular. The NEXTO battery (at least with the extra battery connected) has never let me down. It just runs and runs. And it powers off automatically about 30 seconds after it is done with the copy process. And when you fire it up the next time, it gives you a confirmation that the copy completed successfully. Like I said, its primary function is BACKUP.

Honestly, I've considered a couple of times upgrading mine to a newer version with an SSD drive or installing a SSD in the one I currently own. I'm really curious to know how much faster it would transfer to a SSD drive and how much more battery life I might get with a non-mechanical drive. Wanna buy my older 2725 used in the box?


----------



## Spiros Zaharakis (Jan 12, 2015)

Theere is a very nice and cheap solution to that.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IOEMSQ8/ref=pe_385721_51767431_TE_dp_1
This device can be controlled by any smartphone and transfer files from an SD card to a USB connected portable hard drive.
It doubles up as a back up battery/charging device for your smartphone as well.
I bought one a couple weeks ago.


----------



## Leigh (Jan 12, 2015)

It would depend upon the length of time "in the field" / no access to a computer.

If it's just for a day, a camera with dual card slots would solve the problem.

If it's days or weeks, where the cards need repeated formatting, then an external HD would be the choice; but anything less than a dual drive/ mirror raid configuration is a "put all your eggs in a single basket" risk.

There is also software that can retrieve files from formatted memory cards.

Leigh


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 12, 2015)

PropeNonComposMentis said:


> G'Day folks.
> 
> Did I miss something, cos buying 3 or 4 extra New CF cards, is actually cheaper than those "in-field espresso machines". I mean HDD / Card transfer docks.
> 
> ...



Please explain how you copy the contents from one media to the other? Having extra CF cards is always good advice but how do you end up with two copies of the data in the field? I always suggest people use smaller media and change it once or twice a day to distribute out the images in case a card fails, the camera is lost/stolen or whatever. But this is not a backup, it is just spreading out the images over multiple media.

And I'm glad you have had such good luck with running your OS from a CF card but I wouldn't recommend it. CF cards are not designed for that kind of write wear and I would expect them to fail. They are expensive for the small capacity they offer. CF read/write performance is also slow compared to SSD drives. CF media also does not contain the appropriate firmware to handle the amount of read/writes an OS requires. Pretty much in all respects a CF card is a poor choice to run a computer from. Especially these days with such affordable SSD drives available.


----------



## Dekaner (Jan 12, 2015)

I've not checked out Hyperdrive, but we use the Nexto product amongst a team that covers fashion runway events. With the SSD drive, it is quite fast and we have no problem quickly making a central copy of all of our material.


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 12, 2015)

Spiros Zaharakis said:


> Theere is a very nice and cheap solution to that.
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IOEMSQ8/ref=pe_385721_51767431_TE_dp_1
> This device can be controlled by any smartphone and transfer files from an SD card to a USB connected portable hard drive.
> It doubles up as a back up battery/charging device for your smartphone as well.
> I bought one a couple weeks ago.



This is interesting. I wonder how well it works? Battery life, speed, etc. Here's a link to one on the US Amazon site... http://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-FileHub-Wireless-External-File-Server/dp/B00AQUMZRA

There is also a growing product niche of wireless NAS devices available to help out all the poor Apple iPad/iPhone/iTouch users out there that can't connect anything directly to their devices.
http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wireless-Mobile-Storage-WDBDAF0020BBK-NESN/dp/B00M9B4482/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1421086071&sr=1-1&keywords=western+digital+external+wireless+hard+drive

Of course, all of these solutions are still more trouble and require carrying multiple items all of which must be powered on, etc to do what the NEXTO will do with a couple simple steps. But it's good to see the various alternatives!


----------



## tron (Jan 12, 2015)

Does Nexto support incremental backup? I am not referring to the sync operation but to the initial card copy function.


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 12, 2015)

tron said:


> Does Nexto support incremental backup? I am not referring to the sync operation but to the initial card copy function.



If by incremental you mean that it only backs up the new images since the last backup, then yes, I believe that is the default. It's a been a while since I needed that particular feature however. I usually just do a single backup at the end of the day from all my cards. It puts them in a dated folder on the drive automatically.


----------



## buddha14 (Jan 12, 2015)

Hi chihiro

I was in a similar situation a few month ago - only limited capacity and no chance to take a laptop with me. Finally I tested a few possibilities and found one which fits best my idea to backup images.

My own solution in force is that I use my 5DIII and/or 7D plus a Samsung Tablet Pro 10.1 (SM-T520) in combination with two 64 USB Sticks. Workflow is to copy my CF card images via a samsung USB to micro USB cable in combination with my Hama 5-1 CF card reader to the tablet (tablet with micro sd of 64GB). As side remark, Hama plus USB to micro USB works fine in terms of power - tested a few times an no issue luckily. Afterwards I copied the images from the tablet to both USB sticks to have a three time backup. In regular cases 64Gb shall be enough for a regular holiday.

It's not the perfect solution, but from a weighting topic absolutely Ok.

Hope this helps and is another idea to follow up. In case you might need more information - drop me a feedback.

best 
Steffen


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 12, 2015)

I think I have another RAVPower product (just a battery device) but it seems to work well.

I might pick up one of these (because it's so inexpensive and has good reviews) for various uses in my IT work. It might also provide a good WiFi "hub" for all kinds of needs including different camera remote WiFi connections, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/RAVPower-FileHub-Wireless-Portable-External/dp/B00L9TEIMW/ref=pd_cp_pc_0

I'm still not sure if this will be a good solution for in the field image backups but it might be a handy device to have to several other uses. For less than $50 I guess itmight be worth playing with it to find out.


----------



## Spiros Zaharakis (Jan 12, 2015)

Here is a video review of the RAVPower 5-1 wifi I mentioned earlier that it's a pleasure to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK9GGpy9Nx8


----------



## Orc (Jan 12, 2015)

Personality, I use my iPad.
I can spend one to four days at a race track, shooting speeding motorcycles. I would save my cards to the iPad in the evening, but I also had the option of saving during the lunch breaks.
With the 7D, I would save roughly 800 pictures every evening in jpg format. but I know that if you shoot RAW, the iPad will save and restitute in RAW format to your computer when you return home.


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 12, 2015)

Orc said:


> Personality, I use my iPad.
> I can spend one to four days at a race track, shooting speeding motorcycles. I would save my cards to the iPad in the evening, but I also had the option of saving during the lunch breaks.
> With the 7D, I would save roughly 800 pictures every evening in jpg format. but I know that if you shoot RAW, the iPad will save and restitute in RAW format to your computer when you return home.



How long does it take to transfer the images? How many? How large? How much of an impact does it make on the battery? And how do you connect the media cards to the iPad?


----------



## lion rock (Jan 12, 2015)

Saving to iPAD is good for viewing, not for backup. I found that the images extracted back from an iPAD have a much smaller files size and numbering system is dictated by the iPAD, thus Apple. The resulting file is more than adequate for the web, but not good for serious use.
-r



Orc said:


> Personality, I use my iPad.
> I can spend one to four days at a race track, shooting speeding motorcycles. I would save my cards to the iPad in the evening, but I also had the option of saving during the lunch breaks.
> With the 7D, I would save roughly 800 pictures every evening in jpg format. but I know that if you shoot RAW, the iPad will save and restitute in RAW format to your computer when you return home.


----------



## Orc (Jan 12, 2015)

> How long does it take to transfer the images? How many? How large? How much of an impact does it make on the battery? And how do you connect the media cards to the iPad?



The battery can last for three days while downloading every evening. Most often than not, I 'd find someway to keep it topped though. If you're shooting I with an SD card, Apple has the appropriate connector for the iPad. With the 7D and its CF cards, it requires you to connect the camera to the iPad directly via the camera's mini DV connector into a USB connector for the iPad. All available at your local Apple Store.
Each picture can take a few seconds to download, but at the end of the day, I had plenty of time to set the equipment in the hotel room then go off for diner. Remember, the 7D shoots at max 18 megs and I would shoot in jpg format.


----------



## TexPhoto (Jan 12, 2015)

How about a camera with 2 cards in it? Instant back-up.

How about a laptop that you can edit the photos on?


----------



## RustyTheGeek (Jan 13, 2015)

TexPhoto said:


> How about a camera with 2 cards in it? Instant back-up.
> 
> How about a laptop that you can edit the photos on?



While these are possible, I think the OP wants to be able to back up his CF media without having to buy a $3000 camera or carry something big and heavy like a laptop. And I have a 5D3 and I rarely use both cards because of the write performance impact. Plus, if you lose the camera or the camera corrupts the data, you lose the backups too.

So while your suggestion is an option, I don't think it quite fills the OP's need.


----------



## davomate (Jan 13, 2015)

I use an ASUS Transformer Pad which weighs about 1.1Kg with the keyboard. It has a 15 hour battery, 64GB internal plus I put 64Gb MicroSD and SD cards in it, and a USB 3.0 connector into which I plug a Pixelflash CF reader. If I need more space for backup I just take extra SD cards. I also use it to review the photos each day (on the 10" WQXGA screen), and delete the rejects. I currently use Portfolio RAW Photo Manager to do this.


----------



## pwp (Jan 13, 2015)

As far as backup drives go, Hyerdrive http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive/ and Nexto http://www.nextodi.com/ would appear to be the go-to solutions.

In the past I have used a variety of backup drives but ultimately found them to be more of an anxiety generator than they were worth. They'll work perfectly for months, then inexplicably fail or stall at the most inconvenient time. I've sweated blood over these devices. It's unlikely I'll ever go there again.

All my bodies now have twin card slots. If I want multiple copies in the field and don't have the laptop, I'll just write to two cards. Extra CF or SD cards are the simplest, safest, most compact, probably lowest cost solution. 

-pw


----------



## DownhillWolverine (Jan 14, 2015)

davomate said:


> I use an ASUS Transformer Pad which weighs about 1.1Kg with the keyboard. It has a 15 hour battery, 64GB internal plus I put 64Gb MicroSD and SD cards in it, and a USB 3.0 connector into which I plug a Pixelflash CF reader. If I need more space for backup I just take extra SD cards. I also use it to review the photos each day (on the 10" WQXGA screen), and delete the rejects. I currently use Portfolio RAW Photo Manager to do this.


What model of ASUS Transformer Pad are you using? I looked at the ASUS website and they don't list an Pad with specs which match "15 hour battery, 64GB internal ... USB 3.0 connector"


----------

