Marcus Slade
Active member
Clark, without a laptop in the circuit, as you say, it's definitely more tricky. On my first trip to Katmai I used a Western Digital Passport Wireless Pro 2TB and it actually worked quite well. It is rechargeable itself, has its own SD slot to which you can simply plug the card in and it will automatically back up your card. For my XQD cards I took along my XQD card reader and with its USB A plug, simply plugged it into the back of the WD unit and it performed the same back up. The link below is for what I have but there is now an SSD version of these units which, of course, is that much more expensive. However, because I had no way to "view" the saved files (despite testing the whole system before I went), I didn't reformat my XQD cards as I just couldn't shake the fear of deleting those cards if there was any problem on the WD drive. When I got home, all the shots were, in fact, safely on the WD drive. I had four XQD cards and when they were full I just moved on to using SD cards only. I believe the Gnarbox is another similar solution but I have no experience with it.Thank you, Marcus! Sound advice based on experience for sure. I really appreciate your willingness to share. If you don't me asking, what brand and model of external SSD drives do you have, and what exactly was your backup methodology when transferring images from the XQD card without a laptop in the middle?
Thanks again,
Clark
https://shop.westerndigital.com/en-...-passport-wireless-pro-hdd#WDBP2P0020BBK-NESN
I've attached a link below for the SSD drives I use. As mentioned, I have two (actually, three but I gave the first one of 500gb to my wife for her use). I have a 2TB and 1TB. These things are brilliant as they're almost featherweight, no moving parts (so great for travel) and with USB-C now they're super quick at transferring files via my laptop. Keep an eye on Amazon or B&H as they periodically go on sale at significant discounts. I bought all three at separate times on sale. Also, the versions I own have already been succeeded by the "Extreme Pro" models which are even faster...and more expensive. But even these are very quick. I use a 13" MacBook Pro and would now hate not to have it when on the road and travelling...if that ever happens again post the "Vid.
SanDisk Extreme® Portable SSD V2 USB-C, USB 3.2 External Solid State Drive | Western Digital | Store
Your life’s an adventure. The SanDisk Extreme® Portable SSD fits your mobile lifestyle and accelerates every move. Nearly 2x as fast as our previous generation!
shop.westerndigital.com