What is the best way to store images on the road ?

[Sachin Tapasvi]

Hi friends.
When shooting for four to five days and with large file prosumer bodies like D850 and D6 - it becomes difficult to carry laptops and download the images to free up your cards.
Yes carrying multiple cards is an option - but you feel secure when you have the images backed elsewhere with the risk of cards corrupting.
What are the things you can do for backing up images without having to carry a laptop ?

 

[JP Onstwedder]

There are various devices like the Gnarbox that allow you to copy memory cards to a hard disk. People report different degrees of satisfaction with those. I used something similar years ago and went back to the laptop route. In principle you could use an iPad with external storage but that requires third party software which to me didn’t seem very complete and mostly require importing via Photos. I don’t like that because I want to rename images on import-my filing sustem relies on that-so again, I prefer the laptop route. With two external SSD drives for redundancy!

 

[fcotterill]

Since 2018 I have been using the stand alone 2Tbyte DJI Lacie HDD, which has its own screen, but it works best with the smartphone app. It needs a separate XQD/CFExp reader, although its has an built SD drive. Note that recharging the Lacie internal battery is slooooow

There still does not appear to be anything similar except the NEXTO DI NPS-10

The best portable hard drives and SSDs in 2024: convenient storage for every budget

The best portable hard drives and SSD drives enable you to keep your photos and videos mobile and safely backed up

www.digitalcameraworld.com

NEXTO DI NPS-10 Nexto Photo Storage

Buy NEXTO DI NPS-10 Nexto Photo Storage featuring Portable Photo / Video Backup Unit, Review Photo & Video Content, 2.4" 320x 240 Color LCD Display, 1 x XQD / CFexpress Card Slot, 2 x UHS-II SD Card Slots, 1 x microSD Card Slot, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C Port, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A Port, Data...

www.bhphotovideo.com

Review: NextoDI NPS-10 - fast and reliable photo backup in the field — Rob Youngson Unit Stills

The NextoDI NPS-10 has transformed my workflow in no small way. Here I give an overview of that on-location workflow. I explain how the NPS-10 fits in to that workflow so that you can better decide if it is right for yours. I highlight those things that could still be improved and those things it do

robyoungsonphotography.com

And see this solution to write XQD images to a SSD with Raspberry Pi and power supply

 

[StefanSC]

What are the things you can do for backing up images without having to carry a laptop ?

Android phone with USB-C and USB-OTG support, a USB-C card reader, an external SSD like the Sandisk Extreme 500.

This should be simple and fast enough to carry around. Bonus points if you can find an USB-C hub so you can connect both the external SSD and the card reader at the same time and not do the extra copy on the phone.

On the other hand, chances of images getting corrupted on a quality card that is out of the camera and stored somewhere safely are close to 0, so I'd just bring enough 32/64Gb cards to cover the shooting days and store them safely after they fill up.

 

[jeffnles1]

There will probably be as many different methods as there are people who will post replies. That's a good thing meaning there are a lot of options and methodologies. What you end up doing may be unique to your circumstances and some combination of what is posted here or something totally of your own creation.
Here's what I do when traveling:
I carry a "card wallet" filled with empt 64gb cards.
I also carry a 12.9" iPad Pro and a USBC to SD Card adapter and a USBC to XQD Card adapter.
At the end of the day, I'll review my images on the iPad and download a few of the ones I liked the best for editing and safe keeping (backup).
I leave the images on the cards which provides 2 copies of my favorite images of the day.
When I get home, I'll review the images on my bigger screen computer, keep the ones that I like, delete the rest of them and then reformat the cards in the camera in readiness for the next trip.
Once I have backed up my computer's drive I then remove the images I offloaded to the iPad to keep it clean. (the only things I use the iPad for are ebooks like Steves' series, organizing music into set lists for use when I play in church, and editing & viewing photos on the road. I try to keep it clean).

Hope you get it worked out and find something that works for you.

Jeff

 

[Sachin Tapasvi]

Since 2018 I have been using the stand alone 2Tbyte DJI Lacie HDD, which has its own screen, but it works best with the smartphone app. It needs a separate XQD/CFExp reader, although its has an built SD drive. Note that recharging the Lacie internal battery is slooooow

There still does not appear to be anything similar except the NEXTO DI NPS-10

The best portable hard drives and SSDs in 2024: convenient storage for every budget

The best portable hard drives and SSD drives enable you to keep your photos and videos mobile and safely backed up

www.digitalcameraworld.com

NEXTO DI NPS-10 Nexto Photo Storage

Buy NEXTO DI NPS-10 Nexto Photo Storage featuring Portable Photo / Video Backup Unit, Review Photo & Video Content, 2.4" 320x 240 Color LCD Display, 1 x XQD / CFexpress Card Slot, 2 x UHS-II SD Card Slots, 1 x microSD Card Slot, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C Port, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A Port, Data...

www.bhphotovideo.com

Review: NextoDI NPS-10 - fast and reliable photo backup in the field — Rob Youngson Unit Stills

The NextoDI NPS-10 has transformed my workflow in no small way. Here I give an overview of that on-location workflow. I explain how the NPS-10 fits in to that workflow so that you can better decide if it is right for yours. I highlight those things that could still be improved and those things it do

robyoungsonphotography.com

And see this solution to write XQD images to a SSD with Raspberry Pi and power supply

Thank you so much for your response. Can you copy CF express and XQD card data to your DJI LaCie ?

 

[janzin]

There was a thread on this just a couple of weeks ago. https://bcgforums.com/index.php?threads/backing-up-photos-while-on-the-go-without-a-laptop.5886/

I use a Gnarbox and and very happy with it.