Raspberry Pi backup strategy

I have posted a step-by-step guide to use a Raspberry Pi £30 mini computer as a portable photo backup solution for travelling.

The system means I can use a standard lightweight portable hard drive as a backup for a fraction of the price of a dedicated photo backup device like the Hyperdrive.

I hope you find it useful. The guide can be found at www.sggimages.blogspot​.com

Excellent, I have been searching for this very thing but didnt find a solution. I will have to read it a few more times though to take it all in

Hi Steve, Great to see it posted. I can't wait to check it out.

Couple questions now that I've briefly glanced through it.

This is meant as a means to Take the SD Card (or CF if you had the correct USB adapter) out of the camera and insert it into the Pi Hub then basically use the iPad as a GUI to cut and paste the files OFF the SD Card to the HDD, is my understanding Correct?

Have you looked @ using the Pi Wireless and tethering to the 6D? or are you convinced there are already enough examples of people doing this?

Also, is there a file size/HDD limit with the Pi/distro that you've found, for instance I have several 1tB and greater HDD, are these compatible?

jmikolich wrote in post #16736376
Hi Steve, Great to see it posted. I can't wait to check it out.

Couple questions now that I've briefly glanced through it.

This is meant as a means to Take the SD Card (or CF if you had the correct USB adapter) out of the camera and insert it into the Pi Hub then basically use the iPad as a GUI to cut and paste the files OFF the SD Card to the HDD, is my understanding Correct?

Have you looked @ using the Pi Wireless and tethering to the 6D? or are you convinced there are already enough examples of people doing this?

Also, is there a file size/HDD limit with the Pi/distro that you've found, for instance I have several 1tB and greater HDD, are these compatible?

Hi Jim

Q1 Yes it allows transfer of the files from the cameras card SD or CF to an external HD. The Ipad accesses the Ad-Hoc Network created by the Pi and effectively acts as a wireless screen, keyboard and mouse replacement.

Q2 I have played with Eye Fi and wireless on the 6D but at present Gphoto2 which is the Linux software which connects with cameras doesn't (as far as know) allow wireless connection. It is possible to connect the camera direct to the Pi but this needs Gphoto which is quite complicated to install, if you want the latest version. I found using the card out of the camera quicker and more reliable. In addition controlling the Pi with the Ipad requires an Ad-Hoc network and you can't run two Ad-hoc networks simultaneously.

Q3 I use a 500mb Seagate Ultra Slim Drive with no problem but I'm sure a 1Tb drive is not a problem.

Best Wishes

Steve

looks very interesting - thanks for sharing!

That looks cool, I always thought about playing with the PI.

However if I wanted to just have a small device to back up cards, is the PI route better overall than something like the following? I had an epson Pxxxx unit years ago, and it was very handy too, but much more expensive.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ST_251_Photo_Sa​fe_II.html

Hi Teamspeed

I'm not sure the Pi route is better but it is substantially cheaper, particularly if you already have a suitable portable hard drive. The Photosafe doesn't get very good reviews and the Hyperdrive, which does get better reviews, is $500.

We always take an iPad when we travel which doubles as a DVD player, Photo viewer and now as a controller for the raspberry Pi.

It is possible to get a small screen with buttons that works with the Pi and would make a stand alone backup. My programming isn't that advanced yet but I'm working on it.

Best Wishes

Steve

Stevegg wrote in post #16743146
Hi Teamspeed

I'm not sure the Pi route is better but it is substantially cheaper, particularly if you already have a suitable portable hard drive. The Photosafe doesn't get very good reviews and the Hyperdrive, which does get better reviews, is $500.

We always take an iPad when we travel which doubles as a DVD player, Photo viewer and now as a controller for the raspberry Pi.

It is possible to get a small screen with buttons that works with the Pi and would make a stand alone backup. My programming isn't that advanced yet but I'm working on it.

Best Wishes

Steve

Is there a way to obtain a slightly larger case where you could incorporate everything into one box? Hub, card slots, and Pi... That would make for a nice compact kit so you didn't have all the components. I am more concerned about having all the pieces rattling around in a bag, etc. and one box, even it is a bit on the larger side would be nice. I am not familiar with all the PI configurations and cases though.

I don't think there's a commercial case available but it wouldn't be too difficult to adapt an electrical enclosure box and deconstruct a powered USB hub to fit in the modified box. It would be an interesting project.

I actually prefer the component parts because they then fit into small spaces when I'm packing light.

BW

Steve

very interesting. thanks for that

Note that the RP is a general computer and can be programmed to perform the transfers automatically when both a memory card and HDD is connected - all without the use of any tablet or similar.

It's possible to just connect a couple of LED to inform
- waiting for card/hdd
- busy copying
- copy done
- hdd full
- low battery
...

Or teaching the RP to use two HDD - when HDD 1 is connected then just copy the images. When HDD 2 gets connected perform a copy + remove. So you always gets two copies of the images before the memory card images gets erased.

The main limitation of the RP is the speed of the USB interface. Except for that, almost anything is possible.

Thanks pwm2

I am working on a solution which avoids using the Ipad but still allows the hard drive contents to be viewed. It also needs to be cheap.
The problem with the LED indication is the doubt that the files have been backed up correctly.

I published this solution because it's easy to achieve even if you are a complete Pi nooby, and AFAIK the steps have not been collected into one easy to follow document.

Best Wishes

Steve

I just have the advantage of writing embedded software every day

I personally like to use the md5sum to verify correct transfers.

So the md5 is computed of the images on the memory card.

And the md5 is computed on the files after copied to a HDD.

An important issue here is that if copying a limited number of files, then the RP will cache the file data so md5sum will not perform any new reads - so a very careful guy has to tell the Linux OS to clear the disk cache before reading back the copies and check for perfect copies.

The good thing is still that it doesn't take much programming skills to manage - each step is quite simple.

pwm2 wrote in post #16747307
I just have the advantage of writing embedded software every day

I personally like to use the md5sum to verify correct transfers.

So the md5 is computed of the images on the memory card.

And the md5 is computed on the files after copied to a HDD.

An important issue here is that if copying a limited number of files, then the RP will cache the file data so md5sum will not perform any new reads - so a very careful guy has to tell the Linux OS to clear the disk cache before reading back the copies and check for perfect copies.

The good thing is still that it doesn't take much programming skills to manage - each step is quite simple.

i write software too everyday and imagine most photographer hobbies do!

you would be surprised how many photographers also write software or work within the IT field

pwm2 wrote in post #16747307
I just have the advantage of writing embedded software every day

I just had a feeling you were in to software at a low level based off your username.

I work with hardware and all the RPi software stuff brings back bad memories to my undergrad degree

I have all the stuff to try this out, just haven't had the time to play with it yet