Vacation Backup System – Thank you for the idea

Just a note to those that came up with the idea of backing up your cards (SD in my case) without a computer. It has been very helpful to me and I just wanted to say thanks to the good folks on this forum.

We are flying and I hate to bring the laptop along for two reasons. One the bag and all its contents is heavy and the second is that I tend to work on the photos each evening which the wife is not always happy about.

So after reading several different threads on the subject. I purchased the following on Amazon for $82:
Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB USB3.0
Anker Ultra Slim 4 Port USB3.0 Powered Hub
WEme Micro USB OTG adapter

I have a 3.0 card reader and an Android phone (Note 4), so I cobbled everything together and of course it didn’t work. After reformatting the HD to FAT32 (google is your friend and Youtube is your instruction manual) I had it up and running fine.

I have to say it brought a smile to my face, technology is truly amazing.

Thanks again for the great idea.

Jim

I've been looking at the WD my wireless passport pro for backups without a computer.

I haven't gotten one to test out and it seems to get mixed reviews. But might be worth checking out to see if it's what you're looking for.

jbrackjr wrote in post #18091115
Just a note to those that came up with the idea of backing up your cards (SD in my case) without a computer. It has been very helpful to me and I just wanted to say thanks to the good folks on this forum.

We are flying and I hate to bring the laptop along for two reasons. One the bag and all its contents is heavy and the second is that I tend to work on the photos each evening which the wife is not always happy about.

So after reading several different threads on the subject. I purchased the following on Amazon for $82:
Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB USB3.0
Anker Ultra Slim 4 Port USB3.0 Powered Hub
WEme Micro USB OTG adapter

I have a 3.0 card reader and an Android phone (Note 4), so I cobbled everything together and of course it didn’t work. After reformatting the HD to FAT32 (google is your friend and Youtube is your instruction manual) I had it up and running fine.

I have to say it brought a smile to my face, technology is truly amazing.

Thanks again for the great idea.

Jim

So you back up to the Seagate - where are the originals? Still on the card? Or cards? Or in the phone's memory?

How long does it take to transfer a day's worth of files via the phone?

Are you shooting raw? And if so, can you review your pics on the phone?

Thanks for sharing your formula. Many of us are looking for backup solutions for travelling. On my next trip I will take my Dell XPS 13 laptop and back up to it. It is not too heavy and serves other useful purposes too. A second copy of my pic files will be on a 64GB USB stick. (I don't expect to go over 64GB on that trip.) So I can wipe the cards each morning and start afresh.

The trip after that will be more intense photographically, so instead of the 64GB USB stick, I will take a small external HD.

I used to haul my laptop with me. Now that cards are so cheap I just bought 4 32gb cards and 1 64gb card.

chrisa wrote in post #18094317
I used to haul my laptop with me. Now that cards are so cheap I just bought 4 32gb cards and 1 64gb card.

How does that provide a backup?

jbrackjr wrote in post #18091115
Just a note to those that came up with the idea of backing up your cards (SD in my case) without a computer. It has been very helpful to me and I just wanted to say thanks to the good folks on this forum.... (google is your friend and Youtube is your instruction manual) I had it up and running fine.

For anyone wishing to duplicate this, can you at least suggest which terms so search on Google arrives at the result you found?

Wilt wrote in post #18094523
For anyone wishing to duplicate this, can you at least suggest which terms so search on Google arrives at the result you found?

Wilt, he is basically using his Android phone as a computer for backing up. OTG means "on the go" and is an adapter so regular USB devices like card readers and hard drives can be connected to the phone's micro USB port. The OP's first item is just an external hard drive with a USB connection. A USB hub may or may not be needed depending on what you will be doing with the files, but you might need a powered hub to power a hard drive.

Instead of using a hard drive, you could use a high capacity flash device like a USB stick. Then you wouldn't need a powered USB hub.

Even when the connections are made with the adapter, the Android device might not be able to work with the HD or memory cards unless they are formatted in a format that the Android can deal with. This can be a vexing area, but the OP suggests Fat32 works.

What I'm saying is that there are many devices that can do this and not the OP's specific items.

If your camera has dual memory cards, then you could do away with all this stuff and just set the camera to write to both cards (assuming they are of sufficient capacity for the whole trip, and that you can accept the hit to the burst rate).

Thanks much for your explanation, Archibald. Especially the OTG explanation about its function. I knew the phone was the 'PC' I can figure out a solution now, from your generalized description...probably try an SSD for powered mass storage.

Wilt wrote in post #18094580
Thanks much for your explanation, Archibald. Especially the OTG explanation about its function. I knew the phone was the 'PC' I can figure out a solution now, from your generalized description...probably try an SSD for powered mass storage.

Yer welcome.

I had a system similar to this running last winter on a trip to Costa Rica. I used a cheap Android tablet instead of a phone. It worked OK and was satisfactory for this trip, which wasn't primarily a photography trip. But there were issues and I decided I didn't want to use it when there were significantly more files to handle.

One of the downsides was the inscrutable Android file system, involving long and short presses and difficulty discerning between the real SD card and internal storage called SD but actually not SD. Plus viewing raw files in Android is an issue, to say nothing of editing.

Should work fine for some, though.

My only purpose would be to copy all photos to some mass storage (SSD) or perhaps to two mass storage units for data redundancy, and then be able to take that mass storage unit and plug into a Windows desktop computer to import them into LR and be stored on the desktop PC's mass storage unit. So I need not be able to do anything via the Android device. Any comment?

Wilt wrote in post #18094730
My only purpose would be to copy all photos to some mass storage (SSD) or perhaps to two mass storage units for data redundancy, and then be able to take that mass storage unit and plug into a Windows desktop computer to import them into LR and be stored on the desktop PC's mass storage unit. So I need not be able to do anything via the Android device. Any comment?

To do the copying while travelling, you could use a computer belonging to a friend, the hotel, or a library.

I think I've heard there are gadgets (other than computers) around that can do that too, but I don't know more.

I've been using Apple Lightning to SD Card on my Phone. Works great!

Archibald wrote in post #18094804
To do the copying while travelling, you could use a computer belonging to a friend, the hotel, or a library.

I think I've heard there are gadgets (other than computers) around that can do that too, but I don't know more.

And when the hotel has no computer for use by its guests, and/or one does not have the luxury of time finding a library in a country in which you do not speak its language...?

Wilt wrote in post #18094910
And when the hotel has no computer for use by its guests, and/or one does not have the luxury of time finding a library in a country in which you do not speak its language...?

Well, that's when we use our Android gadgets - or a laptop, which is still the best alternative IMO.

Archibald wrote in post #18094951
Well, that's when we use our Android gadgets - or a laptop, which is still the best alternative IMO.

Oh, I thought that you were discouraging the OTG solution of this thread.

I agree, especially when I have to lug a laptop for business purposes anyway. But I know that there have been times when the personal laptop or alternatives (hotel business center/library/interne​t hotspot) for transfer are not readily available due to time constraints or other lack of availability.