Travelling with DSLR - backup question

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Jonski

265 posts

Ultimate Geek

#101259 27-Apr-2012 16:29

What do people do here when they are travelling with their DSLR and want to ensure their precious memories are preserved in case of disaster? Without the weight etc of a laptop as well?

Does anybody use those HDD + LCD combos, where you have a hard drive welded onto a tiny screen with a cardreader attached? What are your thoughts?

What about backing up online? When you've filled a few 16Gb cards (I shoot JPG+RAW, ~30Mb a pic) it would be eye-wateringly expensive to upload them on a mobile account or when overseas, not to mention getting them back to your PC at home.

Do you just buy a truckload of SD cards and shuffle through them? Carry a netbook and a couple of USB HDDs?

What other options should I consider?

All thoughts appreciated...

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

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#616143 27-Apr-2012 16:41

If you're going through that many photos then the most economical option is a netbook. And shuffle your cards.

timmmay

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#616223 27-Apr-2012 18:44

Depends where you're going. I just hope I don't get the camera stolen, keep it on me or in the room/hotel safe.

timmmay

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#616224 27-Apr-2012 18:44

Double post

alasta

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#616232 27-Apr-2012 18:59

The camera stays with me while I'm out, then when I get back to wherever I'm staying I load my photos onto my iPad which then feeds them to iCloud as a second line of defence.

The camera ain't going to get stolen while it's strapped around my neck, and in the worst case scenario if it gets damaged then the memory card will still be salvageable.

Disrespective

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#616440 28-Apr-2012 09:28

I have used a NextoDI device in the past with good results. The only problem I found was that I had to assume that the copy happened successfully as the device had no ability to scan the hdd for files, just copy/move onto it from the CF card.

There are much newer versions of these now with screens and so on to confirm the files on the device.

Kiwipixter

246 posts

Master Geek

#616441 28-Apr-2012 09:34

I carry a couple of 16GB SD cards, they are cheap as chips and light. I shoot RAW+JPG and never find running of out SD cards. Plus i don't re-use them as i use them.

sneeble

29 posts

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#620183 5-May-2012 17:46

I carry mostly a dozen 2 to 4gb cards and shoot in raw only. I find that I very rarely need any extras. The few times I, they are cheap as chips to add to. They are the new usb stick in our house and are used for multiple uses.

Last big trip I took was over a month and half a dozen sd cards sufficed.

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TinyTim

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#621237 7-May-2012 20:15

sneeble: I carry mostly a dozen 2 to 4gb cards and shoot in raw only. I find that I very rarely need any extras. The few times I, they are cheap as chips to add to. They are the new usb stick in our house and are used for multiple uses.

Last big trip I took was over a month and half a dozen sd cards sufficed.

What did you use for backup?

berrys

225 posts

Master Geek

#621251 7-May-2012 20:49

I get paranoid about losing precious photos when overseas, so I take a netbook, a SpaceHDD (HDD with card reader) and multiple SD cards.

Handy if we're out for the day, taking heaps of photos and HD video and don't want the extra 'bulk' of the netbook.

SD Cards are cheap now, so might not need the old SpaceHDD anymore.

TLD

902 posts

Ultimate Geek

#623556 11-May-2012 14:38

I've taken a laptop on previous trips, but got fed up with carrying it, so I thought it a good excuss to get a 64Gb iPad. I have also got fed up with carying a 1D body flas and a couple of lenses around all day, so I have got a Canon G1X as a carry around camera and to take overseas.

The thing is I probably haven't thought this through properly, because my big flash cards are Compact Flash for the DSLR, and I only have one decent size SD card - 32Gb. I am thinking that with the iPad, that should be OK for a one month holiday, and I don't like using the G1X half as much as a DSLR, so I doubt I shall take as many pictures.

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

webwat

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#635062 3-Jun-2012 15:32

I have a car charger for my netbook in case i want to backup to it, do some reading or other stuff when theres no power around, but also bought a big enough flash card to last for a good holiday. Cloud storage might be useful if u don't mind keeping your netbook safe until theres a chance to leave it running overnight for a big upload.

Time to find a new industry!

JBO

16 posts

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#635545 4-Jun-2012 17:10

A while ago my brother travelled India and set up a very questionable non-laptop backup system, which doubled as an interesting experiment - he'd go to the local net cafe, download the pics from his one SD card, burn them to CD, and then mail the discs back to NZ.

About 90% of them successfully made it, which obviously as a backup rate is not ideal, but surprisingly high for the Indian postal system.

Jonski

265 posts

Ultimate Geek

#670600 10-Aug-2012 14:33

Continuing with this topic, I have bought an external SATA HDD dock with SDHC for my laptop.

Then I had a cunning thought- why not plug it into my android phone and use a file browser on it to copy between the SDHC and HDD?

Unfortunately, my phone uses micro USB and the dock mini USB and I can't get a cable between the two- there is no such beast, for reasons related the the USB standard.

I might follow this up in the Android forum... <weg>

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

nickb800

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#670601 10-Aug-2012 14:39

What sort of phone do you have? Some (I know the galaxy s2 does for instance) support USB OTG, which is basically an adaptor that gives you a standard usb socket from your microusb socket on your phone

Jonski

265 posts

Ultimate Geek

#670607 10-Aug-2012 14:43

I've put the rest of it here. My phone is a HTC One V.

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

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