Headline – I have a simple storage solution for backing up photos on the go that doesn’t cost the earth or need an internet connection.
Three years ago I went to Holland to the largest redhead gathering in the world. Over four days I took about 3,000 photos which translate to 6,000 image files, all of which were on the SD cards they were initially saved on in-camera. If something had happened to those SD cards I would have lost all my photos.
I have only ever had one SD card fail on me but that was enough to convince me to back things up. I don’t have cloud storage, nor do I want it. I also don’t want to rely on an internet connection that may not exist. So for the last three years I have been searching for a backup solution that is reasonable cost and convenient. Things I have tried so far include:
· Raspberry Pi with software to copy from SD card to HDD (fiddly and unreliable)
· Verbatim Mediashare Wireless and HDD (slow and needs power supply)
· Keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best (worked so far but will fail one day – but free)
I have been searching for something easier, more reliable and cost effective and settled on a ‘WD My Passport Wireless External Portable Solid State Drive – 500GB’. It costs £265 so I have been saving up.
Then a couple of days ago, just before Christmas, Amazon UK were doing a flash sale on a Toshiba T5 SSD 500GB. That normally costs £117 but on sale for £95. It is smaller and more robust than the portable HDD I have and ideal to carry on journeys.
Now I already have an Anker 5-in-1 Premium USB-C Data Hub. I also have several SD card readers, a Samsung S3 tablet and an LG V30 Android phone. So tonight, I connected the data hub, with the SD card reader in it (with SD card) and Toshiba SSD and tried to copy photos from the SD card to the SSD. Guess what? It copied approx. 1,500 photos including some RAW files onto the SSD in less than one minute. WHAT????
The Verbatim solution would have taken about 2 hours and a lot of messing about. The Raspberry Pi solution would have taken a similar time with a heavy dose of fingers crossed.
ONE MINUTE????
So you can see in the photo that I have it all plugged in ready to roll. It worked on both the Android tablet and my Android phone. (Not sure how it would work on an iOS device but don’t have any of those so not really bothered.)
I am delighted. It is exactly what I have been searching for for three years.
They say “All things come to those who wait”. I did and it did.
Woohoo
Yay
Result
You can see some of my photos on my website. But wear sun glasses because they are dazzling mhbphoto.uk
mhbphoto.wordpress.com 