Backing up Photos on SD Cards

[JN3VA]

I posted this on another site in response to a question about backing up SD cards so I figured I'd share it here too. I have no tie to Kingston or Amazon, but this has been working well for me so I thought I'd share.

I have started using a small device called a Kingston MobileLite that I have been using for backing up my SD Cards while traveling. I figured I'd mentioned this in case anyone is looking for a portable backup option instead of lugging a laptop. Search "kingston mobilite" on Amazon - its about $30

I did not want to carry a laptop but I usually do have my Android tablet. The Android connects to the MobileLlite via Wifi. The MobileLlite has a USB and SD card connection. I put the SD card from my camera in the MobileLlite and connect a small external hard drive (I'm using a Seagate 1TB Backup Plus). Using an App on the Android you can then copy the photos from the SD card to the hard drive. If your Android can use an SD card, you can also copy from the SD card in the Android to the SD card in the MobileLlite instead of using an external hard drive.

If you do use an external hard drive, make sure you connect the MobileLlite to power otherwise the external hard drive will drain its power very fast.

There is an iOS application for the MobileLlite too, but I have not been able to find a way to use an iPhone to copy files between the SD and hard drive using that app. It seems to only want to allow you to copy files from the iPhone to the MobileLlite.

 

[NowInc]

There are also a few that require only the device itself::

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Stand-Alone-Data-Storage/ci/3369/N/4000227848

 

[gsrjedi]

I too have the MobileLite. I've only used the iOS version and my biggest complaint is the lack of an ability to select all the files on the SD card to copy over. So you have to select each one individually. It works well though and if you have a phone/tablet without an SD slot, you can also use it to keep movies on a hard drive and watch on an iPad.

 

[thomas998]

I posted this on another site in response to a question about backing up SD cards so I figured I'd share it here too. I have no tie to Kingston or Amazon, but this has been working well for me so I thought I'd share.

I have started using a small device called a Kingston MobileLite that I have been using for backing up my SD Cards while traveling. I figured I'd mentioned this in case anyone is looking for a portable backup option instead of lugging a laptop. Search "kingston mobilite" on Amazon - its about $30

I did not want to carry a laptop but I usually do have my Android tablet. The Android connects to the MobileLlite via Wifi. The MobileLlite has a USB and SD card connection. I put the SD card from my camera in the MobileLlite and connect a small external hard drive (I'm using a Seagate 1TB Backup Plus). Using an App on the Android you can then copy the photos from the SD card to the hard drive. If your Android can use an SD card, you can also copy from the SD card in the Android to the SD card in the MobileLlite instead of using an external hard drive.

If you do use an external hard drive, make sure you connect the MobileLlite to power otherwise the external hard drive will drain its power very fast.

There is an iOS application for the MobileLlite too, but I have not been able to find a way to use an iPhone to copy files between the SD and hard drive using that app. It seems to only want to allow you to copy files from the iPhone to the MobileLlite.

I find it easier to simply stock up on a lot of SD cards and then use them once and store them forever. No need to back them up to a hard drive because the reality is every hard drive will fail eventually it is only a matter of when.... and unfortunately before I started using SD cards forever I had several hard drives fail on me, the worst time being when not only did the hard drive with the photos fail but the back up failed while I was trying to recover the lost data... I lost almost 70GB of data.

 

[NowInc]

I find it easier to simply stock up on a lot of SD cards and then use them once and store them forever. No need to back them up to a hard drive because the reality is every hard drive will fail eventually it is only a matter of when.... and unfortunately before I started using SD cards forever I had several hard drives fail on me, the worst time being when not only did the hard drive with the photos fail but the back up failed while I was trying to recover the lost data... I lost almost 70GB of data.

I've had SD cards fail before as well. There is nothing that is 100% safe. If you are concerned about your storage, you have 2 options that are pretty fail safe. 1.) online cloud storage or 2.) External backup with a redundancy drive (ie: Drobo). In both of those, your files are stored in parallel on multiple drives, so even if one failed, the others will still have your data. PERSONALLY, I feel a Drobo Mini is perfect for photography. Its lightweight, not overly pricey, and you can run your files directly from it, which means that even your edits made are saved and not just the original files.

 

[thomas998]

I've had SD cards fail before as well. There is nothing that is 100% safe. If you are concerned about your storage, you have 2 options that are pretty fail safe. 1.) online cloud storage or 2.) External backup with a redundancy drive (ie: Drobo). In both of those, your files are stored in parallel on multiple drives, so even if one failed, the others will still have your data. PERSONALLY, I feel a Drobo Mini is perfect for photography. Its lightweight, not overly pricey, and you can run your files directly from it, which means that even your edits made are saved and not just the original files.

Cloud storage has one problem. You are at the mercy of the company that is providing it. I can't remember the name of the company but there was one several years ago that catered to photographers. Now the problem happened when the company went bankrupt. The existing user were given a month to download all their stuff before the servers were going to be taken down. Now you can guess what would happen next... the servers crashed because you had everyone trying to get their photos at the same time. In the end quite a few people lost photos because they could never get logged into the system before it was eliminated.

As for External backup... that was what I described I had an issue with. I used to store my photos onto two hard drives so there was always a backup. But when one failed the backup drive only lasted long enough to retrieve about half the data before it also died. Unless you are suggesting using 3 hard drives... which might have saved me back then... but I don't really want to invest in that many more hard drives.

To me it is better to simply use high end SD cards and store them in a fireproof safe. If they are photos I really feel I don't want to lose I'll back them up on an additional SD card... in my experience I have only had one SD card that bit the dust and it was a cheap off-brand. I've never had any issues with the better named cards.

 

[NowInc]

Cloud storage has one problem. You are at the mercy of the company that is providing it. I can't remember the name of the company but there was one several years ago that catered to photographers. Now the problem happened when the company went bankrupt. The existing user were given a month to download all their stuff before the servers were going to be taken down. Now you can guess what would happen next... the servers crashed because you had everyone trying to get their photos at the same time. In the end quite a few people lost photos because they could never get logged into the system before it was eliminated.

As for External backup... that was what I described I had an issue with. I used to store my photos onto two hard drives so there was always a backup. But when one failed the backup drive only lasted long enough to retrieve about half the data before it also died. Unless you are suggesting using 3 hard drives... which might have saved me back then... but I don't really want to invest in that many more hard drives.

To me it is better to simply use high end SD cards and store them in a fireproof safe. If they are photos I really feel I don't want to lose I'll back them up on an additional SD card... in my experience I have only had one SD card that bit the dust and it was a cheap off-brand. I've never had any issues with the better named cards.

re: Cloud Storage. I typically stick with Dropbox, Amazon, or Google Drive. I would HOPE they are around for a while..lol

re: External Failures: Drobo's give you feedback on the "health" of your drives so you can replace them before they go critical. Its saved my butt more than once.

In the end its whatever makes YOU feel safest. I can totally see the advantages of storing SD cards, I just personally still don't trust them completely.

 

[whoiscliffwang]

I looked into the Drobo Mini. Once I upgrade my computer, I'm going to invest in one of those. I will use my current external HD's to backup raws and leave those in a fireproof safe.