.

[tickstock]

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[bunhill]

I know that you say that you don't want to take a laptop. But if you would be carrying a tablet and and hard drive anyhow then you might just as well take an 11 inch Macbook Air. It's going to be a much less squirly solution and it will be slim and light enough such that it will probably end up taking up less room slipped in your carry-on bag. And an extra USB3 drive will fit in your shirt pocket.

Plus you can also use it to run Lightroom or Photo Mechanic if you suddenly find that you need to keyword and upload something along the way.

ETA: and when you have finished with it in a couple of years the Macbook will have retained much more of its value than anything else you could get.

[Dantheman]

I know that you say that you don't want to take a laptop. But if you would be carrying a tablet and and hard drive anyhow then you might just as well take an 11 inch Macbook Air. It's going to be a much less squirly solution and it will be slim and light enough such that it will probably end up taking up less room slipped in your carry-on bag. And an extra USB3 drive will fit in your shirt pocket.

Plus you can also use it to run Lightroom or Photo Mechanic if you suddenly find that you need to keyword and upload something along the way.

ETA: and when you have finished with it in a couple of years the Macbook will have retained much more of its value than anything else you could get.

Totally agree.

If you really wan't a tablet, you could use a Surface Pro. It has USB ports etc. and is under the hood actually a laptop (just without the keyboard)

[Anyka]

How many gigabytes do you want to shoot/backup?   I take a tablet + a 32gb usb stick, so no usb hard drive needed.  Sticks are flash memory, which is more reliable than hard drives (unless your hard drive is a SSD of course).

[bunhill]

If you really wan't a tablet, you could use a Surface Pro. It has USB ports etc. and is under the hood actually a laptop (just without the keyboard)

It might be a great product but the Surface Pro has failed in the market. On the up side you can now get one much cheaper than previously because Microsoft have slashed the price. On the down side it will quickly lose any resale value.

In 2 years time you will almost certainly be able to trade in your MacBook Air for more than half what it costs you to buy it tomorrow. That has certainly been the pattern on eBay over the past decade.

Android is great too but the devices also quickly lose their resale value.

[ShadySue]

I know you don't want a laptop, but I did a trip in March/April with a netbook and a 500Gb HD, copying my pics onto one then the other. Worked great - I was on a small boat for 12 nights with no internet access, so all my options had to be with me, then it was more than easy to copy from the external HD onto my desktop when I got home. I wasn't actually working on my files on the netbook - hardly had time even to delete the megaduffs, so 2Gb RAM was enough.

[tickstock]

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[Xanox]

many years ago already i used a pocket external hdd with a Copy button and memory cards slots, worked fine, i bought it in china for a pittance maybe 30$ without hdd ?, guess it's still on sale with different brands, you can connect it to any pc via USB.

THIS :



i had a different brand but it looks almost the same.
there's an internal battery and once it's fully loaded it will last a long time.

[Xanox]

netbooks : yeah, i see new ones for less than 300$ and they beat tables hands down in any department in my opinion, they're a pc, you can do everything, but the keyboards are way too small for me.

[ShadySue]

One downside, of course, you can't take pictures with a netbook. 

[bunhill]

looked at thumb drives before but I must have missed the one I'm seeing now, 128gb for $50.  Four of those might work.

Thumb drives typically have incredibly slow data transfer rates. Be sure to test it for practicality first - see how long it takes you to copy a typical day's worth of pictures to one.

Don't forget to report back with your solution and on how it goes

[sharpshot]

I just bought a tablet and was thinking of using it instead of my netbook.  This might be worth looking at.
http://petapixel.com/2013/03/26/how-to-back-up-your-pictures-using-an-android-tablet-and-external-hard-drives/

[shudderstok]

i find it too dangerous to back up photos while on the road, so i tend to sit on the side of the road - otherwise you get that 'run down' feeling and get 'tired' easily

i am on the road a lot, six months or more per year and what works best for me is a net book and one external hard drive, that way i have two back ups.

[sharpshot]

The Raspberry Pi would be a great cheap, small and lightweight solution, if it could use a tablet screen.  I've seen people have done that but the tutorials are in geek language.  If only someone could make an app that made it easy to do, they would sell loads to photographers.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

[sharpshot]

This is a cheap device but I'm not sure if it would be good for transferring raw files from a card to a USB stick?
http://www.ravpower.com/ravpower-rp-wd01-filehub-3000mah-power-bank.html

Edit:  Found a review of the Verbatim 98243 MediaShare Wireless.  Looks like the same product and looks like it can be used to transfer raw files from an SD card to a USB stick.

[Dantheman]

I know that you say that you don't want to take a laptop. But if you would be carrying a tablet and and hard drive anyhow then you might just as well take an 11 inch Macbook Air. It's going to be a much less squirly solution and it will be slim and light enough such that it will probably end up taking up less room slipped in your carry-on bag. And an extra USB3 drive will fit in your shirt pocket.

Plus you can also use it to run Lightroom or Photo Mechanic if you suddenly find that you need to keyword and upload something along the way.

ETA: and when you have finished with it in a couple of years the Macbook will have retained much more of its value than anything else you could get.

There are a few issues for me with that solution.  The macbook costs around $1000, it weighs 2.5lbs, I'd still have to carry hard drives, it may get broken or stolen on the trip.   The surface pro is also pretty expensive.
I was hoping for something like a google nexus 7 that weighs closer to .6lbs and costs about $300.

ShadySue I have a netbook I've used before but I was trying to get something that would be more useful and even smaller.  My netbook is horrible, I can barely surf the web with that thing because of how slow it is and how short the battery life is.  I think it has 2gb ram also.

Ankya:  Probably two 256gb hard drives would work or maybe 6x64gb sd cards if there is a deal on those.   I had looked at thumb drives before but I must have missed the one I'm seeing now, 128gb for $50.  Four of those might work.

I have a nexus 7 and it's a great device. Use it regularly for Photo-shootings (Wifi tethering).
I have never used it to back-up data (it also only has 32gb) but apparently you can use the micro USB port to adapt stuff like an SD-reader etc.
Just how would you get the data onto an external hard-drive? You will def. not be able to power one with the tablets usb port!

I also think the only real solution would be an 11 inch ultrabook!

[tickstock]

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[sharpshot]

This is a cheap device but I'm not sure if it would be good for transferring raw files from a card to a USB stick?
http://www.ravpower.com/ravpower-rp-wd01-filehub-3000mah-power-bank.html

Edit:  Found a review of the Verbatim 98243 MediaShare Wireless.  Looks like the same product and looks like it can be used to transfer raw files from an SD card to a USB stick.

I've seen the wireless hard drives but there isn't much information on how they will work for my purposes.  Most people use them to stream movies or music and not for downloading data, I've seen people say you really need to hook it up to a computer to move data onto it.  Since they are powered I wonder if they will work connected to a tablet that normally wouldn't be able to power a hd?

I saw in the reviews that some people were using it to transfer files.  One said in the field but that should be quite similar to on the road
Here's the quote
"I need to be able to back up critical data 'in the field' where there may be no power or mobile signal. It could be many files of typically 25 - 30 Mb at a pop. This does it !"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Verbatim-98243-MediaShare-Wireless/dp/B00CZ0P0PS
Those file sizes seem similar to raw file sizes.  I ordered one but it will take about a week to get it.  I'll report here if it works.

[tickstock]

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[Freedom]

Why not just carry a lot of SD cards? They are pretty cheap these days.

[cascoly]

I have an asus notepad which has a real keyboard and sufficient power to run all my normal photo stuff

I also use ms skydrive which gives me an additional way to store images and run all my office software - and then all my db, excel etc are already up to date when I return home

[Uncle Pete]

This is going to sound odd, but a friend does this. (I can't because at the races I might shoot a few cards full a day)

Buy numerous cheap SD cards and don't transfer anything, just take the full cards home.

Done and it's cheaper than you think. Don't need a tablet or laptop and it's light and small.

8GB cards, $1 a Gigabyte, how's that for cheap? You run out? You buy another card... This is the ultimate cheap way to carry your photos. No batteries, no computer, nothing, and pretty darn secure.

SanDisk 16 GB Class 4 SDHC $11 !

What he does is even stranger. Copies the files to hard drive and files the original cards. I'm still using CF memory so it's a bit more expensive and I run 500 and up GB a year in photos, no video, just still pictures. But if I had all cameras that used SD, I'd start buying cheap 16GB cards and stop using electronic or hard drive as primary backup. Original cards as backup, electronic as working files.

Why not just carry a lot of SD cards? They are pretty cheap these days.

Yup, that's the way I see it now.

ps I have an ASUS netbook for travel, built in card reader. Portable USB hard drive. I'm considering next trip, no hard drive, just buy a card wallet.

[tickstock]

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[gostwyck]

This is going to sound odd, but a friend does this. (I can't because at the races I might shoot a few cards full a day)

Buy numerous cheap SD cards and don't transfer anything, just take the full cards home.

Done and it's cheaper than you think. Don't need a tablet or laptop and it's light and small.

8GB cards, $1 a Gigabyte, how's that for cheap? You run out? You buy another card... This is the ultimate cheap way to carry your photos. No batteries, no computer, nothing, and pretty darn secure.

SanDisk 16 GB Class 4 SDHC $11 !

What he does is even stranger. Copies the files to hard drive and files the original cards. I'm still using CF memory so it's a bit more expensive and I run 500 and up GB a year in photos, no video, just still pictures. But if I had all cameras that used SD, I'd start buying cheap 16GB cards and stop using electronic or hard drive as primary backup. Original cards as backup, electronic as working files.

Why not just carry a lot of SD cards? They are pretty cheap these days.

Yup, that's the way I see it now.

ps I have an ASUS netbook for travel, built in card reader. Portable USB hard drive. I'm considering next trip, no hard drive, just buy a card wallet.

SD cards still need to be backed up so I'd still need a tablet or laptop.  Costs for 1TB worth of SD cards would be around $750 compared to $100 for 2 500gb hard drives.  For $100 I would only be able to back up 64gb with SD cards.  Also carrying 30 SD cards doesn't seem very practical either.

Why ask the question when you already know the answer? Every suggestion, by well-meaning contributors, you have immediately dismissed. Were you expecting a new technology to be invented especially for your particular needs or what?

[tickstock]

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[bunhill]

That's not true at all Sharpshot had a good solution a couple posts up, with new technology too!  It does seem to be invented just for my needs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Verbatim-98243-MediaShare-Wireless/dp/B00CZ0P0PS

If you couple that with USB sticks then I think that you will almost certainly end up with an incredibly slow solution. WiFi + USB stick = set the thing transferring and hope it is done before the morning (and hope the connection is not lost, run out of battery or timed out before it completes). I might be wrong but I have the impression that what you are looking at is not suitable for backing up big chunks of data in any sort of practical way.

Before you consider using USB sticks at all try transferring the full contents of, say, a 16GB card to a USB stick directly (ie not by first saving to a computer drive). That should give you an idea just how slow writing to sticks is. AFAIK the slow write times for flash sticks is down to the interface itself. SSDs work completely differently. I think.

I might be wrong.

[tickstock]

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[Ron]

.

[sharpshot]

This is going to sound odd, but a friend does this. (I can't because at the races I might shoot a few cards full a day)

Buy numerous cheap SD cards and don't transfer anything, just take the full cards home.

Done and it's cheaper than you think. Don't need a tablet or laptop and it's light and small.

8GB cards, $1 a Gigabyte, how's that for cheap? You run out? You buy another card... This is the ultimate cheap way to carry your photos. No batteries, no computer, nothing, and pretty darn secure.

SanDisk 16 GB Class 4 SDHC $11 !

What he does is even stranger. Copies the files to hard drive and files the original cards. I'm still using CF memory so it's a bit more expensive and I run 500 and up GB a year in photos, no video, just still pictures. But if I had all cameras that used SD, I'd start buying cheap 16GB cards and stop using electronic or hard drive as primary backup. Original cards as backup, electronic as working files.

Why not just carry a lot of SD cards? They are pretty cheap these days.

Yup, that's the way I see it now.

ps I have an ASUS netbook for travel, built in card reader. Portable USB hard drive. I'm considering next trip, no hard drive, just buy a card wallet.

SD cards still need to be backed up so I'd still need a tablet or laptop.  Costs for 1TB worth of SD cards would be around $750 compared to $100 for 2 500gb hard drives.  For $100 I would only be able to back up 64gb with SD cards.  Also carrying 30 SD cards doesn't seem very practical either.

Why ask the question when you already know the answer? Every suggestion, by well-meaning contributors, you have immediately dismissed. Were you expecting a new technology to be invented especially for your particular needs or what?

I often see an angry post from you around midnight UK time.  You seem to have missed the point in the OP here.  As technology changes all the time, there might now be a way to back up photos on the road but without a laptop and without spending lots of money on a Mac.  Some of the suggestions don't seem to provide a way of getting a backup.  Having had an SD card failure, I can understand the desire to have photos on more than just one SD card.

[Uncle Pete]

I guess I don't understand how long, how much data or how secure. You can carry the SD cards, without a device, without a netbook or a tablet Etc. I thought that was your goal. Now you are throwing in 1T of data? All of that requires storage, your two hard drives, plug in a rechargeable device, plus a computer of some sort.

The original question was backing up on the road, "I want to back up photos on the road but without a laptop." and the answer is, take the cards home, which are small, light and much more reliable than any mechanical drives.

Heck if you have all that power, and electricity just send it to an online storage site. Carry nothing else but a tablet with a SD slot. Problem solved.

I guess I don't understand your  question? You want to do this without a laptop, but want to carry a transfer device, a tablet, two drives and all the cables, batteries and extras, instead? Doesn't make sense.

This is going to sound odd, but a friend does this. (I can't because at the races I might shoot a few cards full a day)

Buy numerous cheap SD cards and don't transfer anything, just take the full cards home.

Done and it's cheaper than you think. Don't need a tablet or laptop and it's light and small.

8GB cards, $1 a Gigabyte, how's that for cheap? You run out? You buy another card... This is the ultimate cheap way to carry your photos. No batteries, no computer, nothing, and pretty darn secure.

SanDisk 16 GB Class 4 SDHC $11 !

What he does is even stranger. Copies the files to hard drive and files the original cards. I'm still using CF memory so it's a bit more expensive and I run 500 and up GB a year in photos, no video, just still pictures. But if I had all cameras that used SD, I'd start buying cheap 16GB cards and stop using electronic or hard drive as primary backup. Original cards as backup, electronic as working files.

Why not just carry a lot of SD cards? They are pretty cheap these days.

Yup, that's the way I see it now.

ps I have an ASUS netbook for travel, built in card reader. Portable USB hard drive. I'm considering next trip, no hard drive, just buy a card wallet.

SD cards still need to be backed up so I'd still need a tablet or laptop.  Costs for 1TB worth of SD cards would be around $750 compared to $100 for 2 500gb hard drives.  For $100 I would only be able to back up 64gb with SD cards.  Also carrying 30 SD cards doesn't seem very practical either.

[tickstock]

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[Uncle Pete]

Yes... No. 

Yes, Tablet and USB hard drives, that sounds about right.

No problem, I carry a netbook in a case with external drives. I'd weigh it for you, but hardly big compared to a tablet. And possibly much less expensive for all the equipment, case, two drives, than one new tech. tablet.

Didn't know why you kept linking to the WiFi transfer device?

The question you ask has been around for ages. Copy from memory cards to a hard drive, without a computer. Yes it's made, but it's expensive. You might as well carry a computer and copy to hard drives.

Still for the average person on a week vacation, and not wanting to carry a computer or hard drives or spend huge amounts of money. Just buy SD cards and back up when you are home. They are more reliable, less susceptible to damage, breaking, shock, water, and anything else.

If you are backing up your cards to a hard drive, what happens to the cards? You format them? Then you don't have a backup, you have the only copy. Same as saving on cards. Or are you making two copies, while you are on the road... 

[bunhill]

I don't know where you live Pete - but one thing to remember is that most European short flights have a max cabin luggage limit defined not only be weight (now typically standardizing at 10kg) but also by volume. I have no idea about flights in the empire We are talking about a small backpack - probably something like 50x40x20 cm.

So all of that messing around with additional items and their power adapters, batteries etc  is going to be a practical issue. Especially if you also need to carry surge protection, extra batteries and regional adapters. And you also want to carry your actual cameras and lenses. And the regulations now also restrict the number of lithium ion batteries which can be packed. No spare batteries basically.

Which brings us back to the MacBook Air. It is a netbook. It is small and light. It uses a switching power adapter - you can buy a cheap pin adapter at the airport wherever you land because voltage is not an issue. And when you come to sell it 2 years later you will get a significant chunk of your money back - the non Apple tablet or another brand of netbook will have very little value. A thing which quickly loses resale value is more expensive than buying the better thing to begin with.

[tickstock]

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[Uncle Pete]

Yes, Macbook Air is another good one.

Yes we have limits, but not that restrictive. Had to go convert, US limit is by volume, "carry on" but also 40 pounds. That might vary, but that's a good bit of gear. Oh here's the secret chart, be amused, no standards and yes some say no limit, which is funny because the pay for weight on checked luggage is 50 pounds or they stab you. So put it all in the carry on and you're OK? Stupid

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/10460865/airline-carry-on-bag-policies/

I sold my 400mm f/2.8 because of flight restrictions. They wanted to check it. Yea, sure, let some baggage gorilla throw my few thousand dollar lens, or have it stolen? No thanks.

You know the real answer is online backup. LOL Carry nothing.

I had a device that read from cards to CDs, no computer needed. Gave it away. Might have used it once. Cool toy. Now they make them for DVDs. I hate discs for backup, unreliable and fragile. What would be nice is if the camera could save to a hard drive. No computer needed? Plug and go.

Here's the problem. For something that will read cards and save to a hard drive, without a computer, it's going to cost about the same as just carrying a computer and external drive. I already own a netbook, it's small it's light, and I already own the external drives, I use them as back up, but store everything on the computer too.

That was the point of carrying 1T of cards, vs 2 500GB drives, where both drives would need to have the same data, to be a real "backup" and there goes the weight issue again. It's still only 500GB total? And not trusting the images to cards which are more reliable than electrical mechanical drives, because of size? They are smaller and lighter and just as much of a backup as everything on one drive.

A mess of contradictions. Cost, size, weight? No computer but take a tablet? And now added, no internet, so the real answer is out. (you could send the files while you sleep, if the connection was slow) For every answer there's an argument why it won't work.

That's the answer. Pick what works best for someone personally and that's the right answer. And now you've added another, depending on where you live and how you travel. 

I don't know where you live Pete - but one thing to remember is that most European short flights have a max cabin luggage limit defined not only be weight (now typically standardizing at 10kg) but also by volume. I have no idea about flights in the empire We are talking about a small backpack - probably something like 50x40x20 cm.

So all of that messing around with additional items and their power adapters, batteries etc  is going to be a practical issue. Especially if you also need to carry surge protection, extra batteries and regional adapters. And you also want to carry your actual cameras and lenses. And the regulations now also restrict the number of lithium ion batteries which can be packed. No spare batteries basically.

Which brings us back to the MacBook Air. It is a netbook. It is small and light. It uses a switching power adapter - you can buy a cheap pin adapter at the airport wherever you land because voltage is not an issue. And when you come to sell it 2 years later you will get a significant chunk of your money back - the non Apple tablet or another brand of netbook will have very little value. A thing which quickly loses resale value is more expensive than buying the better thing to begin with.

[Uncle Pete]

When you copy the card to a drive, what's your backup?

I can set things to copy and go to sleep or go do something else. Didn't know time was critical as well.

Anything else new you wanted to add?

ave it transfer files to a backup hard drive (2 back ups) over a USB 3.0 cable. 
I totally disagree with your statement about the average person on a week long professional photo shoot (after all this about shooting stock for money isn't it?) not carrying around backups of their work, it's work how can you afford to lose even a 32gb card?

[bunhill]

Hang on a sec - don't some cameras have the ability to write between two cards. Wouldn't that be the best option ?

[tickstock]

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[tickstock]

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[tickstock]

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[Uncle Pete]

Yes, CF is expensive, I have the ones I use, enough for one day. Then I back up at lunch or night. That's one 8GB a couple of 4GB and some 2GB cards. Carry a USB drive and leave everything on the computer until I'm sure the backup worked. (if that's sounding strange, I copy from the cards to the computer and then one big backup from the computer to the backup drive, which is slower. )

Sometimes I can back up at Lunch and start the computer to drive copy and go back out working. Speed for backup isn't important, I'm not watching it. 

I thought you said you wanted to get a tablet and some reader that stores? If you can back up without a computer, in whatever form, that's easiest. Up until now you never mentioned CF instead of SD, that changes a bunch.

How long are you going?

Hang on a sec - don't some cameras have the ability to write between two cards. Wouldn't that be the best option ?

The camera I own only has one card slot and it's CF.  I'm thinking about getting an NEX-7 but I think it just has one slot.  That would be good for weight and ok for price but I think I'd need to get a much larger camera then. 

I see the D7100 has 2 sd card slots so that might be a solution too.

[tickstock]

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[sharpshot]

This is a cheap device but I'm not sure if it would be good for transferring raw files from a card to a USB stick?
http://www.ravpower.com/ravpower-rp-wd01-filehub-3000mah-power-bank.html

Edit:  Found a review of the Verbatim 98243 MediaShare Wireless.  Looks like the same product and looks like it can be used to transfer raw files from an SD card to a USB stick.

I've seen the wireless hard drives but there isn't much information on how they will work for my purposes.  Most people use them to stream movies or music and not for downloading data, I've seen people say you really need to hook it up to a computer to move data onto it.  Since they are powered I wonder if they will work connected to a tablet that normally wouldn't be able to power a hd?

I saw in the reviews that some people were using it to transfer files.  One said in the field but that should be quite similar to on the road
Here's the quote
"I need to be able to back up critical data 'in the field' where there may be no power or mobile signal. It could be many files of typically 25 - 30 Mb at a pop. This does it !"
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Verbatim-98243-MediaShare-Wireless/dp/B00CZ0P0PS
Those file sizes seem similar to raw file sizes.  I ordered one but it will take about a week to get it.  I'll report here if it works.

This arrived today.  Quite easy to setup.  I just downloaded the free app from Google play, charged the device up and put in my SD card and a USB stick.  Found the device using my tablet, put in the password in the manual and it connected.  It was quite straightforward to transfer files from the SD card to a USB stick.  Took 7 seconds for each raw file.  They were around 31mb.

[Sean Locke Photography]

I use a Wolverine when I need to.

Like this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/456243-REG/Wolverine_5080_ESP_80GB_Portable_Multimedia.html

[ShadySue]

I use a Wolverine when I need to.

Like this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/456243-REG/Wolverine_5080_ESP_80GB_Portable_Multimedia.html

"No longer available"

[Sean Locke Photography]

I use a Wolverine when I need to.

Like this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/456243-REG/Wolverine_5080_ESP_80GB_Portable_Multimedia.html

"No longer available"

Well, that's what I have.  I think there are newer versions on their site.  wolverinedata.com

[tickstock]

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[sharpshot]

Just tried it with my 1TB HD and it works fine.  It takes SD cards and USB sticks up to 64GB.

[tickstock]

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[Harvepino]

I travelled on motorbike for several months on each my last photo-trips, so I was looking for compact back up solution just as you are.

I was toying with the idea of tablet or some smart external drives, but fortunately, I stepped away from it and decided for an ordinary 13' Macbook Pro and USB powered external drive. All my photos are on the Macbook and duplicated on the external drive. When I visit friends on my journey, I always ask them if I can temporarily copy photos from USB drive to their computer, which acts as an emergency off-site back up until I get home.

Advantage is that laptop can do much more than just hold copies of your photos. You can do some work, keywording and pre-editing as well. Todays laptops are small and light, if you can get hold of a good laptop, there's no reason to pay for some other single-function device.

Obviously, ideal solution is taking more SD cards. They are cheap and tiny. I use CompactFlash, which costs more and need space for thousands of RAWs, so I carry a laptop.