- Possibly setup the two USB drives in some sort of RAID 1 configuration. (Don't know if that's possible.)[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=207842\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Definitely possible using the built-in tools (via Disk Utility) but probably not worth it. If you've got the drives in separate enclosures and you don't connect them together, the system will mount the first one, and when the 2nd is attached it can decide that it needs re-syncing. It will then spend a lot of time (hours) and energy re-copying the entire drive. You can use the system in the meantime, but there's a significant performance penalty. Not a very robust solution.
Of course, RAID would protect you from the failure of a disk's hardware, but it does nothing to protect you from software/wetware problems (file corruption, accidental deletion, etc).
- Have a script or program to immediately backup one drive to the other as the photos come in. Is there something like that for Mac? Would that affect performance?
Most solutions along these lines don't actually watch the folder for new files, but occasionally re-sync the source folder to the destination (e.g. every 10 minutes). You can either get packaged software to do this, or if you're a coder at all you can script something up with the tools available on the OS X command line.
Keep in mind that if you have something continually copying files, you're exposed to some of the same risks as with RAID (e.g. copying corrupted files). I tend to do manual re-syncs (using the same software, the only difference is that I have some idea of the state of the files before syncing). For example, between models, during coffee breaks, or just at the end of the session.
I don't shoot tethered much, and if I'm not far from home base and without a laptop I tend to just back up the cards when I get to my studio (where of course the files get distributed to multiple media). However if I'm on a big enough job (or far enough from home) that I've set up a laptop, the cards only get erased once the files have been backed up to two hard drives (one backup/import, then a synchronise to a second drive). When doing extended travel/outdoor work where I don't have a laptop, I use two portable drives (e.g. Nextos).
At home base I have at least 3 copies of the files, but I must admit I compromise when on the road and make do with two copies (disregarding the time in the camera before they're backed up at all). But we do at least split these up into separate luggage whilst travelling.
A few weeks ago I at a wonderful outdoor wedding..a really cool event...and there were two photographers shooting and a third as assistant. I was amazed that as the photographers filled a card they would hand it to an assistant would would download the card to a handheld device and then format the card in a camera body hanging around his neck. He would then return the card to the photographer for reuse. My wife kept smacking me as I commented each time this ritual took place. I was totally amazed.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=208661\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I must admit did almost exactly this many years ago on my first digital wedding job (to put it in context, one of the cameras was a D30 and our largest cards were 340MB). In those days cards weren't as cheap (by a factor greater than the difference in filesize between now and then). But I've learnt a lot since then...
From one point of view it is somewhat depressing that so many "professionals" these days haven't learnt about sensible and safe workflows, but then again I usually have a business card on hand to offer consulting services if they want it!
