Travel SDHC Card Backup Options w/o a Computer

[JayWPage]

I'm wondering what technology exists for backing up SDHC cards to some other storage device without the use of a computer (or smart phone)?

I'd like to keep the weight down on some trips I have planned and one way to do that is to not carry a laptop with me. Typically, I'm thinking that I'd like to be able to back up about 10 16G SDHC cards over a period of about 6 weeks. I never erase the cards when traveling but I also want to back up my photos in case something goes wrong, i.e. theft, etc. I don't like using internet cafe type places to copy my cards to an external HD if I don't have to. And I don't normally carry a phone when traveling overseas, but in the future will probably carry a mini iPad or something similar. Ideally I would back up to some high capacity USB flash/thumb drives or an SSD drive.

I have looked at the WD My passport Wireless HD that includes a card reader, and some of the USB bridges might also be an option but probably need a program running on a phone or iPad to work.

What have you tried that works and is reliable? Any advice is appreciated.

[David Sutton]

Hyperdrive has always been a reliable option. You can buy the casing and put your own drive in it.
I have always carried some sort of lightweight laptop because I want to check that the cameras are working properly. A few years back on a trip to the Antarctic a lens hood threaded and vignetted all the images shot with it. I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't reviewed the photos each night.
David

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Any options with iPad (Air 2) instead of a notebook?

[armand]

Any options with iPad (Air 2) instead of a notebook?

I tried this about 4-5 years ago with an iPad, 64 GB.
It could copy both raws and jpegs but could only show the jpegs. Downloading then to a computer was easy.  Limited capacity though.
You would be quite good with a Surface 3 pro.

Not sure about the android tablets,  maybe you can copy from a card to an external hard if it's recognized.

If your camera has 2 cards you can duplicate them and when full just use new cards. Lighter than any other method.

[bassman51]

The iPad is not really a viable backup tool.  It doesn't really have the tools or a lot of space.   Among other things, deleting the images you've loaded is a one-by-one event.  The load process itself using Apple's camera connection kit is excruciatingly slow, especially if you're shooting Raw.  And it's difficult (although possible) to manipulate the with Raw images on the iPad. I use it to review selected images on the road and either blog or email them with light edits.  To this end, I shoot Raw+JPEG, use the jpegs on the iPad, and then the Raws at home. 

The best backup I've found is a camera with dual card slots, like the higher-end Nikons.  Sadly, my m43 cameras don't offer this so I've adopted the Hyperdrive.  Like the post above, I bought the empty case and added a separately-purchased 1TB drive.  It's small enough (the size of a thick large smartphone), light enough, and has a crumby LCD that lets you verify that the copy actually occurred.  I backup daily and keep the files on the SD card until I return home. 

If anyone else has a better idea, I'd love to hear it.   

[Telecaster]

I use a Hyperdrive for primary travel backup. I don't delete anything off my SD cards other than flat-out rejects, and I also backup my favorites/selects to my iPad (currently an Air 2 with 128g of storage). The favorites then also get backed up to iCloud if/when I stay overnight somewhere with decent WiFi. That makes up to four copies of the favs, including one remote.

Processing RAWs on the Air 2 is speedy even with Pentax 645D files, though options are limited compared with PS, C1, etc. Like bassman51 (a guitar player perhaps?) I shoot RAW+JPEG and mostly work with the JPEGs while traveling.

-Dave-

[bassman51]

@telecaster - wild guess - you play a (wait for it ...) a tele?

Yup, I am a guitar slinger.  Started on bass as a kids, drifted to guitar when I grew up and stopped playing in bands, now back more often on bass as it's easier on my now-arthritic-and-hard-to-bend fingers. 

[Telecaster]

@telecaster - wild guess - you play a (wait for it ...) a tele?

 

My right hand middle knuckles are starting to get cranky in colder weather. Fretting hand unaffected (so far).

-Dave-

[bassman51]

Unfortunately my fretting hand is far worse.  A "C" with the high G is pretty difficult now. That's why bass works better; less need to bend the left fingers.  And I use a pick because the right ones aren't really great either.  But it's still fun. 

[Dan Wells]

The problem with pretty much any tablet is that they don't actually have any more storage than a big SD card... Even the expandable Android models have the expansion handled by - a SD card - not exactly useful when that's what you're trying to back up? The Hyperdrive and friends are generally poorly built (there were a few really high-end models from Epson and Jobo years ago, some of which also had wonderful screens,  but they cost nearly as much as a full-scale laptop). If you're going to have fast WiFi that's not reliant on a data plan, one option is some object (whether a computer, a tablet or some hybrid like a Surface Pro) that connects to a cloud storage plan. Microsoft, Amazon, Google and others all offer cloud storage for very reasonable prices with huge capacities. The catch is that sending gigabytes to the cloud requires WiFi that is both fast and unmetered!

[JayWPage]

Has anyone used or has an opinion about the Western Digital My Passport Wireless Hard Drive with a SDHC card reader? It looks like it might be a useful option to back up cards in the field. Reviews (B&H,Amazon) are mixed so I'm not sure what to think about it.

[armand]

Has anyone used or has an opinion about the Western Digital My Passport Wireless Hard Drive with a SDHC card reader? It looks like it might be a useful option to back up cards in the field. Reviews (B&H,Amazon) are mixed so I'm not sure what to think about it.

From what I heard it is very slow.

[Dan Wells]

Have it (mostly for use as a hard drive), can confirm that card backup is uselessly slow (so slow that you worry about the battery backing up a 16 or 32 GB card, and can't manage a 64)!

[JimAscher]

Fortunately for me, I purchased a HyperDrive Album years ago and it works great in the field and when traveling. I purchased the main unit and added a 500 Gig hard drive. It is no longer available new from HyperDrive, but one might be available on eBay.  Here are the specs from B&H:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/683409-REG/Sanho_SAHHDA250_250GB_HyperDrive_Album_Portable.html#!

[armand]

Similar topic here: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3824848
Some interesting options mentioned there, I vaguely recall about the Samsung tablet with the OTG USB adapter.