External portable automatic SD card backups?

[BoulderG]

I do a lot of field photography and want a backup that's not a laptop. Since 2018, I've enjoyed my WD (Western Digital) My Passport Wireless Pro. This is an external 2TB USB hard drive (spinny, not SSD), internal battery, and nifty software so you simply insert an SD card and it will do automatic incremental backups. Absolutely great!

Recently, it's not working right and presumably needs replacing. I'm very disappointed WD seems to have discontinued these. The few other options seem $400-$600 and I'm hoping for sub-$200 even with SSD.

Anyone have any solutions?

My current plan is to attempt to replace the HD in my WD with an SSD and reload the software. That's beyond my comfort zone but I'm 1/3 successful so far. If the SSD won't work, then back to a spinny 2TB drive.

Thanks for suggestions of new products, workarounds, or other ideas...

 

[clee01l]

I do a lot of field photography and want a backup that's not a laptop. …
Thanks for suggestions of new products, workarounds, or other ideas...

It looks like iDiskk might handle your chore. https://www.idiskk.com/idiskk_new/list/?129_1.html. I used the HDD model with my MBP before I went to the Adobe Cloud and an iPadPro.

I operate under the philosophy your you need two copies of your camera card photos before you can erase your camera card and reuse it.

Today I use Lightroom on my iPadPro for almost all imports into LrC.

Since I run my iMac 7X24X365 and use LightroomClassic Syncing to the Adobe Cloud, I no longer need to carry ax extra backup disk. My iPadPro keeps a local copy and The Adobe Cloud stored a copy whenever I have a decent internet connection. With my iMac syncing, my images shot in the field are in my catalog usually by the time I get home. TimeMachine and Acronis backs the LrC catalog and images too. I could use my iPhone instead of the iPadPro, but I like to have a screen large enough to review my days work.


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[BoulderG]

Thanks, Cletus!!
I should have mentioned:
1) I'm using PC, not any kind of Mac (though I have an older iPad).
2) I'm looking to avoid a solution that requires internet or Cloud access, since much of my use will be away from electricity or internet.
3) Totally agree with you on multiple backups - the two SD cards in the camera and this hard drive, all stored as separately as possible. If my trips get bigger/longer, I'd look for a second backup drive so I can format and re-use the camera SD cards.

 

[Gnits]

I have spent a fortune over the years on various devices, but never found the perfect solution. As iphones now have usb c ports I am pondering getting an iphone with a large amount of internal storage and backing up the cards to my phone. I have not the courage to do this yet, especially as my current phone is still ok to use.

 

[clee01l]

I have spent a fortune over the years on various devices, but never found the perfect solution. As iphones now have usb c ports I am pondering getting an iphone with a large amount of internal storage and backing up the cards to my phone. I have not the courage to do this yet, especially as my current phone is still ok to use.

I have an iPhone 15 and a USB-c Cardreader. Though I use the card reader for the iPadPro it would just as easily work on the iPhone. Using Lightroom on the phone, the images sync automatically to the Adobe Cloud and down to your LrC master catalog when ever there is an internet connection. You can also set Lightroom up to not sync over cellular (WiFi only) In the past I have had a cardreader adapter that used a Lightning port. You could get the USB-C card reader add an USB-C to Lightning adapter and try the process now and then justify getting a new phone if you are happy with the outcome. .


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[clee01l]

Thanks, Cletus!!
I should have mentioned:
1) I'm using PC, not any kind of Mac (though I have an older iPad).
2) I'm looking to avoid a solution that requires internet or Cloud access, since much of my use will be away from electricity or internet.
3) Totally agree with you on multiple backups - the two SD cards in the camera and this hard drive, all stored as separately as possible. If my trips get bigger/longer, I'd look for a second backup drive so I can format and re-use the camera SD cards.

I mention Mac/iPhone because that is what I have. My recommended solution works equally with any Lightroom capable mobile device (Though Apple devices are designed to work together seamlessly, Adobe also has a solution (Lightroom)that works on any device).

I would not shy away from an internet cloud solution simply because you won’t have internet access part of the trip. Lightroom will store images locally until you do have an internet connection. You will likely have a phone with you. It can store image files too the extent that its storage will allow. iDiskk can connect to your phone to back up the phone, recharge the phone battery and a supplemental storage

I have a couple of 256GB CFExpress cards. On a fortnight trip, I did not fill up one card shooting 40-45MB Nikon RAW files. A 256 GB Camera card holds over 5000 RAW files.


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