Traveling with iPad Pro - backup raw photos on external SSD drive

[hana4am]

Lightroom Version Number

12.5

Operating System

1. macOS 13 Ventura
2. iOS

I would like to backup full size raw photos from iPad to external SSD drive while traveling. After copying some photos from camera card to Photo App, I copied again to the external drive after selecting photos. Only jpeg files were copied, even though photo app shows raw+jpeg and LR shows as NEF file.

I don’t intend to share on social media while traveling. What is proper workflow so I get all my raw photos backed up on the SSD drive without having the internet? I have only 20gb adobe plan and don’t want to use cloud service.

TIA

 

[Conrad Chavez]

Do you only need to back up the images on the external SSD volume without editing or sharing the photos? If so, then there should be no need to bring them into the Photos app. Do a direct copy from camera card to external volume, completely bypassing the iPad internal storage, so that you don’t use any of the iPad internal storage, and so nothing gets uploaded to the cloud. Below is how I do it.

The iPad has only one USB-C* port, so to connect both the camera card and the external volume to the iPad at the same time:

1. Plug a USB-C hub into the USB-C port on the iPad.
2. Plug the card reader into the hub (or card, if the hub has a built-in reader). If any photo apps open when you plug in the camera card, cancel out and close the apps.
3. Plug the external volume into the hub.

When that’s done, both the camera card and the external SSD should be listed in the sidebar in a Files app window, letting you know they are mounted. Then you can copy files directly from card to SSD much like you would on a computer desktop, using these steps:

1. On the iPad, open two windows for the Files app and set them up side by side, using Split View (a standard view in iPad OS).
2. In one Files window, look for the name of the camera card in the sidebar on the left, select it, and in it, select the folder(s) where the photos/videos are stored. (The figure below doesn’t show the sidebar, it shows the path menu that drops down when you tap the circled button. The sidebar expands when you tap the first blue icon in the toolbar across the top.)
3. In the other Files window, look for the name of the external SSD in the sidebar, select it, and open the folder where you want to back up the photos.
4. In the Files window for the camera card, select what you want to copy (files or folders), and do one of the following:
   • Tap and hold the selection until the context menu appears, and tap Copy, then tap and hold in the Files window for the folder on the SSD until the context menu appears, and tap Paste. This copies and pastes the selection to the destination folder.
   • Or, drag the selection from the card reader window, and drop it in the SSD folder window,

When that finishes copying, you should have a manual backup of camera card photos on an external SSD, that does not use any space on the iPad itself. If you want to review the photos on the SSD, you can browse photos in the Files app itself by tapping a photo. No need to open any photo apps. (The Files app might not browse photos if the camera’s raw format is not yet supported by iPad OS.)

It might take some practice, but you’ll get it.

*If you have an older iPad with a Lightning port, this procedure is still possible but more challenging, partly because you will also have to supply enough power to the hub, and that part is trickier than it might seem at first.

 

[VR in Oz]

You may need to use the Move command which then gives you the option to Copy (horribly non-intuitive, I know!). Anyway I was able to back up onto both iPad and external SSD , using the USB3 connection, with no problems (yes I’m paranoid …. until I lost both the card reader and cable in the back of beyond so no more backups of about 2000 files for the rest of the trip - now back to the topic ….).

 

[clee01l]

I carry an External HDD along with my iPad. Either the Card reader OR the External HDD can be connected to the PadPro. What I do is copy the camera card to the iPadPro "Files" Folder and then Copy the contents of the "Files" Folder to the External HDD. I can then import into Lightroom from the "Files" Folder or from the camera Card.

The Photos app is not suitable for getting files off the iPad as it only exports. IMO you do not want to use the Photos app for anything and it can be safely ignored in favor of using the Lightroom App for all go your image management.

 

[Conrad Chavez]

You may need to use the Move command which then gives you the option to Copy (horribly non-intuitive, I know!).

I haven’t tried it that way, but that’s good to know! Which means, I never noticed the bar at the bottom before when items are selected in the Files app, but as VR in Oz said, in that bar you tap More and that opens a menu with Copy on it. That is the first picture below.

What I use is the context menu that appears when long-pressing a folder or file. That menu has both Move and Copy on it, and that’s shown in the second picture below.

By the way, these pictures do show the sidebar, with the mounted camera card (“Untitled”) shown in the Locations section.

Also, if you have a hardware keyboard connected to the iPad, you can use the standard copy/paste keyboard shortcuts on selected items.

Obviously, achieving the cloud-free iPad to Lightroom Classic travel workflow is mostly about understanding how iPad OS and the Files app work.

 

[Gnits]

While you can copy directly from card to say an external drive and USB C has lots of plus points, the big lesson for me was discovering that the images need to be copied to the iPad internal storage to be available to Lr on the iPad.

That may work for some (or a lot) of people, but it rendered my iPad Pro instantly as an overweight Kindle like device the moment I discovered this, as I could never be sure I would have enough space on my iPad. There are lots of workarounds, but I concluded such workarounds would be to inefficient and risky for me.

 

[Conrad Chavez]

I don’t intend to share on social media while traveling. What is proper workflow so I get all my raw photos backed up on the SSD drive without having the internet? I have only 20gb adobe plan and don’t want to use cloud service.

I should make it clear, if it wasn't before, that all the suggestions I made were based on the intentions in the original post, especially in the quote above: Use external volume, no sharing, no social media, no Internet, no using Adobe cloud sync.

If those are the requirements, then no photo apps can be allowed to “import” the photos, because most iOS photo apps copy to iPad internal storage. Very few support external volumes properly. This also means Lightroom for iPad must not be allowed to import the photos, because Lightroom will both copy to iPad internal storage and upload everything it imports, which are two big no-nos in this scenario.

This is about copying files to external storage, and taking them to Lightroom Classic after the trip, only using the iPad to get them onto the external SSD during the trip.