Traveling with External Hard Drive
Feb 21, 2020 09:53:23 #
Thumb drives are really cheap now and have capacity close to normal external drives. I take multiple thumb drives with me and have no trouble backing up data and/or images.
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Feb 21, 2020 10:16:25 #
I bring a 500gig SSD and a RavPower WD-09 Filehub. At the of the day, turn the file hub on, insert the SD card, plug in the SSD, hit the backup button. Come back a few minutes later, backup is done. Great product.
Feb 21, 2020 10:36:33 #
For a one week trip, I just bring a bunch of SD cards. Each day I put a new card into the camera. For short term storage, I don't think an external hard drive is all that much safer than SD cards. And multiple cards are much more convenient to deal with on a trip. No cables, power supplies or file transfers needed.
Feb 21, 2020 10:39:42 #
TriX wrote:
As has been noted, an SSD, rather than a conventional HD, is a better choice - small, light, fast and immune to shock and hard knocks. My choice would be Intel or Samsung.
Agreed... SSDs are immune to most shocks and knocks.
SSD prices are coming down rapidly. Speeds are going up rapidly, too, so it's important to be sure the laptop interface can keep up with the drive, or the super-fast drive is a waste of money.
Here's a typical high-end portable SSD drive spec:
NVMe SSD with a Thunderbolt 3 interface for up to 2500MB/s performance
Integrated Thunderbolt 3 cable
Rubberized case with bumpers for MIL-STD810G drop test certification
A drive like that can handle really heavy use and "normal abuse" such as dropping. It can speed throughput for 4K video work, and fast raw photo file transfers.
But unless you have a Thunderbolt 3 port, it's a waste. Lesser drives with USB-C or USB-3 will do, depending on port availability on your computers.
Feb 21, 2020 11:08:16 #
dandev
Loc: Enumclaw, WA
I just purchased a WD Passport 4TB for a photo trip. It was around $100. Amazon had a case that fit it perfectly for $8. Whole thing is about 4" x 5" x 1". I actually bought 2 - different colors. One blue, one red. I use one to store the raw images, the other to store the processed images. My laptop SSD hard drive is too small to store a lot of images.
Feb 21, 2020 11:11:34 #
burkphoto wrote:
...
A drive like that can handle really heavy use and "normal abuse" such as dropping.
...
A drive like that can handle really heavy use and "normal abuse" such as dropping.
...
Haha, I'd be more worried about the case breaking.
Feb 21, 2020 12:06:53 #
JFCoupe
Loc: Kent, Washington
As mentioned already, I would not recommend taking your external HD that has all of your work on it. Small external drives of 1-3 TB are less than $100 today. If possible, purchase one of these before you travel. Then download to your laptop internal drive and also copy the images to your new, small HD. For extra safety, do not reformat your SD or CF cards until you return home.
Also as mentioned previously, place the small external HD in a second piece of luggage so that if one piece of luggage is lost, you don't lose everything.
Also as mentioned previously, place the small external HD in a second piece of luggage so that if one piece of luggage is lost, you don't lose everything.
Feb 21, 2020 12:22:28 #
Photoshark
Loc: Oregon
I've been traveling with external hard drives since 2006. Back then they were not so durable. But today's drives are considerably more rugged. The most rugged of these are the LaCie hard drives. Good luck you have nothing to fear. If worse comes to worse keep it in the original packaging. I do that all the time
Feb 21, 2020 12:25:33 #
I've been using four Sandisk 256MB thumb drives and a multi-function card reader plugged into either my laptop or my tablet to save backups of my SD cards . Compact and reliable, but hard to label.
Feb 21, 2020 12:28:10 #
Jodevoy wrote:
I usually download my photos directly to an extern... (show quote)
Look at a solid-state drive like a Seagate Expansion Portable Drive. Also, once you return, you can merge your Lightroom catalogs: https://digital-photography-school.com/how-merge-multiple-lightroom-catalogs-into-one/
Feb 21, 2020 12:30:21 #
Longshadow wrote:
Haha, I'd be more worried about the case breaking.
Haha, I'd be more worried about the case breaking.
OWC makes one with a rubberized case with bumpers in strategic locations...
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-ex-thunderbolt-3
Feb 21, 2020 12:30:32 #
Tomcat5133
Loc: Gladwyne PA
Jodevoy wrote:
I usually download my photos directly to an extern... (show quote)
I have used Western Digital (WD) drives for years the bookshelf kind and the portables.
When I do a video/stills shoot I download them into a WD "My passport for the Mac" 5 tb fits in the
palm of your hand. I recently dropped and broke to WD my book externals for the first time in years.
They dropped from my table and both had USB 3 ports damaged. I got the cases open and saw
how well they are built (most pro's are using them) the drive looked perfect. I took it to a tech
guy and he soldered an remounted the usb ports. The cases no longer fit and I had these externals
for years. I recovered everything on these 2 drives with 13 hours of transfer from the 2 drives
to the 5T Passport for Mac. The transfer was flawless. I do back up my work in 2 places all the time.
I hope this helps you. T
Feb 21, 2020 12:40:11 #
burkphoto wrote:
OWC makes one with a rubberized case with bumpers in strategic locations...
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-ex-thunderbolt-3
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-ex-thunderbolt-3
Cool, it'll bounce instead of crack.
I like that.
Feb 21, 2020 13:06:52 #
Feb 21, 2020 13:07:12 #
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