Storing images while away on holiday?

[Chinook]

Can anyone suggest what to use for storing pictures on while away for a few days. I hope to take a lot of pics.
I have 2 4gb, 2 8GB & 2 16GB cards. Would it be benifcial to get a TB or any other ideas please?

Cheers

[mikew09]

I have often thought about this myself. I am gearing up to do some part time shooting next yr such as horse events, maybe some corporate function work and such but I was wondering what risk there is to loss of images on the card. Last week I took a portrait set of shots for team at our Team Building day in Sydney. When I got home one of the cards reported to be corrupt, after a number of attempts I got all photos off bar one. This go me thinking what processes there is to backup shots on the fly.
I was wondering if the corruption was due to the multiply scans they did at the airport as they scanned my camera bag about 4 times and had it sit in the scanner for a while whilst security discussed the content. They were uncertain about the camera body as if just showed up black. First time I have had this issue but I eventually asked if they wanted me to get the camera out and remove the lens so they could see it was actually a DSLR but by then they had decided it was OK.
So was it the extended exposure to the scanner that corrupted the data on the card ??? So this lead me to thinking, do I back up my work on the fly.

I seem to remember a portable drive by Canon (an expensive alternative) that you could download your card straight into but I am very interested on what others do. An iPad is also seeming to be an attractive alternative too.

[znelbok]

Two questions here

One is of backup and the other is about failure.

To answer the second, there is a SD card with WiFi built in that will send the photo to the PC/iPad whatever at the same time as storing it on the card
http://www.eye.fi/home-c

Have not used one, but i am interested in getting one. You could leave the storage device on and in the bag while shooting and still transfer images.

As for the first, if you have an internet connection you can try any of the free cloud storage options. box.net, skydrive, google drive, dropbox...
If you are already a skydrive user, they have just upped the limit to 25Gb for existsing users. I think you have to log in to get it though. most others give you 5Gb (give or take) for free.
If you don't have a connection to the net, or its got a small data cap, then look at duplicating the photos on at least two other devices/mediums. CD/DVD's work but can fail as do hard drives etc. Cover your bases and do a copy on each.

The 3-2-1 backup rule comes to mind
3 Backup copies of anything you want to keep.
2 different storage media.
1 offsite storage site.

Mick

[Chinook]

Thanks so much for your help. I am leaning towards a portable TB I think I may not have internet coverage.
Mick good idea about using one of the internet storage options if I can get access to the net.

Mike hope you get something worked out for your next trip.

Hope to hear from anyone else who may be able to help. Thank you

[Eberbachl]

Take a laptop and an external HDD with you. Back up your images to both devices and don't keep them in the same bag. Then keep shooting.

[ameerat42]

But what is a TB?
And although the Internet idea has some merit, then if you already have a computer what else will you HOPE to be doing on your trip away? The word "speed" does not apply to uploads, especially raws.
Am.

[Chinook]

THanks so much ameerat42 and Eberbachi.

Sorry TB meant external terabyte. I have decided to borrow my son's laptop so will be fine. I am not aware of anything to do with speed?? I do shoot in raw. Thanks again.

[ameerat42]

THanks so much ameerat42 and Eberbachi.

Sorry TB meant external terabyte. I have decided to borrow my son's laptop so will be fine. I am not aware of anything to do with speed?? I do shoot in raw. Thanks again.

Sounds like you're set then. I have uploaded a raw or two to Skydrive (but it doesn't matter where to really) and it took ages each time. I had so much time for coffee and biscuits (so to speak) that I put on weight (a long wait?). I guess it was a throw-back to the middle ages (?).
(Arise, Sir Wait-a-lot.)
Am.

[J.davis]

+1 for the lappy

[Seabee]

I always carry the laptop and an external Hard drive everywhere i go with camera!! It's all a part of my kit bag! Much prefer using my card reader with my stuff rather than someone else's computer and it doesn't really add much more weight!

[Eberbachl]

THanks so much ameerat42 and Eberbachi.

Sorry TB meant external terabyte. I have decided to borrow my son's laptop so will be fine. I am not aware of anything to do with speed?? I do shoot in raw. Thanks again.

That's a great thing to do. If the images are important to you I'd consider taking an external USB hard drive as well as an extra backup in case the laptop fails. It all depends on how important the data (images) is.

[BLWNHR]

I know many people who store their photos on their laptop, a copy on an external drive hidden in a separate bag (suitcase) and also periodically burn DVD's with the photos on and post them home. Remember, the one time you leaev your laptop in your room with be the one time it gets stolen. You need more than one copy.

EDIT:
I should add, that's for OS travel, domestic travel I just make sure my external drive and/or camera is always with me.

[Michaela]

I'm heading off to the US for 6 months in just over two weeks' time, and I'll be taking a laptop plus two 500Gb portable external hard drives so I can have 3 copies of everything stored in separate places. Hopefully that will do me.

[LJG]

I always take my laptop to download images on to. Then after getting caught a few years ago with a hard drive failure at the very end of a holiday and losing everything I now also take a portable drive with me as well. That way I have to have 2 failures to lose stuff, which is very unlikely. I also take 2 16gb CF cards as well and don't delete until they are full.

[71Bogan]

Late last year we took a 2 week trip and every day I would downlaod all the photos taken to the Laptop and then create a 2nd copy to an external drive.
We spend so much time finding, composing and shooting the images we want that taking the time to ensure the end result is safe from loss is an absolute must.

[Warus]

I just buy extra cards. For 4 weeks away I had 3x32Gb cards, 1x16Gb and a 4Gb. The 4 was used to shoot only jpgs for stuff I didn't really care about and the rest straight RAW. I wasn't lugging drives and laptops around the place. I felt there was less risk in just carrying more cards than more gear that could have issues.

[Eberbachl]

Carrying multiple cards is easy and convenient, but you're not making any sort of backup. If a card fails, you lose the lot. Much safer to carry an external USB HDD with you and make a backup of the content of the cards, even if you have sufficient card space to last you the whole trip.

[znelbok]

Its good to see that people are actively taking steps to prevent the loss of their work. It does not really matter where you have them as long as there are multiple copies. It is not backed up if you just put the card in a safe place and use a different card in the camera. nor is it backed up if you copy it to your hard drive and then format the card. It is still only one copy [stating the obvious].

if you are travelling then consider the consequences if your bag gets stolen/lost. you dont want your backups with your originals - seperate them. that is where cloud storage comes in handly (if you have the time).

Also, remember to check that your backup is good. Many (if not nearly all) backup their data and put it away for safe keeping. But how do you know that the backup worked or has not become corrupted over time.

If you have you photos backed up somewhere, go check them on a regular interval to make sure that you actually have a good backup and not some corrupted data that is of no use.

Storing photos on a hard drive that is not connected (either external or internal) can still be susceptible to data loss and failure. Bearings can dry up and stick preventing the drive motor from spinning the patters up. The actual bits on the patters can start to "fade" and make the drive work harder in getting the data off.

I have gone off track a bit here - sorry, but backups are very important.

Mick

[brownie]

For overseas trips I take a small, light notebook ($300), passport drive and a couple of 32GB SD cards for the camera. After each days shooting I copy the files to the notebook and then passport drive.

The odds of losing data from all 3 systems is extremely low, unless they are all stolen together or the plane goes down. Hard drives/memory devices in general need to be treated as consumables, they will fail.

[Eberbachl]

If the plane goes down, I think the longevity of your images is most likely going to be the least of your concerns.