Is anyone aware of a device capable of reading SD and CF cards, either to it’s own internal HD or dumping the data to a another off device storage location (ideally a USB 3.0 port with a flash drive)? I have a need for such a creature for some photo work, and I’m not finding anything.
What camera and how much space do you need? My LUMIX GH5 has a USB C port that will will not write to a portable SSD.
SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable External SSD - USB-C, USB 3.1 - SDSSDE60-1T00-G25 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078STRHBX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_wf3yCbM3QJ2H3
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Pentax K-3, Canon 7D, or a 5D. So basically 15MP up to 26 MP, and for my paying stuff I shoot RAW and a lot of photos (motorsports). Space wise, I’d be looking at around 500gb to a TB.
The biggest issue for me is that I don’t take a laptop with me when I’m out shooting. Yes I can just pack a bunch of SD and CF cards, but I’m not a fan of that for a couple reasons. The biggest is cost. Any card that can keep up with a 10+ FPS burst of RAW files is expensive. The issue I have with USB transfer off the camera is that it normally ties the camera up from shooting. Also there’s no electric outlets out where I tend to swapping cards, etc. I’m surprised that your LUMIX has a powered USB port, that’s cool.
I had looked into the gnarbox, and it looked like a possibility, but they are pricey for what they are.
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jenrick, I stand humbly corrected. A check of my manual and the camera will not bus power an SSD drive. Yeah, it looks like the gnarbox or Sanho HyperDrive (mixed reviews) are the only games in town. The gnarbox v2 due out in March might be worth saving for if you have time. Let us know if you find a better solution.
No worries. I have looked at both of those, and neither really does what I want.
In a perfect world: Insert storage A into device which is powered off a 9v battery or similar. It is detected automatically as Source, and a green LED lights up indicating it has been located. Insert storage B into device which detects it automatically as Destination, blue LED lights up indicating it has been located. Device confirms B has more open space then A has data, and automatically transfers all data from A to B without any intervention. Both LEDs blink to as transfer occurs, when done orange LED lights up to indicated transfer is complete. I am of course flexible on LED colors.
This way I could run smaller, but faster cards, which are cheaper. Copy the data over to something like the $8 64gb flash drive Beach linked to earlier in another thread, and get that card back in rotation. At the end of the day, I’ve got a key ring of USB flash drives, that I can literally drop in a cardboard box as physical backup if I want for less then what I typically have to pay for parking at the track. Also I can hand over the flash drives to the client same day if they want the originals, and if I’m working something with a media tent I can do the same there rather than hoping I get my cards back.
I’m looking into raspberry Pi, as it can do file I/O, and has reasonably small form factor. I can power that off a cell phone charger brick if need be.
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