Backing up photos using a Raspberry Pi

[Borderer]

This post will probably only be relevant for those of you who travel for a fairly long period of time, or have high digital media storage needs, ie video.

We are preparing to go away cycle touring, but in bikepacker luggage mode. So we will be away for a while but travelling very light. Previously I have taken my netbook (1.1kg) with me as a way of interfacing between the storage media on my camera (SD card) and a backup storage device (portable hard drive, USB stick etc). Obviously for this trip though a netbook isn't going to fit into bikepacking luggage. The solution would be to take lots of SD cards, but as my camera is quite old (Leica Digilux 2) and only takes 2GB cards max, this is a bit tricky as these are hard to find and pricey for what they are.

The solution I have found is a script that runs on a Raspberry Pi to turn it into an auto interface between the SD and backup drive. I nicked Joe's old raspberry pi that he wasn't using any more and we managed to get the whole thing to work today. It doesn't require a screen (just lots of blind faith that it is actually working). You just switch on the Pi (you can power this using a mini power bank and micro USB lead - we carry both of these anyway), plug in the backup storage device (I will be using a 64GB USB stick) and then the SD card in its USB reader. The Pi then automatically transfers the files from the SD to the backup stick and then shuts itself down. Weights for the components are as follows:

Raspberry Pi in hard enclosure - 95g
64GB USB stick - 5g
SD card reader - 16g

Here is the link to the script and tutorial. It was quite easy.
https://petapixel.com/2016/06/16/turn-r ... up-device/

I wanted to disable the requirement to input a user name and password on the Pi OS, but I found a tutorial for that too, which worked first time:
http://www.opentechguides.com/how-to/ar ... start.html

It is possible to do this on a Raspberry Pi Zero + powered USB hub, which should be a bit lighter and more compact, but I just went with what we had.

[Chew]

I'm sure someone more geeky will be along later........ but instead of backing them up on a hard drive (which could become damaged/lost) cant you just upload them to the cloud somewhere?

If you're like me you may take a 100 photos on a trip, but once i get home and review/edit them i'm maybe left with 10 'keepers'

[Borderer]

Yes, but then you need wifi, which can be tricky at times. This script will upload the photos to Flkr via a Raspberry Pi. My camera doesn't have wifi so I can't upload directly with it.

https://petapixel.com/2016/06/14/build- ... pberry-pi/

[Nevis]

Ingenious use if your pi but I have to say, I'd be very nervous of deleting my valuable photos without being able to confirm they'd successfully transfered first.

Will you be taking a smart phone? If so you could transfer them to the phone or your usb drive with a usb otg adapter. That way you can check they've transfered first before you delete them.

If you do find some wifi you can upload them using your phone too

Something like these perhaps but would be worth checking you can access two cards simultaneously though.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00W02VHM6/ ... AzbMAV3YTH

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0713RGSFM/ ... AzbVGXWR3D

[tomwardill]

There is something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/RAVPower-Wirel ... B00TI3WQJS

No personal experience of that device.
There are others that have internal hard drives too, but I'm failing on the correct search terms.
B&H have some expensive examples (US site): https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Stan ... 4000227848

Although that is a nice use of a Pi, I might steal that for a backup solution for home.

[danielgroves]

Nice! It's weird, I was literally thinking about building something like this using my model B 1st gen Pi at home, and run the backup onto a spare SSD I've got floating around here.

[danielgroves]

There is something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/RAVPower-Wirel ... B00TI3WQJS

No personal experience of that device.
There are others that have internal hard drives too, but I'm failing on the correct search terms.
B&H have some expensive examples (US site): https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Stan ... 4000227848

Although that is a nice use of a Pi, I might steal that for a backup solution for home.

Problem I've found with these devices is that they're dependent on a phone app (not interested, they're often terrible or stop being supported as devices move along) or they're extremely expensive with a large volume of storage.

[Borderer]

Yeah, I looked into those 'smart hard drive' things, but as you can see from the B&H link, they are eye-wateringly expensive. I think the cheapest I have found was over £300. I think Joe's Pi cost me £25 or something.

I will look into getting one of those doofers to interface the USB stick with my smart phone though, cos it would be good to confirm that the images had transferred as you say.

The one drawback with the Pi system is that I will have to delete images one-by-one on the camera. This means though that I can start with the rubbish ones and leave the good ones just-in-case the backup hasn't worked. Maybe....

Edited to add: I hadn't clicked through to the RAVpower link though - that does look interesting right enough....

[Nevis]

Worth checking that your phone supports USB OTG (On The Go), should do these days but you never know. Worth reading the reviews too. Don't expect to be able to connect USB devices and charge simultaneously, many devices or the adapters don't seem to support that.

If you get one with a USB A socket you should (in theory) be able to plug in any card reader.
http://amzn.eu/1zKcgWK

I have a cheapo card reader and each different slot type shows as as a separate drive. The nice thing about that is you can copy directly from one card to another.

[danielgroves]

Yeah, I looked into those 'smart hard drive' things, but as you can see from the B&H link, they are eye-wateringly expensive. I think the cheapest I have found was over £300. I think Joe's Pi cost me £25 or something.

I will look into getting one of those doofers to interface the USB stick with my smart phone though, cos it would be good to confirm that the images had transferred as you say.

The one drawback with the Pi system is that I will have to delete images one-by-one on the camera. This means though that I can start with the rubbish ones and leave the good ones just-in-case the backup hasn't worked. Maybe....

Edited to add: I hadn't clicked through to the RAVpower link though - that does look interesting right enough....

What I'm aiming for is a simple copy the images over as. backup. A file doesn't exist if there's only one copy, so I'd maintain the copy on the SD Card too (at the end of the day, they're cheap) and that way I've got two copies of each file. Keep the SD cards on my person, and leave the rPi in the car.

[mountainbaker]

If you have an android phone, you could just use a USB-to-go adapter and a card reader to back up to the internal SD (put a large one in there).

[BigdummySteve]

As much as I like technology I think I would just buy several 64gb SD cards, roughly £20 each, light, simple and they work.

[Borderer]

Yes, but my 12 year old camera only supports 2GB cards.

[BigdummySteve]

Yes, but my 12 year old camera only supports 2GB cards.

That is a problem.....and a good excuse to buy a new one

[Borderer]

I had really good pro gear worth thousands that I used for my photography business, but it was nicked along with our campervan in Naples last year. Turned out the contents insurance didn't cover cameras (or bikes for that matter). It was daft of me not to have checked that, but my insurance policy was that I always, always carried my cameras with me. Of course the one time I didn't (just to nip into Decathlon for 20 mins in the middle of a thunderstorm....surely nobody would be out robbing in that weather...... )

The Leica was just what I could afford to keep shooting. For £250 I got a lightweight camera with an top quality fixed lens. The downside is the 2GB cards and 5MP sensor, but that in itself tells you how good it is - most 5MP cameras are on the tip by now.

[BigdummySteve]

I had a Panasonic GM-1 micro 3/4, stunning little camera. It could take big cards and had easy connection to a smartphone or tablet...you can pick them up fairly cheap second hand.