HOW TO Backup SD Cards WITHOUT a Computer

For me, traveling with a laptop has become a literal pain. Laptops are heavy, bulky, expensive, and rather unnecessary when smaller, lighter phones and tablets can do just about everything a laptop can do. Everything, except for one thing: back up my SD cards. In this video I try to leave my laptop at home once and for all and share a handful of products you can use to backup SD cards while on the road.
(UPDATE 10/21/19: The Gnarbox 2 is no longer a pre-order and is now available for purchase. Scroll down for a link.)
△ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
3:22 RavPower FileHub
11:40 Western Digital My Passport
12:14 Gnarbox
14:55 Inateck Micro USB Card Reader
16:32 iPad OS
18:49 Recap
Products talked about in this video:
RavPower FileHub
geni.us/N5YW4Sh
Western Digital 1TB My Passport
geni.us/iAHk6mc
GNARBOX 2.0 1 TB
gnarbox.com
GNARBOX 1.0 256 GB
geni.us/AoOr
Inateck Micro USB Card Reader for Android
geni.us/PUxNh9
iPad OS Preview
www.apple.com/ipados/ipados-p...
Belkin USB-C Hub for iPad Pro
geni.us/pxYb
Pelican 1050 Micro Case
geni.us/HeWT
△ Instagram: / dominey
△ My website: todddominey.com
△ My gear: todddominey.com/my-gear

[@Andybaby]

Answer starts at 3:55

[@Acklacis]

Not all heroes wear capes...

[@Andybaby]

@@Acklacis lol

[@loop5720]

51 liker, telling you this randomly because Area 51

[@loop5720]

@@Acklacis truly

[@thechrismccormack1489]

Thank you

[@gianlucaalessia5538]

I'm absolutely flabbergasted that every external drive company out there isn't working on integrated solutions for this. People who love photography need it but now with drones becoming so popular it's even more of a necessity

[@unbroken1010]

Drones are annoying

[@aicalhoun]

I have been looking for this for years. Something simple that you can bring your own storage. Thank you!

[@mattcharles6694]

Just watching this and giggling with relief.. First, good to hear I am not the only one lugging around tons of photo/video gear, but second and most important, I can lose the laptop! Very well organized and informative, thank you for sharing!

[@degriff]

Just what was needed, thank you for the clear overview and outline

[@budgettraveller5091]

This is what I was looking for. Thanks a lot. Added to my cart right now.

[@TheUrbanMotorhome]

This video was spot on, just what I needed man, thanks 👍🏻👍🏻😃😃

[@DokoGaTV]

Wow, I'm so thankful for this video! Lifesaver! Thank you! 🤙🏼

[@williamkuryaki]

I've been looking for this for a long time .. you my hero bro .. thank you 👍👍👍

[@OreApampa]

Thank you! This was such a helpful video. Option 1 is my favourite solution as I already have external drives to back up to.

[@askalice7222]

I found this immensly helpful as it answers my question (re: back up SD card on Android) & has the solution I was looking for. I've been on the web a good portion of the day researching multiple sites but hadn't found a straightforward answer. Or the articles were so outdated as to be obsolete. I'm not tech savvy and am easily embarrassed at having to ask how to questions on what should be glaringly obvious (or is obvious to most people) I hope that makes sense. Thank you so much, you've saved me a lot of time and frustration!! Subbed. Take care!!

[@1pinestreet]

Thanks so much for this. I'd just begun hunting for a backup SD solution, too.

[@fleetingdays]

New subscriber! Thank you for taking to share this with us!

[@mark____2365]

Great video, big help. Thank you. Just subscribed.

[@tydra74]

finally !!!! I really needed something like that. thank you for the review.

[@JellyB0B0]

best video explanation on this topic. I use to have this Sony file-hub-wifi style of thing many years ago. Try to look up for new update for usb 3 speed. Thank you

[@boeufixt2973]

Very good job on this video. Thanks.

[@yvettejimenezhtx]

Amazing content! Thank you for all the options

[@spellerlittlewing]

Great video just what I was looking for

[@chasereeves]

This was great. Thanks.

[@dhirendrad6128]

It would be a great asset to travellers if one device can have following features- 1 backup to bigger drive or a drive in itself 2 a power bank (they already have either battery or a charger). 3. Wifi router with facility to insert a sim. The present device would need just an ssd type drive, a little more powerful battery and a slim slot to do all these things.

[@jonjohnson102]

And a raid setup

[@chachhi2011]

thank you so much this is such a important information.

[@cooladesmile1]

exactly what i was looking for! thank you!

[@LawrenceLivingstone]

Man thank you very much for this video... this is life changing!!!

[@SevenTurtles]

Thank you Todd that is very useful rather than keep spending too much on high end SD cards costing fortune

[@DanM_Photography]

I kludged something together with a small galaxy tab back in 2017 when I couldn't find an affordable solution online. It worked, but file management on the G-tab was a pain. Thanks for the info.

[@mariopuas666]

Great video, great solutions, thank you!!

[@joonajks]

Your audio sounds amazing!! May I ask what microphone are you using and do you have a video on how to get great audio?

[@dovim157]

Very informative!! Thanks man

[@SOJAN9977]

Good one actually I was looking for such a device

[@blackopszombiekill3r]

I ended up here because I was watching a video called “how to move photos from SD card to iPad Pro” now if you don’t have a laptop and just have a desktop and an iPhone. The iPad is an amazing choice…yeah it’s 1k+ especially if you get the cellular iPad which can also act as a hotspot and many awesome things…but mainly you can easily just do all your editing work on the iPad / back ups as well on the go and it’s light weight. Awesome video! Didn’t need this info but you did great 😁👍🏽

[@MotoAdventure4you]

Thank you so much for your video , it's help me to answer my questions. One more time thank you. Keep doing 👍

[@erichart1717]

This video is fantastic. Answered every question I had. Thank you so much.

[@abhinav7730]

I have been facing this problem for years, finally I found something useful. Very informative video. Wish I had found this video earlier. Now with 2021 almost to an end, I believe there must be some tablets(both on iOS and Android) that support transfer of photos from SD cards to external hard disks, but I really haven't found anything useful. iOS is still very restrictive in the kind of functionalities it allows and considering price of iPads, very curious to know if any cheaper Android tablets support this transfer. I am seriously planning to buy the cheapest tablet which allows this transfer and occasional editing of these RAW files while I am on a trip.

[@SeattleRingHunter]

Just got the RP-WD009 and wish I had this a few years ago when I took holiday in Hawaii! For those that take a lot of GoPro and other video capture to microSD cards and have no interest in lugging a full-size laptop out into the field this is great solution. Use it to offload all your media files from microSD card to a 1 TB Samsung USB SSD drive at the press of a button! Ultra portable as well. Can be downloading files while you hike, fly or drive! Cheers, #SeattleRingHunter

[@dominey]

Thanks for sharing! Glad it worked for you as well.

[@iamoutofideas13]

Great informative video.

[@ParkerHarrington]

Thank you for this great video

[@apeel2008]

Great video! Just subscribed. I think I will create a NMVe 1TB drive and pair with the iPhone and RavPower. Have you done any speed tests of how long it takes to transfer files, say like a full 64GB card? Would using an SSD speed up the transfer, or is the USB interface a bottleneck that would mean a cheaper HDD would be just as fast? Is the ISB port a USB 2 or USB 3? Finally, can you charge the RavPower at the same time as it is transferring, so that transfer could happen overnight and still have a full battery charge the next morning?

[@MikeT-yy3]

Thanks for a very informative video. With the Rav hub or any other device, can I copy images direct from my camera without removing the SD card

[@loop5720]

This man's camera and lighting is like if Heaven combined with Heaven

[@wohtefak]

Thanks a lot for the demo, this is exactly what I was looking for! Although I would reconsider the process you described at 6:55 where you delete old folders. It has a small risk of data loss when you at some point inadvertently deleted images when using the camera or files got corrupted on the SD card. Proposal: Instead swap SD cards after each backup (e. g. one SD card per day) so every timestamped folder is individual.

[@swilson317]

Agreed. And what about backing up multiple cards?

[@souzamotasacul]

Amazing content!! +1 subscriber!!! I know it’s kind old content but I liked

[@isabelluengo3098]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@oneonlynono]

Thank You for your Outstanding Video... so helpful.... But it is IMPOSSIBLE to Purchase it anywhere right now ... is the NewQ Filehub AC750 Travel Router the same ??? please

[@conradmbongwo8963]

good tips!

[@JamieHines]

Great video was referred to you by another video friend. Question for you Todd on the RavPower hub does the SD "copy" over or does it transfer all the content over to the storage device then leaving your SD card blank? Thanks

[@dominey]

Thanks Jamie. The data is copied, not moved.

[@ecmjr]

Nice video! Worthy of a subscribe :)

[@chicamepa]

Thanks a lot!!!!

[@stacyhackney6100]

Thank you.

[@ekabir666]

20:00 for the Inateck Card reader you also need a power-bank to run the device and the extarnal HDD.

[@tverdich]

No longer available

[@dejasview8904]

So with the Rav....if I don’t own a laptop would it still make sense? If I’m hearing you correct I can back up my whole trip using the Rav-hard drive, and then using the app I can go back into my see what’s in hard drive and download a few videos at a time to edit on my phone? I want to avoid using a laptop all together

[@muqdadalqaraghuli3364]

Great information thanks but regarding using iPad is not working, I have iPad Pro 2021 and the USB port but transferring is not working , I need to save the pictures first on the iPad then move them to the external hard drive

[@stephanelarocque77]

Hello, is there a way to put a cfexpress card to the ravpower by connecting the cfexpress card reader to the ravpower via usb or if the card can only be read by putting it in the slot? thanks!

[@Eec2023]

Do you back up your hard drive to any cloud sites like Dropbox?

[@jeremiahlavoie7998]

Does the rav power work no matter how sd card is formatted? Having issues with a dash cam card not being read on my laptop I guess because of how it’s formatted. Thanks for any advice

[@sherrywhitten2430]

Ravpower Filehub is not available? Any other suggestions in similar price range? Thanks.

[@cheesebobness]

For the RavPower FileHub can the data be transferred the otherway? I'm thinking of a way to moved on SD card to another without need to use the computer

[@ChessBoxin]

I just came back from Japan and ran into that problem of bringing alaptop to ingest my footage onto a drive everyday. Do you still recommend the RavPower in 2023 and is there anything that is better today? I was thinking maybe something similar with a USB-C but im not sure if something like that exists. Black Fridays around the corner and so im hoping i can get this on sale. Currently at 79.90 on amazon ($20 more shockingly since this video). Thanks for the video!

[@roguebrogueoutdoors9871]

I have another question, do you have to have internet access in order to use the app? also another question, does it clear your SD Card after you are done transferring?

[@TresorierCPPO]

The Ravpower is just what I need but can't find it for sale anywhere. Any suggestions? Thanks

[@Barnacle392]

The WD My Passport Wireless is only rated about 2.5 out of 5 stars on the Best Buy website. I offload my short videos to my iPad Mini 5 via a Lightning-to-SD card reader ($33 at Best Buy). Then transfer from my iPad Mini 5 to an iXpand (Flash drive) with USB and Lightning connectors. iXpand 256GB is $73, 128GB is $50, 64GB is $37 which I use and 32GB is $22. Might be an extra step but works for me.

[@94regnar]

I am surprised by the lack of and price of this type of product, I purchased my "Verbatim SmartDisk 40gb Photobank PB40" back in 2007 for a couple hundred dollars that has a SD & CF card slots with a backlit LCD screen, I would have figured there would have been more of this type product out by now. For a product that came out almost twenty years ago, it seems quite advanced. With short road trips & higher capacity SD card over the years, I didn't see as much a need for such a device, but now looking at longer road trips it seems I have a need for such a device again, recently begin looking into another device that's where I found off of Amazon "NewQ Filehub AC750 Travel Router" which appears to be the same product that you have reviewed with a different brand name.

[@markjlewis]

I have a suitable iPad and use it with a USB-C hub that has a SD card reader and a couple of USB3 ports. I use an app called FE to transfer files from SD to HDD. One point to note is that the HDD needs to be formatted to an iPadOS writable format. I have used exFAT. NTFS is read only on an iPad. My reason for using exFAT is that it's read/writeable on Windows. If you are an Apple only user choose their standard HDD format.

[@jillblasi4412]

Do you know if it is compatible with an XQD memory card from a Nikon Z6 camera?

[@kennethsvensson1978]

Hi Todd! I don't now if you still check comments on this video, but I try to ask you anyway. Will the mobilephone (Samsung Galaxy S20) really be able to deliver enough power to run an external harddrive?

[@stavrosy1111]

So they have changed the name of this product to the New Q file hub for anyone wanting to buy it, it is still on amazon just under a new name

[@BruiserFL]

Agreed. I bought it a few months ago.

[@yahyasohail]

Cheers buddy

[@edznyc]

you can use your smarphone and a USB hub + card reader. connect an external SSD to the hub, the card reader and card, your phone, use a file app, done. you don't need an $85 device. the hub + a reader, or a hub with reader will run around $25.

[@davidsutphin]

Great video. Thanks! The Inateck Micro USB Card Reader for Android is no longer available. Are you aware of a comparable device, or, what I would be looking for in order to be able to connect SD card to portable drive using Androie (Pixel) phone?

[@aleckinch1199]

I'm curious too.?

[@intheshadows..2107]

I am a touring cyclist who films with 3 cameras, gopro cannon and a drone a lot of memory needed. 2 years ago I took a laptop and two external 1 terabyte drives. Enough storage but instead of putting the files into folders i simply loaded them in thinking the storage device would sort and folder each download. It took a long time to separate all the footage into the proper folders. This year lesson learned i put everything in folders in the laptop before putting them into the storage device. But now looking for a device to cut out the laptop there are many problems extra weight is the main , some laptops cannot be charged in a tent through powerbanks mine included and they just take up too much space so i will look at the ravpower if this can folder at the proper date for each device then it will work for me It would be even better if you could name them as well can that be done on the rav device app?

[@chipblock2854]

Do any of these devices back up the CF cards. I use both the CF cards in my EOS1 DS Mark II.

[@henrypfister2902]

Seems like the Inateck hub HB3001G is no longer available. Anyone seen a newer version?

[@christopherlee3163]

Can you use this to back up rasberry PI video games as well?

[@Toglander]

Since the iPhone and iPad version of Lightroom is cloud based, couldn’t you just use the Apple SD card reader to upload/backup your images to the Lightroom cloud?

[@annenonime252]

instead of a SD card, can plug my insta360 go 2? because it only has an internal memory. thanks

[@unbroken1010]

Is there' a card reader for CF cards, sony , smart media cards ?

[@croquis24]

and as for the lightning adapter ther are sum but only 3rd party light is only usb 2 as far i know

[@scotthulse1792]

Anyone have any idea if these options have CF inputs? Or any that do? I’m looking myself but it’s hard to find

[@surabhisharma8826]

How long does it take to copy a 64gb card via RavPower ?

[@coolpix807]

Interesting. You still need to upload to the cloud. I take my iPad Pro with a C USB hub with an SD card reader. I can plug in the hub and the card into the hub, select my images, pull them over to the external drive, and within a minute all images are backed up. Later I connect to my Amazon drive and it backs up my images. I need a solution like the gnarbox that backs up automatically and let’s me preview the images, just not for $6-p to $900.

[@zachsandvik1867]

Top!

[@Vass881234]

can't get this in the UK, anyone have any other options?

[@ahmedarif3097]

cameras should have an option to copy files directly to external hd or flash drive

[@philliphaggarty7640]

I don’t know much about the tek world but can you use as card again

[@Sr7Sr7Sr7]

I don’t think the network it creates is any more private within a hotel than going direct to the hotel WiFi. You can snoop the wired network as easily as you can the wireless one. The only way it’s private is that the connection over WiFi to your rav device is passworded so others can’t use it. But going out over Ethernet from the device to the main router of the hotel, your traffic will look the same as if you had plugged in your computer or whatever directly.

[@tverdich]

Inateck Micro USB Card Reader for Android is no longer available. ANyone seed a replacement?

[@Draugluin999]

i had 2 red and grey micro sd cards that went bad on me im scared to buy another sandisk MSDC

[@papermagicroom253]

Wow very nice it's good move thanks for the good video 🤩😅😘😃😋

[@hellopsp180]

Cannot buy the RAV Power now :( sadly

[@IvanBaas]

You can also click the copy button and hub will copy it for you automatically. So no need to involve your phone in it.

[@KameraGloger]

Does anybody know of a device like that with two USB ports? I usually have to copy my footage from a card reader (xqd) to a USB drive.

[@jimmyryan5880]

Ravpower is not on amazon (in europe). Ive been looking for a solution all day. Why wont anyone take my money

[@MrDaviddesouza]

Is there a CF card to SD adapter? How do you back up a CF card????

[@markymarc177]

Hey Todd, Happy New Year!! Thank you for insight ~ Interested in backing up more footage on-the-go, especially while traveling and exploring new places. Looking to see if any of these are compatible with SSD ? I currently film and have the Ninja V5 as the monitor recording to an SSD card. Traveling more often now and interested if there is a way to record on the Ninja 5 and then at the end of the day back up the footage a portable hard drive, without having a laptop on-hand?? A way that keeps the same quality of video from the day of filming? I have a USB 3.0 to 2.5" SATA III Drive Adapter Cable. Do you know if this would be compatible By using the USB port on the RavPower filehub, WD my passport, or any others? Would greatly appreciate your insight !! @todddominey

[@dominey]

Interesting question. I don't believe there's a way to back up SSDs using the RavPower. From what I can tell its backup functionality is limited to SD cards. You may be able to mount two drives using either an Android device or a newer iPad and use one of the adapters I mentioned to transfer files b/w drives. Or if your budget allows, the Gnarbox 2 might also work. Another idea -- though this goes against the topic of this video -- would be to pick up a cheap Chromebook or something similar so you can transfer files w/o bringing your "main" laptop, if that makes sense. Anyway, just some ideas!

[@desantismedia6176]

Todd - sorry for the very dated question but can the RavPower unit support UHS-II cards?

[@dominey]

I haven't tested it, but my assumption is it would.

[@desantismedia6176]

@@dominey thank you Todd.

[@desantismedia6176]

@@dominey We've ordered one and will give it a try in a day or two upon arrival. A bit of research indicates it "can" but only transfers at the UHS-I speed. A few extra minutes is not a problem if it solves the (- laptop = travel storage) equation.

[@dominey]

@@desantismedia6176 Nice thanks for letting me know

[@kennethsvensson1978]

If I try to use the Inateck Micro USB Card Reader solution I mean.

[@gianlucaalessia5538]

Wish they'd make a cheaper one without router which I find to be useless and to slow. Just easier to connect, upload and be done. Lacie makes one with sd card slot, it's the raid pro but wish they had a ssd version that wasn't like a grand ( rugged boss pro)

[@user-yv2cz8oj1k]

The gnarbox is more about editing on the fly without a laptop than just backing up.

[@dominey]

Agreed. I tried to make that point when talking about the Gnarbox 2, for it provides a whole solution for content creators on the go. But if backing up SD cards is all someone needs, there are more affordable options.

[@NatureloverCa]

It's a bit quirky but still a great product. The biggest problem, three years later, is that the company app doesn't support newer phone operating systems. Just upgraded my phone and can't install the Rav FileHub app on it. The company confirmed they are not releasing newer versions for newer phones. Not a happy camper ☹. Any solutions?

[@BruiserFL]

I have a new Samsung S23 Ultra with the "NewHub" app installed.

[@aaa0303a]

3 years on from when this vid was released, none of these clever solutions is available. Anyone got any current solutions for this problem?

[@everfree198102]

Android phone with type c port, usb hub with sd reader, portable hard drive.

[@droneographyworld8775]

@@everfree198102 I've been looking in to this. But can't find a solid answer. So my android can't handle 2 devices plugged in at once with a Kiwibird OTG connecter (that has a USB for my HDD and an SD card slot), so a hub would then work?

[@everfree198102]

@@droneographyworld8775 i am using anker usb type c hub which I bought from amazon on my Galaxy Zfold 3. Both sd card and portable hard drive works fine at the same time.

[@droneographyworld8775]

@@everfree198102 that's great thanks. Is that powered?

[@everfree198102]

@@droneographyworld8775 no. It is powered through my phone.