BootsnAll Travel Community

A few years have passed since any useful information has been added to any of the threads regarding physical storage of images while traveling, so I though it was time to rehash. Technology may or may not have changed in the intervening years.

Rules of engagement:
1. Assume photographer is shooting RAW or high quality JPEGs (large file sizes).
2. Uploading to the intertubes is NOT an option, so don't even suggest backing up to flickr.

Anyone out there doing anything creative with your photo storage? It seems like the most viable options are to bring along a laptop, or load up on extra memory cards. Given that I can buy a 160 GB LaCie Rugged drive for the same price as the 8 GB Sandisk Extreme III compact flash card I use, buying more than one or two extra cards seems prohibitive cost-wise.

At this point I'm trying to figure out the scenario for a month long trip to South America. It's not long enough for me to really NEED to edit/manage my photos while away, but it will leave me with thousands of images to process when I return home. I figure I'll probably just take my 15" MacBook Pro and a backup drive, but I'm wondering if there's another option out there that I haven't thought of. I have an iPhone so this seems redundant, but maybe the 160GB iPod with camera adapter is the best option for storage? Downside is that iPod can't display RAW images, so there's no visual confirmation of successful transfer.

Too many options. I want the editing capabilities of my computer, but I don't want to carry it!

What are you doing?

I have not traveled continous for months yet so I wonder what I have done in the past might work again.

So this is what I have 2 4GB cards and another 1GB card. I use these to the max by deleting photos I know are pure rubbish.I don't shoot raw...but the next highest to that (fine with highest resolution) works for me for traveling.

After i filled my cards I loaded the pics to my IPOD...they have a adapter that fits right to your uploading cord of the camera. My iopd is a 80GB one and there was plenty space to load pics.

I still kept some of the pics I could not afford to loose on the cards just in case the IPOD failed.

This time when I travel I will do the above and also will have a laptop with me but not all the time. Also plan to take my external drive for backup. I won't be traveling with them all the time though...too much weight.

I've got an old school vosonic portable hard drive where you can copy any type of memory card on. I cost me 150 euros for 60 gigs back in 2005. The newer versions all have screens for photo playback, but my version doesnt. It has never failed me, all tough at times I was wondering if all my pictures got really tranfered to the drive. But I was able to connect with usb in internet cafes and look at the pictures (well not the raw ones).

I think for my next trip I will have to buy an additional unit with more space since I would be shooting mostly raw.

I recently got a Wolverine ESP 120 GB device for backing up photos as I go. Any type of memory card plugs right into it and it's fairly quick to copy vast amounts of pictures from the cards to the drive. It does have a nice screen, and while this device isn't as 'high end' as the similar Epson models, you actually get much more storage for your money.

As a bonus it plays music, videos, has an radio, and a voice recorder built in.

I use this to dump all my photos onto while I'm on the road, but I still keep half a dozen memory cards on hand. The best photos I take will always stay on one of these memory cards. Any breathtakingly fantastic photos I take will probably get emailed to myself or put on a server if I happen to get some internet access.

I've been traveling over a year now and take a lot of photos. All RAW.

Your only real option is an external HD.

If you can afford it, bring two for backup.

I wrote a long post about the subject here:
http://everything-everywhere.com/2008/04/03/backing-up/

Thanks for linking to that, Gary. A lot of good info in the comments that helped me solidify my own plan.

Love the Skull photos. I remember being linked to your blog through PVP a while back.

Thanks for posting this question!! I actually came to this forum specifically to ask it - and now I don't have to! We are getting ready to take off for a 2 1/2 year bicycle trip from Alaska to Argentina and will end up with buckets of photos - and we're trying to figure out how to handle them all.

What about storing the images on a hard drive and the internet. Is there any site (like flickr or picasa) that allows one to upload RAW or high res images?

You cannot load RAW files on Flickr.

I think your only option has already been stated a couple times. You need to bring an external HD or two. HD space is so inexpensive it is also your cheapest option. 500GB HDs are under $100 now.

Uploading is definitely not an option. Good luck uploading 200GB of photos while on the road. That would be an exercise in futility.

When I went away I didnt shoot in RAW so I managed to back up photos on to my MP3 player which has also been mentioned. That could be an option depending on the storage capacity of the MP3 player, then you also have a dual purpose device on the road.

-Conor

Another vote for the Vosonic (or its Wolverine brethren). I have the Vosonic VP8360 and it uses the same type of hard drive as a laptop (so technically upgradeable but the 100gig in mine has been enough). Mine has the screen, so you can view the raw files once they're loaded onto it (with the internal card reader).

The music and video playing aspect is a nice point on the road, but it's not quite as user friendly (IMO) as an IPOD. YMMV.

Ha, figured I was the only one lugging a Wolverine around, mine is a 60gig. Had it for three years now. Wrap the player in a bandanna and put it in a Pelican 1020 case. These cases are waterproof, can be run over by a truck, or dropped and you'll be fine. Only risks are theft and loss. At least no other travelers will take it, they will be laughing at you with their ipods. Being able to put your memory card right into the player is very handy. It also copies your files way faster this way than going through a usb cable.

I just got a Digital Foci from Adorama and love it. It accepts about 5 different types of cards. Used to schlep a laptop and a backup drive - I'm forgoing the backup but willing to take that chance....

Just to chime in with my own plan, though it seems you have it figured out for yourself:

I'll be bringing a portable memory card reader/hard drive (battery powered of course) to dump the full resolution files as I go. This will be my "main" storage, however I realize that it's possible that this could one day be stolen/lost/etc.

So, I'll also be bringing a 8 gig thumb drive that i'll keep with my passport. When I have access to a computer I'll basically resize all of the photos I've taken that are stored on the portable hard drive to a more manageable-but-still-usable size (~2ish megapixels probably) so that if worst case I loose my portable hard drive I still have a copy of the photos for my own memories or viewing on a computer, etc. I'll have all of the software I need to resize setup and ready to go on the flash drive it self.

I also am really hoping that if I have time I'll be able to upload a lower resolution version of my better photos to flickr.