When you shoot multiple cards, usually the workflow is to unload them once you get back to home base. This is usually enough, but if you want to be absolutely on the safe side (or just want to empty your cards) you have two common solutions: use a laptop to transfer the files or use something like the $219 WD My Passport Wireless hard drive that comes with an SD slot.
Reader Sasha Stojkovich just sent in this clever tip that enables a backup from practically any card to practically any portable hard-drive. The secret sauce? An OTG card reader with a USB hub built in.
The idea is quite simple, instead of backing up a memory card to a computer, use your smartphone as a file browser to transfer files from a card reader to an external hard drive. This is kinda like Norton Commander if you’ve been here long enough. If not, than any file managing utility like ES file explorer (or FileExplorer for iOS) should do.
Since external harddrives are small, portable and as cheap as $50/1TB , backing up now becomes significantly less of a headache.
The nice thing about Sasha’s hack is that is also enables connecting an external battery to power the drive via a Y-cable.
The specific brand that Sasha uses can be found here, but other, similar, devices can be found on Amazon, and Chinese sites like BangGood or DealExtreme.
Yea, I know that this may not technically be a hack, deal with it.
