DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Easily Back Up Your Memory Cards To External Drives With This OTG Cable Hack

Aug 9, 2015 by Udi Tirosh 17 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

otg-hack

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.

YouTube video

Yea, I know that this may not technically be a hack, deal with it.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Deal Alert: Amazon kicks off Black Friday early with savings on memory cards, hard drives and SSD storage Default ThumbnailStudio Lighting – Cactus Slave Flash Cable Hack Memory cards past, present and future – What you need to know about the different card formats Memistore lets you keep your spare memory cards safely attached to your camera

Filed Under: Gear Tagged With: backup, hard drive, memory card, storage

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.net

About Udi Tirosh

Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

« Peek Inside The Mind Of Master Street Photographer John Free: Subjects Are Everywhere
Rokinon Announces Xeen – An Affordable set of Cine Primes »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Sirui Sniper series T1.2 AF lenses are now available to buy
  • These are five problems with your woodland photos, and how to fix them
  • Yul Brynner’s personal Leica cameras sold for over $3 million at an auction
  • Terry Richardson faces new sexual assault lawsuits from former models
  • Holiday Gift Guide – Our favourite new lenses of 2023

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy