External storage

LeeG · May 25, 2020

I am considering an external drive. My thought is this drive is small enough to put in my back pocket with a cable to the USB connector at the top of the controller. I find jockeying a bunch of microsd around between drone and SC to be a pain, so hoping to eliminate use of cards if possible. A few questions...

Can I readily transfer drone footage to the external drive?

Can I readily transfer SC screen capture video to the external drive? Perhaps instead of to internal SC memory, or micro-sd card?

Go Share seems to only be for pushing to phones, with barcode linking. I take it Go Share won't push to external storage?

Hopefully I can figure out what rugged cable to order. I have found connector type for external drive to be a bit confusing.

Thanks for sharing your experience doing something like this.

ff22 · May 25, 2020

LeeG said:
I am considering an external drive. My thought is this drive is small enough to put in my back pocket with a cable to the USB connector at the top of the controller. I find jockeying a bunch of microsd around between drone and SC to be a pain, so hoping to eliminate use of cards if possible. A few questions...

Can I readily transfer drone footage to the external drive?

Can I readily transfer SC screen capture video to the external drive? Perhaps instead of to internal SC memory, or micro-sd card?

Go Share seems to only be for pushing to phones, with barcode linking. I take it Go Share won't push to external storage?

Hopefully I can figure out what rugged cable to order. I have found connector type for external drive to be a bit confusing.

Thanks for sharing your experience doing something like this.

If I recall, I hooked up a thumb drive or maybe a larger usb drive to the SC. It should behave like an sd-card in the controller. So using the Preview function (the trangle/arrow) under the camera shutter button, and then downloading should copy images/video to the SC storage. You can probably experiment with a thumb drive.

LeeG · May 25, 2020

ff22 said:
You can probably experiment with a thumb drive.

Drive I am looking at is 2TB SSD drive: SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable External SSD - Up to 550MB/s - USB-C, USB 3.1 - I would use this for archiving all, and of course backup protect it.

ff22 · May 25, 2020

LeeG said:
Drive I am looking at is 2TB SSD drive: SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable External SSD - Up to 550MB/s - USB-C, USB 3.1 - I would use this for archiving all, and of course backup protect it.

I was going to say, "putting all eggs in one basket" but as long as you backup.

I just plugged in a 4tetra drive into the USB port at the top and it showed up. I quickly navigated to a picture folder and saw my files. But I did not go further. It might have seemed a bit sluggish but I can't be sure.

Good luck.

Km5er · May 26, 2020

LeeG said:
I am considering an external drive. My thought is this drive is small enough to put in my back pocket with a cable to the USB connector at the top of the controller. I find jockeying a bunch of microsd around between drone and SC to be a pain, so hoping to eliminate use of cards if possible. A few questions...

Depends on your circumstances. I stopped using a portable back up a few years ago either due to no electricity or no internet (for cloud backup). It appears you want to go straight to a hard drive instead of using the cards. If you use cards you have a very tough device. I pulled a card out of an underwater camera whose housing flooded while diving Truk lagoon several years ago and the card is still being used today. I also change the card everyday so in case it does get messed up....I just lost one day of photos/videos. Some of the places I have been to had no electricity....no issue with the sd card. I agree the cards can be a pain....especially the tiny micro cards but depending on the circumstances I find them to be the least pain of all the methods.

LeeG · May 26, 2020

Km5er said:
I stopped using a portable back up a few years ago either due to no electricity or no internet

This stuff improves over time. The model I mentioned is ruggedized (1500Gs), tiny, and has a 10hr internal battery life. Water resistant (I saw a user test on YouTube, and they held it under water for 1 minute, and it continued to operate without issue) But while plugged into SC, even if battery is low, it still operates drawing power from USB. Typically 100mW, but a bit more when actively reading or writing. Almost nothing, and as mentioned, BUT if you charge before you go, it is good all day for power on its own battery. I will back it up when I get it home to my 8TB backup system (mostly incrementals, which are smaller). My entire drone footage archive will always be with me, ready to view on SC controller screen. And for 3 years Sandisk will recover lost data if ever needed. Seems like zero compromises to me.

Km5er · May 26, 2020

LeeG said:
This stuff improves over time. The model I mentioned is ruggedized (1500Gs), tiny, and has a 10hr internal battery life. Water resistant (I saw a user test on YouTube, and they held it under water for 1 minute, and it continued to operate without issue) But while plugged into SC, even if battery is low, it still operates drawing power from USB. Typically 100mW, but a bit more when actively reading or writing. Almost nothing, and as mentioned, BUT if you charge before you go, it is good all day for power on its own battery. I will back it up when I get it home to my 8TB backup system (mostly incrementals, which are smaller). My entire drone footage archive will always be with me, ready to view on SC controller screen. And for 3 years Sandisk will recover lost data if ever needed. Seems like zero compromises to me.

Km5er · May 26, 2020

Sounds pretty good and it sounds like it is great for you. I think in my old age that I have less patience for coming back to the hotel (or tent in the case of my Africa Trip) and messing with things. Plus one more item just adds to the weight. My last portable solution was the WD 3TB My Passport Wireless Pro Portable External Hard Drive - WiFi USB 3.0, and it was useless after the battery ran out while in the Serengeti and after being beat to death in a jeep all day I was too tired and sore to deal with any type of transfer. Macho Picchu (Peru) and Angkor Wat (Cambodia) had some internet and electricity but I was more interested in going out so when I got back to the hotel it was crash time ....and crash time only. Direct to the hard drive sounds cool...but me.....set in my ways I am going to stick with the cards. Take care! : )

Paul2660 · May 26, 2020

That’s a great external drive. I have 2 of them and no issues. I believe they now have a 4 TB version out or coming soon.

You should be able to do as you want by attaching the drive and off loading images to it.

Paul C