Field backup options for M4 Creator?

[cordilleran]

Searching for options to offload data from the Mavic 4 Creator SSD while in the field / mid-shoot. A laptop wouldn't be practical most of the time. Anyone have a good workflow from the Mavic 3 Cine or current Mavic 4 Creator?

Potential solutions that I'm considering:

ClouZen Tainer - ideal concept, like the defunct gnarbox. Sounds a bit slow for 100+ GB data dumps. Anyone been using this or a similar alternative?

iPad (or iPhone) via USB-C - either a high-capacity model, or cheaper model with a usb hub to an external ssd. Will an iPad see the drone's internal storage in the Files app? This seems like it would be the fastest field-portable option as the Pro, Air, and now Mini all have 10Gbps USB-C.

Non-apple tablet - same as above, but outside of the apple ecosystem

Copy to internal SD card / Controller -don't think this works and would probably be too slow anyways

Quicktransfer - OK for photo selects, impractical for full backup

Any other options?

 

[mavic3usa]

No idea if this will work for the M4P or the SSD but perhaps you might try this?

M

Post in thread 'Backup drive for saving sd cards in the field'

Jan 28, 2024

This is what I use, it's a device called:

It is an $80 device called NewQ and you can find it here: Amazon.com

Features no memory, internal rechargeable battery.

How it works: On the left side, you have one SD card slot where you insert either your full-size SD card or use an adapter for the microSD card. This is your input, or the microSD card from your drone.

Along the top from left to right are 3 slots (ethernet, USB-C for charging only, USB-A for output only)

How to backup: Use the USB-A slot to connect the drive you want to copy files to. It can be (l to r): 1) full...

• mavic3usa

• 

 

[MS Coast]

I use an Samsung Galaxy S20 Android phone with 128 GB of internal storage and a supplemental 250 GB microSD card to back up the cards in 25 trail cameras doing wildlife surveys. In a typical collection session, I walk 4-5 miles in hilly woods with several creeks to cross to get to the cameras, so I avoid carrying any unnecessary weight. The cables and adapters weigh next to nothing and fit into a small zipper bag in my shirt pocket.

I have a 32-gram Crucial X9 external SSD drive that's about the size of a large book of matches and provides an additional 2 TB of storage. It could be used to move files off the phone if more capacity is required.

 

[wco81]

I was thinking about this problem, not just for a drone with a big internal SSD but any drone because it would suck to lose the drone but suck even more to lose all the media you might have captured when you lose the drone.

I do have an iPad with a lot of storage so I could maybe get a micro SD card reader with a USB-C plug and copy the media files to it.

I don't know if the card would mount within the iPad but I would imagine it would. Presumably you can delete the media files off the card once you've copied everything to the iPad.

 

[PINEBARON]

I use my iPhone with 1TB storage to download photos/videos over the drones QuickTransfer method; 1TB is more than enough for my use. The only thing I can't offload is controllers screen videos without an iPad or similar device; these can usually wait until I'm home.

 

[cordilleran]

I was thinking about this problem, not just for a drone with a big internal SSD but any drone because it would suck to lose the drone but suck even more to lose all the media you might have captured when you lose the drone.

I do have an iPad with a lot of storage so I could maybe get a micro SD card reader with a USB-C plug and copy the media files to it.

I don't know if the card would mount within the iPad but I would imagine it would. Presumably you can delete the media files off the card once you've copied everything to the iPad.

Can you plug the drone directly into the ipad and transfer at similar speeds to a computer offload? I'm getting ~750MB/s on my computer and would imagine any ipad with 10Gbps USB could achieve a similar speed. This would offload ~20 minutes of 24/30p All-I footage in 2-3 minutes, which would be an acceptable time on the ground between missions.