Direct copy from a7r IV to an external drive?

[Lake Travis Doug]

I am wondering if there is a way to copy all of the files stored on the SD card directly to an external HD or SSD via the USB 3.2 on the new Sony a7r IVa. Anyone know if this can be done? B&H has a great price on a SanDisk 1TV Extreme Portable SSD V2, though I may try to find something with more storage--if it can be done with using a computer in the field.

THANKS!!

 

[garuda]

Reciprocum claims that using a laptop to xfer via a7Riv's USB-3 port takes forever; I trust he's tried it. But try it yourself when you get cam.

Suggest using laptop having an SD port, or an SD card reader (for reading the SD) --- and xfer photos to laptop or a Samsung T5 2TB. Either way, you need a computer. I have four Tough 256GB cards that last two days shooting in field, then come home to computer (or take laptop to field).

Amazon Samsung T5

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Only with something like this

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Better off using a small laptop and hard drive, cheaper by far.

 

[AlphaWorld]

The problem is that the camera connects as a storage device, and so does the external SSD - neither wants to take control - the cable fits, but no one is driving.

There are gadgets (I think someone posted one abov) that let you copy, but they are generally slow.

Some Sony cameras can FTP shots as you take them, but you need more than a hard drive to receive them.

I carry a few cards and download the lot when I get home to an SSD.

 

[Ivanturas]

As mentioned, your first issue will be the lack of a "master" device. You need one of them to read from the other, but both are just waiting instructions. Even many cellphones will act like this, unless they have OTG support, which basically means that the cellphone will take charge of operations. But even then, you'll face the actual main issue: power draw. A smartphone on its own may not be able to power the external SSD (let's not even think of making an HDD spin), and even if it does, it probable won't be enough juice to have it operate on ideal circumstances, which will, first, degrade your external device's health, and b) provide super slow transfer speeds. Combine that with the huge bottleneck most cellphones' interfaces and buses have, and it'll be a hard pass.

Maybe adding a dongle, with its own card reader, plugged in to a powerful enough charger would work, but I haven't tried it that way because it's already starting to defeat the purpose. Similar case is using an iPad... I've seen people using them to transfer, and they're apparently fast & powerful enough (same with some high end Android tablets), but it doesn't seem much more convenient than using my laptop, specially when factoring cost. Those fancy devices don't come in cheap.

What you may be looking for is more of an autonomous drive, like the Nexto posted above, which is actually kinda cheap compared to most other options: Your cheapest Gnarbox is $280 + taxes, carrying a fixed 128GB drive and no fancy screen, almost $400 for the 256GB model, and then you climb to the nvme Gnarbox 2 models, from $500 to about $1K.

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LaCie might provide a more budget friendly option:

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(can't believe I'm writing "lacie" and "budget" together)



And last but not least, you have the WD My Passport Wireless devices... I'm unclear on their price, as B&H lists the SSD model at over $600, while the HDD version (way cheaper) is discontinued. Amazon has both models listed but pricing is all over the place. WD's site lists them from 140 to 380, but out of stock.

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