I'm new to all this...don't even have any hardware yet; which is why I'm here! I'm a pro/hobbiest landscape photographer, and I've come across a situation that I think can be done with Arduino. A co-worker pitched me the idea of Arduino, saying they're versatile and you're only limited by your imagination as to what you can do with it. My problem that's brought me here, is that quite a few times when on a shoot I will fill up an SD card. It takes me a good 10-15 minutes to go through the menagerie of opening my Mac, using a usb multi-card reader (usb 2.0) and transferring 32 GB of RAW and JPEG files...I don't have that kind of time. I know some of you might say, "carry extra SD cards"...I do. What is the feasibility of using an Arduino board, plug in an SD card and have it automatically transfer the images to a SSD? I've scoured the net searching other forums and sites to see if someone else has done it...no dice. If someone could let me know my expectations of an Arduino are way off, or if it actually possible...I'd greatly appreciate it.
"transfer the images to a SSD"
What is SSD in this context? Solid State Drive?
Arduino is not a USB master, need to add a shield to do that.
Would be doable, you will likely be disappointed with the performance tho.
Perhaps fat16lib can jump in, or you can PM and ask him about possible transfer rates.
I've never used them myself, but other posts here have referred to existing products which take the place of an SD card and transmit the 'stored' images to another device. It might be more expensive than an Arduino, but it is an off-the-shelf solution which I suspect would be much more usable than a DIY Arduino-based solution.
I would imagine, an Arduino could probably do the job if you get an appropriate shield, etc. but I imagine it may be on the slow side, particularly at uploading to your computer.
If you are shooting in a studio or similar location, just open the Mac once, and when you start on the 2nd card, start uploading the first, presumably by the time you finish your 2nd card, the first card will be uploaded, and then switch cards. Or at least carry enough cards to see you through the day, and then you can upload the cards in the evening. Also, get a faster card reader and memory cards to shorten the time. If you have wifi on your mac, you could use the Toshiba or Eyefi wireless cards to upload to the Mac as you are shooting.
Thanks for the replies...I wasn't sure if it was a viable option or not. Since I shoot landscapes my studio is the outdoors, and lugging around my Mac gets heavy. I've looked at all of those external drives that will transfer my pics off the SD card, but they're slow as well. One said, "transfers 1 GB in 10 minutes!"...that doesn't sound good for my application. I know other pro photographers just carry multiple SD cards, which is what it seems I'll have to do. Thanks again for all the responses.
MacLaren:
Thanks for the replies...I wasn't sure if it was a viable option or not. Since I shoot landscapes my studio is the outdoors, and lugging around my Mac gets heavy. I've looked at all of those external drives that will transfer my pics off the SD card, but they're slow as well. One said, "transfers 1 GB in 10 minutes!"...that doesn't sound good for my application. I know other pro photographers just carry multiple SD cards, which is what it seems I'll have to do. Thanks again for all the responses.
Yes, the low end devices are very slow, but the Sanho device I quoted is 27 MB/sec, which should copy a gigabyte in under a minute. According to this review that was written in 2009, the reviewer could copy and verify nearly 4 gigabytes of data in 4 minutes and 31 seconds. http://www.ppmag.com/web-exclusives/2009/11/review-sanho-hyperdrive-colors.html
Given the cost of memory cards, it doesn't make any sense these days not to go out with enough cards to see you through a day or more likely the whole trip. Unless you shoot action continiuously in RAW, you probably don't need the fastest/most $$$ cards. Portable storage devices, help in that once the card is copied, it gives you redundant space, in case a card becomes unreadable. A few years ago, I do recall having to use the portable storage device I had at the time, and copying a card so I could erase it in the field. While I probably don't shoot at the volume you do, when I go on vacation, I try to have enough cards to last me through the vacation, though I do copy the cards to my laptop every night. I have somewhere around 32GB of CF cards, and 48GB of SD-HC cards.