There are so many options out there now for storage to keep your files not only safe, but portable that it can often be a daunting taske to pick one. I wanted to share ones that have worked for me to possibly help someone out there who may be struggling to decide. Before I get into what I have used that works for me, there are a few things that are key to know prior to selecting a portable drive. First is the amount of memory that you will need for your backup. There are all kinds of options out there from 128GB to as many terabytes as you would want.
Secondly, decide on the portability factor. Are you going to want something like a NAS (Network Attached Storage), a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), SSD Drive (Solid State Drive) or a cloud service. Each of these have advantages and disadvantages in my humble opinion. Let me first discuss the NAS option. Again there are many options.
NAS is a type of RAID storage but the biggest difference is that the NAS is configured to work over a network. I opted to use a Synology simply because I needed to access my files when I am away from my home. With Synology and the apps that accompany the unit, I can access my files anywhere on the planet. This functionality is necessary for me if a client wants to modify and change something in file on the fly, or if they just want the image as is send to them. This could also be limited by capacity so ensure you have what you need and then some when setting this up.
RAID is a type of storage similar to a NAS, just not connected to a network. The main players in this type are Synology, OWC and Samsung. There are others, but these are the big three. They all do the same thing so the brand choice is up to you. It is simply a bunch of drives that given you redundancy if one drive happens to fail. Simple to set up but has limitations of the space in the sense that once you fill the discs, you need to get larger ones with more capacity. Ensure that you have well more than you need when setting this up. This type of scenario would store your images off the main hard drive, but would not be accessible anywhere.
Solid State Drives have come a long way. Today, they are small powerful and fit in the palm of your hand making them extremely convenient to transport. Most use the USB-C type of connection that allow for quick access on laptops or desktops. I utilize the Samsung T7 line of portable storage for travel specifically. I transfer the memory card to the T7 SSD drives, one primary and one backup so I have redundancy built in for all my RAW files. These work great and I have never had a failure of these.
The final one I would like to discuss is the cloud. Storing your files off site in the cloud enables piece of mind that should something happen to the main dwelling, hard drives and such, you have copy of all your files safe and secure off site. Many services provide this and you can research on your own. I will tell you the one that I use is Backblaze. Affordable and secure, this allows me to access my files anytime and anywhere there is an internet connection or service.