Camera Media wrangling: multiple copies & verification

[Craig Thomas quinlan]

There’s software out there that does everything you just mentioned – multiple copies to multiple locations, plus verification, and they’re cheap.

Take a look at Shotput Pro from Imagine Products:

https://www.imagineproducts.com/

There’s also VideoToolShed Offloader:

https://www.videotoolshed.com/product/15/offloader/3

For RED media, a very popular one is R3D Data Manager:

https://www.r3ddata.com/

With tapeless media, it’s definitely crucial to verify it when transferring to devices. With this software, you can compare by file sizes/dates/names, and also do byte by byte comparisons to ensure everything made it over safely. There’s other software out there for sure, but don’t rely on drag & drop in Finder if you care about your media being safe, especially if you have to erase and reuse your cards.

[Bob Cole]

Does the R3D software handle other file formats?

One interesting point in the R3D webpage: “Make sure that the data from your RED MEDIA is truly unique, and if not, make it unique!”

I’ve already run into this. When I was editing footage from several different GoPro cameras, each of which generated the same filenames, I discovered that one camera’s footage had been overwritten by another’s, because both cameras had the same filename structure. (Thankfully, the SD cards weren’t overwritten before I discovered the error!)

Which of these titles, if any, handles this issue for footage from a variety of sources? (I use AVCHD, MP4, XDCAM, etc.)

Thanks again. Very interesting. This will give me a lot more confidence going forward. (always a dangerous thing…)

Bob C.

[Craig Thomas quinlan]

Shotput Pro will do any digital media card, since it’s just pulling everything off in an unaltered state. It lets you choose between a file size comparison, which is fast, or a byte for byte comparison, which takes longer but is much safer.

There are other products out there, this is just an example of one that I’ve personally used (I have no affiliation with Imagine Products).

Tapeless workflow can be dangerous without a proper transfer solution, and major problems with drag and drop happen way more often than you might think. For how inexpensive this kind of software is, it’s worth the peace of mind.