I’m excited to receive one of the first production samples of the PocketCloud NAS Portable Backup solution in a few weeks when they start shipping. I don’t often get excited over gear, but this is one offers some promise and I’m excited to see if it lives up to my expectations. The PocketCloud NAS Portable Backup is a compact portable backup device that doesn’t require a computer/tablet to backup images from a memory card and when you get back home it can sync with your computer or cloud storage to download everything backed up.
For years I have been searching for a portable backup solution that is cost effective and will do what it promises to do. For certain trips I’ve taken, the weight limits for baggage have been so severe, or the conditions so harsh, that I couldn’t, or wouldn’t, bring a laptop computer and external hard drive to back up my images. Trips I’ve been on such as Greenland, Norway, Alaska, Iceland…have impacted my normal image backup routine. Over the years I have looked at various one-box solutions, self-contained devices to read and store images from the memory card. Either they were too expensive to “try”, or the features/interface didn’t appear to fit with my needs. I’ve tried out various other solutions, often tied to a lighter weight iPad and external drive. This was never a good solution as the iPad OS wasn’t built to handle file manipulation/management and I often go so frustrated trying to back up my images I eventually gave up during the trip, hoping for the best that my memory cards didn’t get corrupted.
So I’ve continued to watch the market and hope for a new product to come along that would fit in to my workflow. Earlier this year I became away of the PocketCloud NAS Portable Backup system and decided to do some research. Everything I read seemed positive; the features, the quality, the testing, etc. It was initially offered on Kickstarter at a price point that fit within what I would expect to pay for something like that. Not an extravagant expense, yet it was still expensive enough to validate a quality product. I decided to pledge in to the program and take my chances and in a few weeks, I should be receiving my PocketCloud NAS Portable Backup.
I will give a full review of this once I’ve had a chance to use it in real-world conditions. I will take it to Alaska on our grizzly bear workshop and evaluate its features and functions to share later. Some of the features that I really liked about this are…
- Display screen to see mode/status/progress (many of these only have status lights, no screens)
- Selector knob instead of random button sequences to change functions
- SD card reader built-in. Can also read microSD with adapter card. Does NOT have a CF slot! I don’t shoot CF any longer, so that’s not an immediate impediment.
- 6 hour (plus) battery life when active and backing up those huge memory cards
- Great wireless interface with portable devices
- Optional dock to connect to home PC and allow automatic syncing
You can order this without memory, or with various amounts of SSD memory installed. I opted for a 2Tb SSD to be installed as I don’t often need more than that size during any single trip. You can configure it however you want! The dock is an optional purchase as well as other accessories that they offer. On most of my photo trips, I’m able to bring a laptop and external hard drive, so I don’t anticipate needing to use this heavily. I choose to go with a basic package to get me started and see how it works.
I am not affiliated with this company at all, other than being a paying customer and one who is excited for his new “toy” to arrive :-). If you are in the market for a portable backup device, I encourage you to check out the PocketCloud NAS Portable Backup. Be warned, as am I, that fancy websites and slick marketing campaigns have overshadowed questionable products for years, so I am being cautiously optimistic in these words. The proof will be in the performance and once I receive it and run it through the paces, I’ll update you on my verdict.
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