ShotGrab Blog

Guides on card offload, backup and file management

Practical guides and honest comparisons for photographers and filmmakers — how to move footage off cards safely, back it up properly, and pick the right tool.

Guides

AI is here: ShotGrab 0.3 fills in your project and hands off your footage

ShotGrab 0.3 adds on-device Apple Intelligence: describe a project in one sentence, get plain-words import reports, and send footage on to Resolve or Lightroom.

ShotGrab 0.2 is out!

Overnight shooting, a Disks sidebar, one-click "mark for formatting", iCloud sync between your Macs and full project backups: everything new in ShotGrab 0.2.

Best Apps to Copy and Back Up SD Cards on Mac (2026)

Six ways to get footage off a card on a Mac, who each one is for, and which ones verify the copy.

Why ShotGrab Beats Finder for Offloading Camera Cards

Finder can copy your files. It has no idea whether the copy is actually safe — and on a 165 GB card of RAW stills or 4K clips, that's the on…

File Naming Best Practices for Photo and Video Projects

Naming that still makes sense when you're 4,000 files and three cameras into the day — not just the ten test shots you renamed by hand at yo…

Sony Card Folder Structure (XAVC S and XAVC): What to Keep

Where Sony cameras put clips on the card (PRIVATE/M4ROOT for XAVC S, XDROOT for XAVC), why the sidecar files matter, and how to back up the whole tree.

Panasonic P2 Card Folder Structure: Copy CONTENTS Whole

How a P2 card is laid out (CONTENTS with VIDEO, AUDIO, CLIP, ICON, plus LASTCLIP.TXT), what Panasonic says about copying it, and how to back it up safely.

SD Card Not Showing Up on Mac? What to Check Before You Format

Seven checks, in order, when a camera card won't appear on your Mac, and why erasing it should be the last step, not the first.

Why Your Camera Restarts at IMG_0001 (and How to Avoid Overwriting Files)

How camera file numbering works (DCF, 9999 files per folder, counters that reset after a format), why duplicate filenames happen when you import several cards, and how to keep them apart.

ShotGrab vs Stow: Two Mac Offload Apps Compared

Stow is a new free offload app; ShotGrab is a Mac app with a free tier. An honest look at verification, destinations, automation, reports and platform support.

Canon XF Card Folder Structure: What to Copy and Why

How a Canon XF card is laid out (CONTENTS, CLIPS001, MXF and sidecar files), why copying only the video files can cause problems, and how to back it up safely.

The Best Folder Structure for Photo and Video Projects

Date, client, camera — in that order, and for a reason. A structure you can trust without thinking about it, on project 1 and on project 400…

How Checksum Verification Works (and Why SHA-256 Matters)

"Copied" and "verified" are not the same word. Here's what's actually happening in the gap between them.

The 3-2-1 Backup Rule for Photographers and Filmmakers

Footage is one of the few things you genuinely cannot reshoot. Here's the backup rule built around that fact.

How to Import Folders as Bins in DaVinci Resolve (Keep Subfolders)

Drag a project folder into the wrong part of the Media Pool and Resolve quietly flattens every subfolder into one giant bin. Here's the drag…

How to Import Footage Into DaVinci Resolve Automatically

Resolve has no ingest step of its own. Four ways to get new footage into the Media Pool without dragging folders every time.

DaVinci Resolve's Resync Media Files, Explained

What Resync Media Files does, how the automatic version differs, and the cases where a bin refuses to resync.

Adding New Footage to a DaVinci Resolve Project Mid-Shoot

Day two of the shoot and the project already exists: when to resync, re-import or relink.

How to Mark an SD Card for Formatting (Without Deleting Anything)

Tools like ParaShoot, and ShotGrab itself, make a copied card look unformatted so your camera offers to format it. Here's how it works, why it's safe, and what it can't do.

How to Safely Eject an SD Card on macOS

"The transfer looked done" is not the same as "safe to remove." Here's what's actually happening in between.

How to Ingest Photos With Photo Mechanic: A Complete Guide

Photo Mechanic's Ingest dialog is powerful and genuinely deep — which also means there's a lot to set correctly. Here's every option, in ord…

How to Import Photos and Videos From an iPhone to a Mac (Every Method Compared)

Photos app, Image Capture, AirDrop or a cable — the right method depends on one question: do you want these in your library, or in a folde…

Comparisons & Buyer's Guides

ShotGrab vs Backed: Which Card Offload App Fits You?

Backed is a new card-offload app, still on its waitlist. Here's how it compares with ShotGrab, which you can use today.

ShotGrab vs OffShoot: Which Card Offload Tool Fits Your Workflow?

Both take verified copying seriously. They're built for different sets, different budgets, and different ideas of what happens after the che…

ShotGrab vs ShotPut Pro: Which One Fits Your Set?

ShotPut Pro has been the industry default for over a decade. Here's where that history still wins, and where a newer, cheaper, Mac-only tool…

ShotGrab vs Tusk: Which One Fits Your Workflow?

Tusk backs up your whole project, not just the card — cloud destinations included. Here's where that scope wins, and where ShotGrab's narrow…

Free vs Paid Card Offload Tools in 2026: What Actually Matters

Before comparing prices, decide what you're actually optimizing for — platform, compliance, or getting back to shooting fastest.

Photos App vs Image Capture: Which One to Use for a Clean iPhone Import

One organizes everything into a library you can't easily leave. The other just copies files. For project work, that difference is the who…