Cheaper Gnarbox Alternative! Build your own Little Backup Box to backup your photos in the field!

This explainer video walks you through how to build your own photo card backup box using open source software and readily available hardware for a fraction of the cost of commercial alternatives. If you are one of the many photographers left high and dry by the implosion of Gnarbox, this video is for you. The total cost for this project is around $100 if you use the parts I use in the video. You can sub out some of the parts below to bring your cost down depending on your needs.

If you're not technically-oriented, and you'd rather just buy one of these boxes, I have some spares sitting around from time to time, so contact me at [email protected], and I can try to get you one, subject to availability of parts. Please keep in mind, though--I'm not a tech store--I'm a hobbyist, and I can provide only limited tech support, if that. The video you see here is the product of years of experimentation, and it's largely all been trial and error, so I can't offer any kind of guarantees. But I've done it enough times that I'm comfortable setting up new boxes from scratch.

Parts list:

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
https://amzn.to/3SMYkKu (4GB RAM)
https://amzn.to/3SMYkKu (8GB RAM) - faster backups....

Raspberry Pi 4 power supply
https://amzn.to/3uAfraB
https://amzn.to/48QLYXT

LCD screen w/ case
https://amzn.to/48oP7hg (3.5" resistive LCD)
Please note--some users have reported issues installing drivers that come with this LCD version. I have done a fresh install with this LCD, using the GoodTFT drivers available at https://github.com/goodtft/LCD-show.git. To install, these are the five commands--do this before you install LBB:

1. sudo rm -rf LCD-show
2. git clone https://github.com/goodtft/LCD-show.git
3. chmod -R 755 LCD-show
4. cd LCD-show/
5. sudo ./LCD35-show

https://amzn.to/3VhYI6F (4.3" capacitive LCD)
https://amzn.to/3VXIv7l (alternate link)

Sandisk Ultra MicroSD
https://amzn.to/49ARAGz (256GB)
https://amzn.to/4adHonA (512GB)
https://amzn.to/3uYTtOQ (1 TB)
https://amzn.to/49ARAGz (1.5TB) - if you use this as internal storage, you may not need external storage below.


Samsung thumb drive
https://amzn.to/3TjRmNB (128GB)
https://amzn.to/3uCRRtF (256GB)

Raspberry Pi Imager software for installing Raspian OS
https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/

Little Backup Box GitHub repository
https://github.com/outdoorbits/little...

My website for photo prints and other photo gifts
https://justalittlelight.com

Many thanks to outdoorbits for the assistance on modifying the Little Backup Box code to work with the LCD panel.