The imagetank is a backup solution for images based on a Raspberry Pi. The basic idea is that you plug in your SD-card from your camera into the Pi (using an USB adapter), and the Pi will automatically copy all images to an attached HDD/SDD.

Since this is a headless system, the user interface has to be simple. The imagetank uses an extension board called "Pibrella", which is manufactured by Pimoroni. This board has a number of LEDs which we use to signal state and a button, which we use for shutdown.

You can also use the system without the extension board or use a different solution like one of the simple TFT touch screens. Read Imagetank without additional Hardware if you just want to go with the hardware of your Pi. If you instead want to different hardware, you will have to tweak some of the scripts of this project.

Installation

First, install your system as described in Basic installation. This sets up your system and your HDD/SDD.

After basic installation, you need to install the files specific to the image tank:

sudo su -
git clone git@solusar.de:caelebfi/pi-imgtank.git
cd pi-imgtank
sudo tools/install-piimgtank
exit

This will install some scripts and configuration files needed by the imagetank. It also configures a number of systemd-services which will control the leds of the Pibrella-board and which take care of copying the images.

The core of the tank is an udev-rule which will automatically start a system-service (/etc/systemd/system/copy_img2@.services) on plugin of a SD-card. That service in turn will start the script /usr/local/sbin/copy_img2 which does all the copying.

Note that there are two versions of the copy script: copy_img and copy_img2. The first version does not change filenames while copying images, you therefore risk data-loss if you reset the image-numbers within your camera or if you use multiple cameras which use the same naming-scheme!

Make sure that /etc/systemd/system/copy_img2@.services points to the correct script (the service name is not relevant, you have to change the value of ExecStart within that file).

Using the Imagetank as an Access-Point

Since the Pi3 has a builtin WIFI chip, we can set it up as an access-point. This allows access to the images even when not connected to a dedicated network. For instructions, see Setting up an Access-Point.

Web access to your images

If you want to browse the images on the imagetank, you have to install a webserver on the system. You can find the necessary instructions in the document Installing a Webserver.

Once installed, you can also upload files using the web-interface. All uploaded files will also be moved in the same way as files from a SD-card.

Using the Imagetank as a Fileserver

The imagetank is meant as a backup solution. In case you need to recover your files, a Samba-server comes in handy to access your images from any computer within your network. You can find a setup instruction here.

Operation

Now shut down and if not already done, install the Pibrella extension. If you now reconnect power you should see the red led blinking for a few seconds. After that, the red turns off and the green led turns on. The system is now ready.

Insert a SDHC card from your digital camera into an USB-adapter and plug it into the Pi. The orange led should now start to blink slowly. After all files are copied, the led stops blinking and the green led comes on again. Now it is safe to remove the USB-adapter.

The leds of the Pibrella hat always reflects the current state of the system. You can see a graphical representation of the various states in the following image.

You can log into your system using ssh and see log-messages of the copy-script:

sudo journalctl SYSLOG_IDENTIFIER=copy_img

sudo journalctl SYSLOG_IDENTIFIER=copy_img2

(depending on which version of the copy-script you are using).