Two-Copy Backup Check

Media / AUTOMATE.md

At the end of each shoot day, confirm the files are in the working folder and on the offsite copy, then email me both counts before any card goes on the format list.

This is the whole automation. Run it as it is, or change any word, including the tools it names.

Both copies confirmed
Cards stay off the format list until it passes
Offsite copy dated

How it runs

1. Starts
At the end of every shoot day
2. Reads
the working folder
3. Delivers to
Email
4. You decide
Approve each time, or let the steps you trust run. Your choice.

Why photographers and video teams set this up

Cards get formatted while the only copy is still on one laptop, and a file that failed to copy looks exactly like one that did. The gap is found on Monday, when the cut is already booked.

See the whole job: Shoot Ingest and Backup

Use it as is. Or make it yours.

Edit it the way you would edit a note to a colleague. It follows the new version from the next run.

Change when it runs
Move it to another day or time, or start it when something arrives, like a new email.
Add your own rules
Limits, exceptions and what good looks like go in the same file, in plain words.
Decide what waits for you
Mark the steps that need your OK, and let the rest run.

You stay in charge.
At every step.

It checks and files. Every creative call stays yours.

It never deletes on its own
It checks, lists and files. Deleting or formatting anything waits for your OK.
Undo a move you don't want
Every step is recorded, and files it moved or renamed can be put back.
Your drives stay yours
It works on the folders you point it at, on your computer. Nothing is uploaded to a new library.

Two-Copy Backup Check

Approve before it sends the email?

ReviewApprove

Before you download.

Where does it run?: On your Mac or Windows computer, in the background. It keeps working after you close its window, and only reaches the folders and apps you connect for each automation.
How does it connect to our CRM and other tools?: Through each app's own connection where it offers one, signed in once by you, or by using the app in a browser the way you would. Each automation gets only the connections you give it, and the tools a page names are examples you can swap for your own.
Does it run when my computer is asleep?: It keeps your computer awake while a job runs and just before a scheduled one. While the computer is closed or off, nothing runs; when it wakes, it checks the inbox, calendar and other sources it watches for anything that arrived meanwhile.
How does my team use it?: Each person who runs automations installs the app. Keep a project in a shared folder, such as Google Drive or a network drive, and teammates can open it and follow every run, while one person owns it and runs it.
Do I need anyone technical to set it up?: No. Download the app, add an automation in plain words, and connect only what that job needs. Nothing runs until you switch it on.

Already have tools for this? Here is the difference.

Instead ofGood atWhere it stops

Presets and actions in your editor

Repeating the same edit across many files.

They can't check a delivery against an approval or tell you a card didn't copy.

Flowchart automation tools

Moving data between cloud apps.

They rarely reach local drives, and every exception becomes another branch.

Doing it by hand

Knowing exactly what happened.

It is the part of the job that waits until midnight.

AUTOMATE.md

Your routine, written in plain words. It runs on its own, follows your rules, handles the exceptions a flowchart can't, and asks you when it matters. The file stays yours, whichever AI model runs it.

Other setups for the same job.

Catalog Gap List

When the catalog index finishes a shoot, compare it against the frame list for each card, post the gaps, and keep the shoot out of the archive folder until they close.

When the catalog index finishes a shoot

Offload Checksum Verify

When a card is offloaded to the working folder, check each file against the card listing, post the count per card, and list anything that did not copy whole.

When a card is offloaded to the working folder

Related workflows

Bulk Rename and Folder Structure

Put a shoot into one predictable folder and file-name shape so search, backup, and handoff all agree.

3 automations

Photo organization

Hold the library to one folder shape, with no duplicate or undated shoot left behind, so a job is never hunted for twice.

2 automations

Video transcoding

Render every delivery version of a finished video from one master and play-test each one, so a broken file is found before the client opens the link.

1 automation

Start with one job.
Make it your own.

macOS — coming soon

1
Get the app
It runs on your computer, next to your files.
2
Add the automation
Paste the instructions into the app, or save them as a file next to your work.
3
Try it, then turn it on
Run it once and check the result. It only runs on its own once you switch it on.