Ingesto is a free camera card offload tool for Mac and Windows that copies your footage to multiple drives at once and verifies every file bit-for-bit.
Ingesto reads every byte back and checksums it, so you know your camera cards landed intact before you wipe them. This is verified camera card offload, and the same workflow DITs and data wranglers use, but for free.
I recently ran an article on the site about another product called Stow that is also a free copy and verification program. Just like Stow, Ingesto requires no account or signing up for anything; it is completely free.
A lot of shooters, and even clients, still use Finder or Explorer to copy critical footage. This is a very dangerous practise and it tells you nothing about data integrity. A single corrupt frame can easily slip through the cracks, and you won’t know until the edit. Some of the copy and verification programs on the market are subscription-based, and that is why some people are reluctant to use them. To play the Devil’s advocate for a second, a lot of the established copy and verification companies do offer good customer support and constant updates.
What can Ingest do?
Multi-source → multi-destination copy in a single pass 4 copy modes: Fast · Verified · Secure (xxHash) · PRO (checksum list) PRO double-read: re-reads the source after verify to catch failing cards xxHash64 / xxHash128 / MD5 checksum list written per folder Auto camera detection (brand & model) Smart folder naming with presets + smart counter Card tracking: warns on unformatted or already-copied cards KIOSK mode: stripped-down single-card UI for camera operators on set Ingest report: live HTML log on every destination, exportable to PDF
Just like Stow, Ingesto isn’t yet registered on the Apple App Store. The apps are safe but unsigned. If macOS says the app is “damaged”, run once in Terminal: xattr -cr /Applications/ingesto.app.
You can download Ingesto here.
Matthew Allard is a multi-award-winning, ACS accredited freelance Director of Photography with over 35 years’ of experience working in more than 50 countries around the world.
He is the Editor of Newsshooter.com and has been writing on the site since 2010.
Matthew has won 51 ACS Awards, including six prestigious Golden Tripods. In 2016 he won the Award for Best Cinematography at the 21st Asian Television Awards.
Matthew is available to hire as a DP in Japan or for work anywhere else in the world.