Time Machine backs up your whole Mac on a schedule but doesn't track individual files across external drives, and it can't tell you whether a specific file is safely backed up before you delete it locally. Backblaze runs continuously in the background but gives you no per-file visibility — you can't see which destination has a confirmed copy of a specific project file. ChronoSync syncs folders on a schedule but has no awareness of what's on a drive when it's disconnected. Tusk is purpose-built for project files. It tracks backup status per file, per destination, in real time — including destinations that are currently unplugged. Before you delete anything locally, Tusk physically verifies each file on every connected backup destination using a BLAKE3 checksum. When drives are disconnected, you can still see exactly where every file lives without plugging anything in.

One-time purchase — you pay once and own it with no monthly fees. The regular price is $79. We're currently running a launch offer at $49, which includes one year of updates. After the first year, updates are optional: Tusk keeps working without them, and you choose whether to renew. You can try Tusk free for 14 days with no credit card and no account required. If you decide it's not for you, just delete the app. Your backup files stay exactly where they are — Tusk stores everything in standard formats on your own drives and cloud accounts.

Yes. Once you set up a project and point it at your footage folder, Tusk watches that folder continuously and syncs every change automatically — new files, re-exports, autosaved project files, renamed clips. No manual triggers, no scheduled runs, no remembering to press sync. You just work. If you quit Tusk and reopen it, it picks up exactly where it left off, including any changes made while it wasn't running. If a backup drive was disconnected while changes accumulated, Tusk syncs those files automatically as soon as the drive reconnects. The whole system is designed around the assumption that you shouldn't have to think about it.

Tusk supports external drives (SSDs, HDDs, and SD cards mounted as volumes), Google Drive (including multiple accounts in the same project), and Amazon S3-compatible object storage — including Backblaze B2, Wasabi, and AWS S3. You can connect multiple destinations to the same project and Tusk syncs to all of them in parallel. Every file transfer is verified with a BLAKE3 checksum before the source is considered safe. For SD card ingest specifically, Tusk reads directly from the card and fans out to all destinations simultaneously — the card is read exactly once regardless of how many destinations you have.

Your files are always just files — stored on your drives and cloud accounts in their original format with their original filenames. Tusk doesn't wrap anything in a proprietary container, doesn't compress or encrypt without your knowledge, and doesn't require itself to be running for your backups to be accessible. If you stop using Tusk, open your backup drive in Finder and everything is exactly where you'd expect it. You can browse, copy, or restore files manually without Tusk installed. The only thing you lose is the tracking layer — the per-file status visibility and the ability to restore with one click. The files themselves are always yours.

Yes — this is one of the core things Tusk was built for. Every file's location is indexed in a local database on your Mac. You can see that a footage file lives on the drive labeled SSD_Archive and has a verified copy in your Backblaze B2 bucket, even when neither destination is currently plugged in or online. This means you can answer the question 'which drive do I need to grab for the January shoot?' without connecting anything. When you're ready to restore, connect the drive or pull from the cloud and Tusk handles the transfer with the same checksum verification used during the original backup.

Tusk blocks the deletion. Before allowing any local file removal, it runs a preflight check that physically verifies each file is present and confirmed on every connected backup destination — not just logged as synced, but actually found on the drive with a matching checksum. If a file hasn't made it to all destinations, or if a destination drive isn't currently connected, the deletion is blocked and Tusk tells you exactly what's missing. Files you delete through Tusk go to the macOS Trash, not permanent deletion, so there's a recovery window even if something unexpected happens. Your backup destinations are always additive — Tusk never removes files from a backup even if you delete them locally.

Tusk syncs in the background and throttles automatically when your Mac is under load so it doesn't compete with Premiere, Resolve, or Lightroom during active sessions. It runs as a menu bar app with no persistent window. Background sync jobs pause automatically during SD card ingest so the ingest transfer gets full bandwidth, then resume when ingest is complete. Most photographers and video editors run Tusk continuously without noticing it. If you ever need to push through a large sync quickly, you can also trigger a manual sync from the project view and monitor progress in real time.