Getting started
Add your first destination
What to pick first, how to set it up, and what happens when the destination connects to your project.
A destination is anywhere Tusk can put a verified copy of your files. External drives, SD cards, Google Drive, AWS S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, MinIO, Wasabi, or any other S3-compatible bucket. Most people add two: one local for speed, one cloud for safety.
This page walks through adding the first one inside the new-project wizard. You can also add destinations later from the project's settings page; the form is the same.
Pick what to start with
For most projects, an external drive (SSD or HDD) is the fastest first destination to set up. Plug it in, point Tusk at a folder on it, and you're done. Cloud destinations have one extra step (account or credentials) but they protect you against a single physical location going wrong, which is the entire reason the 3-2-1 rule exists.
If you only add one, pick the one you're less likely to lose. For most people that's a cloud destination. For others (limited bandwidth, large files), it's a drive stored at a different physical address. The deeper guidance is on the Choosing your destinations page.
You can mix and match later
Add an external drive
Make sure the drive is plugged in, mounted, and showing up in Finder before you start.
1
Choose External hard drive in the destination picker
From the destination picker (in the project wizard or in project settings), click External hard drive.
2
Pick a folder on the drive
Use the folder picker to choose a folder on the drive where Tusk will write your project's files. We recommend a subfolder named after the project (e.g. /Volumes/SSD_Fast/Tusk/Wedding_Smith_2026-04-15) rather than the volume root.
3
Confirm the destination label
Tusk auto-fills the destination label from the drive's volume name. Edit it if you want something more memorable.
4
Save
Click Add destination. The drive appears in your project's locations panel and Tusk starts syncing on the next pass.
Screenshot
External hard drive form in the destination picker. Show the folder path field with a path like '/Volumes/SSD_Fast/Tusk/My_Project', the editable label field, and the 'Add destination' button.
alt: The external drive destination form filled in
Add Google Drive
You connect a Google account once, then reuse it across as many projects as you want. The full per-provider page is Google Drive; the short version below is enough to get going.
1
Choose Google Drive in the destination picker
Click Google Drive. If you haven't connected an account yet, Tusk offers to do it now.
2
Sign in to Google in your browser
Tusk opens a browser tab to Google's OAuth flow. Sign in with the Google account whose Drive you want to back up to.
3
Grant Tusk the drive.file permission
Google asks you to grant Tusk access to files created or opened by Tusk. This is the narrowest scope available. Tusk cannot read, list, or touch any other file in your Drive.
4
Pick a folder name and save
Tusk creates a dedicated folder inside your Drive (default name matches your project). You can rename it. Click Add destination to save.
Add an S3-compatible bucket
One form covers AWS S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, MinIO, Wasabi, and any other S3-compatible service. The differences are the endpoint URL and the access key format.
Each provider has its own per-page setup with the exact endpoint and key format: AWS S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, MinIO, Wasabi & others. The short version:
1
Choose S3-compatible in the destination picker
Pick S3-compatible. If you have credentials saved already, pick them; otherwise Tusk asks you to create new ones in line.
2
Enter your endpoint, bucket, and folder
Endpoint URL (e.g. s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com), bucket name, and the path inside the bucket where Tusk should write your project's files. The folder must be empty; Tusk blocks adding a destination that already contains files from another tool to prevent mixed sessions.
3
Test the connection
Click Test connection. Tusk does a real round trip against the bucket using your credentials and confirms the response.
4
Save
Click Add destination. Credentials are encrypted and stored in your macOS Keychain. You may see a one-time macOS prompt for your login password.
Credentials live in your Keychain
What happens once a destination is added
Tusk starts a sync pass for the project. Every file in the primary folder gets queued for transfer to the new destination, and the file table updates per row as the transfers complete and Tusk verifies each copy with a BLAKE3 checksum. You can watch the progress on the project page or close the window and let it run in the background.
From now on, anything that changes in the primary folder propagates to this destination automatically along with all your others.
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