The offload concept

Most days, you save files into your project folder and Tusk syncs them to your destinations from there. Offload is for the other case: you have a pile of files on an SD card or external source that need to land on your backup destinations, ideally without sitting on your Mac on the way.

When you offload, Tusk reads the source once and writes to every destination in parallel. One read, N simultaneous writes. The card isn't read multiple times. Your Mac doesn't need enough free space for a full local copy. Every copy is verified with BLAKE3 during the stream.

Two modes, same engine

Tusk has two Offload entry points. They share the fan-out transfer engine. What differs is what happens after the run finishes.

• Standalone Offload (sidebar Offload → /offload): get a card safe fast, with a transfer report (CSV/PDF). Tusk does not keep watching those files afterward unless you also offload into a project. Covered on Standalone offload.
• Project Offload (create-project wizard or Offload on a project): files join a project with ongoing sync, restore, and delete-local. Covered on From project creation and Into an existing project.

When to use which

• Use standalone when you plugged in a card and want verified copies plus a report, without setting up a project first.
• Use project when you want those files tracked long-term in Tusk (status in the file table, restore, delete local later).

What problem this solves

You come back from a shoot with three SD cards full of footage. Total size: 800 GB. Your Mac has 200 GB of free space. Without an offload tool, the path looks like card to Mac (doesn't fit), then Mac to each destination, then delete from Mac and repeat.

With Tusk Offload, the same job is card straight to drive 1, drive 2, and cloud at the same time. Done. Card verified. Eject and reformat only after the run shows every copy verified.

Project Offload and the local copy toggle

On project Offload, you can also write files into the project's primary folder during the run (UI toggle: Also copy files to local working folder). That option is project-scoped. Standalone Offload does not create a lasting project index.

• Off (usual default): files go straight from the source to your destinations. In a project, each file can appear as Remote only: in the index with verified backups, but no local copy.
• On: files also land in the project's primary folder. Use this when you want to edit immediately without restoring first.

What gets verified

During the stream, Tusk computes a BLAKE3 hash of the source bytes once and compares it against what it wrote to each destination. When the offload reports a file as verified, the bytes on each destination match the card, and the hash is recorded for future re-checks (on project Offload, in the project index).

Interruptions

Offload sessions persist to disk. Unplugging the card, losing a destination, quitting Tusk, or restarting the Mac does not throw away finished files. Reconnect and the session resumes. Details on Pause, resume, retry.