Workflows
Common setups
How Tusk fits into different creative workflows. Every setup is slightly different — these are starting points.
Video editor
1
Point Tusk at your footage folder, or your DaVinci Resolve / Premiere project folder if you want to track project files too.
2
Add your backup SSD as a local destination and Google Drive or S3 for an offsite copy.
3
Keep working normally. When a project wraps and you want to free up space, use Delete Local in Tusk — it will only allow deletion once every copy is verified.
4
Need a file back? Connect the drive (or don't, if it's in the cloud) and click Restore.
Photographer
1
Create separate projects for your Lightroom catalog folder and your raw import folder — they have different backup needs.
2
Add an on-site drive and a cloud destination (Google Drive or S3) so you have two independent copies.
3
After a shoot, check the file table before clearing your card. Every file shows its verified status per destination.
4
Use the Locations view to see which drive holds which files, even weeks after a shoot when everything is unplugged.
On-set SD card ingestion
1
Connect your SD card to your Mac.
2
In Tusk, click Ingest SD card and select the card from the picker.
3
Choose your destinations — typically a set drive and a cloud account. Tusk streams files directly from the card without copying to internal storage first.
4
When the transfer finishes, Tusk runs BLAKE3 checksum verification on every file. Once all copies are confirmed intact, the card is safe to eject and reformat.
Multi-drive archive
1
Create one Tusk project per client or per shoot season.
2
Add two or three external drives as backup destinations for each project.
3
After wrapping a project, Tusk keeps tracking file locations even as the drives go into a drawer or off-site storage.
4
Months or years later, search for any file in Tusk and see exactly which labeled drive it lives on — no plugging in drives to find out.