Offload
Offload from project creation
The shortest path from card to backups: create a new project and offload in the same flow. Files don't need to land on your Mac at all.
When you come back from a shoot and there's nothing on your Mac yet, the cleanest path is to create the project and run the offload as the same operation. The new-project wizard handles both.
1
Plug in your card or external drive
Make sure macOS mounts the source. The first time you connect a card or drive, macOS asks for removable-volume permission for Tusk. Grant it.
2
Click 'Add project' in the sidebar
Open the new-project wizard. The opening screen asks for a name and lets you flip on the offload toggle.
3
Enable the offload toggle
Switch Back up directly from SD card or external drive on. The wizard now asks for both a primary folder (the reference folder on your Mac) and a source folder (the location on the card or external drive).
4
Pick a primary folder
Even though the files won't land here (with the default settings), Tusk needs a folder to anchor the project. Pick a stable location, ideally on your Mac (e.g. ~/Documents/Tusk/Wedding_Smith_2026-04-15). The folder can be empty.
5
Pick the source folder on your card or drive
Use the picker to navigate to the folder on the card that contains the files (e.g. /Volumes/SD_64GB/DCIM/100MEDIA). Tusk derives the source drive automatically from the path.
6
Decide whether to also save locally
The Also save to my local foldertoggle (the copyLocally option) is off by default. Leave it off if you just want backups and your Mac doesn't have room. Turn it on if you want to start editing right away.
7
Add destinations and review
Add your backup destinations as you would for any project. The review step shows a summary of source, destinations, and options. Click Create project & offload.
8
Watch the offload run
Tusk creates the project and immediately starts the offload. The project page shows an active offload card with overall progress, current file, transfer speed, and ETA. You can close the window and let it run in the background.
Screenshot
Create-project wizard with the 'Back up directly from SD card or external drive' toggle enabled. Show both the primary folder picker and the source folder picker visible in the same step, with the 'Also save to my local folder' switch below them.
alt: The create-project wizard with the offload toggle enabled
Local file conflicts during create-project offload
If the primary folder you picked already contains files with the same names as files on the source, Tusk catches the conflict before starting:
- Skip conflicting files: leaves the existing local files alone and skips those names from the offload (they don't go to your destinations either).
- Replace with source files: deletes the local copies first, then offloads everything from the source. Use this when the source is the canonical version. Tusk warns you before doing the deletion.
The summary at the end of the wizard shows your chosen resolution before the offload starts.
What you see while it runs
Tusk lands you on the project page. The active offload card at the top shows:
- Overall progress as a percentage of bytes copied (not files), so a single 60 GB raw clip counts correctly.
- Per-destination progress bars.
- EMA-smoothed transfer speed and ETA.
- The current file being processed.
- Pause and Cancel controls.
Files appear in the file table immediately, even before their offload completes. Each row shows In progress, then flips to Synced (copyLocally on) or Remote only (copyLocally off) once verified.
What if my Mac sleeps or restarts?
The session is fully persisted to disk. If your Mac sleeps, the offload pauses; on wake, it resumes. If you restart your Mac, the offload state is restored on Tusk's next launch and the session picks up where it stopped. No bytes re-read, no files redone.
Don't unplug the source until it's done
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