# Wedding day backup workflow

The single most-important runbook in this kit. **Lose one wedding card and
the relationship is over.** Follow this on every shoot.

## Before you leave home

- [ ] Labels printed: A_CAM, B_CAM, C_CAM, DRONE, AUDIO (small adhesive
      labels on every card pack you take)
- [ ] Two SSDs in the bag (Primary + Mirror). Names match the project:
      `2026-05-27-anya-PRIMARY` / `2026-05-27-anya-MIRROR`
- [ ] Card reader + spare reader
- [ ] Laptop charger + power bank
- [ ] `filmkit new "Anya - Wedding"` run before you arrive; project folder
      on both SSDs

## On the day (between locations or at end of session)

For every card that comes out of a camera:

1. **Plug card into reader.** Never open the files. Never trust auto-import.
2. **Run ingest.** From inside the project folder:

   ```bash
   python3 ~/kit/ingest.py /Volumes/A_CAM_SD ./02_CARD_BACKUPS/A_CAM \
       --mirror /Volumes/MIRROR/2026-05-27-anya/02_CARD_BACKUPS/A_CAM
   ```

3. **Read the output.** It must end with:

   > ✓ Safe to reformat the card.

4. **Open `ingest-manifest.md`** in both destinations. The file counts must
   match. The byte total must match. No `## ⚠ ERRORS` section.

5. **Verify once more before format** — paranoid check:

   ```bash
   python3 ~/kit/ingest.py /Volumes/A_CAM_SD ./02_CARD_BACKUPS/A_CAM --verify
   ```

6. **Only now format the card** — and only in-camera, not from the OS.

## Never do these

- Never format a card until ingest exits 0 and the manifest exists on both
  drives
- Never delete the source on the SD; always use the camera's format function
- Never run ingest with only one destination on wedding day — always
  `--mirror` to a second drive
- Never copy via Finder drag-and-drop. macOS silently skips some clip
  metadata and won't verify the copy

## End of day

- [ ] All 4-6 cards ingested + verified
- [ ] Both SSDs ejected cleanly
- [ ] Primary SSD goes home with you
- [ ] Mirror SSD goes home with your second shooter (or a different bag if solo)
- [ ] Format cards only after both drives are physically separated

## Next morning

- [ ] Run `cull.py` on each camera folder — generates the QC report
- [ ] Cross-check totals against the manifests. Anything missing means a
      bad ingest. Re-pull from camera if cards still hold material.

## If ingest reports errors

The card has a bad sector or the cable/reader is flaky.

1. **Don't panic. Don't format.**
2. Swap the cable + reader and try again.
3. If still failing, the card is failing. Pull individual files via
   PhotoRec or Disk Drill. Save what you can.
4. Replace the card before the next shoot.