Get started with IngestDeck
IngestDeck is a DIT-grade ingest tool for macOS. It copies your camera cards to as many disks as you like, verifies every byte against the source, transcodes review proxies, signs industry-standard manifests, generates PDF reports, and tells you when a card is safe to wipe — while you watch the whole run from your phone. This guide covers all of it, screen by screen and node by node.
New here? Read this page and the workspace tour, dump your first card with Simple mode, then let Watch mode run the day for you. When one card needs to become two backups + proxies + a manifest + a report, graduate to the Advanced workflow graph.
Two ways to work
Everything in IngestDeck is built around one idea: a copy is not done until it is verified. You reach that outcome through one of two modes, switchable any time from the top bar — switching never loses state.
| Mode | Best for | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | Dumping a card, fast | Three columns — a live disk browser, a source-over-destination editor, and a job queue. Drag a card in, pick a disk, hit Run. Verification and safe file placement are handled for you. |
| Advanced | Repeatable, multi-step ingest | A workflow graph. Wire Source → Copy → Verify → Convert → Eject nodes together, branch in parallel, save the graph as a per-production template, and run it every shoot. Each tab is a durable project. |
The two modes share one engine, the same disks, the same verification and the same run history — a card dumped in Simple is verified to exactly the same standard as one that ran a ten-node graph. Both modes also share Watch mode: arm the workflow and dropping a card starts its offload automatically.
Install & first launch
First launch is a short, one-time sequence — the app walks you through each step:
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Download and install
Grab the latest macOS build from the download page and open the
.pkg. It installs IngestDeck.app into Applications. Runs on Apple Silicon and Intel. -
Sign in
A sign-in gate covers the workspace until you sign in — it opens a secure browser window to your IngestDeck account; a subscription or the free trial unlocks the app. Once signed in, the app keeps working for about a month even with no internet — nothing to configure. Details in Account & working offline.
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Grant Full Disk Access
A status panel explains the macOS Full Disk Access grant and deep-links to System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security. Flip the switch and the panel notices by itself. FDA is what makes every corner of every card readable and volume renames possible.
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Choose about analytics
A one-time prompt asks whether to share anonymous usage analytics. It's strictly opt-in — "Not now" keeps it off, and the choice can be changed later in Settings. Nothing about your media is ever sent either way.
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Approve the disk helper — only when you first format
Copying, verifying and converting need no special privileges. Only formatting a disk uses a signed background helper, and macOS asks you to allow it in System Settings ▸ General ▸ Login Items the first time. Until you format something, this step never appears.
The concepts that matter
A handful of ideas show up everywhere. Learn them here and the rest of the guide reads easily.
Disks & roles
Every mounted volume is live state across the whole app — mount, rename, fill or eject a disk and every panel updates instantly. Each disk carries a remembered role — Source or Destination — and drops are role-locked, so a camera card can never be picked as a copy target. Rename, identify (pulse the activity light), format, benchmark and eject all happen in-app. Full chapter: Disk management.
Where copies land & duplicate policies
Simple mode copies each source into its own folder at the destination root and never overwrites anything: folders merge, and a colliding file is kept alongside the existing one under a numbered name. Advanced Copy/Convert nodes choose a duplicate policy — a fresh run folder per run (the default for new nodes), skip, rename, overwrite or fail. Naming is templatable with tokens (source name, dates, counters, production metadata).
Verification & manifests
Every copy gets an always-on file-size check. Turn on Verify and IngestDeck hashes the source as it reads, then reads every destination file back from the physical disk — cache bypassed — and compares. Add a report and the confirmed hashes are written as legacy MHL or ASC-MHL manifests that continue a card's existing chain of custody. Full chapter: Verification & MHL.
Results & history
Every finished run keeps a permanent, browsable record — every file's ✓/✗, hash and technical metadata — viewable offline long after the disks are gone, plus a built-in media player for checking the footage itself. Full chapter: Results & media tools.
Your first offload
The whole loop in Simple mode — about a minute:
Plug in your card and a backup disk
Both appear instantly in the Disks rail. First time: set the card's role to Source and the disk's to Destination (hover the row → •••).
Drag the card onto Sources
The whole card, or just one folder inside it.
Drag your disk onto Destinations
Add a second disk to back up to both in one run.
Turn on Verify and press Run
Watch per-file progress, throughput and ETA; when it finishes, open the result and see every file verified. Then — and only then — the card is safe to wipe.
Stopping is always safe. Stop a run and every file that already finished copying stays on the destination — IngestDeck never rolls a copy back. Only the one partially-written file is removed, and the stopped run stays browsable so you can see exactly what made it across. (Pausing and resuming mid-run — even mid-file — is available in Advanced mode.)
The guide, chapter by chapter
- The workspace — the top bar, Disks rail, activity log, toasts and every piece of chrome.
- Simple mode — the three columns, the action panel, the queue, results.
- Watch mode — the hands-off offload station, in both modes.
- Advanced mode — tabs, the canvas, diagnostics, templates and projects.
- Node reference — every node, every setting, every rule — with real-world examples.
- Workflow recipes — complete graphs for real jobs.
- Verification & MHL — how the proof works.
- PDF reports — design and generate production paperwork.
- Results & media tools — history, metadata, the media player.
- Disk management — roles, rename, identify, format, benchmark.
- Settings & app behavior — preferences, the log, sleep and quit protection.
- Account & working offline — signing in, your plan, and offline use.
- iOS monitor — the run on your phone, lock screen and wrist.
- Reference & FAQ — tables, tokens, shortcuts, troubleshooting, known v1 limits.