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iPad iPad to external Hard Drive file transfer

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SaturnStrobe

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
30
0
I have a library of films/TV shows on a 1TB external hard drive and have just purchased an iPad 4.

Can I transfer files between the two without having to use a laptop/desktop as the middle man?
 
P

pocketpenguin

macrumors regular
Nov 29, 2012
117
0
Short answer, no. You need some device in the middle. A PC/Mac is the simplest. You just plug in the drive to the USB port, and your ipad into USB and use itunes to drag files to your ipad.

Long answer, the device in the middle doesn't have to be a PC/Mac. There are other options like your wifi-router, if it has support for USB.

I've got a d-link dir-505 that acts as a wifi router and storage device. It's made for sharing USB sticks and converting hotel wired connections to wifi, but I've managed to also get a portable spinning HD to work by adding enough power to the USB port (dual usb connector) to spin up the disk. I don't recommend using this device. It's OK, but difficult to configure (you must have a PC to configure it via physical ethernet).

Regardless, the experience of adding storage to your ipad is not the best and you really aren't probably going to like any of the available options.
 
T

turbotoes

macrumors regular
Nov 24, 2010
138
0
France
Filebrowser will do the job just fine. I use it a lot to transfer stuff to and from my iPads from my nas, my pcs and my MacBook.

Not sure if there is an app that will do the job for free, but filebrowser is worth the money.
 
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pocketpenguin

macrumors regular
Nov 29, 2012
117
0
I think the original poster was asking if there is a way to hook ane existing 1tb USB drive to an ipad without an intermediate device. The answer is no.

There are 30-pin to USB flash drive connectors (search eBay for "ipad storage") that kind of allow it for some flash drives, but none have the power to spin up a disk. Also they require a specific folder layout and file naming convention for the ipad to recognize the files. These devices are really for importing photos from camera storage cards, though people have tweaked them with limited success.

I've been searching for a good way to do this as well, and after much research, and gadget purchasing, I've just resorted to my PC and iTunes to transfer files.
 
haruhiko

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
6,529
5,875
GoodReader and some media player apps can access SMB servers (Windows File Sharing / Apple AirPort routers disk sharing etc.).
 
S

SaturnStrobe

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 16, 2010
30
0
pocketpenguin said:
Short answer, no. You need some device in the middle. A PC/Mac is the simplest. You just plug in the drive to the USB port, and your ipad into USB and use itunes to drag files to your ipad.

Long answer, the device in the middle doesn't have to be a PC/Mac. There are other options like your wifi-router, if it has support for USB.

I've got a d-link dir-505 that acts as a wifi router and storage device. It's made for sharing USB sticks and converting hotel wired connections to wifi, but I've managed to also get a portable spinning HD to work by adding enough power to the USB port (dual usb connector) to spin up the disk. I don't recommend using this device. It's OK, but difficult to configure (you must have a PC to configure it via physical ethernet).

Regardless, the experience of adding storage to your ipad is not the best and you really aren't probably going to like any of the available options.
Click to expand...

turbotoes said:
Filebrowser will do the job just fine. I use it a lot to transfer stuff to and from my iPads from my nas, my pcs and my MacBook.

Not sure if there is an app that will do the job for free, but filebrowser is worth the money.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies guys, that clears it up. The answer is basically no.

My hard drive is a stand alone 1TB drive with no wifi integrated or anything like that so it doesnt sound like filebrowser would work unless I bought airport or had it connected into my macbook all the time.

Even then does it actually allow you to transfer files onto the iPad which you could then take on a trip and watch out of the house or is it more like accessing files for streaimng over the network?
 
S

Serikos

macrumors newbie
Jun 13, 2013
1
0
I upload my films with file upload on internet. Use filejam service, upload from computer and after download on Ipad with wi-fi connection.
 
N

nancyfromafrica

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2012
95
0
Johannesburg
From what I can see these conditions exist and need to be considered:

1) Your hard drive needs physical and logical connection - no sata/ide connection on iPad
2) iPad isnt a computer in that sense. It is not intended to hold 'data'. It appears that there are ways to do this using other applications...
3) Once you get the files on you iPad there is probably no way of using them other than getting them off the same way

You probably need to get data recovery services or get a computer and a drive adapter. None of these are related to an iPad
 
Night Spring

Night Spring

macrumors G5
Jul 17, 2008
14,614
7,793
SaturnStrobe said:
Even then does it actually allow you to transfer files onto the iPad which you could then take on a trip and watch out of the house or is it more like accessing files for streaimng over the network?
Click to expand...

Yes, FileBrowser does actually allow you to transfer files to and from the iPad. And if your video files are in an iTunes compatible format, you can play them from within FileBrowser.
 
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