Wireless HardDrives?

[jrm27]

Hi all,

I've got a 16gig iphone and I travel a decent amount. I always want to load up my phone with movies and music for long flights, but find that I rarely have the space. I was thinking about getting a wireless hard drive and loading it up with movies, throwing it in my carry-on, and then being able to watch whatever I want in flight.

Does anyone here do this? A few questions:
1. Is there a wireless drive out there that is better than the others?
2. Is there a way to make it so the wireless network the drive creates is invisible to others? Or does it look like a hotspot? In other words, will other folks on the plane be able to access the drive?
3. How much battery power do these things have? If I have an 10 hour flight, could the drive conceivably last for 5 hours or so?
4. How long do they take to recharge? Can I get some decent juice back into one on a layover, or are they "charge overnight" type of devices.
5. Are there any that work better with macs than others?

Really, any real world info would be appreciated. Thanks all!

-jon

 

[Shockwave78]

Hi all,

I've got a 16gig iphone and I travel a decent amount. I always want to load up my phone with movies and music for long flights, but find that I rarely have the space. I was thinking about getting a wireless hard drive and loading it up with movies, throwing it in my carry-on, and then being able to watch whatever I want in flight.

Does anyone here do this? A few questions:
1. Is there a wireless drive out there that is better than the others?
2. Is there a way to make it so the wireless network the drive creates is invisible to others? Or does it look like a hotspot? In other words, will other folks on the plane be able to access the drive?
3. How much battery power do these things have? If I have an 10 hour flight, could the drive conceivably last for 5 hours or so?
4. How long do they take to recharge? Can I get some decent juice back into one on a layover, or are they "charge overnight" type of devices.
5. Are there any that work better with macs than others?

Really, any real world info would be appreciated. Thanks all!

-jon

not to sound like an ass but why did you buy a 16gb then? If you said this was a one off trip or something then yes i would understand, but you said you travel all the time. Doesnt make any sense.

Anyway..no i don't know. I would just rip the movies down to a lower quality then use one of the many syncing applications out there other than ituens that will let you drag and drop videos/music to it that you normally wouldn't be able to.

 

[Gjwilly]

I've used the Kensington WiDrive but wasn't impressed.
I can't remember specifics but I do remember that the network it creates is secure and I'm pretty sure you can even hide the SSID.
CNET lists the battery life as 2-2.5 hours.

 

[idufour]

I never use one of this bit this has good reviews: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Z0S7K6/ref=cm_sw_r_an_am_at_ws_us?ie=UTF8. :thumbup:

 

[Zmanbaseball2]

He is a solution:
[All-in-1] HooToo® TripMate Wireless N Portable Travel Router (5200mAh Power Bank, USB Storage Wi-Fi Media Sharing, Access Point, Wi-Fi Mini Router & Bridge)
http://amzn.com/B00DTPYRTI
Plug in your thumb drive^
And this to charge the router:
Jackery Bar 5600mAh (Black) Premium Portable Power Bank Pack External Battery Backup Charger with 2.1A Output and Built-In Flashlight for iPhone 5S, 5C, 5, 4S, 4, iPad, iPad Mini, iPod (Apple Cable Required) Samsung Galaxy S4, S3, S2, Note 2, HTC One, EVO, Thunderbolt, Incredible, Droid DNA, Motorola ATRIX, Moto X, Droid, Google Glass, Nexus 4, LG Optimus and More; Premium Samsung Battery Cell and Aluminum Enclosure
http://amzn.com/B00DTXA578

 

[jrm27]

Thanks guys (and gals?). I appreciate the direction. I'll check those solutions. if there are any other ideas, please keep them coming!

 

[mpgolfpro]

I've done quite a bit of research on this and plan on purchasing one of these myself in the future, when I get my iPad Mini Retina.

In response to the guy who asked why you would buy a 16gb iPhone if you know you need more space...well that's easy. Apple gouges you for extra space. You have to spend an extra $200 to get a 64gb iPhone. I'd rather take that $200 and buy a 1TB drive.

Here is what I plan to get, which I think is buy far the best solution. Someone above recommended the earlier model of this drive but it is only a 500gb drive and the battery life is much worse.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...m/7240515rg4450-20?s=merchant&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Most people would find this drive alone would be sufficient for their needs. I plan on also purchasing an external battery charger. The one I linked below is the best I have found and offers the best "bang for your buck". Meaning it has the largest battery, in a sleek form factor, at a reasonable price.

http://richardsolo.com/portablepowermax16000mahbackupbattery.aspx#.UlmqaWRMXGC

On top of those two products. There is a company that offers an updated, and supposedly better, software for the seagate. I don't have first hand experience with either the seagate software or this aftermarket software, but I thought it is interesting and something I might look into.

www.hackseagatesatellite.com‎

Hope this helps!

EDIT: I wanted to add that the Hoo Too that was recommended above is actually a pretty cool solution. The only problem I would foresee with that would be that thumb drives are very limited in capacity. If you already had a battery powered external hdd then that could be a great option.

 

[jrm27]

Thank for the advice! I went ahead and bought that drive, but the segate interface app is terrible. It won't play lots of my videos (even though they are .m4v files). so, i've resorted to using the VLC app, but even that has issues... Have you found a better player/interface for this drive?