can external hard drive be used with ipad
Can data be downloaded directly from an iPad (or iPhone) to an external hard drive without using a computer?
iPad Pro 11-inch Wi-Fi
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Technically yes, but external, drive support is STILL in its infancy in iPadOS and there are many wrinkles and barriers to using one.
Regular, standard small USB flash memory drives and thin portable SSDs appear to have more success with working with iPads and iPadOS, which need less power requirements to work properly.
Spinning. mechanical hard drives still appear to be problematic and need extra powered gear, like a powered USB hub to work with an iPad with iPadOS, but are not always successful.
External drives need to formatted by a Mac ONLY, currently.
In addition the external drive needs to be formatted into one of these file/data formats
Apple's native macOS format
APFS
FAT 32
ex fat
APFS, FAT32, ex fat all have varying degrees of connection success depending on drive manufacturer.
There is no rhyme or reason and you can only test drives by trial and error.
Apple Website external drive help link here.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/ipad/ipad1c415e32/ipados
Good Luck!