IPad air is capabilities
Dies the iPad air have the capability to read and use an external harddrive?
Question marked as
Yes - with caveats.
iPadOS provides limited support for external Hard Disk storage.
An external HDD can be connected to your iPad with the Apple adapter appropriate for your model of iPad - if the HDD is both partitioned and formatted appropriately (i.e., a single partition - formatted as FAT32, exFAT, APFS or HPS+).
You should also note that the iPad is not capable of providing sufficient power to run an HDD. If the HDD does not have its own source of power - then external power must be supplied to the HDD using the connecting adapter (i.e., an Apple Lightning to USB3 Camera Adapter and Apple Charger of at least 12W) - or by connecting both the iPad and HDD to a powered USB hub.
- Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter
https://store.apple.com/uk/xc/product/MK0W2ZM/A
I hope you find this to be helpful in providing some useful clarity.