I am trying to help my brother to replace a notebook Windows PC with an iPad 3. He has a Thomson wireless router and an external USB hard drive with files on it. He wants to access files on his external hard drive, connected to the USB port on the router. Is it possible to access these files with an iPad 3? The files are Word documents and pictures. He also wants to stream audio and video to his TV set. Is Apple TV what he need for this?
The iPad cannot natively connect to hard drive. The only way to access the drive would be to have it shared through the computer and then use an app like File Browser might work.
He also wants to stream audio and video to his TV set. Is Apple TV what he need for this?
If he wants to stream wirelessly, yes.
Regards.
Thanks for your quick reply! Is it possible to reach the files if they are placed on a USB stick? Has the iPhone 3 USB ports?
Is it possible to stream video and audio to the TV via cable? As an alternative to Apple TV.
No, the iPad does not have USB ports and cannot access files placed on a USB flash drive other than photos via the Camera Connector Kit. He'll either need to sync the files to the iPad using iTunes or use some computer to place them on some cloud service that supports iPads, such as Dropbox.
As to streaming, you certainly can connect an iPad to a TV by cable, assuming of course that the TV has appropriate inputs, preferably DVI or HDMI. He'll just need the appropriate adapter, available from the Apple Store, just about any Apple dealer, and a number of cable/adapter vendors.
Regards.
There are some wireless external hard drives that can be used with the iPad.
The Kingston Wi-Drive, which costs $50 for the 16 Gigabyte, and then $30 more for every 16 gigs more. It works by you turning it on and then accessing the files on it from an app that you download on your iDevice. You can access music, movies, and other stuff. No connections or anything, it works like a WiFi connection, you connect to it from the setting on the iPad under wireless networks.
Then there is the Seagate GoFlex, which some would recommend over the Wi-Drive. But this one costs $199 and had 500 Gigabytes of storage. It works the sameway as the Kingston: no wires, runs over its wireless connection. You can actually fit up to 300 HD movies on it.
Another option:
Expand your iPad's storage capacity with HyperDrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1153935/hyperdrive.html
On the road with a camera, an iPad, and a Hyperdrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1160231/ipadhyperdrive.html
Mac - How to Move the iPhone & iPad iTunes Backup folder to an External Hard Drive
Windows - Change iPad default backup location
http://apple-ipad-tablet-help.blogspot.com/2010/07/change-ipad-default-backup-lo cation.html
Windows - Changing IPhone and iPad backup location
http://goodstuff2share.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/changing-iphone-and-ipad-backup- location/
Cheers, Tom 😉
hi
One choice could be AirStash, which have 8/16 GB storate plus memory card support (SD/SDHC,SDXC) . it normal USB stick, but has WiFi with Webdav support, which means several apps can use it. It also has battery, so you can used it several hours with cable, recharcing is done via USB port and I think you can recharge it with for example your iPad power adapter (just replace USB cable in power adapter).
Look at http://www.airstash.com/#specs.
How to access files on external hard drive via iPad 3?
