Travelling: Tablets vs laptops

[tony]

iPad does have USB... But not in an obvious way... Google "iPad Camera Connection Kit"

 

I called Apple tech dept. and asked if this device would support an "My Passport" external drive I travel with and was told that it would not. Am back to square one, I need my laptop.

[seeker630]

I called Apple tech dept. and asked if this device would support an "My Passport" external drive I travel with and was told that it would not. Am back to square one, I need my laptop.

 

Wow, that seems bizarre. I did a bit of searching, and apparently IOS will allow you to access data on an external drive but will not allow you transfer data from the iPad to an external hard drive. (Does anyone here know differently?)

 

Looking at Android forums, it appears that connectivity is limited to certain formats.

 

A netbook is looking better & better!

[tony]

Wow, that seems bizarre. I did a bit of searching, and apparently IOS will allow you to access data on an external drive but will not allow you transfer data from the iPad to an external hard drive. (Does anyone here know differently?)

 

Looking at Android forums, it appears that connectivity is limited to certain formats.

 

A netbook is looking better & better!

 

I was surprised as well, but the young lady in the Apple tech dept. told me that "My Passport" could not be accessed on the iPad. When I told her I had read it would work, she implied that "theoretically" but that it had been "her experience" that it did not work. I took that to mean she had tried it and failed.

 

If anyone else has had a different response, namely that it worked, I would love to know.

This would solve my problem of having to travel with both an iPad and laptop. I just want to access (view) things on My Passport on my iPad. I am not looking to download anything.

 

Would love to hear from anyone who had solved this dilemma.

[gcursor]

My thoughts

 

There's always a way to do something....if you look hard enough. It might not be the way people WANT to do things but there's typically a way. Technically there isn't a way to create playlists that play videos from your iPad in a random order (don't ask..I like it!) but yet I created one of those and it works fine.

 

Technically there isn't a external "hard drive" available for the iPad...of that she's correct. But there is something that you can use for external data...see this

 

http://www.pitchengine.com/hyperdrive---the-worlds-first-and-only-ipad-hard-drive/85829/

 

this is the company

http://www.hypershop.com/HyperJuice-External-Battery-for-MacBook-iPad-iPhone-USB-s/91.htm

 

and a review

http://www.macworld.com/article/153935/2010/09/hyperdrive.html

 

The next question of course becomes what kind of data do you want to transfer. Typically the iPad is used for video/photos/music and so these could be offloaded with minimal fuss I believe but if you're looking to store DOD grade security files on your iPad then no..I probably wouldn't try doing that.

 

The question also becomes how much data are you planning on storing because I have the 64gb model and it would take me a LONG time to fill mine up. Well I did it in 2 days but YES...it was my mistake! I synched the data wrong and it tried to put my ENTIRE library on the ipad. BIG MISTAKE!

 

Anyway I hope this addresses maybe one or two of your concerns. I'd be happy to help you in any further ways possible.

 

Gcursor

 

I was surprised as well, but the young lady in the Apple tech dept. told me that "My Passport" could not be accessed on the iPad. When I told her I had read it would work, she implied that "theoretically" but that it had been "her experience" that it did not work. I took that to mean she had tried it and failed.

 

If anyone else has had a different response, namely that it worked, I would love to know.

This would solve my problem of having to travel with both an iPad and laptop. I just want to access (view) things on My Passport on my iPad. I am not looking to download anything.

 

Would love to hear from anyone who had solved this dilemma.

[seeker630]

There's always a way to do something....if you look hard enough. It might not be the way people WANT to do things but there's typically a way. Technically there isn't a way to create playlists that play videos from your iPad in a random order (don't ask..I like it!) but yet I created one of those and it works fine.

 

Technically there isn't a external "hard drive" available for the iPad...of that she's correct. But there is something that you can use for external data...see this

 

http://www.pitchengine.com/hyperdrive---the-worlds-first-and-only-ipad-hard-drive/85829/

 

this is the company

http://www.hypershop.com/HyperJuice-External-Battery-for-MacBook-iPad-iPhone-USB-s/91.htm

 

and a review

http://www.macworld.com/article/153935/2010/09/hyperdrive.html

 

The next question of course becomes what kind of data do you want to transfer. Typically the iPad is used for video/photos/music and so these could be offloaded with minimal fuss I believe but if you're looking to store DOD grade security files on your iPad then no..I probably wouldn't try doing that.

 

The question also becomes how much data are you planning on storing because I have the 64gb model and it would take me a LONG time to fill mine up. Well I did it in 2 days but YES...it was my mistake! I synched the data wrong and it tried to put my ENTIRE library on the ipad. BIG MISTAKE!

 

Anyway I hope this addresses maybe one or two of your concerns. I'd be happy to help you in any further ways possible.

 

Gcursor

 

But it's one-way only. Quoting from the MacWorld article: Another downside is the inability to transfer files from the iPad onto the HyperDrive

 

Probably a relatively small issue, but still, IMHO, an odd one!

[tony]

There's always a way to do something....if you look hard enough. It might not be the way people WANT to do things but there's typically a way. Technically there isn't a way to create playlists that play videos from your iPad in a random order (don't ask..I like it!) but yet I created one of those and it works fine.

 

Technically there isn't a external "hard drive" available for the iPad...of that she's correct. But there is something that you can use for external data...see this

 

http://www.pitchengine.com/hyperdrive---the-worlds-first-and-only-ipad-hard-drive/85829/

 

this is the company

http://www.hypershop.com/HyperJuice-External-Battery-for-MacBook-iPad-iPhone-USB-s/91.htm

 

and a review

http://www.macworld.com/article/153935/2010/09/hyperdrive.html

 

The next question of course becomes what kind of data do you want to transfer. Typically the iPad is used for video/photos/music and so these could be offloaded with minimal fuss I believe but if you're looking to store DOD grade security files on your iPad then no..I probably wouldn't try doing that.

 

The question also becomes how much data are you planning on storing because I have the 64gb model and it would take me a LONG time to fill mine up. Well I did it in 2 days but YES...it was my mistake! I synched the data wrong and it tried to put my ENTIRE library on the ipad. BIG MISTAKE!

 

Anyway I hope this addresses maybe one or two of your concerns. I'd be happy to help you in any further ways possible.

 

Gcursor

 

Gcursor,

 

THANK YOU so much for that detailed info and links, I truly appreciate it.

 

However, I am not trying to download anything onto my iPad, all I want to "try" do is travel with my iPad an be able to use it to view (without downloading anything onto it) some videos/movies, which I have on an external 1TB "My Passport" hard drive. I can do that now with my laptop, so that I can view the movies from there when I travel, in my hotel room, and then delete them when I wish, but I would not need to put them on my iPad, just use it as a TV scree.

 

That doesn't seem to be possible, or at leas that was what the Apple tech was telling me, as I was very precise with what I wanted to use the adapter for.

 

Thank you very much for your help.