Hi all.

Finally my HP pavilion laptop gave up on me and I've replaced it with an iPad Air due to not really needing a laptop.

What I would like to know however, is can I use the hard drive from my laptop with the iPad? For example purchase a cradle to use it as an external drive

Alternatively is there a way I can connect the hard drive to my home network and leave it that way at home, and access the files on the network from the iPad?

Though not necessary, I have a lot of music files, photos and stuff that I won't be wanting to clog the iPad up with, but would like to be able to access relatively easily.

Any help or advice would be brilliant.
Thanks

no you can't connect external drives to an ipad.

You can buy a NAS enclosure to put the disk in which then plugs into your network. However most NAS enclosures will want to format the hard drive as they require a different drive format than PC in which case you would lose all the content on the drive. You would need to instead hook the drive upto another computer first either using a USB caddy or directly connecting it to the drive connectors inside a desktop pc to back the data up first if you wish to retrieve the data before copying it back to the drive when its been placed in the NAS and fully setup.

Then you could access the files using any app that provides access to shared drives. There are a number of these both for accessing just media like video and music or ones that will access all file types. Additionally many NAS enclosures have their own apps that can be downloaded specifically designed to work with that NAS.


Another option is if your router has a USB port then it may support attaching a disk inside a usb enclosure to it and acting as a file server. Like a NAS these often require the disc to be formatted to be used BUT some will take a FAT or NTFS formatted disc (which is what your drive from a laptop will most likely be formatted in). In effect this turns it into a very basic NAS drive

As part of my business cloud for my business I get a few of these free, this make and others do similar
http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive/iUSBport/

I think the iusbport2 may help you.

You could also use the LaCie Fuel which adds either 1TB or 2TB additional storage wirelessly.

http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?id=10618

You can share the hard drive locally to home network or internet via a Windows PC, MAC or linux fairly easily and for free. Beyond that, smart NAS devices like Synology has Apple and Android apps which support file sharing. Of course the device would need to be on for sharing to work.

You could also use a cloud based option live google drive or dropbox both of which has apple and android apps. Obviously speed would be reliant on your internet speed and space is limited unless you pay for more.

Try one of these; https://pogoplug.com/


£25 on Ebay

Got a Synology drive, and that works well as a network/cloud drive.

This appeals to me, formatting isn't a problem - will it then need an operating system or just work like a flash drive on the network?

And most obviously, will an iPad be able to access it?

Accessing it via another PC is an option however the other PC isn't always on and I'd sooner the easy option for that without booting the other system

As for cloud access - tempting but may work out expensive, plus I'll have to upload it all in the first place I guess

Thanks

Neither the NAS enclosure or plugging it into a router if it has a USB port on the router requires an OS. In the router method it uses the Routers firmware and with a NAS the firmware in the NAS enclosure handles it.

The drive then shows as a Networked device which can then be accessed using any app on your ipad that can access network shares. Most NAS enclosures have their own iPad app to do it but there are others both paid and free that will also do it

Awesome this sounds interesting to me, is there a particular one you'd recommend?

It'll be occasional use so nothing expensive is required, hardwire to router via Ethernet is fine if it's xx cheaper option to wifi also.

Thanks

The Synology NAS drives aren't the cheapest but they will do everything could could possibly want including media server, backup, personal cloud, web server, VPN and lots more. I have an older 212j model with 2 x 2 TB drives. The current equivalent model is the 213j (http://www.synology.com/en-uk/products/overview/DS213j)

As LostFool said the synology ones are quality bit of kit and are usually multibay devices so you can add more drives later or buy a second drive of the same type and run it in a raid array so if a drive fails you don't lose your data.

There are cheaper ones from the likes of dlink and there are also single bay ones (which are rarer) which may however be fine for your use

Another vote for Synology. They don't have wireless built-in put plug via ethernet into your home network. You can access them as a network drive or if you have an Android or iOS device then there are apps to access them wirelessly. You can also configure your router so they can be accessed via Internet from anywhere in the world.

Actually, some of the newer Synology models do have Wi-Fi built in (such as the 213air http://www.synology.com/en-uk/produc...rview/DS213air) - but if you already have a wireless router then it's a feature you don't really need.

Brilliant this all sounds good.

Are there any recommendations on the single drive options?

I won't ever really need dual and so it seems a bit of a waste, especially as it won't be largely used.

Thanks

The only single bay device that synology do I think is the DS112j. Around £110. Two bay devices are not much extra and give you room for future expansion.

Do you have a desktop PC, you could do this all for free ?

Yes, my parents have a desktop PC.

I have either a sata 640gb drive from my broken laptop or a 500gb 3.5" drive from inside my external hard drive, I suppose I could just install one of them into the PC and use it exactly the same, just means the PC needs to be switched on?

How would I do this, how would it need formatting and so on and how would it work on the he iPad, is there a recommended app?

Perhaps this is better as I'm more the occasional user this amount of money at the moment would be a bit of a waste.

Thanks

Yes the PC would need to be on.

Just need to share out the drive, check youtube for instructions on how to share a folder, it varies slightly depending on operating system.

Then on your iPad have a look at FileExplorer Free for mapping to network drive.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/file...510282524?mt=8

Sounds easy enough, would it need formatting or could I leave my old os already on it?

Assuming Windows 7 or 8 you just share the drive on your local network. It's not the best solution as you need to keep your PC running and the built-in Windows media sharing services aren't great - but there are alternative Windows media servers. Plex (https://plex.tv/ ) is probably the best of the free ones.

plex is fine for streaming, bit less useful for actually moving files around.

Windows file sharing is fine for what OP needs to do and no it does not need formatting through will probably need to get a 2.5" to 3.5" adaptor.

This would be a secondary drive though, the desktop would still use the original drive, this would just be an extra if that makes sense...

So it wouldn't need an os left on it, or should it be left anyway even though it'll only be used for files?

Any time you want to access the drive, your PC will need to be on,

Yes that makes sense now, thanks.

Main question now, is Can I just stick the drive in and use it to store files, or will it need the so removing, ie reformatting to be used as just storage?

I'm half contemplating sticking it in, leaving it as is, and actually just booting from and using this os and doing it that way, it'll be rare use but means I keep everything as it is and can still actually backup and sync iTunes with my existing stuff too if that makes sense

Cheers