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All iPads All Things iPadOS File System Thread
- Thread starter loybond
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I saw a post somewhere (Reddit, maybe) where someone tried this and it didn't work.
Good question. I'll try right now.
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Yes I was able to AirDrop a music file and a document file with no problem into the iPad. The iPad will ask which application to OPEN the file with. You can simply select "FILES" but you still have to tell iPad under which application to store the file.
And what about another content not downloaded from the iTunes video store? Like, for instance, a mp4 movie clip downloaded from another source. Is it possible to play those video files from an external hard drive?
Thank you
Ok, thank you @sparksd with so many new messages I didn’t see that one. We’re all a bit overwhelmed after this huge event.
Also, I found this video where, after 2 minutes, he plugs a Samsung T5 SSD and plays content from it.
Also, I found this video where, after 2 minutes, he plugs a Samsung T5 SSD and plays content from it.
That’s my big question too. Can you drag music files and movies onto the iPad’s internal hard drive and back? That’s the main thing I’d use an external hard drive for
Yes, you can copy files from an external drive onto internal storage and back. Playback appears to be happening directly in the Files app, which is fine for something like a movie but clunky for something like music files as you can only play one at a time.
i think they meant copying music from external drives to internal to be played through music app, not files app
Will music app be able to read internal music files?
Not that I could figure out. You can access the files, but cannot drag and drop or import into music that I could see.
Does anyone know if you can access external media with non pro iPad models? With the lighting to USB adapter or lighting to sd adapter?
I have a mini 5 and 2018 9.7.
I have a mini 5 and 2018 9.7.
Yes you can, but these devices have stricter power limitations, so may need a portable battery pack or powered hub to help out.
Sd cards will be fine though.
I'm curious about this too although I would assume it is possible given you can already save images to the Files app with 3rd party apps such as Pixelmator, Pixelmator Photo, Affinity Photo, Darkroom etc.
You could simply copy from their respective folders to the external drive in the Files app. If the stock Photos app doesn't let you do it then you could use the likes of Darkroom to batch export the images you want and copy them in the Files app to your external storage. A good chance app will get the ability to export directly to external storage though given apps will be able to import direct from external storage.
It doesn’t work. I wouldn’t ever expect it to either.
Eventually the third party video players will be updated and you’ll be able to stream a video file directly from drives. It’s only this short beta term that you’d need to worry about this really.
Yup, MKV support will be similar to on the Mac, you will need a third party app like VLC to playback. nPlayer is another recommended app for MKV playback on iOS. Just need the apps to be updated to support the new features in the Files app or a direct external drive api.
Yes
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Shows connecting two hard drives at once, copying of various file formats, opening up files which save to external drives and more.
From what I can see in the documentation, this doesn't exist. Don't know if thats good or bad yet - still too early for some of the more advanced people to start playing around (publicly) with it I think.
Yup, not sure if this will become a thing or not. I know the Lumafusion app uses such a method to access content directly from a Gnarbox drive. It makes sense that Apple will open this external drive support up but they may still decide against this for security reasons and force you to use the Files app as a middleman.
Just go to Settings (in the MacBook) and you’ll find a new Sidercar icon there. Click on it, select your iPad and you are golden.
There were issues in copying files to external drives in the video like ‘operations cannot be completed’ or ‘unable to communicate with the helper’ if this persists then the external drive support is as good as unusable.