iPhone 13 Pro Connecting an SSD to iPhone 13 Pro is an absolute nightmare

[slplss]

Here we are in 2022, latest iPhone Pro. I am preparing for my holiday in Australia, this time trying to shoot exclusively with my phone. With a gimbal, in Filmic Pro, where every 10 seconds counts for ~100MB.

So, I wanted to shoot in Filmic, then export the videos straight to an external SSD. It worked, couple of times. Sometimes it ended with an error, but the videos were copied successfully. Now it doesn't connect to either of my SSDs, one formatted to APFS, other to exFAT. Just a couple days before my holidays start.

Any ideas? it worked with the exact setup as shown in photo. I then tried several other cables for the SSD and charging, even powering the Apple Lighting to USB 3 Camera adapter with 20W charger straight from line. No success.

This is the message I'm stuck with. It flashes every 5 seconds when it's all connected. I rebooted couple of times. Paused optimized charging. Nothing.

"This acessory requires too much power".

No problem with USB-C iPad Pro (where you need exactly 1 less cable, 1 less adapter and 1 less power bank/wall socket).

Any ideas? Is this the SSD? Or the iPhone? Or could it be the Camera adapter malfunctioning? I have no idea what should I replace, or just give up.

 

[Shirasaki]

Blame iPhone for this because lightning port is not designed for powering up accessories that require lots of power. One way to make your setup works is using iPad as a pseudo laptop and airdrop your video from iPhone to iPad, then copy it to external drive. Yes, cumbersome, but I think it should work.

 

[slplss]

Blame iPhone for this because lightning port is not designed for powering up accessories that require lots of power. One way to make your setup works is using iPad as a pseudo laptop and airdrop your video from iPhone to iPad, then copy it to external drive. Yes, cumbersome, but I think it should work.

Yes, I did that before.
1. Shoot with iPhone
2. Export from Filmic to Photos library (have to constantly watch my space)
3. Delete from Filmic to save space
4. Airdrop from Photos library to iPad's Photos library (beacause iOS still cannot AirDrop to other destination)
5. Transfer the videos from iPad's Photo library to SSD
6. Delete the videos from iPad's Photo library

Made easy with Apple!

 

[now i see it]

Looks like the SSD needs it own separate power supply. iPhone doesn’t have enough juice to keep it powered up.

That means even more cables and another battery bank.

 

[Snørrbjørg]

Should be no gap between cable from SSD and USB-adapter, turn it around.

 

[MajorFubar]

Seven years after Apple forced USB-C onto us with the Macbook (a time when you needed the help of the FBI to actually find peripherals with a USB-C plug), they still blatantly refuse to fit it to an iPhone.

 

[slplss]

Should be no gap between cable from SSD and USB-adapter, turn it around.

View attachment 2014177

View attachment 2014183

Glad it works for you, at least. I must have flipped every cable at least a dozen of times. Almost went crazy yesterday. It worked before so why it shouldn't now? Nothing has changed. I connected the SSD cable and the adapter the same way as on your photo, no success. Wasn't sure if I should perform some Voodoo dance or order Samsung T7 SSD with another Camera adapter, but I went safe with the other option.

I got the thing connected exactly as you:
1. iPhone on its back
2. USB3 Camera adapter flipped, showing back imprint
3. USB-C cable flipped on this side, hiding the ▶ ◀ marks (got to chop the corners to fit in iPad case )
4. SSD on its back, showing the logo, top of the cable showing the ▶ mark
5. Power bank with PD

 

[jav6454]

Here we are in 2022, latest iPhone Pro. I am preparing for my holiday in Australia, this time trying to shoot exclusively with my phone. With a gimbal, in Filmic Pro, where every 10 seconds counts for ~100MB.
[...]

"This acessory requires too much power".

No problem with USB-C iPad Pro (where you need exactly 1 less cable, 1 less adapter and 1 less power bank/wall socket).

Any ideas? Is this the SSD? Or the iPhone? Or could it be the Camera adapter malfunctioning? I have no idea what should I replace, or just give up.

You are using a device which is more for laptops/desktops and wonder why a phone doesn't power it? Have you looked at other solutions that don't involve using an SSD? Like for example, OneDrive, DropBox, iCloud or even Google Drive?

 

[Fravin]

It worked before so why it shouldn't now? Nothing has changed.

This little adapter wasn't designed for USB-C connections, but USB-A.

The USB-C jack has connectors in each side to work in any side. It was designed as a rotationally symmetrical connector. In the picture bellow you will se that the same pins on the upper side are flipped to the down side.

So, my advise would be, flip the SSD until it works. It sounds strange but It may work. (which sounds stranger)

 

[GuruZac]

Here we are in 2022, latest iPhone Pro. I am preparing for my holiday in Australia, this time trying to shoot exclusively with my phone. With a gimbal, in Filmic Pro, where every 10 seconds counts for ~100MB.

So, I wanted to shoot in Filmic, then export the videos straight to an external SSD. It worked, couple of times. Sometimes it ended with an error, but the videos were copied successfully. Now it doesn't connect to either of my SSDs, one formatted to APFS, other to exFAT. Just a couple days before my holidays start.
View attachment 2014157
Any ideas? it worked with the exact setup as shown in photo. I then tried several other cables for the SSD and charging, even powering the Apple Lighting to USB 3 Camera adapter with 20W charger straight from line. No success.

View attachment 2014158
This is the message I'm stuck with. It flashes every 5 seconds when it's all connected. I rebooted couple of times. Paused optimized charging. Nothing.

"This acessory requires too much power".

No problem with USB-C iPad Pro (where you need exactly 1 less cable, 1 less adapter and 1 less power bank/wall socket).

Any ideas? Is this the SSD? Or the iPhone? Or could it be the Camera adapter malfunctioning? I have no idea what should I replace, or just give up.

And this is why when Apple announced a Pro iPhone, it was kind of a joke without USB-C port, especially on the 13 Pro which now supports ProRAW and ProRes. No easy or professional way to offload all the data.

 

[slplss]

This little adapter wasn't designed for USB-C connections, but USB-A.

The USB-C jack has connectors in each side to work in any side. It was designed as a rotationally symmetrical connector. In the picture bellow you will se that the same pins on the upper side are flipped to the down side.

So, my advise would be, flip the SSD until it works. It sounds strange but It may work. (which sounds stranger)

Thanks, I'll try flipping it in all possible combinations. I wish I saved the the one it worked it, to be sure if it's adapter problem or not. Let's play a game, Apple.

 

[VulchR]

It could be the SSD(s). During the COVID lock-down I got 3 SSD's from 3 different manufacturers (including one from SanDisk) in a row that failed.

 

[slplss]

It could be the SSD(s). During the COVID lock-down I got 3 SSD's from 3 different manufacturers (including one from SanDisk) in a row that failed.

Thing is they both work instantly on my Mac and iPad.

 

[slplss]

Thanks, I'll try flipping it in all possible combinations. I wish I saved the the one it worked it, to be sure if it's adapter problem or not. Let's play a game, Apple.

I tried I tried and I tried. Flipping the ends of the cables, rotating the conectors. Biggest success was when iPhone didn't show the annoying pop-up error. I think those were the posititions you talked about, there was no connection.

 

[VulchR]

Thing is they both work instantly on my Mac and iPad.
View attachment 2014242

Sometimes the ones I had would successfully connect, but fail when transferring data. Just a thought.

 

[ignatius345]

Have you looked at other solutions that don't involve using an SSD? Like for example, OneDrive, DropBox, iCloud or even Google Drive?

Have you ever uploaded many GB worth of files to a cloud-based application? Try it and maybe you'll see why the OP is working so hard to get this to work locally.

Obviously it's a sub-optimal hardware setup, but that's why he's posting here to try to troubleshoot it. The real issue here is that Apple has put out a phone with a high-end sensor but no realistic way of transferring footage off the phone.

 

[jav6454]

Have you ever uploaded many GB worth of files to a cloud-based application? Try it and maybe you'll see why the OP is working so hard to get this to work locally.

Obviously it's a sub-optimal hardware setup, but that's why he's posting here to try to troubleshoot it. The real issue here is that Apple has put out a phone with a high-end sensor but no realistic way of transferring footage off the phone.

I have. It's not hard and it is/was quick for me; your point?. However, there would be no need to do it all at once if you use one of the aforementioned applications in parallel to taking pictures.

 

[BigMcGuire]

This may be a very stupid question but I'm curious as I've never done this - would it work to use the USB C to Lightning cable with that SSD? I'm going to guess no because of power requirements.


When I've gone on vacation to another country I always had a laptop with me so I used that to back up my photos as TravelPass (Verizon Wireless) definitely didn't have enough bandwidth to upload all the pictures I did. And local wifi was not great.

Figured if I had to do just my iPhone and connectivity was bad I'd get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-256GB-iXpand-Flash-iPhone/dp/B07VQPDM56/ref=sr_1_1?crid=IQXLHPYT80F7&keywords=lightning+flash+drive&qid=1654532284&sprefix=lightning+flash+driv,aps,165&sr=8-1

 

[fc4090]

I have. It's not hard and it is/was quick for me; your point?. However, there would be no need to do it all at once if you use one of the aforementioned applications in parallel to taking pictures.

Hope you understand that it's quite difficult to transfer huge data to the cloud services when you are traveling/holidaying at a foreign country, considering price and the data speed? It's not only one sided, it's uploading and then downloading to edit etc, it's next to impossible. For simple pictures etc. it maybe okay.

 

[jaytv111]

Could you try a 27/30 watt or more USB-C power brick, with the original Apple Lightning to USB-C cable?

It shouldn't need that much power, and Lightning's max is 27 watts (more power would work but it won't draw more power than its maximum). But maybe the iPhone is sucking down the full 20 watts and you need a bit more to power the drive.

Also just to make sure, a regular old USB flash drive works, right?

 

[jav6454]

Hope you understand that it's quite difficult to transfer huge data to the cloud services when you are traveling/holidaying at a foreign country, considering price and the data speed? It's not only one sided, it's uploading and then downloading to edit etc, it's next to impossible. For simple pictures etc. it maybe okay.

Not true. I gave the iCloud option which does it over Wi-Fi which almost all hotels carry. Also, while you sleep ad charge your phone this process can be done via one of the other aforementioned apps. Again, I have been there and done it, it's not hard as people think.

 

[slplss]

Sometimes the ones I had would successfully connect, but fail when transferring data. Just a thought.

I can confirm neither SSD has problem with import or export.

I wish WD still sold the wireless SSDs, I don't know how were they priced but they're nowhere to be found now. I saw a video when the videos in Filmic would automatically archive on SSD when connected, would save me a headache.

 

[slplss]

This may be a very stupid question but I'm curious as I've never done this - would it work to use the USB C to Lightning cable with that SSD? I'm going to guess no because of power requirements.


When I've gone on vacation to another country I always had a laptop with me so I used that to back up my photos as TravelPass (Verizon Wireless) definitely didn't have enough bandwidth to upload all the pictures I did. And local wifi was not great.

Figured if I had to do just my iPhone and connectivity was bad I'd get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-256GB-iXpand-Flash-iPhone/dp/B07VQPDM56/ref=sr_1_1?crid=IQXLHPYT80F7&keywords=lightning+flash+drive&qid=1654532284&sprefix=lightning+flash+driv,aps,165&sr=8-1

View attachment 2014265

I wish. Maybe iPhone 15 Pro can do this. In 2023, 8 years after I got my first USB-C Android phone.

 

[jaytv111]

This may be a very stupid question but I'm curious as I've never done this - would it work to use the USB C to Lightning cable with that SSD? I'm going to guess no because of power requirements.

No this doesn't work because of USB directionality. The type-C to Lightning cable is built to connect peripherals with Lightning to type-C hosts, like say the iPad or Mac (also Android or Windows devices). The camera kit adapter converts the iPhone's port to a host port (in this case type-A). But the cable isn't able to convert the Lightning port to a host port.

I guess the OP could try a powered USB hub connected to the adapter. That way it's not dependent on the camera kit adapter for power.

 

[v0lume4]

Blame iPhone for this because lightning port is not designed for powering up accessories that require lots of power. […]

I want to second what this poster said. I believe the error message is telling you what the problem is. Actually, some computers run into this same issue if you plug too many external HDD’s (the spinning platter variety) into them at once.

On computers, the way you get around this issue is to use a powered USB hub that you plug the hard drive into, and the you plug the hub up to the computer. But I don’t know if iPhones work with hubs. Here’s an example:

Atolla 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub with 4 Data Ports, 1 Smart Charging Port, Individual On/Off Switches and 5V/3A Adapter

Atolla 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub with 4 Data Ports, 1 Smart Charging Port, Individual On/Off Switches and 5V/3A Adapter

www.amazon.com

It looks like you tried a variation on this idea by plugging your power bank into the same adapter as the usb drive. Shame that didn’t work. It’s possible the adapter only sends power one way (to the phone) and not also to the external SSD.

I hope you’re able to find a solution. I’m sure this is stressful with vacation coming up so soon.