External hard drive for Ipad Pro

[eclipse01]

Hello Mac experts. I have a question regarding using an external hard drive with Ipad pro’s.

I found out today that my NTFS only works as read only (makes sense as its a windows format). Anyway I would like to reformat but would like the best format as I would really like to prevent future corruption the best I can. I heard the Apple format (APFS) is mostly optimized for SSD’s, my external drive is not a SSD.

long story short, I would have to locate someone with a mac computer for a APFS but if its the best route to go I will do so, otherwise is exFAT ok?

 

[satcomer]

Sense it is external DAS with an old HHD then use HFS+ on it!

 

[Slartibart]

Independent wether you format it AFPS or HFS+ - there is no real fun in using a spinning hard drive with an iPP. If you must use it, format it to HFS+ as suggested by @satcomer - but be aware that copying from and to it can take time (same for AFPS).

If it is an option, I highly recommend getting an SSD like Samsungs T5/T7 and format it using AFPS. Additionally get FE FileExplorer or FileBrowser (Pro) for reliable file transfers in both directions (you should get one or both of these apps anyway - they are much more reliable then Apple’s Files and provide vast more functionality).

If you do not have access to a Linux-, Windows- or MacOS-computer you should refrain from using exFAT as file system - iPadOS 15 is prone to introduce errors which will prevent access to the external drive when connected to your iPP and will require to fix them using a laptop or desktop running the mentioned OS.
iPadOS 15 itself doesn’t offer any “repair” option for file system inconsistencies, but it can introduce them.

 

[satcomer]

To me a spinning DAS (Direct Attached Storage) is their size! Don’t expect super fast saving times to HDD too!

 

[Fishrrman]

For a platter-based hard drive that WILL NOT be bootable or used for a tm backup, then HFS+ is best.

APFS can over-fragment HDD's, with a lot of "disk thrashing" as well.

 

[eclipse01]

Thanks everyone

 

[unrigestered]

just as a word of warning: iPadOS doesn't have an eject function for external drives. I've lost a couple of photos this way after disconnecting my USB stick from my iPad. Even though i quit the files app to prevent something like this, it still corrupted some of those files.

 

[eclipse01]

So thinking about this a bit more I do not have a mac and it will be a bit of a pita for me to take photos off and format drive in HFS+, is it really bad to do this in exFAT?

 

[eclipse01]

So HFS+ is not being read by my Ipad, according to the website it will only read FAT, FAT32, exFAT (FAT64), or APFS.

So i guess out of these options what is my best bet?

 

[Slartibart]

you are right, it seems that HFS+ isn’t any longer officially supported (iPadOS 15), but for sure it was in iPadOS 13. I am away from my old 2.5” external spinning drives, but will check later.
If you do not transfer data between your iPad and devices with other operating systems, formatting it using APFS is the best solution.
As already mentioned you should get FileBrowser or FE File Explorer.

 

[eclipse01]

you are right, it seems that HFS+ isn’t any longer officially supported (iPadOS 15), but for sure it was in iPadOS 13. I am away from my old 2.5” external spinning drives, but will check later.
If you do not transfer data between your iPad and devices with other operating systems, formatting it using APFS is the best solution.
As already mentioned you should get FileBrowser or FE File Explorer.

Thanks much appreciated.

 

[eclipse01]

So I thought i could get around this by hooking the hard drive up to a router and sharing over network. However, Ipad still seems to have the same restrictions (NTFS is read only on IPad).

APFS works when i plug and play on ipad but Asus router doesn't accept this format....

any ideas how i can get an always available hard drive on the network?

 

[Slartibart]

So I thought i could get around this by hooking the hard drive up to a router and sharing over network. However, Ipad still seems to have the same restrictions (NTFS is read only on IPad).

APFS works when i plug and play on ipad but Asus router doesn't accept this format....

any ideas how i can get an always available hard drive on the network?

I use exFat or FAT32 - Asus provides a list on what file system and drive sizes are supported by their routers - you should check the manual of your router just in case.

 

[eclipse01]

I use exFat or FAT32 - Asus provides a list on what file system and drive sizes are supported by their routers - you should check the manual of your router just in case.

exFat is not an option with my Asus router (tried)