Have you done any transfers from your ipad to a computer or hard drive? I only noticed my issue when transferring from Files App to an external device. I don't think I've had issues with importing. Again though, my failed experiences were before ios 14.3 or something. Haven't tested much after that besides the 1 successful video file transfer with no artifacting
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iPad File corruption on copy to external storage
- Thread starter sparksd
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That has been my experience - corruption on transfer to an external device (hence, my original title). And it has been over USB-C to exFAT storage and readily repeatable (though have not tried recently with 14.4. With a reliable alternative - FileBrowser - I have no need nor interest on returning to Files).
Excellent! Did you ever copy photos back on your iPad to some directly connected media?
Nota bene: I just checked on 3 different USB-C-iPads... importing/copying 50 RAWs ~ 2Gb on iPadOS 14.4... Apple Photos does the job, Apple Files slows down after ~15 Photos, but continues copying very slowly, even after closing suddenly... will check tomorrow with Lightning-iPads.
@hsiunghsiung
@sparksd
@Slartibart
No, I have not copied to external storage, only importing to APFS.
I keep thinking about joining the modern age with USB C but my old stuff seems to work just fine.
@sparksd
@Slartibart
No, I have not copied to external storage, only importing to APFS.
I keep thinking about joining the modern age with USB C but my old stuff seems to work just fine.
Another aspect to this is that APFS does not seem to be problematic but unfortunately for some of us, it is not an option.
Anyone tried iPadOS 14.5 yet? Curious to know if it has been fixed, but not expecting it to have.
Just tested on 14.5 on 2019 12.9 Pro with a Samsung USB-C 500GB T5 SSD. Copied a folder containing 165 Canon RAW images to the iPad using Files (each image about 11MB). I then copied the folder back to the T5. The new folder on the T5 had 8 images that were corrupted. Same test with FileBrowser Pro - no problems.
So, no, for me it is still unreliable.
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Well that was fun. 
I just tried to watch a movie directly from a new exFAT-formatted SanDisk 512GB Ultra Dual Drive Luxe with Infuse. Playback worked great. Then I stopped playback, force closed the app and waited a minute before unplugging the flash drive.
Alas, when I plugged the flash drive back to a Windows 7 desktop, it says the flash drive had errors. I ran disk check, it said there was no problem but I couldn't copy anything to the drive. Tried to reformat several times and that failed, too. I then tried using Mini-Tool Partition Wizard to rebuild the MBR then reformat and that seems to have done the trick. Flash drive appears to be working properly again.
Apple seriously needs to fix exFAT support on iPadOS.
I just tried to watch a movie directly from a new exFAT-formatted SanDisk 512GB Ultra Dual Drive Luxe with Infuse. Playback worked great. Then I stopped playback, force closed the app and waited a minute before unplugging the flash drive.
Alas, when I plugged the flash drive back to a Windows 7 desktop, it says the flash drive had errors. I ran disk check, it said there was no problem but I couldn't copy anything to the drive. Tried to reformat several times and that failed, too. I then tried using Mini-Tool Partition Wizard to rebuild the MBR then reformat and that seems to have done the trick. Flash drive appears to be working properly again.
Apple seriously needs to fix exFAT support on iPadOS.
Well that was fun.
I just tried to watch a movie directly from a new exFAT-formatted SanDisk 512GB Ultra Dual Drive Luxe with Infuse. Playback worked great. Then I stopped playback, force closed the app and waited a minute before unplugging the flash drive.
Alas, when I plugged the flash drive back to a Windows 7 desktop, it says the flash drive had errors. I ran disk check, it said there was no problem but I couldn't copy anything to the drive. Tried to reformat several times and that failed, too. I then tried using Mini-Tool Partition Wizard to rebuild the MBR then reformat and that seems to have done the trick. Flash drive appears to be working properly again.
Apple seriously needs to fix exFAT support on iPadOS.
Thanks for the input. Yesterday was exactly one year since my first post in this thread and we're still dealing with this issue and it's a biggie when it corrupts not only your data but also your storage device. I have avoided attaching anything to my iPP because of this and it's another reason why I'm using it less and less and relying more on my very dependable Surface Pro 7. This is fundamental, well-understood functionality, not rocket science.
Don’t know if you can blame everthing on Apple. You are dealing with Sandisk drive, haha. Regardless, I’ve been using Samsung T5 (exFAT) for good 8 months or so without any issue using FileBrowser app.Well that was fun.
I just tried to watch a movie directly from a new exFAT-formatted SanDisk 512GB Ultra Dual Drive Luxe with Infuse. Playback worked great. Then I stopped playback, force closed the app and waited a minute before unplugging the flash drive.
Alas, when I plugged the flash drive back to a Windows 7 desktop, it says the flash drive had errors. I ran disk check, it said there was no problem but I couldn't copy anything to the drive. Tried to reformat several times and that failed, too. I then tried using Mini-Tool Partition Wizard to rebuild the MBR then reformat and that seems to have done the trick. Flash drive appears to be working properly again.
Apple seriously needs to fix exFAT support on iPadOS.
Unfortunately, I've had similar occur with Western Digital drives and my T5 has come up as needing repair when re-attaching it to my Windows devices after use with the iPad. FileBrowser has been the most reliable app but I have run into the need-to-repair issue even with it. As the FileBrowser guys told me, everyone uses the same iOS interfaces, including Apple's own Files app. Whenever I attach an exFAT device to the iPad, I make sure that there is nothing on it that is not replaceable and when I transfer files from the iPad to exFAT storage, I only do copies, not moves. I simply do not trust the system.
One note on this - while I have had the need-to-repair issue with FileBrowser, I have never had FB corrupt files, unlike with the Files app as I note a couple of posts above. And the storage always repaired without errors. However, even with FB I still stick with the nothing irreplaceable and copy-not-move philosophy as I don't trust the underlying iPadOS.
Update on the Files app running on the new M1 Pro -
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-files-app-is-still-a-disaster.2191751/post-29946266
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-files-app-is-still-a-disaster.2191751/post-29946266
Very similar to my case i describe here. Mine was APFS formatted and afterwards the drive was not visible at all on Mac, just a small portion of data was visible on iPad.Well that was fun.
I just tried to watch a movie directly from a new exFAT-formatted SanDisk 512GB Ultra Dual Drive Luxe with Infuse. Playback worked great. Then I stopped playback, force closed the app and waited a minute before unplugging the flash drive.
Alas, when I plugged the flash drive back to a Windows 7 desktop, it says the flash drive had errors. I ran disk check, it said there was no problem but I couldn't copy anything to the drive. Tried to reformat several times and that failed, too. I then tried using Mini-Tool Partition Wizard to rebuild the MBR then reformat and that seems to have done the trick. Flash drive appears to be working properly again.
Apple seriously needs to fix exFAT support on iPadOS.
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Hello my friend
I want to ask you a question
I have an ipad pro 2020 with ipados 14.8
I store important files on icloud,google drive and other cloud services
but I want another way for backup in addition to cloud for more safety
I have a sandisk usb c flash drive 128gb exfat formatted that I copy my important data to through fe file explorer
but since i read the posts about ipad corrupting files copied to external storage I'm so worried
specially that I saw someone complaining about corrupting files even with file browser app
I don't have a pc or mac
should I buy a pc just for backup?
or can you suggest me a guaranteed safe way to copy data to my sandsik flash drive without corruptions?
If I formatted the flash drive to apfs and used file browser business Is that enough and safe or should I buy a pc?
Buy a Mac. The Files app syncs the data in it automatically between Apple devices so you could do a backup of your Files app stored on iPad from your Mac into a proper usb or external hard drive.
The cheapest desktop Mac? Mac mini M1.
The most affordable portable? MacBook Air M1.
The mac is expensive in my country
and i can do all my work on the ipad
should I buy a mac just for backup?
I have never had a corrupted file with FileBrowser Pro whereas I ran into it with the built-in Files app. I use it with two different Samsung SSDs.
If that's the case, then try to vopy those files into your USB drive and check the files if it's corrupted or not after copying. Never do the move files operation, just copy the files from Files app to USB drive.
Alternatively, you could make a yahoo or gmail account and send your files as an attachment to be a backup. At least you have 1TB storage attachment allowance for free for yahoo or gmail email account.