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the big problem with these solutions for me is that they all act as a router and they generally slow down your connection and reduce range... unless you have poor connection to begin with... The best solution if you really need to access files on external drives is to plug them directly to your router and use an app such as FileBrowserGO (not free, but cheap). Otherwise for transferring single files there are better solutions like airdrop or other apps for windows and android that try to imitate airdrop
 
These are expensive, heavy, and downright clunky workarounds and are proprietary, with variably effective implementations, which is exactly why they are not a proper solution. People have not forgotten they exist. People just in general would prefer not to be forced to use them.

Exactly! I sure hope they give us proper access to an external drive in iOS 13, but that doesn't seem to be listed in any of the recent rumored feature lists.
 
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Exactly! I sure hope they give us proper access to an external drive in iOS 13, but that doesn't seem to be listed in any of the recent rumored feature lists.
It become more like apple want people or push people onto cloud drives and not so much about local storage. Apple may assume every single iOS user uses 10Gbps up/down internet and earns a fortune every month.
 
Do you think iOS 13 could allow support for external storage or do you think its a hardware thing and that they will have to release a new iPad to support it?

I have always wanted an iPad, but the lack of external storage support, has always kept me from buying one. If there is ways around it, please offer your ways of backing up your device without another computer.

Not saying they will even support external storage, just wishful thinking...

I am just going to give you my current work flow. I have called 3D printer. There are 2 great pro apps I design with on my iPad pro 12.9" 2nd generation. Umake and Shapr3D. After finishing my design I have to export the .STL file from my iPad to my Lenovo 920 PC notebook. I use an iPad app call File browser a great app. This app will connect to just about any time next storage device from NASs to wireless HDDs to cloud storage. IOS at least has the Open in command so it make the process much easier that before. I export the .STL file by way of the Open In command. Created a share on my notebook. And copy the file over. Then I go to my notebook file up an app called Simpliy3D a 3D printer slicing app. Do all the stuff to generate the Gcode(the language of 3D printers) and then copy that file to an SD card. Take the SD card over to my printer and starts print.n I am working on installing 3D printer software on a Raspberry Pi 3 that may make some of these steps easier. But for now, I believe that the iPad is powerful enough to run a version of the Simplify3D software for Windows. So it would be nice to be able to write to a SD card.
And Sumtimes there is a file that you need to grab from your PC and that works kind of. Each app on IOS must have the option to receive that particular file. I don't remember other examples that I ran into in the past. But it was a pain. I love my iPad and the ease of use I don't want to change. I just want my iPad to be able to access an SD card or HDD on occation. I use my iPad 99% of the time. It's that 1% that bugs me. One other example that I just remembered is creating video. There are some very powerful video creation and pH o to apps. But again trying to import and export file on and off my iPad is a pain. And no, I did not want to pay for expensive closed storage just to transfer files. The end is that Wifi is slooooooow. End of story. Period. I have a WiFi HDD but transferring files is so painfully slow. And that is the limiting factor. If WiFi was lightning fast than the story might be different.
 
Cloud services or an NAS. I use a QNAP TS 251+ and it’s basically my own personal cloud. I also use it to host my Plex server and Homebridge.

So pay $300 for a NAS or subscribe to iCloud for more than 5GB? Not a really good solution. I think OP had a simple thumb drive or disk. I know I certainly would like simple external storage.
 
So pay $300 for a NAS or subscribe to iCloud for more than 5GB? Not a really good solution. I think OP had a simple thumb drive or disk. I know I certainly would like simple external storage.

Both are good solutions, although I would recommend the NAS more. $500 should be able to get a solid set up. If you really need a thumb drive, they’ve had iOS drives for years. There are more elegant and robust solutions though.
 
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I just hope iOS 13 is fully optimized for the 8 Core A12X cpu in the new iPad Pro. iPad Pros should be hella faster than any iPhone loading apps and opening web pages compared to my iPhone 6s Plus. It’s way too close. And unacceptable than an iPhone 6s Plus gives you similar performance to a 2018 iPad Pro.
actually my iPhone 6s is bit slower especially when launching games, than my iPad Pro 2018. To make matters worst, some apps do force close due to the age of the device from 2015 like . I also hope that iOS 13 will Fixed those unexpected force close on some apps
 
What about a thumb drive? I work with a ton of files on my laptop and save a duplicate copy to my Sandisk iXpand drive that I keep in my purse for access on the go from my iPhone or iPad as needed.
 
What about a thumb drive? I work with a ton of files on my laptop and save a duplicate copy to my Sandisk iXpand drive that I keep in my purse for access on the go from my iPhone or iPad as needed.
I was going to type that ipad would never have file sharing via a thumbdrive because that would destroy their selfish ecosystem, but is there a way to copy or extract 1000 files from an 3rd party app to a computer?
if so i will eliminate the ipad from my life for good!
 
I was going to type that ipad would never have file sharing via a thumbdrive because that would destroy their selfish ecosystem, but is there a way to copy or extract 1000 files from an 3rd party app to a computer?
if so i will eliminate the ipad from my life for good!
What kind of files are you talking about? I save photos, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Notability docs to my flash drive from my iPad with no issues.
 
Actually, the new iPad Pro is the first iPad that might actually be able to do this from a hardware perspective. Why? It can output a lot of power over USB-C and charge other devices. If any device is going to support external drives, it would be this one. Not saying it's going to happen in iOS 13, just saying that it's more likely than it has ever been up until this point. I can even confirm that the Samsung T5 SSD using it's supplied USB-C to USB-C cable does indeed power up the device with the indicator light blinking until iOS tells me it can't be read.
[doublepost=1541777316][/doublepost]Okay, so I just tested an older spinning USB 3.0 external drive (2.5") and it didn't even power up. It has one of those weird, flat, but longer USB 3.0 connectors (is it USB-B Mini or USB-A 3.0 Micro with the extra connectors?). I had to use a USB-C to USB-A female adapter, so IDK if that was causing problems, or if I had a single cable if it would work, but right now it's not. I don't have a USB-C drive that is non-SSD to test for higher power usage. Anyone else tried?
It's gonna have to authenticate with USB-PD to get power from an iPad I imagine.
 
What kind of files are you talking about? I save photos, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Notability docs to my flash drive from my iPad with no issues.

cartoons from a app that are in PSD format. they recommend using itunes to batch export, i just dont feel comfortable using that. i airdropped each one to my mini for the last 2 years but can afford to reset, delete or reformat the ipad over my vengeance.
The GOT's hound taught me and arial stark a lot just this sunday nite!
 
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