iPad Pro iPad only what your file storage strategy?

[keeper]

So I have an old mac mini which acts as an iTunes, photos server, IP security cameras etc.
If I go iPad only in the future I can use the NAS for my security camera's.

But for file storage , photo's and apple music would an iPad only user just use iCloud.

What are the storage options and management of music, films etc?
I have terabytes of media which could sit on a NAS, could you access this much data without having a Mac?

 

[keeper]

If people can't answer this then an iPad pro cannot replace a Mac as a main machine.
Unless you are a very light user.

 

[bufffilm]

Right now, iPad -- iTunes is a one-way street.

Data is siloed and can't be shared between apps to any real extent. A real file system open to the end-user has been long-standing wish and has fallen on deaf Apple ears.

 

[rui no onna]

So I have an old mac mini which acts as an iTunes, photos server, IP security cameras etc.
If I go iPad only in the future I can use the NAS for my security camera's.

But for file storage , photo's and apple music would an iPad only user just use iCloud.

What are the storage options and management of music, films etc?
I have terabytes of media which could sit on a NAS, could you access this much data without having a Mac?

Depends on the NAS manufacturer/firmware you're using. With Synology, QNAP, WD My Cloud, etc, I'd say yes, it's possible, as long as you're not dealing with files with DRM (e.g. iTunes-purchased Movie/TV). For NAS, go for x86 CPU with at least 4GB RAM (on some models, you can install the extra RAM yourself). NAS file management can be handled via web browser or the WD iOS app.

That said, there's bound to be a learning curve if you go the NAS-only route. These are basically Linux computers custom-designed and optimized for network file storage and sharing so they're likely missing some packages that come pre-installed on desktop Linux builds. Knowledge of Linux terminal (should be similar enough to OS X terminal) and some minor programming/troubleshooting skills might be necessary if you want to do something that's not natively supported by the firmware or by vetted add-on packages.

I've got Plex installed on a low-end ARM-based WD My Cloud (My Passport Wireless Pro) for portable, light media serving duties (no support for live transcoding). It's okay for a handful of files but you definitely want a NAS with faster x86 CPU and more RAM if you've got a large library.

 

[joeblow7777]

If people can't answer this then an iPad pro cannot replace a Mac as a main machine.
Unless you are a very light user.

Well, it's very subjective so I wouldn't say that there's a universal answer to whether an iPad can or can't replace your PC/Mac, but for me personally, the heavily restricted file management is a major factor that makes the prospect unappealing to me.

 

[Mr_Killjoy]

If people can't answer this then an iPad pro cannot replace a Mac as a main machine.
Unless you are a very light user.

And yet here I am. The mac evangelists coming to the iPad forum to troll with snarky comments like this crack me up.

File management is pretty easy. You can use iCloud, sure.That works solidly, it's easy enough, and it's stupid easy to access on an iPad or iPhone.

That being said, if you're like me and prefer local, physical storage. There are literally dozens of wifi hard drives out there that are iOS compatible. Store all you want on them (there are many multi-TB options), most have USB options for PC connections as well should you need it. There are also dual USB/lightning thumb drives, which I've made use of for transferring files to others on different platforms.

It's not as hard or complex as some make it out to be. Your approach to files on iOS just needs to change a little. It's not so much that it's really different, even.

 

[Brammy]

I use a combination of iCloud. Dropbox, and OneDrive.

OneDrive is where a lot of my large image scans are (comics and music mags). I get 1TB as part of my O365
DropBox is just for Scrivener and some iOS apps that don't support any other Cloud services.
The rest of my files I put on iCloud including my photos.

Synology has an iOS app and you could store movies and the like on there and play them via plex. You obviously can't rip movies on your iPad, but you can download some files the Synolgy. I think Federico Vitucci has mentioned downloading files tothe Synology from his iPad.

The only file limitation I've run into is there is no OneDrive "share" option via a document picker in iOS that I can find.

 

[iPadDad]

I agree totally with Mr_Killjoy, despite what Mac/PC Fans think, iPad is a new world, progressive device, and as Apple claim "they believe it's the future of computing".

iPad is only 6 years old! Compared to PC's which are 39 years old!

People need to learn how to do things differently on a device which the next generation (those born 2010 to now) are already being tought to compute on!

 

[keeper]

And yet here I am. The mac evangelists coming to the iPad forum to troll with snarky comments like this crack me up.

File management is pretty easy. You can use iCloud, sure.That works solidly, it's easy enough, and it's stupid easy to access on an iPad or iPhone.

That being said, if you're like me and prefer local, physical storage. There are literally dozens of wifi hard drives out there that are iOS compatible. Store all you want on them (there are many multi-TB options), most have USB options for PC connections as well should you need it. There are also dual USB/lightning thumb drives, which I've made use of for transferring files to others on different platforms.

It's not as hard or complex as some make it out to be. Your approach to files on iOS just needs to change a little. It's not so much that it's really different, even.

So here I am typing on my 9.7 inch iPad Pro,
Let's take a real practical example.
Apple Music
I've got about a gig of High quality files on my mini server using a large external drive.
I have an ATV and a Sonos system that link to the mini for file access.

So on my iPad I could, just use Apple Music, or I could AirPlay to the airport base station linked to the sonos, so I have a streaming only service, my iPad only has 128gig.

If say I want to download files what workflow would I use?
If I buy a film on the iTunes Store how to I transfer that to the storage and enable access for the ATV.

I've got about 150 movies on my mini, and transfer a few to watch on the plane for holidays, how to I manage that?

These are all consuming usage which are really easy to achieve with a mac and iPad, but what is the workflow with just the iPad?

And it's not a troll question, it's how would I really do it?
My mini is getting older and slower, if it fails I'm not planning on paying though the nose for an outdated product or one that might not exist next year.

 

[JT2002TJ]

So here I am typing on my 9.7 inch iPad Pro,
Let's take a real practical example.
Apple Music
I've got about a gig of High quality files on my mini server using a large external drive.
I have an ATV and a Sonos system that link to the mini for file access.

So on my iPad I could, just use Apple Music, or I could AirPlay to the airport base station linked to the sonos, so I have a streaming only service, my iPad only has 128gig.

If say I want to download files what workflow would I use?
If I buy a film on the iTunes Store how to I transfer that to the storage and enable access for the ATV.

I've got about 150 movies on my mini, and transfer a few to watch on the plane for holidays, how to I manage that?

These are all consuming usage which are really easy to achieve with a mac and iPad, but what is the workflow with just the iPad?

And it's not a troll question, it's how would I really do it?
My mini is getting older and slower, if it fails I'm not planning on paying though the nose for an outdated product or one that might not exist next year.

If you do not buy video's and music from itunes it is very difficult to enjoy without a computer with itunes. An option would be to load them to some cloud storage (which personally I wouldn't because of legality issues) then open them in a non apple player like VLC.

For the quality movies I have (3-6 GB) I have no way to do this without paying for endless cloud storage, and taking forever to transfer, or simply just have a computer to manage this.

 

[keeper]

I agree unless you tie yourself to Apple you can really handle media effectively. Yes I can copy movie files from a NAS etc using FileBrowser and watch in on my mini, but you can't effectively manage media using an IPad without also having a Mac.

Lots you can do but for an average Mac user with a media collection it's not a replacement, which makes it more disappointing that the Mac desktops are not being refreshed.
Although I dare say Apple would prefer you to pay monthly for Apple Music and buy all films from the store then it's not an issue.

 

[sparksd]

Because I have found on travel that access to the cloud can be dicey/nonexistent, I prefer to use a RAVPower filehub with attached HDD for "significant" file storage, e.g. photos (RAW & JPEG), videos, and documents. At home, I simply use available network storage without a problem.

 

[M. Gustave]

I've got about a gig of High quality files on my mini server using a large external drive.

Upload/match them to Apple Music, and then you can retire your Mac.

If say I want to download files what workflow would I use?

What "files"? Where are they? There are many file management apps available. Look into "Documents" by Readdle.

If I buy a film on the iTunes Store how to I transfer that to the storage and enable access for the ATV.

Why can't you play the movie directly from the ATV? Or airplay it to the ATV from your iPad?

I've got about 150 movies on my mini, and transfer a few to watch on the plane for holidays, how to I manage that?

There are many wireless storage options out there for iPhone/iPad, shop around on Amazon. I personally use a RavPower FileHub to play my MP4 movies, as someone mentioned above.

 

[frank33v]

Ok another example..if infrastructure only consisted of say a WD myCloud (or some competing product) and an iPhone or iPad. I am taking videos and picture via my iPhone and my iCloud storage is getting full with the freely available iCloud storage offering. How do I move my photos and videos from my iPhone to the other local "cloud" storage device so that I can delete them from photos to free up iCloud space ? Is that possible? If so how is it done? Is the cloud device available as a share option in IOS or do you need to run the cloud devices app to do this?

 

[rui no onna]

Ok another example..if infrastructure only consisted of say a WD myCloud (or some competing product) and an iPhone or iPad. I am taking videos and picture via my iPhone and my iCloud storage is getting full with the freely available iCloud storage offering. How do I move my photos and videos from my iPhone to the other local "cloud" storage device so that I can delete them from photos to free up iCloud space ? Is that possible? If so how is it done? Is the cloud device available as a share option in IOS or do you need to run the cloud devices app to do this?

You'd need to use the My Cloud app to upload photos to the device. Alternately, you can use a third party app that supports FTP or Samba (Windows File Sharing). Not sure about NFS support.

I've never tested it but it's probably doable via Plex, too (on NAS capable of running Plex Media Server).

 

[M. Gustave]

...I am taking videos and picture via my iPhone and my iCloud storage is getting full with the freely available iCloud storage offering.

Simplest solution: buy more iCloud storage. It's $0.99/month for 50GB.

 

[frank33v]

Simplest solution: buy more iCloud storage. It's $0.99/month for 50GB.

Understood, but 50GB would likely not be enough and I don't want a re-occurring bill and to access my data. If 50GB was enough this $12/year would make sense versus purchasing a $150-$200 myCloud device (or two for backup).

 

[M. Gustave]

Understood, but 50GB would likely not be enough and I don't want a re-occurring bill and to access my data. If 50GB was enough this $12/year would make sense versus purchasing a $150-$200 myCloud device (or two for backup).

Ok, well 200GB is only $36/year. Still way cheaper than a hardware solution.

 

[rui no onna]

Ok, well 200GB is only $36/year. Still way cheaper than a hardware solution.

View attachment 671236

Depends on how much storage you need. One can buy a 4TB NAS for $200-300 or thereabouts and that's a one-time expense.

Personally, reliance on internet is one reason I will not go 100% cloud storage. Bandwidth is another. We have every iCloud account in the household on the 50GB plan for Photo Stream and iPhone/iPad backups. I also have a Dropbox Pro account. However, I use these services as adjunct to local storage, not in-lieu of it. Besides, by my estimation, it'll take 7 1/2 months to upload 12TB worth of data to cloud storage with my home broadband's measly 5Mbps upload speed.

 

[frank33v]

Depends on how much storage you need. One can buy a 4TB NAS for $200-300 or thereabouts and that's a one-time expense.

Personally, reliance on internet is one reason I will not go 100% cloud storage.

Yea thats my issue as well. Looking at a mobile situation in which I might not always have coverage for extended periods of time.

 

[sparksd]

Yea thats my issue as well. Looking at a mobile situation in which I might not always have coverage for extended periods of time.

Sounds like a filehub+HDD approach like I and M. Gustave mentioned earlier is your best option. I use a 4TB portable drive with mine.

 

[keeper]

I still don't quite get the whole external file process.
The only way I see ipad only working is to tie yourself into Apple services and the cloud.

So let's take a simple CD, I buy the content on amazon, I have to download it to my iPad, then what's the process?

So I can download it to the iPad, maybe transfer it to a NAS.
But I have no iTunes library to add it to as I don't now have a MAC.
Yes my Sonos will play it but that leaves you looking for workarounds to get thinks to work and I don't think that's progress.
It's either all Apple with photos and Apple Music or some type of Apple server to feed the iPad.

I'd love to see someone actually document how they do these things.
Sticky threads would be good.

Managing you music using iPad only
Managing you movies using iPad only.
Managing your files using iPad only
Etc.

 

[Brammy]

I still don't quite get the whole external file process.
The only way I see ipad only working is to tie yourself into Apple services and the cloud.

So let's take a simple CD, I buy the content on amazon, I have to download it to my iPad, then what's the process?

So I can download it to the iPad, maybe transfer it to a NAS.
But I have no iTunes library to add it to as I don't now have a MAC.
Yes my Sonos will play it but that leaves you looking for workarounds to get thinks to work and I don't think that's progress.
It's either all Apple with photos and Apple Music or some type of Apple server to feed the iPad.

I'd love to see someone actually document how they do these things.
Sticky threads would be good.

Managing you music using iPad only
Managing you movies using iPad only.
Managing your files using iPad only
Etc.

1: Use the Amazon Music App (or whatever cloud app Amazon has for this) to download and play the album on iOS
2: You can also use Google Photos
3: My movie solution isn't iPad only. I have a Plex server I rip movies to. This is a gap, but a small one for me.
4: I use a combination of One Drive, Dropbox and iCloud Drive. Dropbox is for apps that only support Dropbox, like Scrivener. OneDrive is where I upload and store stuff that doesn't need to be synced to all devices, like magazine scans. The rest of my data is in iCloud Drive.

 

[M. Gustave]

...I'd love to see someone actually document how they do these things.
Sticky threads would be good.

Managing you music using iPad only
Managing you movies using iPad only.
Managing your files using iPad only
Etc.

These have all been answered already, in this thread and many others besides.

Although I have to question your premise. Why one should want to go "iPad only", and yet be sheepish of using Apple services, is beyond me.

 

[ctg7w6]

These have all been answered already, in this thread and many others besides.

Although I have to question your premise. Why one should want to go "iPad only", and yet be sheepish of using Apple services, is beyond me.

Just jumping in here, but you can go "Mac only" and be sheepish of using Apple services. That is much less possible in an "iPad only" situation, ergo an iPad is not really a replacement for a computer (or Mac).

For me, I would love to go iPad only... But it doesn't fit what I need because I want freedom. (for what it's worth, my dream "computer" is an iPad with MacOS).

I'm not saying I'm right or wrong. I am literally just giving my opinion and supplementing the opinions of those who seem to think like me (i.e. I don't want to start another silly flame war about how the iPad is/isn't a PC replacement... because the final AND CORRECT answer is that it can be for some people and not for others).