iPad with WD My Passport Wifi Drive

[kgphotos]

Hi. I just purchased the WD My Passport WiFi Drive and I have a few questions. First, I am going to be using this drive with my iPad so do I set it up on my iPad first or do I set up on the Mac first?

Second, I know I need to get the WD My Cloud app. I read about an app called FileBrowser on here. I am interested in it for many reasons- one of those is for viewing my RAW photos. The My Cloud app can't preview RAW photos. So if I get FileBrowser, do I still need to use the My Cloud App to just browse my files and move them around from WD to iPad and so forth? I would like just to use FileBrowser for most of my Cloud stuff including Dropbox too.

Also, the cable that comes with the drive...I read that you need to plug it into the wall charger to to charge the drive. Can't I plug this cable into the computer to charge? WD recommends that you use the wall charger, but the cord is very short and won't reach the surge I have along with the drive. Is there another longer USB 3.0 cable I can use? I would assume any 3.0 to 2.0 USB cable would work, but wanted to make sure and what people recommend to use with the drive.

Thanks for your help!

 

[sparksd]

I have a RAVPower FileHub that uses attached hard drives (and other media) and the access concept is the same - FileHub has its own app. But I can access the drive with FileBrowser and FileExplorer using the correct IP address for the drive (should be in your drive's info). I can use these apps to view RAW files on external drives like this but I have found the transfer & rendering times to be excessive. These apps can also be used to manipulate files on the external drive and generally are easier to use than the provided apps. These same apps can readily access cloud storage.

You should be able to use any standard USB 3.0 cable to charge the drive - I readily swap them among devices.

 

[jesterengland]

Hi! I have the mypassport to and also a WD NAS which works in a similar way...
The deal with the charging issue is that it will charge if you connect to a computer USB but it won’t work as a wireless drive and will become a standard plug in USB portable drive (so you won’t be able to access from your iPad whilst connected to the computer). I guess this is a hardware limitation.

I use file browser and its really good. Buy you can also use a free app called documents by readdle. This one even allows you to sync folders from your WD to your iPad. Also worth noting that apps like VNC and PlayerXtreme will play video and audio files straight from the drive!

 

[kgphotos]

The deal with the charging issue is that it will charge if you connect to a computer USB but it won’t work as a wireless drive and will become a standard plug in USB portable drive (so you won’t be able to access from your iPad whilst connected to the computer).

Ok, gotcha. I think I will get a longer USB 3.0 to 2.0 cable cable so I can at least reach the surge when I need to charge it.

One other question... how did you set up the drive? I will be using my iPad to access it. Would I set it up on the computer first, then get the My Cloud App and then set it up on my iPad? Or does it matter?

Thanks for the reply.

 

[jesterengland]

I set mine up on the iPad using the MyCloud app. You have to start with a direct connection as it creates its own WiFi network. But you can then go on to connect it to any WiFi network to integrate with it and provide media services. You can do all that in the app