Personal computing discussed

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Martin the Kiteboy
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Location: Georgia, USA

iPads and External Storage

Mon Mar 18, 2019 8:05 pm

Gerbil Legion:

I call upon thee to answer what I took to be a simple question but is seemingly fraught with various perils.

The Question, In The Beginning:
Which iPads support importing AND EXPORTING to external storage media?

The Background:
The need case I wish to fill is for my retired parents. They are going on a cross country motorcycle tour in the next month or so, and will be packing light. My father is planning on filming with a GoPro Hero4 Black nearly constantly. He has done this on shorter trips, and typically offloads the footage to an external hard drive via a Windows laptop. GoPro to SD Card, SD Card to Laptop, Laptop to External HDD. This next trip will have them on the road for significantly longer, and lugging the laptop around is going to be a burden. To me, the new iPad mini seems like a great fit. It is small, support wireless transfer from the Hero4 (I think), and should support an external USB HDD via the Lightning to USB adapter. However, it seems that most information absolutely confirms that iOS can IMPORT from external media, but I have very little evidence showing the ability to EXPORT to external media. Obviously the iPads have limited internal storage, so he will want to offload to the external drive periodically. Also, it appears the Lightning to USB adapters do not power the external drives. So the handy USB powered spinning rust drives may have issues with this. The iPad Pro, while larger and more expensive, has USB C which should work seamlessly with external USB C spinning rust drives.

My parents have migrated into Apple camp over the years, and I think it is best to leave them there. I want to push a Surface, but I cannot deny the staying power and user friendliness the iPads have in general. However, with this external storage question, is is a rare time I am actually expecting there to be fewer headaches with the Surface than the iPad, since external storage media seems to be Apple's least favorite thing.

I would like to do this with as little gear as possible, and cheaper is better. Since I am considering the iPad Pro, you can tell that budget is not the primary consideration. Size and ease of use are key. They already have the large Windows Laptop (The main device I am trying to avoid, power brick and all), a 2TB external USB 3 HDD (Powered via the same single USB 3 data cable), and the GoPro Hero4.

Salient, Distilled Questions:
A) For the new iPad Mini (A12 SOC):
  1. Can one import video from a GoPro Hero4 Black wirelessly?
  2. Can one save to external storage media via Lightning to USB adapter?
  3. Does the external storage media need self power? I expect yes for spinning rust, but what about SSD?
B) For the 11" iPad Pro (A12X SOC):
  1. Can one import video from a GoPro Hero4 Black wirelessly?
  2. Can one save to external storage media via USB-C?
  3. Does the external storage media need self power?
C) For the 128GB Surface Go:
  1. Can one import video from a GoPro Hero4 Black wirelessly?
  2. Can one save to external storage media via USB-C?
  3. Does the external storage media need self power?
 
Usacomp2k3
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Re: iPads and External Storage

Tue Mar 19, 2019 6:51 am

I've done imports to iOS, but never exports. Would something like this be easier:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078VCSLD7/re ... B0748PRTWF
 
Martin the Kiteboy
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Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 7:04 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Re: iPads and External Storage

Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:19 am

If I go that route, I will go with this.

I think after some more research it looks like even the iPad Pro does not support external storage via the USB-C connetor.

That Surface Go is beginning to look really nice.
 
LostCat
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Re: iPads and External Storage

Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:12 am

Martin the Kiteboy wrote:
That Surface Go is beginning to look really nice.

After converting it to normal Windows and updating it, it IS really nice. The initial showing was less impressive.

The only complaint I have about it is that I use Pandora and don't get offline stations like every other platform. o.o
Meow.
 
LostCat
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Re: iPads and External Storage

Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:26 am

You might also consider WDs external SSDs with wifi if budget isn't an issue. I don't have personal experience with one but I've been considering it for a while.
Meow.
 
The Egg
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Re: iPads and External Storage

Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:31 am

Yeah, this WD series sounds the best so far for ease of use with what they're doing. Even comes with a built-in battery.
 
LostCat
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Re: iPads and External Storage

Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:50 am

The Egg wrote:
Yeah, this WD series sounds the best so far for ease of use with what they're doing. Even comes with a built-in battery.

I'd stick with the SSDs for travelling. Lighter, less likely to be damaged by knocking it around, etc.
Meow.

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