Best way to access Hard Disk/Pen Drive from Ipad?

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My elderly parents have recently got rid of their desktop iMac due to lack of use. They simply don't require it. they both have Ipads and my mother uses a printing app to print out her photos that are automatically stored in the cloud from her iPhone. She is quite tech savvy for a 70 year old really!

Now she has one issue. She has all her photos stored on a hard disk (among other things) and wants to access said hard disk from her ipad. I have seen various methods of doing this but I wondered if I could get some practical feedback on the best way of doing this be it through a cable or wirelessly?

I know this was something that was challenging in the past but im hoping there is a good reliable way of doing it now?

Thanks!

 

[shiver]

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/ipad/ipad1c415e32/ipados

 

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Ah perfect. Thank you!

 

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Well I bought one and it doesn't work. It's not the official one so I'm wondering if that's where I've gone wrong. Says the accessory required too much power even when I've plugged it into the mains. Any thoughts, or have I wasted my money?

 

[The_Abyss]

Probably not enough power available over Lightning. I've the iPad Pro with USB-C and can attached two mechanical drives to it simultaneously.

Can you power the hard drive independently by other means?

 

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Unfortunately they have just bought a portable drive so no. I have one that does have mains power so will try that. I was just testing it with a pen drive so its pretty disappointing if thats off limits. Defeats the purpose a bit of me.

 

[Alpherah]

Which iPad are you using?
Can confirm on both my pro and iPad Air 2 with the official camera adapter that thumb drives work perfectly, without the need for mains power.
That’s only needed for some mechanical external drives

 

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Im using an iPad pro to test it and its not working with a mains powered HD either. With the mains powered HD you don't get the error message but you also don't see the HD in the files app either!

 

[Alpherah]

I assume the adapter is to blame then.

 

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The device will charge through the adaptor when its plugged in and the error message is no longer there with a mains HD so Im reluctant to say the adaptor is knackered but i suppose that is the logical conclusion.