I’ve been iOS only for over a year now and loving it. Very freeing but… I’d like to be able to connect to a USB drive and some old HDDs I’ve got.
I’ve been experimenting with a Raspberry Pi. Lot of fun but not very elegant. I don’t really like the specialist USB / Lightning drives (bought one and didn’t work).
So what to do? I’m considering RAVPower Filehub Plus Has anyone had any experience with it? Or is there a relatively cheap solution I’m missing?
Thanks
Many consumer routers include USB connections for attaching and sharing external storage via a network file share. Does your home router support that?
If so they typically share via (S)FTP and/or SMB for which their are various iOS apps that can support the connections. Often a browser interface to the storage is available too.
In essence that’s what the device you mention will do… but you may already have the technology available and as an iOS only user I can’t imagine you wanting to lug HDDs everywhere with you.
Hope that helps.
I would highly suggest getting a synology NAS. You can start with an entry level 2 disk model for under $200 and set it up like your own private Dropbox so you have access at home or away.
https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/series/j
Synology also make some decent (but really ugly) routers that can turn on file sharing via usb or sd cards… but the NAS is so much more cabable I would always recommend that over a simple usb share.
As noted before… you likely don’t want to be dragging around an external drive. Just download the synology app(s) and have access from anywhere you have an internet connection.
Hope that helps… or at least adds to possible options even if not your original thought.
Thanks both. Hadn’t thought of the router idea. Will check it out.
Have got a Synology from 2011 but slowed now to a snails pace. Might look at the upgrade if first option doesn’t work.
What I like about the RAVPower is I can connect to HDD at home but download files to USB drive when I’m out and about.
I actually have a Netgear PR2000 that is similar to the RavPower product, but does not support DLNA or have a battery built in. What it does do is allow the bridging of Wifi to Wifi as well as wired to Wifi; the Ravpower looks to only do the latter. This might be relevant based on if you need to connect to the file share and the Internet at the same time on what might effectively be two different Wifi networks.