How to access an external hard drive with your iPhone & iPad
One of Apple's many great features is its support for external storage devices that have been accessible with any devices with an iOS 13 or later operating system. Accessing this external hard drive might not always be the easiest to find and figure out, so let's dive into how to access your iPhone or iPads external hard drive.
Unlike an internal drive, an external hard drive is installed firmly inside your computer; an external hard drive is a device you plug into a computer port. An external hard drive gives you additional storage space to hold and store your data. External hard drives provide you with plenty of different storage options that can help make transferring files, photos, and more from your iPhone more accessible.
Examples of external hard drive options for your iPhone allow you to transfer files, photos, and more from your iPhone.
- LaCie Rugged Mini External Hard Drive
- Flash Drive
- iPhone memory sticks
- Thumb drives
- Pendrives
Examples of external hard drives that can hook up virtually to any USB storage device to your iPad or iPhone
- External USB 3.0 portable hard drives for iPad
- Flash Drive for iPad
- Portable SSD external storage drives
When it comes to connecting your iPhone or iPad to a USB or an SD card reader, it can seem not very easy at first, but it can become a lot easier with these steps. To start, you need to attach the USB or SD card reader to the charging port on your iPhone or iPad using the compatible connector or adaptor. For some iPhones and iPads, you may need a Lightning to USB Camera Adapter, a Lightning to USB 3 Camera adaptor or SB-C to SD Card Camera Reader, or a Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader. These are all sold separately but can be found here at CityMac. Once you have connected to your drive device, you can access it in Files. If you're using your iPad in portrait orientation on your iPhone, tap the Browse tab at the bottom of the screen. On an iPad in landscape orientation, Browse appears automatically in the sidebar. Now you have complete access to your drive, where you can import, move or store. This file is full of accessible commands.
In this, you also have access to copying and moving files. You have to tap and hold on to a file you want to copy and start dragging the file. Then while you're dragging it, you can use another finger to push then the Browse tab, which will switch you back to your Browse screen. Continuing dragging the file onto your flash drive, you then have a copy both on your hard drive and on your iPhone.
If you have trouble accessing your storage device, try out these troubleshooting options.
Check your device's connection:
Double-check that your device is correctly plugged into the appropriate plugs and adapters. If you have extra cords and adapters, try using them instead, or try to plug them into different ports if you can.
Check to make sure the drive's file has the correct format:
Ensure that your external storage device is in a valid format so that both Mac and iOS devices can read it.
Check your power requirements:
Sometimes, your device doesn't always have enough power to support external hard drives. For example, solid-state drives, hard drives, and other devices may need more power than your iPhone or iPad.
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