In this video we demonstrate that it is possible to connect either an external USB hard drive or an USB flash drive to an Apple iPad. However, it should be noted that because an iPad will use either a USB C or a Lightning connector. In order to connect any USB device to your iPad you will need to use an adapter.
Quick reference notes:
- Connect the adapter to your USB hard drive or Flash drive
- Now plug both the adapter and the USB drive into your iPad
- From your iPad open Files app
- From the Side panel select your USB drive to open, save or copy your files.
Note: An iPad will not be able to open all file types. Instead it will only be able to open file types which it recognises. The list of file types that an iPad or iPhone will recognise are as follows:
| Application Name | Type | File Extensions | Notes |
| Adobe Portable Document Format | Document | Read only | |
| Apple Pages | Word Processor | .pages | Read/Write |
| Apple Keynote | Presentation | .key | Read/Write |
| Apple Numbers | Spreadsheet | .numbers | Read/Write |
| Comma-Separated Values | Delimited Text File | .CSV | Read/Write |
| Text File | Tab-Delimited File | .File | Read/Write |
| MS Word | Word Processor | .doc and .docx | Default – Read only |
| MS Excel | Spreadsheet | .xls and .xlsx | Default – Read only |
| MS PowerPoint | Presentation | .ppt and .pptx | Default – Read only |
Reference materials:
- Apple iPad Lightning to USB 3 adapter – https://amzn.to/2Lp51U8
- Nonda USB Type C to USB 3 adapter – https://amzn.to/37bRKa4
- Kingston DataTraveller USB 3 32GB Flash Drive – https://amzn.to/2IKndGZ
