# iPad Pro hard drive connection problems



## paul.forgette (Oct 5, 2019)

So trying to connect a hard drive to the iPad 
Basically the iPad can’t see it as in it doesn’t come up as an option under files 
Have made sure the drives format is exfat , it’s a powered drive and plugged in etc
Any ideas
i had a 4tb portable drive that was full up 
got a new external drive 8tb made sure it was formatted to exfat as I also use it on a windows laptop copied the data across to the new drive all fine and the windows laptop sees it etc , I now do most of my editing on the iPad so really need to get this to work , when I plug the drive in to the iPad it lights up etc but the iPad just doesn’t show it in files as it should , after about 10 minutes the drive powers down , am I missing something


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## Johan Elzenga (Oct 5, 2019)

This is a Lightroom forum. I think you better ask this in an Apple hardware forum.


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## paul.forgette (Oct 5, 2019)

Johan Elzenga said:


> This is a Lightroom forum. I think you better ask this in an Apple hardware forum.


Yep aware of that that’s why I put it in the other business forum , was hoping somebody might have experience of this


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## Replytoken (Oct 6, 2019)

Are you running iPad OS 13?  And if so, is it a Beta version?

--Ken


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## paul.forgette (Oct 6, 2019)

Replytoken said:


> Are you running iPad OS 13?  And if so, is it a Beta version?
> 
> --Ken


Using iPados 13.1.2 and no it’s not the beta version


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## clee01l (Oct 6, 2019)

What ports are available to connect on the EHD?  I think you will get your best results with a USB-C  port on both the EHD and the  iPad Pro..  Try turning the USB-C bidirectional port upside down 
I have a 1TB iDiskk with a USB-C port for Mac and WIndows computers, A USB type A for Phones and iPads and a USB micro B port for charging the internal battery.   If I plug the iPad Pro into the USB Type A port as suggested, the iPadPro does not recognize it However if I plug the iPadPro into the USB-C port using a USB-C male to male cable, the iPadPro recognizes it in the Files app.   Does the EHD have a separate power supply?  Can you see it in Explorer/Finder on a computer?


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## paul.forgette (Oct 6, 2019)

clee01l said:


> What ports are available to connect on the EHD?  I think you will get your best results with a USB-C  port on both the EHD and the  iPad Pro..  Try turning the USB-C bidirectional port upside down
> I have a 1TB iDiskk with a USB-C port for Mac and WIndows computers, A USB type A for Phones and iPads and a USB micro B port for charging the internal battery.   If I plug the iPad Pro into the USB Type A port as suggested, the iPadPro does not recognize it However if I plug the iPadPro into the USB-C port using a USB-C male to male cable, the iPadPro recognizes it in the Files app.   Does the EHD have a separate power supply?  Can you see it in Explorer/Finder on a computer?


So I’m connecting straight from the external drive to the usbc socket on the iPad, , tried turning the port upside down and no change, the external drive has its own power supply , it works fine on my laptop , its formatted to xfat


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## clee01l (Oct 7, 2019)

paul.forgette said:


> it works fine on my laptop , its formatted to xfat


Was the 4tb EHD using a separate power supply?   And is it formatted exFAT as well?  Is the cable connecting the EHD terminated as USB-C on both ends and does the EHD have other ports?   On my desktop, I have a EHD that has both USB-C and a Thunderbolt3 port   The ports are identical BUT they only function as USB-C and TB3.  They are not interchangeable. 
My experience is limited to one 1TB EHD that is powered via the USB-C ( and a built in internal battery). 
Your issue does go beyond the scope of Lightroom and iPadOS.  I'm not sure if there are others here that have attempted what you and I are doing.   I think Apple needs to develop the External file support more than what we see in the first iteration.   Also Adobe needs to update Lightroom to accommodate more the use of external file on connected Disk Drives.


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## Jeff Donald (Oct 11, 2019)

The drive needs to be formatted HFS+ or FAT32. NTFS and ExFAT will not work at this time.


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## paul.forgette (Oct 11, 2019)

Jeff Donald said:


> The drive needs to be formatted HFS+ or FAT32. NTFS and ExFAT will not work at this time.


Thanks Jeff , actually I believe exfat does and it’s the partitioning that’s the issue as it needs to be Guid and not Mbr , will be changing this over the weekend to see if that helps


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