Not enough storage on your iPad?

If you purchased a 16 GB iPad, you may have quickly run out of storage space, and wishing you had bought a larger capacity one. Some people may even be able to fill a 64 GB iPad to capacity!

I just received a Seagate GoFlex Satellite 500 GB wireless storage drive that I ordered when Newegg had a sale recently ($99.99 and free shipping). (I am not an employee of Seagate or Newegg.)

I have just finished charging it, upgrading the firmware to version 1.3.6.001 (gives it internet pass-thru, and 7 hours battery life, instead of 5 hours stated on the box), and installing the included drivers for my MacBook to use it (it is natively formatted to NTFS). I have installed the Seagate Media app, and used the browser setup interface to enable pass-thru internet access.

This little device is quite impressive! It has a rechargable internal battery that keeps it going for 7 hours (after upgrading the firmware). It comes with a USB 3 connector and cable (which is backwards-compatible with USB 2). It came with both an A/C and a D/C charger, so you can charge it by plugging it into the wall or an auto power port. It can also be charged with the USB cable, although that is much slower.

All you do is use your computer to copy your music, pictures, movies, documents, etc. to the GoFlex. To use it wirelessly, just push the power button, and wait for the green WIFI indicator to stop flashing (stay on solid). Connect from your iPad, and using the Safari, type in www.goflexsatellite.com (172.25.0.1) and near the bottom-left, click on the plus sign beside "Enable Internet Browsing", select your WIFI Access Point's name, type in the password, and you have 7 hours of connectivity to both your files and the internet simultaneously.

There is a newer 1 TB version called the Seagate Wireless Plus, which costs more and has 10 hours battery life, but as long as you upgrade the GoFlex's firmware and don't need 1 TB of space, this GoFlex is pretty nice for the money.

Thanks theoak, good to know. I have both an iPad2 and a brand new iPad mini and both of them are 64gb, cause I like to load a lot of converted movies onto them.

But this is really good info for someone requiring more storage on their ipad! Thanks for posting.

I have a 16 GB iPad and I never suffered lack of capacity. I have tons of ebooks stored in the iPad and view regularly movie clips and images. I use FileExplorer - an app available in free as well as a paid version. The paid version allows you to connect to any NFS (Network File Server) or a computer through Wifi and you can access most files off the server - thus saving you space in your iPad. This way I don't need to store anything on the pad as long as I am in the office or at home.

I would most likely not fill a 16 GB iPad either, but the external hard drive is most useful to people who store tons of music, pictures, and video on their device. Videos particularly use up storage space quickly. Since the iPad can take both pictures and video, some people will quickly fill 16 GB. These would be people who maybe don't have access to WIFI or 3G where they want to use their iPad. I run a computer repair shop, and have many times had customers store >500 GB of music, pictures and video locally on their hard drive. My son-in-law has about 2 TB of stuff on 4 external hard drives. To each, their own.

What formats of video can you stream?

Quote from Apple's spec page:

Apple - iPad - View all the technical specifications.

Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG‑4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

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