[Discuss] Attaching an external USB drive to a tablet

[blu at nedharvey.com (Edward Ned Harvey)]

> From: discuss-bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org [mailto:discuss-
> bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of Jerry Feldman
> 
> I've been doing a bit of research for a coworker who broke her laptop,
> and now wants to get a tablet. But she also wants to preserve her
> pictures and stuff from her HD. 2.5in HD enclosures are cheap. I bought
> one for $7.00 a few years ago, and an easy search shows a number of them
> in the $20 range.
> I was recommending either a high end Android tablet or an iPad. To
> attach a standard USB drive to an iPad requires the iPad Camera
> Connection Kit but I've seen some blogs about attaching an external HD
> to an Android tablet. The Galaxy Tab also has a connection kit.
> 
> My recommendation to Sybil is either a Galaxy Tab 10.1 or Asus
> Transformer Prime or possibly the latest Moto Xoom. But I also want to
> let her know what some of the downsides of tablets are.

Generally speaking, you're not going to do this with a tablet.  I'm not
saying you can't, I'm just saying you probably won't.

On android, install FTP Server, or SSH Droid, or one of many cloud sync
applications (dropbox, box, spideroak, etc) to transfer files wirelessly.
You could use bluetooth, but bluetooth is slow.

On ipad, just stick it all in itunes or whatever.  Let it sync.

I saw Tom's comments about Asus Transformer having wifi issues.  I'm not
saying other people don't have that problem, I'm saying I don't have that
problem, and I don't know why it would be different for other people.  I
absolutely love everything about this device, except that the touchpad
doesn't disable itself while typing, so you have to hit the F3 (or
equivalent) key on the keyboard to toggle disable the touchpad off yourself.
Also, as far as I can tell, you can't get it with swype.  Which makes it
only comparable and the same as everything else.  But since I got swype on
my phone, I really really want it on every device I ever use from now on.
Granted, you don't care about swype when you're using the physical keyboard,
but you're not going to *always* use the physical keyboard.  That's kind of
the point of making it detachable.