Good afternoon and happy new year to all. I am new to this site and hoping that some of you have the iPad expertise I'm looking for. Please forgive me if this is a frequent question or if I should have posted in another forum...

I received an iPad 2 (16 MB and WiFi only) early in Dec, and this tech is pretty new to me as I'm a PC user, have an old mobile phone, and rarely use iTunes. I bought the "camera connection kit" from an Apple store, and as a test I imported some pictures via the SD connector and I wasn't impressed with the Photos program. So far I've loaded the free FileApp and MyMedia from the App Store, but I don't think these provide the functionality that I'm looking for. I hoped to seek some advice before I start buying the "pro" versions of the applications.

Would any of you know of a file management application that can be installed locally on the iPad that will function like Windows Explorer or Finder? I am hoping to install something simple that would offer the following:

- View all files stored locally on the iPad
- View all files in external device connected via USB (camera, iPod, flash drive, or even an external hard drive)
- Ability to copy files from an external device and store/access the files on the iPad
- Offers read/write/delete access of files stored locally on the iPad

As long as the program is well-written and doesn't crash, I don't care if it is free or costs a few dollars. Also, I would prefer to not JailBreak this thing until I've had it for a year and I learn more about it. Any advice you could provide me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

-Vic

What youre asking for isnt available on a non JB iPad, or, if it is, it'll be very very limited. Apple doesn't operate in this way with its iPads. Maybe the closest you'll find is 'goodreader', but this isn't really close to windows explorer or finder.

Hey, thank you for your response. Based upon my research today, I had a feeling that a non-JB iPad would not have the program I've been looking for.

Thank you for the suggestion of GoodReader. I checked it out in the App Store, and the descriptions for "Manage Files" and "Transfer Files" look pretty good. Not sure if I should drop the $5 on this yet, but I've added it to my list of possible apps that could work for me.

Goodreader is definitely the best option for a non-jailbroken iPad. IOS is a completely sandboxed environment and no 3rd party applications have access to the entire file system.

Jailbreaking provides root access to the filesystem as it's primary function. The JB app iFile then provides full "finder" or "explorer" like access to the entire device. (dont confuse this with iFiles in the App store. It is NOT the same!).

If you need more details on jailbreaking head over to our hacking section and read our sticky threads. They contain a wealth of information on the subject.

Hope that helps.

Hi, f4780y, thank you for this option. I was informed that jailbreaking the iPad would void the warrantee, so I think I'll wait until I have more experience. What do you think about FileBrowser or FileApp Pro?

I definitely want to see if I can at least hook up a flashdrive or an external HD using the camera connection kit. I've tried the flash drive, and the LED illuminates so at least I know it's getting power. Now I just need to find a way to access what is stored on an external drive.

Has anyone tried the "iDocument Flash Drive Lite"? Seems like it might be worth a try...

If your willing to plug your iPad into a computer there is a very good program for windows (or mac) called diskaid, this allows access to most of the program's documents folders, but not the whole file system, very good for transfering files

Thanks, addiosamigo. I've read that DiskAid is good to install on the PC/Mac in order to access files on an iPad. I appreciate your suggestion and I'll make sure to set that up. I'd really like to find a program that is loaded on the iPad, though, and would enable me to access files on the iPad as well as an external drive.

But I also need to learn more about the iTunes and Music programs that came with the iPad. It looks like some programs work with Actions, but on my iPad the iTunes program only has store functionality... ???

Your best bet is to jailbreak, if you have an iPad 1 then it is very easy. If you do decide to JB then ifile is what your looking for, you can access the whole file system, but if you don't want to JB you should definitely get goodreader, it's well worth the money and you can access pretty much any medium to transfer files across, either using wifi or USB. Dropbox support, FTP, SFTP, it really is an essential app! If you wanted to access an external drive the only way possible would to be to share the drive then use goodreader to access the shared drive.

Once the files are in goodreader you can use the 'open in' function to access these files( for example if you have an avi, you'd open it in say av player) if it's just a txt file or PDF then goodreader will open it just fine

The iPad 2 has been out for 10 months. As far as I know there has NEVER been a workable jailbreak for the device. When jailbreaking is recommended, it would be helpful to note that it is simply not an option for most iPad owners. That may change in the future but I'm very skeptical. And until that time recommending jailbreaking is not especially helpful, especially for "new" iPad owners.

Originally Posted by jsh1120

The iPad 2 has been out for 10 months. As far as I know there has NEVER been a workable jailbreak for the device. When jailbreaking is recommended, it would be helpful to note that it is simply not an option for most iPad owners. That may change in the future but I'm very skeptical. And until that time recommending jailbreaking is not especially helpful, especially for "new" iPad owners.

Most of us in the hacking section have been enjoying perfectly stable jailbroken iPad2's since May 2011. It is true to say that since the release of 4.3.4, those without SHSH Blobs have been out of luck, but to say there has never been a workable jailbreak is just plain wrong. There is a reason I directed the OP and anyone else who reads the thread to the hacking section and the wealth of information stored there.

Perhaps start here for the facts? - Official iPad2 Jailbreak Thread