iPad File Management and iCloud Storage Questions

[jorge.livingston]

Hello,

This is my 2nd post on the forums (after my intro post of course ) and I've got some questions about the iPad Storage, File Management, and iCloud that I haven't been able to find answers to on any web searches. Apologies up front for the long post, but I want to make sure I'm very clear about my query as i've read quite a bit of info on the web on these topics and I'm looking for very specific information...

Before I ask - here's some background info:

1 - I'm running a home wireless network using a Belkin N750 Dual-Band N+ Router and a 3TB Western Digital My Book Live HDD for storage.
2 - I have all my photos (38GB of jpgs), music (92GB of mp3's - no wavs or wma's) and videos (125GB variety of wmv, avi, 3gp, and mod [JVC proprietary format]) on the WD Book
3 - I'm using WMP 11 to manage my music library via PC - and Google Music to stream my library to my Android Phone
4 - I'm using Picasa to manage my photo and video library on my PC - but I haven't explored PicasaWeb for streaming
5 - I'm using Google+ (sparingly) - fyi - i'm not happy with the speed of google+ on my android phone- it's SLOW even on my home wi-fi, so I'm not really using it to stream photos/videos at the moment.

Question 1 - File Management
The western digital HDD has cloud capability which allows me to access my files from anywhere via a web portal - and there's a Western Digital app that allows me to browse/download my network files when i'm at home, but it doesn't allow me to copy/move files from my phone to the HDD.

I know the iPad can access all my home media in various methods - through the Western Digital App or Western Digital's web-portal.
My question is NOT "how do I access my media on my home server?" - so I want to make sure we don't get into that discussion.

What I haven't been able to find a lot of information on is - how do I get files from the iPad onto my Western Digital HDD *wirelessly*
Does the iPad have the ability (natively or via an app) to transfer photo and video files wirelessly directly to a network HDD (not PC)?
I'm assuming I could always plug the ipad via USB to my PC and manually drag files from the iPad to my network drive, but i'm trying to eliminate the middle-man, so to speak.**I am currently using wifi file transfer to get stuff off my android, which is more a workaround than a solution

This leads to my next question concerning iCloud
Can I transfer data from the iCloud directly to my network HDD (not PC)?

I don't want to use Dropbox or other 3rd party cloud services - since I already have my own cloud, and if I got an iPad I would have access to iCloud.
As stated above, Western Digital's app WD2go lets me access files from my cloud, but I can't move files from my phone to the network via this app.
Would apple's iCloud allow me to "dump" content to my network HDD (in other words, using the iCloud like a pass-thru?)

I'm hoping someone on here has some insight into my questions.

thank you in advance!

 

[drb_52]

With regard to your first question, I use FileBrowser to transfer files (when an app allows) between the iPad and my WD NAS.
I don't use the cloud either, so I can't suggest an answer to your second question.

 

[twerppoet]

I don't know of any good method to use iCloud for what you want. iCloud is mainly about keeping things synced between apps and devices, and backing up your devices. It does not act like a traditional cloud file storage and sharing service.

The closest use if iCloud this way (that I have seen ) is GoodReader's ability to store and generate share links. If GoodReader can access your NAS (I don't know) you could probably use it to copy files back and forth from iCloud. Hold in mind that only GoodReader can access those files on iCloud. No other app will be able to do a thing with them directly.