What can I do with the Camera Connection kit?

[iChuckNorris]

I keep seeing references to accessing USB storage using the camera connection kit, but how is this done?? Do I need a jailbroken iPad to do this?

I basically want to find a way to have more storage available to my iPad.... what are my options?

 

[saguaro]

As far as I know, you have to jailbreak to do this.

The camera kit comes with 2 connectors - SD and USB. The USB connector won't read any of my flash drives on my jailbroken ipad due to the power requirements, although some people report success with low power, low capacity drives.

You can't use the SD connector on an unjailbroken i-device for anything but viewing thumbnails of the photos on it and transferring all or selected ones to the device.

After jailbreaking, if you install an app called iFile (costs money but has a free trial) you have full access to the file system on the device and you can use the SD connector to view most any kind of files and transfer them back and forth. You can also view photos on the SD card full-screen. For iFile info see here:

iFile

For features and file types, see here:

iPhone Applications and Tips - Feature Requests

iFile also has a server in it that you can use to transfer files wirelessly from your computer.

If you do this, be careful when in the file system. If you mess something up it could mean trouble. I would liken it to going into the registry in Windows.

There is also a free app out there called iPhone Explorer that I think you can use to transfer files, but it's not added storage like an SD card and you have to be connected to a computer to use it.

 

[Demandarin]

On non jail broken devices, ur options are severly limited to photos n "some" movies, like the previous poster said. If u want computer type access to SD card or USB drives, Jailbreak. But yeah, the USB thumb drives are a hit n miss. A lot of people say the older ones with no lights wrk. Reason being because they all use to work but Apple decided to reduce the voltage output of the connector. They want u to use their stuff only..lol. I know it sux but workarounds for most things out there, depends on what u want to do.

 

[tzimisce]

I use my camera connection kit to hook up a non-Apple, standard USB keyboard. It doesn't work on all keyboards, but I have a few which do - just click away the "device not supported" warning and then start typing as normal.

 

[rsmin]

I am using my Blue Zeti microphone on mine. I am not jail broken, just using a Belkin USB hub and it works great every time.

 

[biobunny]

I use my camera connection kit to hook up a non-Apple, standard USB keyboard. It doesn't work on all keyboards, but I have a few which do - just click away the "device not supported" warning and then start typing as normal.

Cool!!

 

[tzimisce]

Yeah, I have about ten different keyboards and tried most of them. Some didn't work, but there were two or three which did, including one of my favourite silicone "soft touch" keyboards.