Can I use plex with just ipad and hdd? read more inside

General Discussions
1

Hi guys
I currently have all my files and download all my media to mac. On there I have plex media server and I watch it on my Samsung smart tv. When I travel I still use my mac and I use chromecast.

I am thinking of selling off my old macbook pro because i am moving about more now and I just want to use an ipad pro, I can afford to carry along maybe a harddrive of some sort and my chrome cast.

What kind of set up do I need to have to function as I did before?

*or maybe a more specific question, is there a complete list of wireless hdd that I can run plex media server on?"

Thanks

2

LOL
I do not think it is possible to connect a USB HDD to an iPad.

To get a HDD working on an iPad, maybe a wireless HDD.

Dunno

I also am pretty sure there is no PMS that runs on an iPad… LOL

3

Maybe this would work for you → https://www.wdc.com/products/portable-storage/my-passport-wireless-pro.html#WDBSMT0030BBK-EESN

4

@Wunderwally said:
Maybe this would work for you → https://www.wdc.com/products/portable-storage/my-passport-wireless-pro.html#WDBSMT0030BBK-EESN

I’ll have a look thanks :slight_smile:

5

@jdanielca

@jdanielca said:
*or maybe a more specific question, is there a complete list of wireless hdd that I can run plex media server on?"

Interesting question.
Is there a PMS version that can run on a wireless HDD?
Do Wireless HDDs run Linux?
Is there a PMS version that will serve PMS over thru HDD wireless connection let alone run on the HDD’s OS?
Is there an IOS plex client that can can access the PMS over the wireless HDD connection?

Pretty sure the Chromecast Plex app cannot…

Your best bet is to just use the wireless HDD and access the media files as media files played thru the IOS media player.
For this to work you would most certainly need to have all your media encoded in an Apple supported format.

I have a wireless HDD and I can certainly do that on my Android devices. Never tried it on my iPad but I am sure there is a wireless app for Apple.

You could, of course, leave you PMS running on your server and access it remotely from any device. If you only use WiFi connections and just occasionally use Cell Data that would not cost you anything. Most hotels, while traveling, have free WiFi. That is mostly what I do. Works in cars travelling over cell data. The only problem is on airplanes where you cannot use Cell connection and in flight WiFi does not give you enough BW to get any reasonable performance for video. (Just tried that on a recent trip. ) In that case you will need your media on HDD. I have all my media stored on several portable 4TB HDDs usb. But I travel with a small laptop rather than a tablet so I can carry all my media with me when I travel.

You certainly would not expect a PMS running on a wireless HDD to have enough horsepower to transcode (Or a PMS running on an Ipad for that matter) if either such versions of PMS exist.

6

I take one of these with me on the road - WD My Passport Wireless Pro.


Self contained Plex server and hard drive. I have the 3TB unit.
I use it with my iPad, and RasPlex, I have used it with a FireTV Stick and a Roku.

7

Yes the WD My Passport Wireless Pro. has been mentioned and is what I am looking at for now, does not seem like there are other options. It does not transcode so what format do you have to make sure you download your media in? Ive never needed to pay attention to these things but would be good to know.

THANKS !

@rsava said:
I take one of these with me on the road - WD My Passport Wireless Pro.
https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wireless-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B01F5LVTPS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1488157833&sr=8-3&keywords=wd+my+passport+wireless+pro+2tb
Self contained Plex server and hard drive. I have the 3TB unit.
I use it with my iPad, and RasPlex, I have used it with a FireTV Stick and a Roku.

8

@rsava

You actually have a Plex Media Server running on a Portable Wireless HDD?
What version of PMS loads and works on that device?

@jdanielca
You need to encode your videos to a format the IOS media player supports.
A Google search should help with that I suspect.

9

@jjrjr1 - The drive is actually designed to run Plex, they released it last year. Here is the blog post.

I forget which version I am on now, 1.3.3 I think. It does not get the same versions, it has to be slightly modified.

10

@jdanielca said:
Yes the WD My Passport Wireless Pro. has been mentioned and is what I am looking at for now, does not seem like there are other options. It does not transcode so what format do you have to make sure you download your media in? Ive never needed to pay attention to these things but would be good to know.

THANKS !

@rsava said:
I take one of these with me on the road - WD My Passport Wireless Pro.
https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wireless-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B01F5LVTPS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1488157833&sr=8-3&keywords=wd+my+passport+wireless+pro+2tb
Self contained Plex server and hard drive. I have the 3TB unit.
I use it with my iPad, and RasPlex, I have used it with a FireTV Stick and a Roku.

I don’t download media, I rip it all myself. I had to convert quite a bit because I had a lot done before I got the drive.
I used the Optimize feature and used the settings
Custom
Universal TV
4Mbps 720p

I really don’t care anymore since I started carrying a Raspberry Pi 3 using RasPlex with me for hotels and I have enough converted to watch on the plane.