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02/26/2013, 10:47 PM
#1
We all know that our beloved TouchPad does not have any slots/ports for expandable storage. Neither does the iPad, Nexus 7, or Kindle Fire HD, so I guess it is in good company (or bad company, depending on your point of you). You can connect the TouchPad to a UPnP Server like MediaTomb on your PC using the BHome app. You can also use Box.net for cloud storage. To me those options are alright, but they are limited. UPnP requires a dedicated computer for a server. Box.net requires a constant Internet connection.
What I wanted/needed was a portable, stand alone high capacity (1.5 TB of higher) hard drive with its own built in wireless router. I searched for something like this in the past, but every time I came up short. Either the device was too expensive, did not have enough capacity, could not create its own network, or all three. I gave up a while back.
I'm planning to go on a long trip and didn't want to lug my giant 1TB plug in USB hard drive with me. I decided to buy a small 2TB portable USB hard drive. I set my sights on the Western Digital My Passport. I looked up the My Passport on Amazon for pricing. They had the 2TB model on sell. Before I added it to my cart to buy it, I decided to once again look for a decent wireless hard drive and I found this:
Amazon.com: [2-in-1] RAVPower® RP-WD01 Wireless WiFi-Disk & Built-in 3000mAh Li-Polymer Power Bank - Charging Android Smart Phones, iPhone, Tablets, and Meanwhile Expanding the Storage of iPad, iPhone & Other Android Devices via Two-Way WiFi T
It is not a hard drive. Believe it or not, it is a battery pack with a built in wireless router, SD Card slot, and USB slot. You can put up to a 128GB SD card in it or hook up an up to 2TB hard drive to it and it will act as a wireless NAS file server. It has its own wireless router. You can connect up to 5 devices to it at once. You can also connect it to your wireless network to use the Internet. It will last up to 5 hours on its own power. It can even charge a cell phone. All for $50.
I thought it was too good to be true, but after reading the reviews, I decided to buy it along with the My Passport hard drive. The price for both devices plus shipping was right at $200. I got them both in the mail today.
There is an app that allows it to work with iOS and Android. The app is called AirStor. There is even an app that allows it to work with Windows, though it is completely useless because you can map the SD/USB drive in the device to Windows using the file manager. Sadly, there is not a dedicated app for webOS or the Kindle. It has a web Interface for unsupported devices. However, I got it to work just as good with webOS as it does with Android and iOS using the Enyo Network Drive Mapper app here:
http://forums.webosnation.com/nelsun...ve-mapper.html
Here is what I did:
I downloaded the Enyo Network Drive Mapper application file to my laptop using the link above, unzipped it, then transferred the unzipped ipk to my TouchPad and installed it using Internalz.
I installed a 32GB microSD card (you need a full size SD adapter to do this) into the device with some media files on it. I then powered up the device.
I connected my laptop and TouchPad to the device's dedicated wifi network (default SSID is WifiSD-WD01, default password is 11111111). I used web browser on my laptop to log in to the device's web interface (default ip is 10.10.10.256, default username is admin, there is no default password).
I then launched the setup wizard which allows you to change all of the default settings.
After changing the settings and restarting the device, I used the Windows Explorer file manager to get the settings for the network drive (map network drive, type in ip address, then hit browse). If you don't change the default IP address, the settings for a SD card is \\10.10.10.256\SDCard_Volume1 and the settings for a USB hard drive/thumbdrive is \\10.10.10.256\USBDisk_Volume1.
I opened up the "Network Drives" application on my TouchPad. I clicked the + Add profile.. option. I created a new profile called WiFiDisk-SD. Here is the information I entered:
Display Name: WiFiDisk-SD
Drive Path: 10.10.10.256\SDCard_Volume1
Mount to Folder: /media/internal/wifidisk *note: I had to create this directory on my TouchPad using Internalz.
User Name: admin
Passwork: my password I created during the set-up wizard
Domain: WiFiDisk
Read Mode, Read Speed, and Write Speed were left alone.
Afterwards hit the "Save" button.
The create another profile called WiFiDisk-USB using the instructions above. Change the Display name to WiFiDisk-USB and the Drive Path to 10.10.10.256\USBDisk_Volume1. Make the folder and everything else the same as for the SD card. Hit "Save" at the end.
Tap the appropriate profile (SD or USB) to mount it. In my case I tapped the WiFiDisk-SD profile and mounted the SD drive. I was able to view and interact with the files on the SD card using Internalz.
Please note that in order to play videos from your networked drive using KSMPlayer, you need to start KSMPlayer prior to mapping the drive (weird little bug).
I am able to play videos and listen to music as if the files were actually on my TouchPad. I am extremely happy! Not bad for $50. 
BTW, It works great with the My Passport! The My Passport is way faster than an SD card, but for portability I'm going to use an SD card in it while on the road. That why I can keep it in my pocket. Hope this helps someone!
Edit: I forgot to let you know that once you have the profiles set-up in the Enyo Network Drive Mapper app (aka "Network Drives"), there is no need to go through all of the steps above again. Just connect your TouchPad to the RavPower's wireless network, open up Network Drives, and tap the appropriate profile to connect.
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