REVIEW: How to use iXpand flash drive for iPhone, iPad and computers

Quick note:

With SanDisk ixpand flash drive you can free up space on your iPhone or iPad; automatically back up your photos and videos and play large video files directly from the drive

iXpand Mini Flash Drive:

The iXpand Mini Flash Drive comes in different capacities – 32G, 64G, 128G and 256G. But for the purpose of this review we are focusing on the 128G which was designed to be the perfect companion for iPhone, iPad and Mac computer users. The pen gadget offers an easy way to free up space while using your iPhone.

Interestingly, it automatically backs up your camera roll, and even lets you and loved ones watch popular-format videos straight from the drive5.

How does it work?

The drive has both a Lightning connector that works with most cases and a USB 3.0 connector to plug into your PC or Mac computer so you can easily move your content.

The iXpand Mini Flash Drive also includes software that lets you password protect files, so you can share your content while keeping sensitive files secure across your devices6 Take all the photos and videos you want—the iXpand Mini Flash Drive delivers a fast and simple way to free up space on your iPhone so that you’re always ready to capture more memories.

Why do I need this gadget?

Well, if you are having issues with space on your iPhone, then this is the answer. With iXpand Mini Flash Drive you can free up space on your iPhone or iPad quickly. It is quite easy.

Plug in the Lightning connector and you can easily move photos, videos and other files off your device and onto the drive. From there, you can transfer the files onto a PC or Mac computer or store them on the drive. You can also save directly to the drive when using the app to take photos and videos.

Backup photos

You can set the iXpand Drive app to automatically back up your iPhone or iPad camera roll anytime the drive is connected. This implies you do not need to manually select which photos to back up.

Every click on the shooter is backed-up

How about watching videos?

The iXpand Mini Flash Drive supports popular video formats such as .MP4, .MOV. This implies you can store and watch videos straight from the drive!

Works with most cases

The iXpand Mini Flash Drive is designed to plug directly into your iPhone or iPad without having to remove your case.

USB 3.0 high-speed transfers
Read speeds from drive to computer up to 90MB/s. Write speeds lower and varies by capacity. For instance, USB 3.0 port required. Based on internal testing; performance may be lower depending upon host device. 1MB = 1,000,000 bytes.

How to begin:

To use iXpand flash drive for your iPhone and iPad, you will need to download iXpand app from the iOS into the device – iPhone, iPad or Mac (computers).

You may have questions, such as:

. Can I use this iXpand flash drive multiple times to other iPhone’s gadget? May be you have iPad mini, 6s plus and iPhone 7, etc.

Absolutely, the iXpand Mini Flash Drive is compactible to the devices mentioned above.

. OK! Can I also upload from the flash drive to iPhone?

Worry not. Yes! You can transfer files from F Drive to iPhone any time and vice versa.

. Interesting. But can I transfer MS Excel/ Ms Word files through iXpand?

The answer is still yes. You can transfer Ms Excel and Pdf.

. I have worries. I have some scanned pdf documents on my iXpand Mini Flash Drive. This has been saved in separate folders in iXpand drive. So, I need to move to my iPhone or iPad. I have copied this files, but this is not showing in photos in iphone. Where will this files will be saved in iPhone or iPad?

More so, normal photos are showing in photos, there is no issues. The only issue is with the pdf documents saved in separate folder. So, how do I solve this?

Well, the simple step is to check in the Files App. If you don’t have Files App then you need to Download it from App Store.

. So, I want to know is the USB keeps the original quality and size? Let’s say, I want to back up 4K videos, will it work?

I can authoritatively tell you that I have backed up 4K Videos for different purposes and can tell you the device maintains the original quality and size.  Nothing to worry about.

. Wait, how possible is it to record video directly to the Sansdisk? Or Do I need to record first in the iPhone and then copy to the drive? I’m asking that because I use my iPhone to record very large files and I feel it will be awesome to record directly in the Sandisk

Oh yes. It is very possible to directly record video through Sandisk iXpand Mini Flash.

Full Specification:

Capacity                                                          128 GB

Interface                                                          USB 3.0

Connector                                                       USB-A and Lightning

Compatibility

• iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPad Air, iPad mini, iPad mini 4, iPad Pro 12.9″, iPad Pro 9.7″ iPad with Retina display, iPod 5th Generation and newer, with Lightning connector and iOS 8.2+ See device compatibility.
• PC/Mac computer compatibility: Windows® 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Chrome OS, Mac OS X v10.9 and higher

Dimensions (L X W X H)                              2.09″ x 0.18″ x 0.48″

Pricing and availability

iXpand Mini Flash Drive sells for about $46 which translates to about N20,000. It depends on exchange rates, your bargaining power and store. It is available in Nigeria.

Verdict:

I like iXpand. Although, on the cause of the review I had this experience: Often times, it asks me to enable access to photo library every time I tried to back up or copy from phone to iXpand. The mystery is that whenever you try to enable access to photos, they seem to have ‘disappeared’.

Also, when I would move a picture file from my iPhone to the iXpand and then plug it into a PC USB, the file was unreadable. It appears the file format was not supported. But, I found a way around it: I changed the settings on the iPhone to save as jpg. Not all users could try this. They will simply drop the gadget and seek for alternative.

In case you are having that issue, you can get a program to convert the file formats. The new iPhone picture format cannot be viewed in Win 10 without conversion. I hope you understand that. SanDisk should review this. I recommend it use, especially for bloggers, Vloggers and others who use a lot of pictures and videos.