Is there an app which allows my iPhone to view files on my hard drive?
December 4, 2010 12:42 PM   Subscribe

Is there an app which allows my iPhone to view files on my hard drive? I have a wi-fi router from Virgin, which allows my phone access the net. The router is cabled into my PC. It seems that I should be able to do this, but I don't know how.
posted by dash_slot- to Computers & Internet (13 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Why not use Dropbox?
posted by k8t at 12:45 PM on December 4, 2010


Easiest solution is dropbox. Install it on your computer and your phone, and anything is available on both.
posted by empath at 12:46 PM on December 4, 2010


Response by poster: Seems to take ages to load their home page...
posted by dash_slot- at 12:51 PM on December 4, 2010


Yeah - dropbox is having problems today. I've never, ever seen it this slow. It'll get better; they're normally really reliable.

That being said - I'll nth the recommendation. Super easy to use. The Dropbox application makes a folder on your PC connected to your dropbox account, which be accessed via the Dropbox app on your iPhone.
posted by cgg at 12:56 PM on December 4, 2010


Response by poster: Gonna give it a go now...
posted by dash_slot- at 1:10 PM on December 4, 2010


Response by poster: In the meantime...is there an app, or any other way, which gives me access to my C: drive via the setup I have?
posted by dash_slot- at 1:12 PM on December 4, 2010


You might want to clarify your question. Do you just want to VIEW the files or do you actually want to be able to work with them? Dropbox can work great for the latter, but the iPhone app is limited to just displaying a 1gig of stuff. Plus you have to put all of that stuff in designated folder. If you have stuff in multiple folders, all over your hardrive, that could make Dropbox not such a good solution.

There are a number of VNC clients for iPhone, which will allow you to connect directly to your computer and use from your (small screen iPhone). I've just played with these, haven't done any serious work with them, but I was able to use Indesign and Photoshop on my home computer via an iPod Touch. Was a tad difficult with the small screen and the touch interface doesn't completely map to the point and click of my desktop machine, but it might work for you. I think Real VNC is among the top in this category, but you might want to ask others.
posted by nomadicink at 1:14 PM on December 4, 2010


Response by poster: Thanks nomadicink.

To clarify: eg I would like to be able to read documents, or to play a movie or song. I would like to work with a document, yes.
posted by dash_slot- at 1:22 PM on December 4, 2010


Both OS X and windows provide web servers you can turn on. If you configure them to share out the folder with all your files, then you should be able to browse and open files from Mobile Safari. The iPhone supports a lot of common filetypes, but it doesn't support WMV or AVI video (among others).

Beyond that, Goodreader and others let you connect to FTP or WebDAV servers, which can also be setup on Windows and Mac.

If you want to access any of this from outside your home, you will need to deal with port forwarding and dynamic dns on your router.
posted by Good Brain at 1:58 PM on December 4, 2010


Best answer: I use and really enjoy Zumocast - they have a free, small client that you run on your PC and a free iPhone App. It has been awesome for streaming audio and video, but I'm not certain if it handles documents. I have stuck with Dropbox for documents. Give it a look, and good luck!
posted by karizma at 2:32 PM on December 4, 2010


Response by poster: Turns out, after d/l VNC & Dropbox that Zumocast does all I want it to do.
Thanks Karizma!
posted by dash_slot- at 3:10 PM on December 4, 2010


Response by poster: BTW - can anyone tell me the route the data takes with Zumocast...is it going over the internet like this:

C: drive -> [net] -> iphone via 3G

or locally like this

C: drive -> wifi -> iphone

cheers
posted by dash_slot- at 4:33 PM on December 4, 2010




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