Other ways of transferring files between your iPhone and PC

In my earlier article I have illustrated on just one method to perform file transfers between your iPhone/iPod Touch with the "Phone Drive Lite" (PDL) App from Apple Store (see Want to know how I set up my iPhone to transfer files to and from a computer?).  Now I shall elaborate on other ways of going about transferring your files.

First up, I shall continue with using "PDL" in your iPhone device and describe how you can perform file transfer (both upload and download) from your PC.


For those who had not got "PDL" up and running, this is not for you.  You'd want to visit my previous article as mentioned above.  For those who has FTP up and running, please carry on.


Using Phone Drive Lite with HTTP (in Chrome)


1. iPhone (server) side - Launch "Phone Drive Lite" App from your Apple device, click the signal icon on the bottom right corner and this time note down the HTTP IP Address . (see note 1 below for additional information)

Fig. 1

2. PC (client) side - Launch "Chrome" (not Internet Explorer, see note 2 below).  At the address bar type in the HTTP IP Address you just noted down at Step 1 (e.g. http://192.168.1.101:8080) and press enter.

3.  You will then be greeted by the following screen:-

Fig. 2

(if you have not performed any file transfers up to this point, you will see a folder here called "Sample" containing a JPG, MP3 and Pages file, instead of the figure I have shown here)


Upload file (from PC to iPhone)


Either

4A. Click "Upload File" button.  An "Open" window will pop up, from there click on one file and  click the Open button.

or

4B. Drag and drop files into the square box. (cannot perform block up/down, see note 3 below).

(After the file is uploaded into your iPhone, you will see your "Chrome" page renewed and will now display the additional new file)




Download file (from iPhone to PC)

5. Click "↓" (the down arrow) next to the file that you want to download.  The file will then be downloaded into your "downloads" folder of your "My Documents" folder.  (FYI: the other two icons represents "Rename" and "Delete")



Phone Drive Lite with Window Explorer (ftp and http)

1. Launch PDL and note both the  HTTP IP Address and the FTP IP Address.

2. Launch any Windows Explorer   (you can do this by clicking "Start" and then "My Documents")

Either:

2A. Type in the FTP IP Address from Step 1 above (e.g. ftp://192.168.1.101:2121) into the "Address Bar" and press "Enter".  You will immediately be show files that are stored in your iPhone as shown here:

Fig. 3

(To download or upload files simply drag and drop)









or

2B.  Type in the HTTP IP Address from Step 1 above (e.g. http://192.168.1.101:8080) into the "Address Bar" and press "Enter".  Your default browser will automatically launch and you will see something similar to fig. 2 above showing the file/folder that are stored in your iPhone.  To upload or download, please follow Steps 4 and 5 above.

Notes:

1. IP address keeps changing - If you have many wifi devices enable in your network, you may find that your IP address keeps changing.  And if you find this annoying, this is something you can only fix through your router setting.  In your router you can reserve/assign a specific IP for your iPhone so that it won't keep changing.
2. HTTP does not function in IE8 - Having communicate with the developer Mr. Yew at 'eightythreetec' they are in the process of updating the Lite version so that it will function under IE8. For ease of reference, here is a table of what you can or cannot do with "PDL"

   	FTP	HTTP
   IE8	a	x
   Chrome	x	a
   Firefox	Add-on (FireFTP)	a

3. Cannot Upload more than 1 file at a time under HTTP -  If you want to block Upload/Download use the FTP methods.
4. Although I refer in this article to iPhone only, it will work for any wifi enabled Apple device.
5. As mentioned in previous article, you are not transferring files in your itunes.
6. If you intend on using an FTP Client software such as CuteFTP or  FileZilla, or even FireFTP (which technically is Client rather than an Add-on), please stay tuned, I shall post a link here when its done.
7. Lets not dwell upon the difference between ftp and http other than to say they are a set of rules intended for data transfer over a network and text transfer over internet.

Want to know how I set up my iPhone to transfer files to and from a computer?

I shall be very specific as to which software/platform I used to enable me to perform file transfer between my iPod and my PC over Wifi.  Your iPhone/iPod touch can then become the "server" and your PC the "client".

Warning: Before doing anything, make sure you must have WIFI and that both your iPhone/iPod touch is connected onto the same WIFI network.

The Server End

1.  Install "Phone Drive Lite" onto your iPhone/iPod touch, its Free!

2.  Launch "Phone Drive Lite" from your iPhone/iPod Touch.  Click the signal icon on the bottom right hand corner and you will see something similar to this:-

From the bottom of the frame, note down the FTP IP Address shown (i.e ftp://192.168.1.3:2121/)

The Client End

3. No further installation on your PC is required.  If you are using Windows XP and thus Intenet  Explorer (in my case Internet Explorer 8) and Windows Explorer (in my case Windows Explorer 5.1), you already have a perfectly capable platform to enable you to perform transfer files between you iPhone/iPod and your PC.

4.  Launch your Internet Explorer 8 (IE8)

5. At the address bar of your IE8 type the FTP IP Address you noted down at step 2 above.  And then you shall see something similar to the image below.

6.  You are not ready for file transfer just yet.  On the top right hand corner you will have your command bar with a pull down menu called "Page" .  (If you do not see any pull down menu such as "Page", "Safety" "Tools" etc, you can launch it by right clicking on any of the bars on your IE8 and making sure that there is a check next to "Command Bar").  Now click "Page", right at the bottom of the menu click "Open FTP Site in Windows Explorer".

7. Windows will automatically launch your Windows Explorer.  And in there you will see that "Phone Drive Lite" already has created a "Sample" folder.  This folder contains three files (MP3, JPG and a Pages file).  So if you see this, you are pretty much home dry.

8.  Tranfering files is now a matter of drag/drop or copy/paste.

Enjoy

Please also note the following (just as important):-

• FTP with Chrome - DO NOT USE "GOOGLE CHROME" for FTP,  it does not yet support FTP
• FTP with Firefox - require FTP Add-on
• I have tested a bundle of files and they all seemed to be able to be opened/viewed/listened right from your "Phone Drive Lite" in your Apple device, such as MS Doc, PDF, JPG, MP3, MP4 and 3pg.
• You are not accessing your itune folder, therefore you cannot transfer songs/images/movies that are from your itunes in your Apple devise.
• I have only illustrated only ONE definitive way of going about transferring files between your Apple device and your PC.  Like all things in life, there are many ways of achieving the same result.  For example you may use HTTP instead of FTP, you may use a different iPhone App to act as server and also you may install a FTP client to perform file transfer as the client.  I shall go into these later in my other blog.
• Your Firewall/Antivirus may need some tweaking, but if you do run into any such problem, do drop me a note.
• In this lite version, user can only store up to 10 files.

Now go impress your friends with your new found power.

It must be time to get a shader 3.0 display card

Today I managed to borrow my friend's Rainbow 6 Vegas DVD.  Anxious to get home and feeling excited the game installed without any problem, but the game just wouldn't initiate.  I then remembered a site called "Can You Run It" which checks the game's system requirement against my own hardware system.  The report that the site generated gave me a failed rating for not having the proper display card.  Feeling really disheartened, I asked Mr.Google a few question and was comforted with the answer that there was such a software called "3D Analyze" which can emulate some of the latest display card.  I guess the way it does that is by pulling resources over and beyond what is required by the game to use it as 'extra' display resources.  I wasted no time in downloading and installing the emulator. My god, when the emulator loaded, it was one of the geekiest interface I have seen.  With about 30 or 40 check boxes, I could not understand any ONE of them.  So, when I fell back onto Mr.Google, I was told that the 3D Analyze could only emulate shader 2.0 but the game nevertheless required a shader 3.0 (not that I understood the difference, but I gathered that shader 3.0 is highly resource hungry).  If not playing this highly popular game is an option, it must be time to folk out those HK$350 for a new display card.  That way I can have dual monitor as well, I have always wanted one of those.