# SanDisk WiFi flash drive



## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

So, I've been trying out one of these:



I bought the 16 gb version as it was the least expensive and I knew I had a 32 gb micro SD card in my camera. This item is a wifi flash drive. You connect to your computer, load it up with music, video, photos, etc. and they become available via wifi and an on device app, to your wifi enabled mobile device; in my case a Fire HDX.

I won't repeat the tech details here - check them out at the above link. I will say, it is a marvelous piece of technology. I really like it. My wife has a Fire HD and we both can connect up at the same time and listen to/watch/look at different media. The 16 gb worked fine, so I removed the microSD card and replaced it with a 32 gb card. Again, it performed as advertised, at least with two devices at once. Since I don't have 8 devices we weren't able to test that. Throughput was even and viewing two different movies at once didn't seem to impact playback.

But, shortly after I got this thing 64 gb cards became available. I got an Amazon deal on one and was anxious to see if it would work in the drive as SanDisk says it'll only take *UP TO *32 gb cards. Inserted the 64 gb card ... plugged it into a USB port on my computer and loaded on two movies ... removed it from computer ... turned it on ... and ... nothing. Got an error that said the card needed to be formatted to a file system the Fire can read (that is FAT, for my computer and Fire). 

However, after a very short search on the web I found a way to format the 64 gb drive to the needed file system. - thank goodness for user forums (fora?)!! Reformatted the drive, loaded two movies and connected with the HDX and voila! Or maybe eureka would be more correct. Success! I now have a 64 gb wifi drive for our upcoming flight to Colorado. Will load a small part of my movie collection to take with me, and of course a goodly number of books - you can never have too many books on a trip, I always say. The only issue is that there is a 4 gb file size limitation at this time. According to SanDisk a fix for that *MAY *become available soon via software upgrade. So far that hasn't impacted me - the movie files I have run 1-2 gb.

All in all, for me, a worthwhile investment. Hmmm ... I wonder when 128 gb micro SD cards will be available?


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

Nice. I have a 16GB Kingston WiDrive I got when the original Fires first came out (they later came out with a 64Gb); this is more compact and you can swap around the microSD cards.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Great reviews! I was wondering about these.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

There is, apparently, a way to be connected to the wifi drive AND your wifi network, so you can get to the internet while attached to the flash drive, but I haven't figured that bit out yet


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## Suzsmarmie (Sep 11, 2010)

Could someone explain how this works? It really sounds neat, but how/will it work with my Kindle Fire HD(only) 8.9?


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Refer to the product page. In short, it's a wifi enabled USB drive. You plug it into your computer to load it up with whatever, movies, music, photos, etc. then you can download/stream to your wifi enabled device. Product page says it will stream to a maximum of 6 devices at once. It's not really a wifi hot spot as you can't use it to get out to the internet. Also, you can, with the downloadable SanDisk, app upload from your wifi device. All Fires are wifi enabled, so it should work fine with your Fire HD. You'll load up the drive then turn it on the use the Fire's settings to look for the new wifi connection. On my Fire it shows up as SanDisk Flash FB***. I don't have mine password protected, so I just tap the connection and watch my movies. Easy peasy!!


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## Suzsmarmie (Sep 11, 2010)

OHHHHH....thanks, Happyguy! Now I get it (more than I did, anyway). I'll have to think about that one because it really does sound like something I would use. And, with all due respect, I could read that product page until the cows came home and still not really KNOW what it does. You did a much better job in one paragraph. I'm not tech stoopid, but technical specs are a little hard for me to fully grasp. Thank you again!!


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## SusieQ (Feb 18, 2009)

Can you load books on it as well?
Susie


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Hope you didn't take the "Refer to the product page" wrong. Totally no sarcasm intended. It really was just a suggestion to help you.

"If we shadows have offended, 
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream..."


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## Suzsmarmie (Sep 11, 2010)

No, no, no, Happyguy...I'm sorry..it was supposed to come off as a COMPLIMENT to you, not a criticism. The criticism was to product pages..lol.    No harm, no foul, my KB friend.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

SusieQ said:


> Can you load books on it as well?
> Susie


You could definitely load books on it, though you couldn't stream, of course. But you could sideload them from the device. They'd have to be books that were either DRM free or, if from Amazon, coded to the device you want to read them on, in this case, your Fire.

Betsy


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

SusieQ said:


> Can you load books on it as well?
> Susie


 Books are pretty small compared even to the storage on the smallest Fire device. So I doubt this would be a useful thing to do.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

True, though for members who use Calibre to manage their entire libraries, it could be useful.

Betsy


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> True, though for members who use Calibre to manage their entire libraries, it could be useful.
> 
> Betsy


oh, I'm not a caliber user and hadn't even thought of that.


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

The Hooded Claw said:


> oh, I'm not a caliber user and hadn't even thought of that.


Claw ~ what do you use to keep track of your book collection?


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

CegAbq said:


> Claw ~ what do you use to keep track of your book collection?


Honestly, I don't! I just use the search function when I'm looking for a particular author or a book on a particular subject and search my archives and pull out the book that I want. Most of the time this works wel. Sometimes I go and search by subject on Amazon.com as well if I'm looking for a particular book. 
Maybe once a year I have to actually scroll through my list of books if I am hell-bent on reading a particular book and can't remember A word from the title or the author's name. Occasionally I will sort through my archives by recent, or sort by authors name or title and page through check if I stumble onto something that's forgotten in my archives but tickles my fancy when I see it.


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