I have and external HD (it doesn't need extra power, just USB) that contains a lot of movies. I know that I can transfer those movies to the iPad via iTunes, but the iPad is almost full.
Is there a way where I can connect the iPad to the external HD and watch my media?
Best Answer
You can connect USB devices to your iPad with one of Apple's USB camera connection adapters, but there are a number of limitations and requirements to make this work.
There are also drives now that are specifically designed to work with Lightning connectors — if you are viewing this page from a Google search and don't have a drive yet and want to see if you can make this work, you might want to look into buying one of them instead.
If you already have a non-Lightning USB drive and want to use it with your iPad, read on.
Limitations
Establishing the physical connection
If you have an older iPad with the 30-pin dock connector (1st, 2nd, or 3rd generation iPad), you will need the iPad Camera Connection Kit (discontinued, but available from Amazon or other places).
If you have a newer iPad with a Lightning connector (any iPad Mini, Pro, Air, or the 4th generation iPad), you will need the Lightning to USB Camera Adapter ($29) or the Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter ($39). The more expensive one's only advantages are that it will allow you to charge your iPad simultaneously, and if you have a 12.9" iPad Pro it will allow you to transfer data with USB 3 speeds.
If your iPad is jailbroken
If you're jailbroken, it's pretty easy. Simply use a file manager like Filza or iFile and view the files from there, or a media viewer like Kodi (formerly XBMC).
If your iPad is not jailbroken
If you aren't jailbroken, it is still possible to view movies on an external drive, though it necessitates that you have enough spare storage on your iPad to hold a movie, that it's fine to either reorganize or duplicate your movies, and that all your movies are already in iOS-readable formats (I wasn't able to find a list of supported formats for this, but it's a fair bet that MKVs are out, for instance).
If any of the requirements of that method aren't an option, there may still be a way to do it with a third-party app, though I wasn't able to find any options in my research while writing this answer. If I find any further information about this in the future, I will update my answer to include it.