Accessing a network shared drive

[FreelancerSystem]

I have a mac mini that I have repurposed as a networked storage server for my PC and a time machine backup for the iMac downstairs. I set certain drives up for smb file sharing so that my pc could access it, and I have had no problems connecting to those drives. However, I wanted to connect my iPad pro to it to be able to also set it up, and I have tried using the native files app and Documents by Readdle to map the network drive. The only thing that's different is that the PC, Mac mini, and iMac are on an ethernet connection and the ipad is using the in home wifi. Is there a way to access the networked drives on my iPad or would I need to have it wired?

[Needfuldoer]

There's a 99.999% chance your in-home WiFi is on the same subnet (network) as your wired devices. Everything should be able to talk together.

 

Are you getting any error messages?

[FreelancerSystem]

The native files app freezes and the Documents app shows it's connected but nothing appears even though the credentials are correct. Does it matter that Windows and the iPad show different default IPv4 gateways?

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

10 minutes ago, FreelancerSystem said:

The native files app freezes and the Documents app shows it's connected but nothing appears even though the credentials are correct. Does it matter that Windows and the iPad show different default IPv4 gateways?

 

The different geateways make me thing its a different network. Can you make a network diagram to show hows its all connected here? Do you have multiple routers?

[Needfuldoer]

17 minutes ago, FreelancerSystem said:

Does it matter that Windows and the iPad show different default IPv4 gateways?

You have the 0.001% chance I left that caveat for. Sounds like your wired and WiFi networks are actually separate. Not sure why they'd be set up that way, maybe you're using a router as an access point or something like that.

 

The simple way to make that work is to put everything on the same network. You can set up a separate IoT network if you want, but life is a lot easier if all your general purpose devices can talk to each other.

[FreelancerSystem]

[FreelancerSystem]

Well update, I was able to use the IP address of the mac mini to access it through the native files app on the iPad. Even though it has a 192.x.x.x IP address and the Orbi it's connected to has a 10.x.x.x IP address. It's not clear why I can't use the SMB protocol through Documents, but at least I can use the direct IP for access

[Needfuldoer]

8 hours ago, FreelancerSystem said:

Well update, I was able to use the IP address of the mac mini to access it through the native files app on the iPad. Even though it has a 192.x.x.x IP address and the Orbi it's connected to has a 10.x.x.x IP address. It's not clear why I can't use the SMB protocol through Documents, but at least I can use the direct IP for access

Sounds like that Orbi router is still in Router mode, so it's creating its own subnet with its own IP range. It should be in AP mode, so it's not doing any routing, NAT, DHCP, etc. (Your ISP modem is already doing all those tasks.)

[FreelancerSystem]

I'm unsure how I could change that, the Orbi settings don't allow me to change its mode. But, I can look deeper into that