Thanks for the various views.
Modem has to be returned; wish to keep old hard drive (NAS) vice a new one, would need to transfer data anyway.
Have a small iExpand, very useful when mobile, but too small (or expensive upgrade) for all of the historic data on hard disk, which still requires transferring.
All WiFi options are slow, but acceptable for the occasional archive search.
New modem option remains favourite, but as yet unknown if USB - hard drive will work with WiFi and File Explorer.
As I understand camera iPad input is limited to picture formats not data; thus Apples new approach.
Have I misunderstood Apples proposal for USB data input (SD #2); will a USB powered hard drive work with iPad 2, or only those with external power supply.
If no hard drive input, would a handful of high capacity USB sticks be a viable alternative (still need to transfer data from hard drive). Thence will Apples proposal read and write to USB.