Transferring photos from external hard drive to iPad without a computer

[BuddingGardener]

Hi 👋
I have an external hard drive which has lots of photos on it, my computer has died and as I have a iPad I won't be replacing it.
Any thoughts on how I can get the photos into my Cloud without a computer?
I have an iPad (6th generation)
Software Version 13.4.1
Picture of the external hard drive, it makes a clicking noise when it's plugged in, data is viable on it
Thanks for any help you can offer, I don't want to lose my photos

support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/ipad/ipad1c415e32/ipados

Thank you JollyAndBright, I didn’t know such things existed.
Off to get one as fast as I can.

Hi
I received my usb 3 lighting connector today,
When I first plugged it into my iPad a software update took place
I plugged in the hard drive and waited for a message, nothing happened so I plugged in the power supply to the camera adapter still nothing,
When the hard drive is plugged into my laptop a green light comes on and it makes lots of mechanical clicking noises

The light on the hard drive was orange and there was no noise, I plugged in the extra power for the hard drive and the light was green and it made a few sounds but still didn't show on my iPad, checked Files and Settings but it wasn't there.
I double checked and found that the usb cable I'm using is USB 2.0
Should I get a USB 3.0 cable? I have been on chat with Apple twice and they keep calling me but there stupid phone system doesn't register when you try to confirm you still want to speak to them so hangs up on you
Would using a USB 3.0 cable give it enough power and is this the reason why my iPad isn't recognising it?
Hope someone clever can help

A usb 3.0 cable will just have a faster transfer speed it won’t have any impact on the device recognition.

Are you making sure you have both the ipad and and the EHD are plugged into a power source?
if the battery is too low the ipad may not initiate the recognition.
Alternatively try shutting down your iPad then connect the external drive and restart it, it should definitely recognise it then.