Database Users

External HDs

Can Iconias USB supply enough power to run external 2,5" HD (5V/0.55A). Some cases seem to have 2-headed USB cord for extra juice, and some make do with only one... And requiring 2 makes them pretty useless for iconia. Any experiences?

Vedenhenki said:
Can Iconias USB supply enough power to run external 2,5" HD (5V/0.55A). Some cases seem to have 2-headed USB cord for extra juice, and some make do with only one... And requiring 2 makes them pretty useless for iconia. Any experiences?
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I use an WD external 250 gb hard disk on my iconia with no problems and it has 1 usb

Using a Freecom 320gb, had to format/patition to FAT32 since it won't read NTFS.
Basically all the single head USB-cord drives work, and afaik they have to be FAT32 (havent looked into reading NTFS).

I'm utilizing an app called Drive Mount to use my external 320GB NTFS-formatted hard drive.
I have a dual-head cable, but running single is no problem thus far.
Works like a charm.

It depends on the external drive; if the drive needs the 2nd port for power ... well ...get a better external drive ;P. I've used a verbatim Usb3 drive as wel as a number of external cases with old laptop drives (my new fave is a vantec USB3 case w/ an OCZ SSD in it.

external hard drive?

Hi people,
I read in a review that you can connect an external hard drive to the nexus 7 (the usb powered ones) via a USB Host Cable.
Could any of you tell me if this is correct or not? As i have an Archos 80 g9 and i know it cant do it off the micro usb only the USB 2.0 slot it has.
Thanks a lot for the help
Regards
Kurpter

Yes, it is possible but you may need to provide external power to the drive. Use a powered usb hub or something like that. The Nexus 7 most likely won't be able to output enough current to power a spinning drive.

Ah ok, so you are saying that you plug the usb host connection from the nexus to the usb hub and plug the hard drive in to another port on the hub?
I just want to know if this works as 16GB isnt much space when you want to take it on a trap to watch films.
cheers

you need to be rooted. my understanding is flash drives or micro sdcards are good to go, not sure an external hd will work unless powered as previous poster alluded
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

Since N7's have been out for a few days, has anyone tried hooking up a portable hdd using a micro otg cable? I could plug my portable Toshiba hdd into my Acer A500 tablet without rooting and it would read the contents of the drive just fine. I would watch movies and view pictures as if it were an sd card. Wondered if the N7 unrooted could do the same?

ezzkmo said:
Since N7's have been out for a few days, has anyone tried hooking up a portable hdd using a micro otg cable? I could plug my portable Toshiba hdd into my Acer A500 tablet without rooting and it would read the contents of the drive just fine. I would watch movies and view pictures as if it were an sd card. Wondered if the N7 unrooted could do the same?
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Click to collapse
No it does not mount the external storage nor does it have an option to do so. You need to root and install chainfire's stickmount app for this to work.

clockcycle said:
No it does not mount the external storage nor does it have an option to do so. You need to root and install chainfire's stickmount app for this to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, root and stickmount. Does anyone need me to test an external hard drive? I can if you guys want.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

I use a Seagate Wireless Drive
kurpter said:
Hi people,
I read in a review that you can connect an external hard drive to the nexus 7 (the usb powered ones) via a USB Host Cable.
Could any of you tell me if this is correct or not? As i have an Archos 80 g9 and i know it cant do it off the micro usb only the USB 2.0 slot it has.
Thanks a lot for the help
Regards
Kurpter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi. I decided to use a wireless drive to store all of my music, movies and documents. So, I purchased the Seagate GoFlex Satellite Mobile Wireless Storage. You can use with Android or IOS devices. I love it.

Yes, its a no-go out-of-the box connecting to a USB thumb drive or a powered HD with a microUSB OTG cable. This doesn't really surprise me, though, because they would need to dynamically detect the device type and mount it on the system. What I haven't tried is a USB keyboard. Anybody do that?

wiithepeng said:
Yes, root and stickmount. Does anyone need me to test an external hard drive? I can if you guys want.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes could u test it out? i was thinking of buying a portable hard drive but not sure if it will have enough power to use it
does usb 3.0 work? or do i need to buy a usb 2.0

I've tested mine with an old 60GB WD Passport and a new 500GB Freecom XXS. Both are 2.5" USB powered external HDDs, and both worked fine.

chris100575 said:
I've tested mine with an old 60GB WD Passport and a new 500GB Freecom XXS. Both are 2.5" USB powered external HDDs, and both worked fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great thanks for the info. btw is the new one using usb 3.0 or 2.0? do u know if usb 3.0 will work?

I just plugged in a full-sized USB keyboard using my OTG cable and it works fine. I can touch type, use the cursor keys including ctrl+arrows to skip words, bring up menus with the context menu key just to the left of the right-hand ctrl key, etc, etc. I'm sure it must be using up my battery at a faster rate, though.
Edit: It's just occurred to me that there's a problem with using a USB keyboard to type when the N7 is in portrait mode: finding a stand to hold the tablet upright at the right angle when the USB-OTG cable is sticking out of the USB port at the bottom of the tablet.
Mind you, it's great being able to type at full speed without a soft keyboard hiding a large chunk of the screen.
--
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

garryknight said:
Edit: It's just occurred to me that there's a problem with using a USB keyboard to type when the N7 is in portrait mode: finding a stand to hold the tablet upright at the right angle when the USB-OTG cable is sticking out of the USB port at the bottom of the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get OTG cables with a right angled micro-USB plug on them, which might help your stand problem. I have one on its way as I was concerned about knocking/bending/snapping the straight plug when its sat on my lap in portrait mode.

Edit: It's just occurred to me that there's a problem with using a USB keyboard to type when the N7 is in portrait mode: finding a stand to hold the tablet upright at the right angle when the USB-OTG cable is sticking out of the USB port at the bottom of the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or, just turn the tablet upside down so the cable is pointing up. The display will rotate appropriately.

I think but not sure that you'll want cm10 for the rotate from any angle thing...

chris100575 said:
I've tested mine with an old 60GB WD Passport and a new 500GB Freecom XXS. Both are 2.5" USB powered external HDDs, and both worked fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how did you manage it ??did you use nexus media importer

Without a custom kernel, the external hdd won't work with Stickmount or NMI if it is formatted NTFS. I haven't actually used NMI, but others have posted about the NTFS issue.

[Q] Mount HDD without power source?

Hi,
Is it possible to mount an 2.5" HDD without an external power source?
I would like to buy an Western Digital HD Elements SE 1TB 2.5 USB 3.0 but I do not know whether it is working with my Nexus 7 or not...
A usb stick (with an usb OTG) is working but a real hdd needs a lot more power.
And a self powered hdd (with wifi) is not an solution for me.
Thanks in advance!

Xdii said:
Hi,
Is it possible to mount an 2.5" HDD without an external power source?
I would like to buy an Western Digital HD Elements SE 1TB 2.5 USB 3.0 but I do not know whether it is working with my Nexus 7 or not...
A usb stick (with an usb OTG) is working but a real hdd needs a lot more power.
And a self powered hdd (with wifi) is not an solution for me.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends. I had to splice 5 volts of power into the usb cable of my older usb 2.0 ext hdd to get it to spin up and mount, but some others I know say they dont need ext power on their newer usb 3.0 ext hdds. But, I dont know if it is all usb 3.0 drives.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

I have wd element 1TB usb 3 and it's work good with me nexus 7, while my old 180gb seagate cannot be mounted, it's led only light up for 3 second then just died.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

Let's say, I buy a 2.5" hdd without external power source but I have no luck and it can't be mounted (not enough power). Is it possible to somehow plugin an external power source, so the hdd can spin up and mount?
ucubz said:
I have wd element 1TB usb 3 and it's work good with me nexus 7 [...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That means, a usb OTG is wokring fine with usb 3.0? Usb 3.0 is compatible with usb 2.0, but I was a bit concerned that the usb 3.0 to usb 2.0 to micro usb 2.0 combination may cause problems.

I know I'm reviving a thread a bit here, but I have a WD Elements USB3 1TB drive and an OTG cable.
When I first got the drive and cable, it all mounted and worked great. It wasn't until I hooked it up to a PC for the first time to transfer stuff to it that I started getting issues.
Now, I can use it with the PC no worries, but it won't mount on my N7. It'll sometimes flash up that there's something, but then nothing. Is the format wrong? Should I go with making it ext4 rather than NTFS?
Been hunting for more info on it, and will continue to do so, just hoping that someone else has come across this and has a fix or some idea on what's going on.
Thanks

My guess: The Nexus 7 has not enough power to spin up and mount the drive. You have to use an powered hub (e.g. Y-cable with external power source).

Z1 + OTG + Mobile Hard Drive 2.0 / 3.0

I bought an unbranded OTG connector for my Z1. I connected a few common devices i.e. USB flash drive, mouse, wireless gamepad,
All worked. But then I tried all my mobile hard drivess, both USB 2.0 and 3.0. Didnt work at all. My z1 couldn't even get to recognize the device connected. The LED of the HD lights up so its getting power. I'm not sure if its getting enough power.
The OTG connector I bought was the long one. The cable is about 2 inches long. I'm not sure
if you call that the long OTG connector.
Any advice how i could I make the Z1 work with my mobile hard drives?
TIA!

minas_morgul said:
I bought an unbranded OTG connector for my Z1. I connected a few common devices i.e. USB flash drive, mouse, wireless gamepad,
All worked. But then I tried all my mobile hard drivess, both USB 2.0 and 3.0. Didnt work at all. My z1 couldn't even get to recognize the device connected. The LED of the HD lights up so its getting power. I'm not sure if its getting enough power.
The OTG connector I bought was the long one. The cable is about 2 inches long. I'm not sure
if you call that the long OTG connector.
Any advice how i could I make the Z1 work with my mobile hard drives?
TIA!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What if you test with a drive that have ac adaptor?

I think you pretend too much from a phone device. I am sure there is not enough power to make it run with the Z1. The solution is to use double usb, first to Z1 the second to the charger or another USB, to power up the HDD. Also like @RHBH said if you use a HDD with the AC adapter and it's working that will clarified all.

Oh sorry I tried it W/O the AC adaptors types hard drives. The small WD passports ones.
Shouldn't it be working since the lights are on and the mobile seems to be running?

minas_morgul said:
Oh sorry I tried it W/O the AC adaptors types hard drives. The small WD passports ones.
Shouldn't it be working since the lights are on and the mobile seems to be running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Enough to power up the light but not enough to do his job. The reasons can be many but if any HDD with AC charger working and all type of storage, the answer is just one.

The OTG specs of the z1 and xz are the same, I can tell you that if you use a powered usb hub between the disk and the phone it will work just fine.
The power delivered to the disk is simply not enough.
I know the power output can actually be tweaked, but you run a serious risk of destroying your phones usb port.

Or maybe his HDD is not formatted in FAT.....

Well that is odd if I try to format it a 1TB hard drive to FAT. Isnt FAT already phase out in terms of drives over 40GB?
And about the power requirement, OTG + mobile hard drive works on other smartphones.
I bought my C903 online btw. Also, I have gone to Sony a awhile ago and tried to attach my mobile hard drives. None worked.
So I think that confirms it.

minas_morgul said:
Well that is odd if I try to format it a 1TB hard drive to FAT. Isnt FAT already phase out in terms of drives over 40GB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True.
minas_morgul said:
And about the power requirement, OTG + mobile hard drive works on other smartphones.
I bought my C903 online btw. Also, I have gone to Sony a awhile ago and tried to attach my mobile hard drives. None worked.
So I think that confirms it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know you are disappointed but try to power up the HDD and see if working. This is not the solution but you get the reason why this happening.
I got 2 mobile HDD and I will test them on my Z1 and I will post the results, when I get the phone from Sony Center, but even if mine will not work I can expect that because is too much but I will be happy too if will work. I let you know.
BTW, can be even the OTG Cable, try different one, I got very heavy problems when I bought one really cheap.

You got a Clamp multimeter buddy? I don't know but I would like to assume there's not enough power to run your mobile HDD. If you do have some way of checking the amperes or wattage output of the OTG of Xperia Z1 and compare it against the required input of your mobile HDD maybe that would point out your issue. Having a non compatible filesystem format would still prompt your phone about a corrupt drive and would ask you to reformat it so it shouldn't be the issue. And as far as I know Xperia Z1 already supports exfat am I right? Or maybe you could at least just format the HDD to fat32 is you still want to check it out since fat32 is supported by default by android.

Depends in the size and usb 3 is not supported unless it had external power and as for format it has to be fat32 or exfat or it won't read out of all my android devices my Asus transformer where the only ones that supported all formats and sizes of hard drives because the docks have tons of extra power.
Sent from my C6906 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Note 3 and My passport Ultra 2TB

Ok guys. I've been messing around for some long time using 4.3 rom and my 2tb passport but with no luck reading (or writing from it). I was under impression that phone has to be rooted for reading only NTFS format but....this is fairy tales if you ask me. Recently I upgraded to latest kitekat available and rooted but still no access to my drive. I tried 3 usb sticks (8,16,64) with no problem using FAT format.
I used paragon, stickmount but nothing helped me to work this out. I'm also having second doubt would I have more luck with exFAT format?
Anyone had similar problems connecting 2tb drive to their Note 3? And disk is spinning I'm positive it has enough usb power.

The phone can only support up to 1tb due to power restriction.

The only way that i managed to get a WD 2Tb drive to work with my phone/tablet was to use a powerbank. The phone doesn't give enough power out to start the drive up.
You need :
- 1 powerbank (the bigger the better, as it will also charge your phone/tablet)
- 1 USB Hub + OTG cable (or an USB Hub that can be used as OTG with the phone)
- 1 male-to-male cable
- the phone
- the external HDD
Connect to the USB hub the HDD using the cable suplied with it, connect using the male-to-male cable the powerbank to the USB hub and then connect the USB hub to the phone using the OTG cable (or if you have an OTG cable with USB hub integrated then it's even better).
Now, the powerbank will give power to all devices connected to the USB hub (the HDD and the phone), so it should work OK.
After that you will need to solve the NTFS reading/writing, for that you should be able to use the app you already mentioned.
P.S. when i was playing on the Tab2 with the above configuration, I also had to put an usb stick in the USB hub. For some reason the tablet didn't detect the HDD on the hub unless there was an USB stick too (never understood why). I don't remember having the same problem with the Note3, but i didn't test extensively so your mileage may vary.
Edit : an example of OTG adapter with integrated USB hub for Note 3 : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-USB3-...-TF-Samsung-Galaxy-Note-3-N9000-/171300593212

Thanks for reply verszipo I was looking at this cable, hoping this could power up the drive while phone continues to operate itself without additional power. So Is it possible to have power supplied directly over wall plug instead of power bank?
This USB hub seams like nice idea.
Theoretically connecting like you suggested should work even if I leave disk in NTFS format using tools I mentioned before?

elektroda said:
Thanks for reply verszipo I was looking at this cable, hoping this could power up the drive while phone continues to operate itself without additional power. So Is it possible to have power supplied directly over wall plug instead of power bank?
This USB hub seams like nice idea.
Theoretically connecting like you suggested should work even if I leave disk in NTFS format using tools I mentioned before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If external hdd is larger than 1 TB,
Use usb "Y" cable to add external power source to connection.

Hey!
I use 1.5TB HDD with mu N3 and it is NTFS...
Why cant you use USB hub with external power supply (try to find out if it is 1A or 2A? bigger = better), and at phone install total commander with plugin USB plugin for Total Commander (no root requided!!)...

I use a 2tb wd passport. No need for external power source. I use paragon to read and write to ntfs partition. My drive gets detected within a few seconds but takes several minutes to mount the drive. Maybe you just need to wait. I know my drive is mounted when the My Files app launches by itself and shows the drive contents.

I received my Y cable hoping extra juice could solve my problems but I have no luck at all. No matter what I use I can't make my drive read. I don't have any options to choose.
Maybe I should format my drive using different allocation size unit, I never formated it and it's not 4 months old. Maybe my phone has some crappy cache leftovers so I should use cleaner? Hell I don't know what to do anymore. Usb sticks are working fine all the way.

Ok update on topic. I mange to make it work. I formated to NTFS with default allocation size, nothing special. Using paragon + total commander plugin + total commander. Works fine now WITHOUT additional power. Only downside is that mobile battery drains way too fast when you connect storage on it. It does not matter if I plug in additional supply to drive or not, draining is the same. Anyone noticed this and any workaround for this.
Thank you guys for suggestions.

I mounted my CN memory usb3.0 3tb drive with paragon in my rooted sm n9005
It mounted fine to a folder in my int SD, and i copied ober 20gb of data