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I really would like to be able to plug my droid X into my G tablet and use it as an external hard drive. This would save me loads of time swapping sdcards.
Though I don't think this is possible because most phones need drivers to be mounted as external storage.
When I do plug the DX in via microusb to usb (haven't tried miniusb yet) the DX recognizes that it is plugged in and starts charging. The DX also says that it is connected to an external device and is mounted as external storage, however on the G tablet I can not see any data when I browse to the correct location.
Has anyone else tried this and got it to work?
Hal0053 said:
I really would like to be able to plug my droid X into my G tablet and use it as an external hard drive. This would save me loads of time swapping sdcards.
Though I don't think this is possible because most phones need drivers to be mounted as external storage.
When I do plug the DX in via microusb to usb (haven't tried miniusb yet) the DX recognizes that it is plugged in and starts charging. The DX also says that it is connected to an external device and is mounted as external storage, however on the G tablet I can not see any data when I browse to the correct location.
Has anyone else tried this and got it to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I plug my N1 to the tablet, I immediately get the USB notification on my N1. I turn on storage on the N1 and my tablet can browse the sdcard on my N1.
If you use ClockworkMod or AmonRA on your Droid, you can go into recovery mode and set the mount to USB and that should work as well.
EDIT: If you are rooted on both devices, you can use dropbear or an ssh client (like QuickSSHD) on your Droid and then ssh to it from the tablet using File Explorer or AndFTP (need to be on the same wifi for this solution to work).
I've tried this with my Droid 1 and get the same thing. The droid shows its connected, and allows me to mount usb, but when using any file explorer and browse the the usb device, it only shows an empty folder.
I've succesfully used wifi file explorer when they're on the same wifi network.
Depending on speed wifi file explorer might work perfectly!
Thanks Lordgodgeneral prscott1
I'm trying to transfer files from my PC to my tablet, but the PC doesn't recognize the tablet - it wants me to format it. Same thing when I try to transfer the files from my mp3 player, the content of the player should be listed in the usbdisk folder, correct?
This is driving me NUTS, I'd appreciate some help. Oh, and tablet is rooted - VEGAn.
Thanks!
NeedleNerd said:
I'm trying to transfer files from my PC to my tablet, but the PC doesn't recognize the tablet - it wants me to format it. Same thing when I try to transfer the files from my mp3 player, the content of the player should be listed in the usbdisk folder, correct?
This is driving me NUTS, I'd appreciate some help. Oh, and tablet is rooted - VEGAn.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have ADB working
OK, please bear with me, I'm noobish - but what is ADB?
NeedleNerd said:
OK, please bear with me, I'm noobish - but what is ADB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html
Rooting this Gtab is somewhat of a different process fyi
You could always use dropbox, Google it
It works fine for me, with no ADB installed (Vegan 5). Plugging the Gtab straight into the PC and turning on USB storage should recognize it as a USB storage device, like any other USB key.
OP, what operating system are you using? Have you tried a different USB cable? A different USB port on the PC? Perhaps a different PC (if one is available)?
BigJohn
NeedleNerd said:
I'm trying to transfer files from my PC to my tablet, but the PC doesn't recognize the tablet - it wants me to format it. Same thing when I try to transfer the files from my mp3 player, the content of the player should be listed in the usbdisk folder, correct?
This is driving me NUTS, I'd appreciate some help. Oh, and tablet is rooted - VEGAn.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
For the PC, are you connecting from your regular size USB connector on the PC to the *mini-USB* port on the side of the Gtab (not the full-size USB under the cover on the side of the Gtab)?
The mini-USB connector is the one you need to use to connect to your PC.
The full-size USB under the cover is a "host" USB, i.e., you can connect a flash USB drive or USB hard drive to that, and then assuming it's formatted FAT32 with only ONE partition, you should be able to see it on the Gtab under /usbdisk.
Jim
- My PC OS is Windows XP
- I am using the small port on the tablet, not the USB port under the cover, to connect to the PC
- I don't have a different cable/PC to try it with
- FYI - it WAS initially working when I tried to transfer files from my mp3 player to the tablet, the transfer was interrupted when the cord came loose from the tablet, and now it's no-go for both the PC or mp3 player file transfer process
- I do have a permanent folder usbdisk on the tablet, even when there's nothing plugged into the usb ports
Thanks for all the questions and suggestions, I'm glad there's people more savvy than I am with this, willing to help!
NeedleNerd
The small port (like a camera cord) should work. The cable has a USB end on the PC side. It should be recognized on the PC as an external drive. No need to install ADB unless you want to try that too.
One idea is try plugging the USB cable into different ports on the PC end.
If you have wireless and can share network drives on your PC, try File Expert. Its free and can be found in the market. With it I can connect to my PCs drives and copy to SD or USB in my GTab right on it. Granted, it took quite some time to copy a 1GB movie to SD2 (10 min), but it worked. I had to prevent my device from sleeping though or the transfer failed. Worked well though. I'm on TnT lite.
NeedleNerd said:
- My PC OS is Windows XP
- I am using the small port on the tablet, not the USB port under the cover, to connect to the PC
- I don't have a different cable/PC to try it with
- FYI - it WAS initially working when I tried to transfer files from my mp3 player to the tablet, the transfer was interrupted when the cord came loose from the tablet, and now it's no-go for both the PC or mp3 player file transfer process
- I do have a permanent folder usbdisk on the tablet, even when there's nothing plugged into the usb ports
Thanks for all the questions and suggestions, I'm glad there's people more savvy than I am with this, willing to help!
NeedleNerd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I seem to recall that roebert (I think) had a problem w the miniusb connector being loose or broken. Have you looked at the connector in detail? Maybe the solder connection broke and it 'jiggles'? If so, probably need to get it repaired.
Jim
Well, I know it's not the cable, because I used it to transfer files from PC to mp3 player without any problems.
My PC shows the tablet (drive letter E assigned to it when plugged in), but I can't access the tablet - it's like the PC recognizes something is plugged in, but it doesn't recognize it as having content or something.
On top of that, I kept getting the android.process.acore error, so I did a datawipe and had to re-download all my apps again, to add to the aggrevation.
I will look at the different solutions suggested and if they're not requiring too much advanced knowledge, I will attempt them.
Thanks again for the help & suggestions so far, hopefully I will somehow stumble onto a fix that works!
So, I figured it out. Really simple - if you know how.
The VEGAn root is what did me in - when you plug in the cable, it doesn't give you the option to turn on the USB Mass Storage, which you need when you want to transfer files from PC to tablet. The unrooted device was a bit more user friendly by walking you through it when the cable was plugged in.
I figured out that if you tap and drag down on the USB icon on the top of the screen you can actually access the options - it's not just a status icon!
Hopefully this'll help out someone else who's rooting their tablet following instructions blindly without really knowing what's what!
Thank you again for all the suggestions, I really appreciate all the responses!
Astro SMB Module
If you are working on a home/private network and the file is on a shared network drive, you can map it in using Astro and the SMB Module for Astro ("Astro SMB" returns both in the market provided you have the market fix) and browse shared network drives just like you would on your laptop or PC.
Once installed, a network icon appears in Astro (looks like an upside down "T" or an old school windows network icon) and you can map in your network drives pretty easily. I use this with NAS and work files pretty regularly. You may have to enter alternate or domain specific credentials to make it work.
EDIT: Also I believe there are file format limitations, OS limitations, but haven't fully explored that.
I bought a small micro - usb female adapter. When I plug it in, no matter what device i use it seems as those the xoom is not sending any power through it.
Ive tried
Camera
Charge Phone
usb mouse
usb wireless mouse
nothing is getting power.
Is there something i need to enable or do? Or has anyone esle has this issue? I am on 3.1....
You can not use a simple micro usb adapter cable, it has to be an OTG USB Host cable like the official Motorola camera connection kit that is now available. This is a bit expensive but readily available at your local Best Buy.
Take a look at some of the many posts on OTG cables and you can find info on cheaper cables that have been verified to work or on how to make your own.
you need a USB Host cable. Not just a regular sync cable. You can google for one or search the threads here where others have linked to confirmed working cables.
dang, thanks guys
I ordered one from ebay! hope it works
I have a question that applies here, I am on stock 3.1 Xoom WiFi/3G and just got my OTG cable, plug it in usb drive blinks like its working but where is it located on the Xoom? I've been looking around for it with Astro and File Explorer and I'm unable to find it... could someone tell me the path?
Techsniffer said:
I have a question that applies here, I am on stock 3.1 Xoom WiFi/3G and just got my OTG cable, plug it in usb drive blinks like its working but where is it located on the Xoom? I've been looking around for it with Astro and File Explorer and I'm unable to find it... could someone tell me the path?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i believe stock 3.1 only supports MTP, hence no USB mass storage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol
I've heard many conflicting stories, I would like some sort of confirmation rather then speculation about what will/will not work with the Moto Xoom (Stock 3.1) Wifi/3g and an OTG cable because I've seen posts saying yes and no to USB, portable HD's etc etc. Can anyone even provide me with some informative links? Everything I've searched for has been less than informative.
So, stock 3.1 Xoom is an MTP device, that is true.
However, with latest series of Tiamat custom kernels by Bigrushdog (see Android Development section) the usbOTG has been enabled. If you have already rooted and installed the proper bootloader/Tiamat kernel, then in File Expert you will find the usbOTG folder on the root directory, same level as internal sdcard and data folders. If you go up a step in sdcard, you should see your external sdcard. Is this clear?
I have rooted, using the Tiamat 1.6, I have access to the sdcard now but I am still unable to access my usb drive (thumb drive). I have an OTG usb cable and when I go into the /OTGusb its empty. The drive blinks as if its initializing but then nothing.
On a side note, I have looked through both OTGusb folders, restarted the Xoom with the OTG and usb plugged in as suggested in another post and nothing I've tried has worked in locating the usb drive.
Techsniffer said:
I have rooted, using the Tiamat 1.6, I have access to the sdcard now but I am still unable to access my usb drive (thumb drive). I have an OTG usb cable and when I go into the /OTGusb its empty. The drive blinks as if its initializing but then nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found that there are two factors which may be in play here...
1. When I connect a flash drive it takes a bit of time for the directory structure to parse... It does show up in the OTGusb directory.
2. I've found that anything larger than 8GB (I've seen it stated in the forums as well) does not work (of if it does it takes forever and a day to become available)
Hope it helps...
I have same problem here. whenever I try to connect the USB with Motorola connector, it doesn't appear anything in otgusb
I'm not sure I am going to get what I want at this time with the OTG cable. My goal is to be able to use the OTG cable to connect a USB thumb drive to so I can carry additional movies, documents, etc without completely consuming the main Xoom storage.
Can the OTGusb cable support this? Do I need to wait for yet another update?
TIA
On my previous devices, I occasionally pulled out the removeable SD card, and ran a backup of the card to my laptop hard disk. I ended up with a 32GB card which was filled with music, videos, and work documents. So, I got the 32GB S III to have plenty of room. So now, generally, I have my music, documents, etc., on the S III internal 32GB SDcard as it is called. I have my videos and a few other huge items on the external removeable extSDcard.
Now the problem is, there is no practical way for me to back up the internal storage. It won't fit on what is left of my external card. I have a issues with my laptop so USB does not work, or is unreliable when it does, and too slow anyway. I don't really want to use the cloud. I have tried FTP, and it works, but clunky.
I'm thinking about getting an external hard disk and using an OTG cable. That is about the closest I can come to what I want.
Does anyone have any good solutions? I guess I could get a 64GB card, but if I got a 64GB card, I would prefer stuffing more videos and such on it, not wasting it for backup.
I'm rooted, simply so I could freeze some bloatware.
There are a bunch of questions I'd need an answer to before I could even begin to help:
What about your computer is making the USB connection spotty? Are the USB ports damaged?
What ROM are you running on your device?
What OS are you running on your laptop?
Are you familiar at all with adb? Do you have it set up to work on your laptop?
IMPORTANT: Backing up 32GB of data from anything to anything will take a long time. USB OTG will still run at USB speeds, so probably not much faster than trying to backup over USB to your laptop. Your best option will probably be something like my adb_bak2computer tool. Shameless plug I know, but its true. Well, only if you are running linux or mac (for now at least).
In the advanced options menu you can select "userdata" which will backup /data including your internal sdcard. I could write a new option to only backup the internal sdcard, actually I think I will.
Still, need answers to those questions.
Ta,
ALQI
USB is out. Long story, but basically, the laptop has an internal hub to drive all of the USB ports. A lot of devices refuse to cooperate when they are on the other end of a USB hub. Nice laptop other then that annoyance.
worwig said:
USB is out. Long story, but basically, the laptop has an internal hub to drive all of the USB ports. A lot of devices refuse to cooperate when they are on the other end of a USB hub. Nice laptop other then that annoyance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most machines have a "USB hub" that drives multiple USB ports, so that shouldn't be a problem. Even if you were using an external USB Hub, and it was a powered hub, you should still be fine. Could be something wonky with your OS?
Anyhoo, if you've ruled out USB to your laptop, then its either some sort of Wifi file explorer (or wireless adb), or USB OTG.
Hope that helps,
ALQI
alquimista said:
Most machines have a "USB hub" that drives multiple USB ports, so that shouldn't be a problem. Even if you were using an external USB Hub, and it was a powered hub, you should still be fine. Could be something wonky with your OS?
Anyhoo, if you've ruled out USB to your laptop, then its either some sort of Wifi file explorer (or wireless adb), or USB OTG.
Hope that helps,
ALQI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not going to waste another minute on USB to the laptop. The USB has not worked on this laptop for years. I hope to purchase a new laptop early next year, or maybe a Surface Pro. Also, even when USB is working, I can't MOUNT it as a drive letter, so normal backup programs don't see it. I have to manually cut and paste. But that is all another story.
I really want to be able to MOUNT the S III SDcard as a drive over WiFi. That would be perfect. Then I could run an automatic backup script.
worwig said:
I really want to be able to MOUNT the S III SDcard as a drive over WiFi. That would be perfect. Then I could run an automatic backup script.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use an app called "FolderSync" that lets you sync whatever you want with a shared windows folder. I do this on a schedule to backup my internal and external SD cards over my home network. But it is kinda slow, so if you have 32gb then it could take all day if you are syncing for the first time.
I use FolderSync quite a bit because it also supports Dropbox and a bunch of other cloud services. It was well worth the money for the paid version, but there is a Lite version also. I don't know what the limitation are on that.
Bort76 said:
I use an app called "FolderSync" that lets you sync whatever you want with a shared windows folder. I do this on a schedule to backup my internal and external SD cards over my home network. But it is kinda slow, so if you have 32gb then it could take all day if you are syncing for the first time.
I use FolderSync quite a bit because it also supports Dropbox and a bunch of other cloud services. It was well worth the money for the paid version, but there is a Lite version also. I don't know what the limitation are on that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds like the ticket. I'll try it for a while and report back.
EDIT: After a quick test, this looks to be nearly perfect. I can set it up to sync to my network drive (or about any other wireless storage) with ease. Thanks.
Hi guys. Is there an app out there that makes it possible to connect an external USB flash drive or 2.5" drive to the shield tab via its USB port?
I'm pretty sure you just do, and you'll be good. Strangely I've never had any problems using an OTG USB drive with the Shield. That's what you'd be looking for, by the way... Am OTG cable.
One quick thing to note is, be prepared to need to power the hard drive. The tablet may not have enough juice to power a full hard drive. So if you plug it in and it isn't recognized, try a powered USB hub.
Secondly, make sure you have ES file explorer.
I use a WD ultra passport portable 1tb drive and a otg cable.
I just plug in, open ES file explorer an get what I need an unmount an disconnect.
You'll lose a few percent of battery potential as expected.
WR
Thanks guys. I'm honestly shocked this actually works. I tried it with my WD passport laptop drive and low and behold it works flawlessly. With the research I did in the past with my HTC EVDO 3D, and reading all the comments on various messageboards, I really thought connecting USB HDDs to any Android device would not work. Does it work in this instance mainly because the device is a Shield Tablet? Or is it only because I'm rooted, and as a result any rooted Android device will allow USB HDDs to be used?
OTG and enough power
It just works if your (android) device has an On the Go (OTG) USB connector AND if it gives enough power to your (hard) drive. If there isn't enough power, you need a Y OTG cable and external power source. Many smartphones do not provide the 500mA at 5V they should provide, but tablets usually give enough from my experience.