External hard drive/USB stick with a tablet

ptyloch

Hi All,

I have a 2 year old Prestigio tablet that supports external hard drives up to 500GB with no extra power source but my new Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 won't even see a USB stick?

Did something change in Android in 2 years or am I missing something?

Thanks

Kenny Logins

It's called OTG (on the go) support, not all Android devices offer this.

The Nexus 7 for example does but still needs an app to mount external drives. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.anda.otgdisk

Not sure how to allow it on a Samsung Tab, but I suspect you'll need a custom ROM.

ptyloch

Don't really know how to root and install ROM's so might just have to live with it. Thanks!

Kenny Logins

A network drive (NAS) works well in my house, Galaxy Tab 3, Asus MemoPad and a Nexus 7 can all access it.

weslers

You could try one of these - www .amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Connect-Wireless-Flash-SDWS2-064G-E57/dp/B00H4BBWGY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1415286422&sr=8-3&keywords=sandisk+wifi

Sorry about the link near at the magic 50 posts.

Dudda

Google removed (or damaged) support for external sd cards a while back I think but are supposed to be improving it with Android 5.0. I think it also relates to otg.
Not really up to speed as I don’t use them but this article has more information:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/11/04/android-5-0-makes-sd-cards-great-again-extends-api-to-allow-full-directory-access-automatic-mediastore-and-improves-security/

ptyloch

Kenny Logins wrote: »

A network drive (NAS) works well in my house, Galaxy Tab 3, Asus MemoPad and a Nexus 7 can all access it.

Is that access through Wi-Fi? I saw IBOOD had a NAS a couple of times already.
Could I use the 3 external hard drives I have already (all 2,5') or would I have to buy different ones?

Kenny Logins

ptyloch wrote: »

Is that access through Wi-Fi? I saw IBOOD had a NAS a couple of times already.
Could I use the 3 external hard drives I have already (all 2,5') or would I have to buy different ones?

If you connect them to a PC you should be able to access them over WiFi, just enable sharing.

You can get empty NAS boxes, but to install the existing drives may take a bit of surgery as they're designed to take bare drives. Mine is a simple Iomega job.

moonboy52

You could buy one of these handy devices ptyloch:

http://mymemory.ie/Memory-Card-Readers/Kingston/Kingston-G2-Mobile-Lite-Wireless-Reader-

Plug your HD into the USB port and connect wirelessly to your data

Kenny Logins

moonboy52 wrote: »

You could buy one of these hany devices ptyloch:

http://mymemory.ie/Memory-Card-Readers/Kingston/Kingston-G2-Mobile-Lite-Wireless-Reader-

Plug your HD into the USB port and connect wirelessly to your data

That's clever - that site offered to show me products compatible with my model of phone. Never seen that before.

moonboy52

Kenny Logins wrote: »

That's clever

You can charge your phone from it too (nice bonus)