Direct connect

[Rgarner]

Would it be possible to connect an Android phone directly to a computer hard drive without the computer? I still have that Toshiba 2 gb (and the crimebook, unfortunately). Some day I might have to wrestle with it again, but for now I just want to copy items, especially pictures.

 

[ocnbrze]

depends on the hard drive but most should be fine. you will need an otg adapter. which phone is this for? and it will depend if your phone supports otg adapters or not.
here is some useful info:

How to Connect an External Drive to an Android Phone or Tablet?

This post shows how to connect an external hard drive to your phone for data transfer or storage expansion.

www.minitool.com

and a youtube video:

 

[Rgarner]

Actually, it's multiple phones. I have a couple Samsungs, A02s and Zfold 3, as well as a Moto G Play and a Blu government phone. How do I get an org cable? Is that on the go? How much does it cost?

 

[ocnbrze]

its otg adapter its shown in the youtube video for samsung phones. but there are others:

Amazon.com : otg adapter

 

[Rgarner]

I checked out the package and it's a Canvio Advance Plus. Evidently it's formatted for Windows. I suppose I could redo it for Android, but I'm not sure how. Also, how would I retrieve and use any data I managed to put on the hard drive? Could the phone just read, show pictures, etc.? Does it matter which phone? As I've mentioned before they are Samsung Zfold 3, Samsung A02s, Moto G Play (2021), and a Blu 140 DL, government version (no sd).

 

[Rgarner]

I checked how to reformat but of course that would take a computer, which I don't have. Is there any other way to do this? Why do they even have different formats, windows v. FAT, etc.? Why can't we all just get along for once?

 

[ocnbrze]

I checked how to reformat but of course that would take a computer, which I don't have. Is there any other way to do this? Why do they even have different formats, windows v. FAT, etc.? Why can't we all just get along for once?

Format a USB Drive or Memory Card using Android

support-en.wd.com

 

[Windroid]

I presume it's be the same as connecting an external hard disk to a desktop computer, but I've never tried it myself.

 

[ocnbrze]

I presume it's be the same as connecting an external hard disk to a desktop computer, but I've never tried it myself.

actually its more similar to formatting a sd card on the android device......its from the same menu.

 

[IOWA]

You will need to make sure the hard drive has enough power if you do this too. Most SSDs will be fine but a power hungry HDD you might need to supplement the power.

 

[Rgarner]

I don't know if it's hdd, but solid state would probably be mentioned. Would a powered otg cable be enough? Could I format it from the phone? I assume that if it's brand new there wouldn't be much on it. By the way, when I try to look up otg cables I get mostly the charge and sync stuff. How do I make sure it's actually powered and otg?

 

[ocnbrze]

I don't know if it's hdd, but solid state would probably be mentioned. Would a powered otg cable be enough? Could I format it from the phone? I assume that if it's brand new there wouldn't be much on it. By the way, when I try to look up otg cables I get mostly the charge and sync stuff. How do I make sure it's actually powered and otg?

just get a usb hub as shown here:

 

[Rgarner]

What's this about rooting? Yeah, ideally I would. I'm not sure if towel root would work on any of these phones. How much spare room would it take? I'm running out of space. Of course, if I did get them rooted about the first thing I would do is get rid of googoo's slimy crap, and that should open up A LOT of room.

 

[ocnbrze]

What's this about rooting? Yeah, ideally I would. I'm not sure if towel root would work on any of these phones. How much spare room would it take? I'm running out of space. Of course, if I did get them rooted about the first thing I would do is get rid of googoo's slimy crap, and that should open up A LOT of room.

the video only suggests rooting if your phone does not support the file format ntfs. he explains it mainly because he is using a very old s2. your fold 3 and a20s should be fine with most hard drives.......i could be wrong in that.

you can root your phones if you want. its a bit of a process though and i would suggest you start a new thread for rooting them, if you want to go that route.

 

[Rgarner]

I don't know if Android would support ntfs. That's Windows, isn't it? I looked up usb ports and there seems to be a wide range in terms of size, price, etc. Of course I would be looking at the very cheap end. How many ports do I need if I'm mostly transferring data to a hard drive from a phone? Should they be 3.0 (ideally) or would 2.0 or even 1.1 be enough? Should it have charging, surge protection, sd reading capability? I don't want something big and bulky but I probably wouldn't be taking it anywhere most of the time. Once I got data to the hard drive, how would I be able to use them? Could the phone "read" them back (maybe literally) ?

 

[mikedt]

I believe NTFS support was added to more recent versions of Android. My Note20 Ultra with Android 13 supports USB connected NTFS formatted media.

But if your phone or tablet doesn't and you don't or can't root, there's a paid app forr NTFS. Not tried it though.

exFAT/NTFS for USB by Paragon - Apps on Google Play

Full non-root access to files on Microsoft exFAT / NTFS USB-stick from Android

play.google.com

 

[mikedt]

I don't know if Android would support ntfs. That's Windows, isn't it? I looked up usb ports and there seems to be a wide range in terms of size, price, etc. Of course I would be looking at the very cheap end. How many ports do I need if I'm mostly transferring data to a hard drive from a phone? Should they be 3.0 (ideally) or would 2.0 or even 1.1 be enough?

Recent Android devices could be 3.0, but anything else with OTG will be 2.0. The main difference being speed.

Should it have charging, surge protection, sd reading capability? I don't want something big and bulky but I probably wouldn't be taking it anywhere most of the time. Once I got data to the hard drive, how would I be able to use them? Could the phone "read" them back (maybe literally) ?

If it's just photos, videos, documents, MP3s, and other media and documents, they'll be accesable on the drive to any computer or other devices.

 

[Rgarner]

Can I plug the phone into a usb drive with an otg cable and use the phone itself to format the drive? If I can, should I use FAT or exFAT, assuming there is a choice? Is one better than the other or do they serve different purposes?

 

[Windroid]

Can I plug the phone into a usb drive with an otg cable and use the phone itself to format the drive? If I can, should I use FAT or exFAT, assuming there is a choice? Is one better than the other or do they serve different purposes?

If it's a choice between FAT and exFAT, I'd think exFAT would be the better option. FAT, if memory serves, doesn't work with files which are too large. But I prefer NTFS over both FAT and exFAT, because NTFS is much less prone to data loss if the computer (and smartphones are computers) crashes. But I don't know if NTFS would work with your Android distribution.

 

[Rgarner]

Well, for the record, the Zfold 3 is on Android 12, the Blu government thing is 11, surprisingly, and the Samsung A02s and Moto G Play are both running 10. Why is NTFS that much less prone to data loss? Could Android files be converted to it? Does this include epub, pdf, and the like?

 

[Windroid]

Why is NTFS that much less prone to data loss?

Some technical thing that even I don't have a good grasp on.

Could Android files be converted to it? Does this include epub, pdf, and the like?

That's not the way it works. It's the disk that's formatted as exFAT, or NTFS, or whatever. Not the files on the disk. Copy a PDF file (for example) from an NTFS disk to an exFAT disk, and it's still the same PDF file. There's no conversion necessary. The question is: Can the Android distributions on your computers (and smartphones are computers) read and write to NTFS disks fine.

I know that my Android distribution, FydeOS, can. But FydeOS isn't strictly speaking Android. It's based on Chrome OS, rather than regular Android.

 

[Rgarner]

I guess I should take a class in this stuff. Whatever happened to keeping it simple? It's probably about money all over again.

 

[Windroid]

I guess I should take a class in this stuff. Whatever happened to keeping it simple? It's probably about money all over again.

Why should you take a class?

 

[Rgarner]

I mean it's complicated. There are just too many things to know. Why don't they make it plug and play, as used to be advertised? I bet there are lots of techies who would be only too happy to relieve people of their money in return for setting up their gear.

 

[Rgarner]

I went out to check for this stuff in real life. A store that sells stuff (relatively) cheaply had a usb hub for about $5 with 4 slots and a separate shutoff for each, but it was 2.0, not 3. Best Buy had a bunch of hubs, even under $10, but they went way up from there. What's the good of having a hub that mentions only computer stuff, not Android? I guess there are some that can handle it all, but it's a mine field. Why doesn't somebody sell a 3.0 with the otg cables included? That would have to be a lot easier than trying to assemble it piecemeal. What's that great about otg cables anyway, and why can't I find any? There are plenty of charging cables, Lightning, braided, etc., but not otg. Meanwhile, are photos exempt from all this? If PDFs, epubs, and all that are separate from FAT v. ntsf, are they separate too? Maybe jpeg for instance could fit on a hard drive with ntsf and no conversion needed. What does ntsf really mean?