External USB Hard Drives dont mount (Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1)

[Lannabulls]

Hi everybody,
Trough a Samsung OTG Connector (Power supply-usb) I try to connect to my Tablet "Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition" 2 different brand external usb hard drives, both 500 gb, one is USB 2.0, the other 3.0, and the tablet doesn't reconize them, they dont mount.
I own both extrenal Hard Drives since long time, I used to connect them to my last tablet, broken now, an Asus Transformer TF300TG , and they where working fine, I connected them in the exact same way, trough an Asus Connector (Power supply-usb).
I tried also to connect to my Galaxy tab some flash usb pens of different size, from 3 mb until 16 mb, I dont own any bigger than these and they are working fine, the tablet mounts them without any problem.
So there is a limitation in size, bigger external usb hard drives than "? gb" could not be mounted on my Tablet Galaxy Note 10.1, or someone out there could be so kind, explain to me why this Samsung tablet doesn't mount my external Hard Drives that could be mounted easily in other brand tablet as I explained?
Thanks a lot for ytour help!

 

[Hadron]

Does "power supply-usb" in your description of the connector mean that the connector has its own power supply, as opposed to relying on the USB port to power the drive? That is the most obvious cause if not, but I'm guessing from the way you write this that it has.

 

[Lannabulls]

Thanks and sorry for my poor written English.
No, my external hard drives dont have a power supply, they are relying on the USB port to get power from. Oce I connect the usb cable to the OTG Connector, both of them turn on. I can see the led, the light on, however it strays like that light on and nothing happen, they dont mount. Once an exterbal device is plug in and detected automatically my file browser is lunched and I can see its content, in this case nothing happen. If I go in my tablet setting I can se an entry call generically usb hub, it ask me if I want to mount it, I click and nothing happen.
Thanks

 

[chanchan05]

I'm thinking that the tablet doesn't recognize your OTG connector properly, and is thus limiting the power transfer to a level that's not quite enough for your hard drives to run properly. You'd want a OTG cable made specifically for the Samsung.

 

[Lannabulls]

Thanks a lot and
what a stupid jurk I'm!
In my first post I mistakely wrote "Trough a Canon OTG Connector", trough your thread chanchan05 you made me realize that, thanks! I ment Trough a Samsung OTG Connector "I already edited the mistake", sorry!!!!!
I bought the Samsung OTG Connector at the exact same time that I bought my Galaxy tablet, same shop cause one of the main use of my tablet is watching stuff that I store in my hard drives.
Thanks!

 

[WoohooGuy]

Have you tried just a straight OTG cable? A OTG cable with just two connections, micro usb to the tablet and full sized USB to the drive.. No Y cable with power?

The reason I ask is I have tried a handful of OTG Y cables from Amazon with my Nexus 7 and the results have been dismal to say the least with my Western Digital Passport series drives that draw power from the USB port.

So far I have yet to find a cable that will properly power the Passport without having to go through a very special sequence of events like connecting the cable first to the tablet and then the drive, letting the drive mount and then plugging in the power.

The reason I figure is the tablet has to be in OTG mode first or else it will draw power from the Y cable and never mount the drive, but then when the drive is mounted first the Nexus 7 stock firmware will not allow the device to charge while in OTG so you can power the drive from there on.

Samsung tablets are a bit different but try to initiate a different sequence of the order in which you connect things and see if you can get it working.

 

[Lannabulls]

Thanks a lot WoohooGuy and everybody!
Sorry, this is a new world to me, I dont know much about all those cables, differences between, etc., I'm learning thanks to you guys!

My otg cable is a samsung brand as I told, here in the photo:

If I understood well my cable is the type that you are exactly suggesting,
an OTG cable with just two connections, micro usb to the tablet and full sized USB to the drive.

The 2 hard drives that don't mount get power straight from the usb connection, no separated power cable.

If I can get trough I'm going to ask straight to Samsung, my felling is that external hard drives bigger than a "? GB", are not supported.
If I will get answers from Samsung I will post them here.
Thanks for your help!

 

[chanchan05]

Are the external hard drives NFTS formatted by any chance? Android has trouble reading those, but they're ideal for PC use. Either that or they aren't getting enough power from the cable. Have you tried a 3 way cable where one plugs to the hard drive, the other to the tablet, and the final end to a power source?

 

[Lannabulls]

Thanks chanchan05 for your suggestions!

I dont try the cable that you suggested cause:
I dont own any and second cause, as already mentioned, these hard drive get power from the usb connection I always use them like that without any problem.
Can I use the cable that you suggeted, no problem?

They are formatted in NFTS, again, guide me trough please cause I'm a rookie.
If I would like to format them in FAT 32, I'm running window 7 64 bit, I open the format feature, it gives me 2 options, NFTS as default one, the other is not called FAT 32, actually is called exFAT.
What I have to do in order to fornat them in FAT 32,run the second option above mentioned, exFAT? Or I must to do something else?

As mentioned earlier, I use to connect the exact same 2 hard drives to my old tablet, an Asus Transformer TF300TG, so an Android device, connect them with an otg cable Asus brand, they still in NFTS, they got power from the usb connection and they where working fine.
Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[niffcreature]

Thanks chanchan05 for your suggestions!

I dont try the cable that you suggested cause:
I dont own any and second cause, as already mentioned, these hard drive get power from the usb connection I always use them like that without any problem.

this is where your logic is flawed... well i'm not sure exactly there is 1 of 2 things you probably don't realize:

1. just because the hard drive LED light is on, doesn't mean it has enough power. the LED takes almost no power and will turn on, even when there isn't enough power to spin up the actual hard drive.
2. just because your asus tablet has enough power to spin them up, doesn't mean your samsung tablet has enough. there isn't really much of a standard for power (amps/watts) on USB ports, and all devices are different in the power they can output, even laptops.

so yes you should get some external power, ideally a powered USB hub.

 

[chanchan05]

Niffcreature already explained it. It's better to try getting the simpler solution first (powered cable) before taking drastic measures (reformatting). Plus if you reformat, you'll have other file problems you'll face which are inherent with the Fat32 format.

 

[Lannabulls]

Thanks a lot niffcreature and chanchan05 for your help!
As you can understand niffcreature this is a completely new world to me, sorry for my questions and what I'm saying.

I mentioned my old Asus Tablet just to compare, Talking about tablets I tought the power delivered trough an usb connection was always the same, I was completely wrong as you niffcreature explained. So there is a way to understand how much power is delivered trough an usb connection? I try to read the specifications of my device and I was not able to find the detail about power delivered trough the usb connection.

So basically you are suggesting to buy an external drive that can be self powered, one usb cable that connect to my tablet, another cable as power supply.

Before to buy a brand new hard drive I try to go to a Samsung shop, the one where I bought the tablet and the otg cable explaning the problem, I dont want buy another extrernal hard drive that may wont work too.

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[chanchan05]

Depends on the shop. Some shops have a demo item of the product to be sold, so you can test an externally powered hard drive before you buy it.

 

[Lannabulls]

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[Leona Harper]

Hi I'm newbie here.

I have recently bought a Note Pro 12.2, does anybody know if I can use a external hard drive which is powered with a USB 3 OTG link with this device? I am planning to buy a a wireless drive if its not possible too do this. If its not too much trouble.

http://www.bestsellingreviews.com/Computer/External-Hard-Drive/

 

[Gmash]

Thanks a lot niffcreature and chanchan05 for your help!
As you can understand niffcreature this is a completely new world to me, sorry for my questions and what I'm saying.

I mentioned my old Asus Tablet just to compare, Talking about tablets I tought the power delivered trough an usb connection was always the same, I was completely wrong as you niffcreature explained. So there is a way to understand how much power is delivered trough an usb connection? I try to read the specifications of my device and I was not able to find the detail about power delivered trough the usb connection.

So basically you are suggesting to buy an external drive that can be self powered, one usb cable that connect to my tablet, another cable as power supply.

Before to buy a brand new hard drive I try to go to a Samsung shop, the one where I bought the tablet and the otg cable explaning the problem, I dont want buy another extrernal hard drive that may wont work too.

Thanks a lot for your help.

I don't think he was suggesting buying a new hard drive, but a new cable that attaches to a power source itself, something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009YPYORM?ie=UTF8&at=&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

 

[glendonzane]

Hi everybody,
Trough a Samsung OTG Connector (Power supply-usb) I try to connect to my Tablet "Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition" 2 different brand external usb hard drives, both 500 gb, one is USB 2.0, the other 3.0, and the tablet doesn't reconize them, they dont mount.
I own both extrenal Hard Drives since long time, I used to connect them to my last tablet, broken now, an Asus Transformer TF300TG , and they where working fine, I connected them in the exact same way, trough an Asus Connector (Power supply-usb).
I tried also to connect to my Galaxy tab some flash usb pens of different size, from 3 mb until 16 mb, I dont own any bigger than these and they are working fine, the tablet mounts them without any problem.
So there is a limitation in size, bigger external usb hard drives than "? gb" could not be mounted on my Tablet Galaxy Note 10.1, or someone out there could be so kind, explain to me why this Samsung tablet doesn't mount my external Hard Drives that could be mounted easily in other brand tablet as I explained?
Thanks a lot for ytour help!

Dude I figured it out. Just get a powered USB Hub and a NTFS Mounting app. Connect and try. I use this when I go on deployment and it works like a champ! I can't get anything larger than 1TB to read.. but my 1TB hard drive works great.

 

[soolim]

I use a Samsung tab-pro and a OTG Y connector for charger and WD Passport. Connection to WD can be establish, by powering the Tab and WD first without the charger. Tab recognizes the WD, and then connect the power charger.

 

[Chizomam Angela]

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tablet S2 which I bought in 2015.


I also have an LG external CD drive which I intend to use it to play CD on my Samsung tablet. Please, what are the things I need to buy to connect the drive to my tablet.


I would appreciate a response from you