mount external USB thumb drive?

[JimmyTheSaint]

Is it possible to mount an external USB thumb drive to access its data from a file browser on the phone? I tried plugging one of my USB drives into a USB-to-microUSB adapter and plugging that into the phone, but it didn't mount anywhere. I've searched for info on this but I can't find any discussions about it.

 

[messenger13]

There was a thread awhile back about a few people that got this to work ... but they had to jump through some major hoops to get it to work. I was successful in making a cable and I could see that my thumbdrive could be seen by the DROID, but that's as far as I got. I couldn't move files on/off my thumbdrive.

I am sure that we will see this feature in the future. I just don't know when.

 

[JimmyTheSaint]

Hmm, until there's more demand for this feature it may not happen. You would think a lot of people would want this convenience, but I couldn't find it discussed anywhere. Do you know where there's a thread where people describe what they did?

 

[johnlgalt]

The same can be said for FM radio, though, and the device (hardware) supports it natively...just not in the OS as far as drivers are concerned.

 

[shadowdude777]

Isn't this a matter of the Micro USB port acting as a USB host vs a USB slave? I thought we determined a while ago that this can't be fixed because Motorola's bootloader is so stripped-down.

I could be wrong though.

 

[johnlgalt]

I am not positive, but my suspicion is that the OS can support it if the OS were allowed to - just as in the FM radio.

 

[Pale_Flyer]

there is host support now, but apparently no power... on any phone... trying to figure out how to get the thumb drive to work on my moto droid. and i saw the FM radio thing too!

 

[overcaffein8d]

I am not positive, but my suspicion is that the OS can support it if the OS were allowed to - just as in the FM radio.

isn't the "allowed to" issue the entire point of obtaining root access though?

 

[johnlgalt]

No - in this case it is not Root access preventing it - just like with FM radio there was no way b/c the drivers simply did not exist.

Now, apparently, it has been hacked - but the phone (via the OS) still has no way of supplying voltage out of the USB port.

It's like trying to use a video card in your computer that you have no device drivers for - ain't gonna work. OS won't let it.

 

[overcaffein8d]

No - in this case it is not Root access preventing it - just like with FM radio there was no way b/c the drivers simply did not exist.

Now, apparently, it has been hacked - but the phone (via the OS) still has no way of supplying voltage out of the USB port.

It's like trying to use a video card in your computer that you have no device drivers for - ain't gonna work. OS won't let it.

fair enough. what i was getting at was that you can install the drivers with administrator access....at least, i would assume so if you can install custom kernels of course, you first have to either have the drivers, or know how to write them yourself, the latter of which would be the only available option. (which would happen to be a

i've always looked at the droid as a mini linux box... basically, if you can have drivers for the camera, then you can have drivers for the fm/usb circuits. you just have to get a smart person to write them.

what i just wrote probably didn't make any sense, probably on account of the fact that it's four in the morning.

edit: slightly ot, but here is a link for fm stuff. interesting.

 

[johnlgalt]

fair enough. what i was getting at was that you can install the drivers with administrator access....at least, i would assume so if you can install custom kernels of course, you first have to either have the drivers, or know how to write them yourself, the latter of which would be the only available option. (which would happen to be a

i've always looked at the droid as a mini linux box... basically, if you can have drivers for the camera, then you can have drivers for the fm circuits. you just have to get a smart person to write them.

what i just wrote probably didn't make any sense, probably on account of the fact that it's four in the morning.

Yup, right now, that in and of itself is the primary issue.

And, no, it makes perfect sense - I have seen more than my fair share of drivers and devs writing drivers (particularly when I was having issues with onboard sound cards in FC2 and later, drivers for my nVidia -based video card in gentoo....