Read-only USB storage without rooting is now possible!

perfectstranger · Aug 27, 2012

rushmore said:
100% agreed, though again- Google should allow full support out of box, IF they were not cloud huggers.

BTW, anybody try 64gb usb thumbdrives yet? Curious on the smoothness of video playback and if game roms work. Added: On second thought, since read-only would not be able to save data, so would not be too practical for a lot of games.

Yep, 64gb thumbdrive works fine for me...Transcend brand from Amazon. Have watched videos and listened to a song for testing. Things were smooth.

I put a few game ROMS on it to copy over when needed.

Turbojoe · Aug 27, 2012

Now that it's back on the Play Store again I just bought it. Now to get an OTG cable. I've got a bunch of older USB drives but maybe I'll pick up a new one. It's not like I NEED more space as I still have 13gb free. I have some things that I like to keep on a thumb drive because I don't need them often (files, pictures etc). No need to clutter up the N7 with it and not being able to write to the USB is not an issue for me. This app will work great for me.

Joe

LordBrain515 · Aug 27, 2012

Thank you very much, OP (and to the developer)! I'm so glad that I don't *have* to root my device in order to get this functionality!

perfectstranger · Aug 28, 2012

The dev seems open to ideas/suggestions. I asked that he allow CBR and CBZ (comicbook archives) files to be recognized. He said that will be in the next release. So if there's something you'd like to see, send him an email.

I found that changing the extension of unrecognized files to a recognized one will work. I changed a CBR to PDF and I could transfer it. That's fine for a single file or two but not practical when transferring a bunch of files because you have to change them back after they're on the device.

rushmore · Aug 29, 2012

Why transfer files rather than play back straight from the thumb drive? Seems redundant transferring and then playing the file.

CrackBaby · Aug 29, 2012

rushmore said:
Why transfer files rather than play back straight from the thumb drive? Seems redundant transferring and then playing the file.

Transferring files goes faster than I thought it would. If you just keep it plugged in and play from the flash drive, I believe it is expending double effort on the battery though I could be wrong about that.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

perfectstranger · Aug 30, 2012

rushmore said:
Why transfer files rather than play back straight from the thumb drive? Seems redundant transferring and then playing the file.

If it's an unrecognized format (a comic file or game ROM) the extension has to be changed to be recognized. That does away with any default file playing app for those files until the extension is changed back to original on the device. Hopefully the comic files will be recognized on the next update.

rushmore · Aug 30, 2012

CrackBaby said:
Transferring files goes faster than I thought it would. If you just keep it plugged in and play from the flash drive, I believe it is expending double effort on the battery though I could be wrong about that.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Based on using other Android devices playing game roms and video from a 64gb thumbdrive, my guess is 5% more battery used, 10% would be extreme. Using a hard drive draws about 15%, so 5% for flash memory seems about right. I can say that even using a hard drive (USB 1TB), the battery usage did not stand out much and flash not much at all.

KFR42 · Aug 31, 2012

My cable finally arrived today so I tried this out. Works a charm, however I can't stream PDFs. It says it can't find an app, but I have adobe reader as well as a few other apps on my n7. What app have people installed to stream PDFs?

Xyro · Aug 31, 2012

KFR42 said:
My cable finally arrived today so I tried this out. Works a charm, however I can't stream PDFs. It says it can't find an app, but I have adobe reader as well as a few other apps on my n7. What app have people installed to stream PDFs?

It is possible in adobe reader to navigate to the directory where your USB storage is mounted. Have you tried opening it that way?

KFR42 · Aug 31, 2012

Xyro said:
It is possible in adobe reader to navigate to the directory where your USB storage is mounted. Have you tried opening it that way?

Oh OK, I didn't realise you could do it that way without rooting. I'll try that.

Xyro · Aug 31, 2012

KFR42 said:
Oh OK, I didn't realise you could do it that way without rooting. I'll try that.

I am rooted, so take my advice with a pinch of salt as I can't test it without root.

KFR42 · Aug 31, 2012

Xyro said:
I am rooted, so take my advice with a pinch of salt as I can't test it without root.

I just tried it. It didn't work! Anyone else get pdf streaming to work?

Kelgorus · Aug 31, 2012

Fingers crossed!

I just ordered:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/271041433306...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_2070wt_1397

and:

</title><meta name="description" content="Purple PU Folio Leather Skin Case Cover With Stand For Google Nexus 7 Tablet in Computers Tablets Networking , iPad Tablet eBook Accessories |eBay"><meta name="keywords" content="Purple PU Folio Leather Skin

For my N7 that I literally only ordered today haha.

Been debating this bugger for a while now!

zerocool79346 · Sep 1, 2012

rushmore said:
100% agreed, though again- Google should allow full support out of box, IF they were not cloud huggers.

BTW, anybody try 64gb usb thumbdrives yet? Curious on the smoothness of video playback and if game roms work. Added: On second thought, since read-only would not be able to save data, so would not be too practical for a lot of games.

Google isn't doing it entirely fr the cloud. MS owns a slew of patents governing OTG file transfers. Considering the fight Google is thinking of waging with Apple, it makes very little sense to awaken an irrelevant (mobile wise) sleeping giant over an inconsequential feature that 99% of their consumers will never use (myself included). But as usual your blind hatred for all things Nexus keeps you from seeing the big picture.

Markg · Sep 1, 2012

Has anybody seen a device with a card reader and a USB port for a keyboard? I'm sure they can't be used together but it would be good to only need one adapter.

garryknight · Sep 4, 2012

Here's a USB-OTG cable for people in the UK that works with the N7 and Nexus Media Importer. Tested using my Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone and Play Store-sourced N7.

IVSO

Nestacres · Sep 5, 2012

I have got the media importer, a usb otg cable and a 128gb flash drive. the nexus won't read anything on the 128gb flash drive - it came as exfat - i reformatted into NTFS and then again to FAT32. All other flash drives (of lower storage seem to work on the Nexus). Has anyone else had any issues with such a large flash drive - it works fine on a PC

Xyro · Sep 5, 2012

I'd imagine that something that large isn't getting enough power from the USB port on the nexus 7. I gave some external drives of mine a try and found the same thing.

joesixpack · Sep 13, 2012

I can't play a video file directly from one of my flash drives. Is it because the flash drive is one of the older, slower ones? If I break down and buy a new one will that fix the problem?

EDIT: Oh, yeah. I'm using MX Player as my video app. Do I need a codec?

Also, someone should put a bug in the developer's ear to put a file manager in the program so it will maintain any folders I have. My pics which are sorted into folders on my flash drive get dumped into one big list with this program. Other than that, great app!

CarsnGadgets · Sep 13, 2012

If you havent already got one, install a 3rd party video player like vplayer or rockplayer, that should help you movie playback.

Pandemonium2K7 · Sep 13, 2012

Thanks for sharing this great info, I bought the app and ordered the cable woooot!

stridermt2k · Sep 13, 2012

Having trouble with Nexus media importer.

It connects to my card reader and tries to play a file, but the video gets stuttery and unwatchable amost immediately.

Any ideas?

perfectstranger · Sep 13, 2012

stridermt2k said:
Having trouble with Nexus media importer.

It connects to my card reader and tries to play a file, but the video gets stuttery and unwatchable amost immediately.

Any ideas?

Maybe try a different player. Also, assuming that you are streaming when it happens, you could copy the file to the N7 and try watching. Delete when done with it.

It seems stuttery and slow for me when streaming avi files and using mxplayer. Haven't tried to remedy because it wasn't too important to me.

KFR42 · Sep 13, 2012

joesixpack said:
I can't play a video file directly from one of my flash drives. Is it because the flash drive is one of the older, slower ones? If I break down and buy a new one will that fix the problem?

EDIT: Oh, yeah. I'm using MX Player as my video app. Do I need a codec?

Also, someone should put a bug in the developer's ear to put a file manager in the program so it will maintain any folders I have. My pics which are sorted into folders on my flash drive get dumped into one big list with this program. Other than that, great app!

Click the little eye at the top. You can switch to file explorer view.

Read-only USB storage without rooting is now possible!

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