Is it possible to connect a flash drive to a smartphone? How to connect a Flash drive to Android devices: problems and solutions.

USB drive or just a flash drive - immensely useful device, which is used to transfer and transmit information. It is small, compact and convenient. It is very easy to connect it to a computer or laptop to transfer this or that information.

However, there are situations when there is no corny computer at hand. But you need to transfer the information from the flash drive to your device. For example, this often happens at work or at university. Why not carry a laptop with you all the time in the hope that colleagues or classmates will share something useful? Or there may be some necessary file on the device that needs to be launched on the computer. And, unfortunately, there is no special adapter cable.

Well, or you want to watch some movie on the latest smartphone with a gorgeous screen. And in which, unfortunately, it is impossible. It is for the sake of getting out of such situations that you need to be able to connect a USB flash drive to the phone.

A little warning

It may seem that this is not possible at all. However, even the difference in connectors and inputs cannot in any way affect the way the flash drive is connected to the gadget. This may only require special device. You just need to warn about the following: if the flash drive can be connected, then you should not do this with hard drive. There is a great chance to simply ruin it, since it will not have enough energy from the smartphone to fully work. At the same time, even a flash drive will “eat” the battery charge very strongly. Be careful.

It should also be remembered that not all drives will work without external power. So if you want to use additional memory normally, take small cards with no more than 2-4 GB of memory. Preferably energy efficient. For the rest, the phone simply does not have enough power.

What do you need to connect a flash drive to Android?

To connect a USB drive you will need:

• Dedicated USB OTG adapter. It can be in the form of a cable or an adapter, which has a USB connector on one side, and a Micro-USB type plug on the other.
• Smartphone support USB Host.
• Root rights.
• StickMount application (available in the Play Store).

Remember that root rights are not desirable to use on smartphones whose warranty has not yet expired. Many manufacturers consider this an interference with the system and void their warranty obligations. Not to mention the fact that their presence will allow you to do anything with your device. In the truest sense of the word.

Here the application is downloaded, the necessary adapter is purchased, and the phone has given you root rights. It's time to try to upload files from a USB flash drive to your gadget.

After you install the application, you need to make it open by default for a USB device, and also give it superuser rights. After that, you will receive the path to the files that are on the flash drive. You can find them through any downloadable file manager available in the range for any device. You can find it in the usbStorage folder, it is located conditionally on a memory card (which may or may not be).

If you are reluctant to poke around in the phone settings and try to hack it, it is possible to transfer files without root rights. However, only for money and only for Nexus. For this, there are two applications in the Play Market. You have to pay for them, but you don't have to once again puzzle and phone system. These two applications are called:

• Nexus Media Importer.
• Nexus USB OTG FileManager.

You just need to download and install them. After that, you can safely use it.

By the way, you can try to install this application and not on the Nexus. You just need to find Nexus Photo Viewer and download it. If it runs, congratulations, you don't need to be rooted. You can buy the desired utility and use it. If not, you will have to go the difficult and unpleasant way of hacking.

In this case, everything is much more complicated. As a rule, Apple does not welcome the use of any peripherals at all, except for those produced by them. Therefore, the phone is fenced from the inside on all sides than is possible. It will be necessary to try to somehow get around these restrictions.

First of all, the owner will have to buy special cable. Finding it is not as easy as it might seem. Its peculiarity is that the technology from Apple, released after the iPhone 4S, has a special connector called Lightning. Can't be used with regular adapters. Although the manufacturer denies the possibility of connecting a USB flash drive, this refutes the Lightning to USB Camera Adapter. In the original, this wire acts as an adapter for connecting a camera. However, it works well with USB drives as well.

There are similar adapters for older versions with a 30-pin plug, but you still have to look for it. Basically, there were cheap Chinese crafts in online stores. already almost extinct, and therefore it is problematic to find the right cord.

So, we purchased the desired cable. Now we need to hack our . Unfortunately, without this, you will not be able to work normally with files on the drive. To do this, there is a Jailbreak, which must be done in advance.

The next step is to install special utilities for reading our files from a USB flash drive. This refers to a file manager called iFile. You can find it in Cydia. As soon as it is downloaded, we boldly launch it and use it for our pleasure.

For those who do not want to have unnecessary problems with hacking and exploring new opportunities, Apple company came up with another proprietary little thing that can replace a USB drive. Such a device is called Leef iBridge. It is, in fact, a flash drive. But not simple, but with an additional Lightning type plug.

This device is officially released, so there will be no problems with reading. It is enough to transfer the files to the device itself, and then insert it into the smartphone. And you can use. True, such pleasure is not cheap (however, everything with the Apple brand is expensive). But you can find variations from 16 to 128 GB of additional memory and not suffer from 1-4 GB on a regular card.

USB OTG File Manager for Nexus allows you to open and copy files from any USB storage device with the FAT32 or NTFS file system using the USB OTG port. You can copy files to any storage device and manage them: edit file names, add directories and delete files.

You can also manage your files on the device's internal memory. The app was developed for Nexus devices that have an "OnTheGo" port. But it is also possible to work on any device with an OTG USB port and Android 4.0+

Instruction

• 1. Install the USB OTG File Manager program.
• 2. connect the flash drive to your device via an OTG cable.
• 3. allow the application to become the default for opening flash drives.
• 4. click in the CONNECT program and wait for the connection.
• 5. use the program...
• 6. Before exiting the program, press the special shutdown button (see screenshot).

Add. information

• 1. when connecting and starting for the first time, we allow the application to become the default for opening flash drives.
• 2. With FAT32 file system, read and write is available. The NTFS file system is read-only.
• 3. Opening files directly from a USB device is supported.
• 4. The application may offer to install an additional Simple Music Player for playing music. Set or not - you decide. I didn't bet.
• 5. Application has an advanced mode (Advanced Mode) for advanced. If you are not confident in your actions, then use the normal gun (Normal Mode).
• 6. The application does not transmit or receive any data from the Internet, which is good.

Download the application to work with a USB flash drive - USB OTG File Manager for Nexus on Android you can follow the link below.

Developer: KyuuDrod
Platform: Android 4.0 and above
Interface language: Russian (RUS)
Condition: Full (Full version)
Root: Not needed

Not all mobile devices are equipped with sufficient internal memory. Connecting a flash drive solves this problem and allows you to watch large-volume movies on your phone or tablet, move files, and perform other data operations. Several methods can be used to combine a smartphone and an external drive, and support for a certain standard will also be required. Let's take a closer look at how to connect a USB flash drive to an Android smartphone and solve problems that arise in the process.

How to connect USB flash drive to phone?

Before connecting a USB storage device to a mobile device, you need to make sure that this option is available. You need to inspect the device for the presence of a Micro-USB connector.

note

Almost all modern phones are equipped with a micro-USB connector, but sometimes there are those where the manufacturer used its own connection standard.

Even if the desired connector is found on the phone, it is not necessary that it supports OTG technology. Its essence lies in supplying power to the contacts, which makes it possible to connect not only flash drives, external hard drives, but also keyboards and other electronics. This technology has been implemented since Android 3.1. First you need to check the compliance of the firmware by visiting the "About the device" section. If the version is higher, then you can proceed to the next check point:

According to the result that the application will give out, it will be . You can also view information at technical specifications smartphone by finding them through a search engine.

If all conditions are met, the next step is to purchase a special adapter. At one end there is a Micro-USB output, at the other - a USB input. This small device is connected to the smartphone connector, then a USB flash drive is inserted into it. Now flash drives have already begun to be massively distributed, where there are two outputs at once.

Now considered the most standard way connection when the phone has all necessary technologies and connectors to ensure a smooth procedure. However, this does not always happen. Let's consider other options.

How to connect a flash drive to Android without OTG?

In budget models of smartphones, where they try to save on every little thing, sometimes there is no OTG technology. This problem can be solved, but additional adapters and devices will be required. In general, the process looks like this:

• Take a charger with a USB cable.
• Connect it as a power source to the USB-Hub (in other words, a splitter).
• Connect to the latest drive.
• Insert the output of the splitter into the Micro-USB adapter.
• Connect the latter to your mobile device.

The design will turn out to be quite bulky and tied to permanent source power, but using other methods to connect a USB flash drive and a phone without OTG support will not work.

It's important to know

The smartphone will be able to easily open all the files stored on external memory, however, recording may not be supported on some models.

How to connect a flash drive to Android without Micro-USB?

Older smartphones may not be equipped with a Micro-USB connector, since at that time each manufacturer used its own standard for inputs. A special adapter will help to cope with such a nuisance. It is easiest to search for such devices in online stores, since the product is specific and often may not be available in ordinary retail outlets.

When searching, you should specify the full name of the phone or tablet in order to get exactly the adapter that fits the existing connector.

Possible problems and solutions

There may be other problems with connecting flash drives that are not related to connectors and supported technologies. Let's analyze the most common problems and how to fix them:

• The flash drive is not mounted automatically. When you are sure that OTG is present, but the USB drive is still not displayed in the file manager, it means that the device does not have the necessary function. Most often, trouble occurs on devices of the Nexus line and those on which it is installed. The solution is to install the StickMount application (requires superuser rights to work).
• Invalid file system format. A flash drive in FAT format is connected to an Android smartphone via micro-USB. If the drive was formatted to the NTFS standard, then it will not be possible to recognize it using standard OS tools. Two options can be taken as a solution:
  • Re-formatting the flash drive to FAT format. You can do this both on a computer and on a smartphone. Please note that all data will be deleted during the process. Therefore, it is recommended to transfer them to another medium in advance.
  • Installation . Using the program, you can open a flash drive in NTFS format and manage its contents. There is other software of a similar plan, but in most cases it requires root access to function.
• Too much external memory. Devices with poor performance may have difficulty connecting large drives. This manifests itself in the absence of recognition or freezes when used. Only changing the flash drive will help.
• Damage. This includes failures of the drive, adapters and connectors. To accurately identify the cause, one element should be replaced one by one and the correct operation should be checked.

The presented material describes in detail how to connect a USB flash drive to a smartphone on Android. You can fulfill your plans even if there is no Micro-USB input and OTG support, and special applications will help you recognize incompatible drives.

There are situations when you need to mount a regular USB flash drive on your portable gadget. Perhaps the reason is the lack of a micro SD or you need to open some documents, but there is no computer nearby. But is it possible to connect a USB flash drive to a smartphone? Yes, nowadays it is possible to synchronize USB devices and Android devices. In addition, it may not necessarily be a drive, so you can connect a keyboard, mouse, and, in general, any device to your smartphone. In general, how to connect a flash drive or other device to a smartphone is described in this article.

As already mentioned above, connecting a flash drive to a smartphone is possible; to do this, you will need an additional cable. And if the device is quite old, you will also have to get superuser rights or, in other words, root rights and connect. How to connect a USB flash drive to the phone is described below.

OTG cable is the only way to connect

Since no company has yet released Android with a large USB input, connecting such things is only possible with a special adapter, namely an OTG cable. Such a thing is not so expensive, from 150 to 300 rubles, you can buy an adapter in the City or in simple communication stores. On one side it has a miniUSB, and on the other a regular, large connector. This adapter is not suitable for every device. The gadget must have OTG support and it must have a miniport. If the device is incompatible with OTG, nothing can be done about it.

IMPORTANT. To find out if a smartphone is supported by OTG, you can look it up in the documents or go to the manufacturer's website.

But how to connect a USB flash drive to the phone through an adapter if it does not have a miniport? It's possible! To do this, you need a special adapter for OTG. There will be a lot of wires and all this will take up a lot of space! But the task was completed, since we still managed to connect the USB flash drive to the phone.

Connection without rooting

Without obtaining superuser rights, you can only connect the drive on new devices. On older devices, to connect a flash drive, you will need to obtain root rights. So, how to connect a USB flash drive to a new Android gadget:

There is also a way to save information from the gadget to removable media. To do this, find the settings on it and open "Storage & USB". Click on the internal drive, where you can move data from it to the device.

To use additional options, in the window where files stored on the media are viewed, you need to click on the menu. There you will find the “Settings” option, where you can also format the media by clicking on “Format”. This is how it is very easy to mount removable media on a new gadget. For older devices, it is recommended to install the StickMount program and get root, since it will not be possible to connect a USB flash drive without this, all the details are described in the subsection below.

Rooted connection

Devices with outdated Android: they have miniUSB, OTG is supported, but they still refuse to connect the device. But how to connect a USB flash drive to a smartphone that has a similar embarrassment. First you need to install the StickMount application, get root and, in the absence of a manager, download ES FileExplorer. Then follow the instructions below:

• As was done in the previous case, connect OTG to the device and connect the media;
• The StickMount program will notify you that a device is connected to the gadget. Now you need to click on the OK button and the drive window will open.

Root rights must be obtained on the phone, nothing can be done without them.

• In both pop-up windows, you need to click "YES", as a result, "Usebydefault" is activated and now all devices will turn on automatically;
• After that, the program will inform you that the device is mounted.

IMPORTANT. Drive path: /sdcard/USBStorage.

• Now you need to find "USB Storge" in the manager and open it. In this window there will be volumes by which files are distributed on the device;
• You can open any directory and do whatever you want with them.

After you have finished working with the media, you need to click on the StickMount icon. Removable media is unmounted and can be safely removed. Also, thanks to this icon, you can determine the presence of any flash drives. Now it has become clear how to connect a USB flash drive to a smartphone that has an old version of Android.

Now we will look at the reasons and what to do in a situation where your Android does not see a flash drive or HDD via USB OTG cable.

This article is suitable for all brands that produce phones on Android 9/8/7/6: Samsung, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Sony, ZTE, Huawei, Meizu, Fly, Alcatel, Xiaomi, Nokia and others. We are not responsible for your actions.

You can connect a flash drive and even an external hard drive to an Android device via an OTG adapter, but this is not always possible to do the first time. The reasons can be different, from an incorrect file system to partial damage to the connector on the smartphone.

Most often, the problem can be fixed on its own, but in severe cases have to apply to service center.

Attention! In the comment, one more tip from a reader with experience in solving this problem. Don't forget to check it out.

Reasons why Android does not see through the OTG adapter

If you are trying to understand why Android does not see a USB flash drive, then the first thing to do is to make sure that the smartphone can work with USB Flash at all.

To do this, it must support USB On-The-Go technology. It implies that microUSB supplies power to an external drive through an OTG cable, so that it becomes visible in Android, just like in Windows 7/10/XP.

To make sure that the hardware specifications allow you to connect a modem, flash drive, keyboard or any other USB device to your phone, install the application on Android.

If the program shows that the phone is ready to work with external devices through the hub, then you can connect the OTG cable and establish a connection with the USB flash drive through it.

Increase

In addition to the lack of support for USB On-The-Go technology, there are other reasons why Android does not see the USB flash drive through the cord, even if the indicator is on:

• Wrong OS version. To work with equipment that supports USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, the device must be running Android 3.1 or higher.
• The amount of connected storage is too large.
• If there is a connection sound, but the hardware cannot be detected (or it is only charging), make sure that its file system is in the appropriate Fat32 format. NTFS and ExFat on Android are not readable.
• Flash drive failure. Try connecting it to your computer to make sure the drive works.
• Damage to the connector on the phone/tablet. Even if, this does not mean that the connector is fully functional - the contacts responsible for data transfer may be damaged.
• Damage to the OTG cable or adapter. To make sure it works, connect another flash drive to another phone that is known to be suitable for this task.

In some cases, it will not be possible to connect the device without root. This happens if a specific phone model cannot automatically mount an external drive. To eliminate the drawback, you need third-party software - for example, an application that can work with flash drives, modems, cameras and other devices.

When connecting equipment via an OTG cable, the program will automatically detect and mount it. You can find the contents of the drive in the /sdcard/usbStorage/sda1 folder. To safely remove the drive, you must select the "Unmount" option in StickMount.