Ways to connect USB to a smartphone. How to connect a Flash drive to Android devices: problems and solutions
From this article you will learn how to quickly connect a flash drive to an Android phone. This process causes slight difficulties for many users, as it differs from connecting a flash drive to a PC.
· Let's check the device version. It must be from Android 3.1 and higher. Otherwise, connecting the flash drive becomes impossible. Open settings and go to the section "About the smartphone" . Among the various options, you can see information about your Android version. Other specifications are available.
· Buy an OTG cable . If you look closely at mobile devices, you will notice the absence of a classic USB input. Therefore, every phone uses a microUSB port. To connect a flash drive, you need to get an adapter called an OTG cable. It is available for sale in any specialty store.
· Connect the flash drive to the smartphone . It's very easy to do. Take the cable and plug it into the microUSB connector. After this, the flash drive will be connected. Thanks to any file manager, all the data on it will be available. They are in the folder mnt/sda/sda1 .
However, if you have a Google Nexus smartphone, you will need to download the application Nexus Media Importer. It's completely free.
Unfortunately, not all Android smartphones make everything so simple. There are times when the connection has already been made, but there is no access to the phone. This occurs for various reasons. One of the most popular is the inability to mount an external drive. To fix the problem, you will need to install the application Stick Mount. It works with all types of equipment, including video cameras and cameras.
To install, you must have Administrator rights (ROOT). After this, a message will appear on the screen whether you agree to the terms of use. Click “Yes”, after which the drive will be automatically detected and mounted. It will be available at /sdcard/usbStorage/sda1 . Remove the flash drive in safe mode by pressing "Unmount" .
There are other reasons why the device does not see the drive. For example, a number of file systems are simply unreadable. Among them may be NTFS. To fix this, reformat the drive to FAT32 format on your PC.
Thanks to the OTG cable, you can connect various devices, not just USB flash drives. These include:
· keyboard;
· mouse;
· USB modem.
The first two devices can also be wireless.
Smartphones and tablets are actively replacing not only personal computers, but even laptops from our daily lives. However, some functions, for example, typing a fairly large piece of text, due to the small size of the keyboard of a mobile device, require some effort, and often hassle.
In this regard, the question arises: is it possible to directly connect the desired gadget to your Android device? It turns out it is possible! Not every user knows that it is possible to connect a keyboard, USB gaming peripherals, external modem, etc. to an Android device.
One of the tools for exchanging information between a smartphone and a PC is a flash drive (USB flash drive), which is connected via a USB interface to any reading device.
Most modern devices with Android OS have a standard micro-USB connector that serves as a communication port. To see devices connected through the port, the smartphone must support USB On-The-Go technology (abbr. USB OTG). This function is implemented in Android OS versions no lower than 3.1.
To connect a flash drive, you will need a USB OTG cable with a microUSB plug on one side and a USB connector on the other:
If the manufacturer of your device was stingy and did not include it with the phone, then you need to get it by spending a small amount in any specialized store. If your device does not have a USB connector, you will have to purchase an adapter with USB on one end and a connector corresponding to your device on the other, to which the USB OTG cable will subsequently be connected.
How to open a flash drive on Android
To open a flash drive and view its contents, you need a file manager. Many modern smartphone models are equipped with this initially, and if you have a USB OTG cable, all that remains to resolve the issue is to connect the drive. If there is no pre-installed file manager, then you will have to download a third-party one, fortunately similar ones (directly the path to the files: /sdcard/usbStorage).
Android tablet does not see the flash drive - reasons
However, not all Android devices can function in a simplified way. Often the connection is made, but nothing happens at all.
First reason. This situation may arise due to the fact that a particular device cannot automatically mount an external drive, so it will need help, which is possible by installing a program that can do this. Perhaps the most popular free one in this segment works not only with flash drives, but also with other equipment, including digital cameras.
True, its installation requires root access, and if you already have it, you can connect a USB flash drive via a USB OTG cable. In the pop-up tip, you need to agree to launch StickMount and the program will automatically detect the drive and mount it accordingly. You can find it along the path /sdcard/usbStorage/sda1. To safely remove the flash drive, go into the program again and select the “Unmount” command.
Another good application worth mentioning is USB OTG Helper (root rights are also required). The operating principle is similar to that described above.
The second reason The reason why your device may not see the flash drive is that it simply does not read some file systems, such as NTFS, by default.
In this case, using a computer, you need to reformat the flash drive to exFAT or FAT32.
But what if there is no PC at the moment? Then you can use the Paragon NTFS & HFS+ application, which supports the NTFS format and allows you to manipulate digital files that have a similar file system (you will need it for installation).
We tried to tell you in as much detail as possible about how to connect a flash drive to an Android device and import files to your device and back to an external flash drive. If after reading the article you still have any questions, please contact us and we will dot all the i's. Good luck!
Greetings. Now many people do not know how to connect a flash drive to their phone. Because it simply doesn’t fit or there are other reasons why it can’t be done. In today's article I want to take this issue apart. You will learn how to connect a flash drive to an Android phone (smartphone) and how to view files on it.
I don’t think there’s any need to explain why you need to connect a flash drive to a smartphone. The reasons can be completely different and the most unusual. Maybe there are simply no other devices nearby for reading information from a flash drive, or maybe you decided to transfer music to your phone this way.
How to connect a flash drive to an Android smartphone?
If you are holding an ordinary USB flash drive and your favorite smartphone in your hands, you see that there is nowhere to insert it. Because the flash drive has USB Type-A, and the smartphone has a micro USB Type-B connector. That's bad luck. (Read more about)
Fortunately, many modern smartphones support this technology. USB On-The-Go, allowing them to use most peripherals directly without the help of a computer or laptop. You can connect a mouse or keyboard, work with flash drives and much more. But for this you will need.
An OTG cable usually has a full USB Type-A on one side, and a micro USB Type-B on the other side. Therefore, if you do not have a micro USB connector on your smartphone, then you should take care of an additional adapter to connect a flash drive. Although the likelihood of this is negligible, now almost all smartphones and tablets have a micro USB Type-B connector.
Eventually, to connect a flash drive to your phone, need to:
- so that your The smartphone supported USB On-The-Go technology. Although almost all smartphones now support it, there are nevertheless exceptions. Carefully read the phone's specifications before purchasing if this parameter is important to you.
- to have in stock. It is inexpensive, so it would be nice if you still have it. You never know when it will come in handy.
Adapter cables for different types of devices
OTG cables need to be selected depending on what connector is available on your smartphone or tablet. It could be microUSB, appleLightning or the most modern USBTYPE-C. The table shows some representatives of these cables.
How to open a flash drive on Android (tablet or phone)?
« How to open a flash drive on a phone, there is no shortcut “ My computer "and nothing similar?- you will be surprised. Naturally, for this we will need some kind of file manager. You most likely have some kind of simple pre-installed file manager. But if it is not there, then you need to install it.
Today, popular file managers on Android OS are: “File Manager”, “ES Explorer”, “Total Commander”, “X-plore File Manager”, “File Commander”, “ASTRO” and others. There are actually a lot of them. For example, I have been using for a very long time X-plore. I have loved it since the days when the Symbian OS operating system was popular on smartphones. X-plore is a convenient, functional and free manager. What else is needed?
X-plore - file manager
Then simply connect the flash drive to the phone and go to the file manager. There it will be displayed with all the contents. Of course, a completely different question is whether a smartphone can work with all files? It's still not a computer. But he can work with the main ones. There are even special programs for working with Excel spreadsheets, but it is so inconvenient that I don’t even know who these programs were written for.
Why can't my smartphone see the flash drive via an OTG cable?
There may be many reasons why your smartphone does not see the flash drive. Let's look at the most common ones.
The flash drive is also often not visible on the computer, why? Read.
Micro USB flash drives
You may not know this, but there are flash drives that fit into a micro USB connector. This information may be useful to you if you plan to often connect a flash drive to your smartphone, then it makes sense to think about such a purchase.
Micro-USB flash drive
There are also combined flash drives that have a USB Type-A output on one side and a micro USB output on the other. You can connect such a flash drive to both a computer and a smartphone. Think maybe this is just what you need.
If you still decide to buy a micro USB flash drive, we recommend that you pay attention to the following models with a large amount of memory. In addition, they can connect to absolutely any type of USB connector.
Conclusion on connecting a flash drive to the phone
In most cases, you will be able to use a USB flash drive on your phone without any problems. Which is good news. However, if you encounter difficulties connecting a flash drive, do not despair. Many of the problems are resolved fairly quickly. I hope you have learned enough about how to connect a flash drive to your phone. If you have any questions, please ask, we will try to help you.
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Today, modern devices play a huge role in our lives. We are not talking about computers or laptops, which are already beginning to fade into the background. Smartphones and tablets are portable computers that have almost all the functions of laptops. Unfortunately, these modern devices are not suitable for office work. Typing text on a tablet is quite difficult, let alone on regular phones.
People began to wonder how to connect a flash drive to an Android smartphone or a keyboard, mouse and other useful devices. It turns out it can be done. However, not everyone knows how to connect an additional device to their smartphone. Let's look at this using an ordinary flash drive as an example. As a rule, this is the device that many people try to connect to their device.
How to connect a flash drive to an Android smartphone
Modern devices running the Android operating system have a standard microUSB connector. For a USB flash drive to work on your device, it must have USB On-The-Go technology installed. Manufacturers began implementing this feature in Android OS from version 3.1.
As a rule, modern tablets, and especially phones, do not have a USB connector. Therefore, you will need a USB-OTG cable. Some manufacturers include an adapter for a flash drive in the kit; if you don’t have one, you’ll have to buy it at any store that sells digital equipment.
The smartphone does not have a micro-USB connector
If you do not find a microUSB connector on your smartphone, you will need to first purchase a USB-OTG cable and then an adapter for it. Of course, this is quite inconvenient: if you need to connect an additional device, you will have to use several cables. But this is the only way that will allow you to connect a flash drive.
How to view the contents of an external drive
So, we looked at how to connect a flash drive to an Android smartphone. Now we move on to opening an additional device. How to do it? We need to download a file manager. You may already have it, since in some devices the manufacturer installs a certain set of programs. Of course, if you don't have a file manager, you'll have to install it. For smartphones running Android OS, the leading places are occupied by ES File Explorer, FX File Explorer and Total Commander. You can choose the application that you like best.
How to open a flash drive on Android
As we have already found out, we will need After installing it, we can go to this utility and find the flash drive. If you can't find the external device, try entering the file path (/sdcard/usbStorage). After successfully opening the flash drive, you can view, copy and move files just like on a regular computer. Now you know how to connect a flash drive to an Android smartphone and open it, but, unfortunately, problems arise on some devices. Let's look at them and try to find ways to solve them.
Android tablet or smartphone does not see the flash drive
If you have reached this point, then you are having problems connecting the flash drive to your smartphone. This can happen for various reasons. Now we will look at the most common of them.
First. If the file manager should help him. Now there are applications that can solve this problem. The most effective program is a paid one, so we will look at a free alternative. Unfortunately, it requires root rights. StickMount works not only with flash drives, but also with other additional devices.
If you have installed the necessary utility, you can connect an external device. When connecting, you must agree to the StickMount rules, after which it will automatically start and see the flash drive. How to find a device? You can go to /sdcard/usbStorage/sda1 in the file manager. Do not forget to properly disconnect additional devices so that there are no problems with them in the future. To do this, go into the program and click on the “Unmount” button.
It is worth noting another high-quality application - Helper, which works on a similar principle.
The second reason. Before installing additional programs and root rights, you should make sure that the problem is not with the flash drive. What is this connected with? Your device simply does not see the flash drive, since it may be configured with a different file system (perhaps NTFS).
Let's say you don't have a laptop or computer: how then to connect an additional device? You need to download Paragon NTFS & HTS+ - an application that supports the desired format for reading text data. Unfortunately, this application requires root access. You can get them using the King Root program. However, you may not be able to obtain superuser rights on all devices. Remember: you do this at your own peril and risk. Because of this application, your smartphone may not work correctly. If the device is still under warranty, then you do not need to get root rights, since the warranty will be lost in this case.
Conclusion
So, we looked at how to connect an external flash drive to an Android smartphone, and described some problems associated with the connection. As practice shows, issues arise on older devices. If you have a new device, there should be no problems. To use a flash drive, keyboard, mouse or other applications on your device, you must follow the rules and do everything carefully.
Is it possible to connect a micro or usb flash drive to an android smartphone via an otg cable? Yes, you can and it’s not difficult, especially if you have Android 4.0, Android 4.4.2 or higher.
Those below, such as Android 2.3, do not support this technology - as far as I remember, it partially began with version 3.1.
Only if you even have Android 6.0, Android 7.0 or even Android 8, then some manufacturers block this, but you can bypass the ban.
You can connect peripherals to your Android smartphone such as flash drives, external hard drives, mice and keyboards - but you must have an otg cable with a standard USB to Micro memory card.
After connecting a flash drive with such a cable, the system should activate a mode through which you can control the connection.
This mode is available on most devices. Only if your smartphone or tablet does not support this function, you can try to activate it manually, but this will require root rights.
What is a USB OTG cable for connecting a flash drive?
This is a cable that has a standard micro USB connector on one side and a female USB input on the other.
It allows you to connect a regular USB device, for example, a flash drive, to the micro USB port on your Android phone.
The cost of such a cable is very small - a typical “Chinese” one can be bought for a trifle and is quite enough for home use.
If you want a branded cable (for example, Samsung), then the costs will increase several times.
How to check whether an Android smartphone supports connecting a USB flash drive via an OTG cable
Most Android phones have built-in OTG cable support, but some have it disabled by default.
To check whether your smartphone or tablet supports this technology, you can use the USB OTG Checker application.
After installing the application, run the appropriate setting for testing.
USB OTG Checker will analyze your device and check if it supports OTG.
How to connect a USB flash drive to Android via an OTG cable
First of all, you must format the USB flash drive to FAT32 file system. To do this, connect it to your computer and open the “This PC” window.
If you have important data on a flash drive, then copy it to disk. Right-click on the flash drive and select "Format...".
In the new window, click “Restore device settings to default”, and then in the “File system” field select “FAT32” and confirm formatting with the “Start” button.
Once the operation is completed, simply connect the flash drive to your smartphone using the OTG cable you purchased.
You will need the following devices, such as a cable, a USB flash drive and an Android phone.
Now insert the flash drive into the OTG cable as shown in the picture below.
Now insert the USB OTG on your android phone as shown in the picture below.
After inserting, you can see that your USB flash drive has connected automatically and see “OTG UDisk installed” in the notification center.
After connecting the flash drive, it should be automatically detected and mounted on the system, after which you can view and copy files using any file manager, for example, Astro File Manager or ES File Explorer.
How to connect a USB flash drive via OTG cable on an unsupported device
If your smartphone or tablet does not work with the cable and does not have built-in support for this mode, there is still a way to activate it yourself, but we need root rights.
After receiving them, install the USB OTG Helper application on your Android phone. It is used to automatically connect a flash drive via a cable.
USB OTG Helper should start automatically after connecting the device via cable.
OTG Helper interface will appear on the screen where we can enable (Mount) this feature or disable (Unmount).
After installation, the contents of the flash drive will be displayed on the smartphone, just like a micro memory card connected directly to the microSD card slot.
That's all. It turned out great! If it didn’t work out, it’s bad, but if you describe the problem in the comments, I’ll help you solve it, or rather, we’ll solve it together. Good luck.
