How to open a USB flash drive on a smartphone. How to connect a USB flash drive to an Android device using a special OTG cable: solving reading and recognition problems

Despite the support of an Android smartphone or tablet for SD cards up to 32 GB, sometimes you need to connect external “storage” - portable hard drives and flash drives.

The essence of the problem with USB-Flash drives on Android devices

Modern Flash drives have a capacity of up to 128 GB. This amount of memory is not superfluous, especially when the owner of a smartphone or tablet downloads and distributes many films, music, programs, etc. at once. additional volume memory. The essence of the problem is as follows.

For this you need to connect additional “flash drives” via microUSB. Ideal option for those who often go on business trips or travel - carry a tablet and several 32–128 GB flash drives in your bag.

How to connect a flash drive to an Android gadget via OTG

OTG is a USB-microUSB adapter, a replacement for the USB cable with the device Card Reader. Takes up little space - no more than a standard flash drive. In this case, the flash drive must be formatted in FAT32 - with a file NTFS system The Android operating system is not doing well yet.

There is a more difficult way: install a special Android application that allows your smartphone or tablet to work with NTFS media. So, it can be exFAT/NTFS for Total Commander, Paragon NTFS & HFS+ and their analogues.

If the flash drive is not readable, you need special Android applications. Some of them require Root rights.

How to get Root access

Applications that allow you to get Root access without a computer: FramaRoot, Universal Androot, Visionary+, GingerBreak, z4root, BaiduRoot, Romaster SU, Towelroot, RootDashi, 360 Root, etc.

Applications that “hack” Root via PC: SuperOneClick, Unrevoked, GenoTools, vRoot, MTKDroidTools, etc.

Remember that when receiving Root rights, you lose the supplier’s warranty and risk harming your gadget.

Another way is to change the license Android firmware to a “custom” one with unattached Root access.

Viewing the contents of a flash drive on an Android smartphone or tablet using third-party applications

USB Media Explorer app

For those who want to simplify the process of accessing a flash drive, a paid service is suitable USB application Media Explorer. The old name of the program is Nexus Media Importer; it was initially developed for Nexus gadgets, but quickly expanded the line of supported smartphones and tablets to Android based. Root rights are not needed, the program is paid.

If this solution does not suit you, you will have to work a little harder.

Solutions based on the StickMount program

The StickMount application is one of the most famous and requires Root rights. Works in conjunction with any Android file manager, for example, ES Explorer. Both applications are available on the Play Market.

The flash drive is read/write.

All your files are now available

Connecting USB flash drives to devices that do not have miniUSB/microUSB

A number of companies, not as well-known as ZTE, Huawei, Sony and their other competitors, install non-standard interface connectors. OTG adapters with miniUSB/microUSB are absolutely not suitable for gadgets with a highly standardized connector without a special OTG adapter. Look on Ebay or AliExpress for an OTG adapter that matches the standard of the interface socket of your smartphone or tablet. Next steps to be received software access the same for your flash drives.

Other ways to connect a flash drive to an Android smartphone or tablet

There are the following methods:

Video: Connecting additional devices to a smartphone and tablet, including flash drives: problems and solutions

By connecting flash drives and other storage devices to your Android smartphone or tablet, you free up your hands when it comes to organizing the storage of the data you carry with you. This can be very useful to you on business trips and travel. Good luck!

The need to quickly “dump” files onto a smartphone, as well as to use an external drive when there is a shortage of memory, is acute today. It is especially relevant for owners of flagship devices that do not support removable memory cards. And other users often need to temporarily work with large files.

Clearing the disk in order to place files is not always justified in such cases. For example, it is not the most rational option to free up 5 - 10 GB of memory (out of 16 or 32) in order to copy a movie there, which will be deleted immediately after viewing. It is in such situations that a removable USB drive comes in handy more than ever.

Can it be connected to a smartphone? USB flash ku? If yes, what is needed for this and what devices have similar functionality? In this article we will try to answer all the questions that arise.

The USB On-The-Go (OTG) standard is designed to connect various peripherals to each other without using additional equipment. This function fully implemented at the software level in the Android OS (from version 2.3), partially in iOS. It is also fully supported Windows system(Not Windows Phone– for devices on this platform, support is planned to be added in the 10th version of the OS).

What devices are supported?

At least on the level software support for this standard is present in all Android-based smartphones; in practice, not all of them can work with a USB drive.

As a rule, USB OTG is supported by all flagship models of leading manufacturers (Samsung, LG, Motorola, Xiaomi, Sony, etc.), as well as some devices of Chinese origin. IN budget models, costing up to $200, you can very rarely find this function. Official list is not carried out anywhere, you can check the possibility of working on your device only in practice, or by using an Internet search.

iOS devices have operating system With limited access to the FS and deprived USB hardware connector. Therefore for full-fledged work With external storage Jailbreak required.

Microsoft Lumia (and other smartphones based on Windows Mobile) lack connection support external devices. Its implementation is expected in the tenth version of WP.

How to connect?

Modern Android smartphones are usually equipped with a MicroUSB connector. In order to connect a USB flash drive, you need an adapter from MicroUSB to a full-size connector. The cost of such a device (if the manufacturer “forgot” to add it to the smartphone package) starts from $1.

As a rule, after connecting the flash drive is displayed in the file manager. If the device displays a message about connecting a drive, but in Explorer new disk didn't appear - you can use it third party software(X-Plore or "ES Explorer"). After this, you can work with the flash drive in the same way as with a regular memory card.

It is worth noting that not all devices are able to “see” the drive correctly without additional programs.

It’s a little more difficult for iPhone users, whose devices are equipped with a proprietary Lightning connector. A special adapter will be more expensive, and it requires JailBreak and the installation of a third-party file manager to work. Otherwise, you won't be able to work with the data.

Users often ask this question. How to connect a USB flash drive to a phone with the Android operating system. Some will cry in surprise: “Why is this necessary?” Others simply cannot imagine anything more convenient than connecting a flash drive to their Android device.

Let's understand the issue together.

Why connect a USB flash drive to an Android phone?

For example, you go to a meeting with friends and they ask you to take a media with music with you. Yes, some tracks are on mobile and on the Internet, but most musical compositions is on home computer or removable disk. Don't take your computer with you. What if you could connect it to your phone like a removable device?

Let's imagine a different situation: you have a long, multi-hour trip or flight ahead of you. And you want to watch movies all the way. However, the built-in memory on the phone is only enough for a couple of movies in average quality. But this is not a problem if it is possible to connect a flash drive to your phone. You can put a lot of movies on a flash drive.

Chip-service specialists claim that connecting a USB flash drive to an Android phone is quite simple. Let's look at what we might need to be able to use flash drives as removable media for Android phones.

How to find out if your phone supports USB connection

Indeed, not all phones support connecting flash drives. If you do not want to deeply understand the firmware and settings, then you can use special application from Google Play Market called OTG. The application will scan your settings and notify you if your phone has the ability to connect USB storage devices.

What do you need to connect a flash drive to your phone?

In fact, USB connection flash drives mobile phone– a fairly simple action if you have one of two devices:

• Special USB OTG cable
• USB flash drive with additional OTG connector

USB OTG cable

By the way, modern devices, for example Galaxy S7, are already equipped with special cable USB OTG. It comes in a box along with charger. If you do not have such a cable, you can buy it at any service center or place of sale of mobile devices.

USB OTG cable. USB adapter (female) - mini USB.

With this cable you can easily connect a USB flash drive to your Android phone.

USB flash drive with OTG connector

Please note that some flash drives are already equipped with a special connector micro USB. The presence of such a connector allows you to connect USB drive to your phone or tablet easily and simply.

Flash drive with an additional connector for connecting to a phone. Probably will soon become standard.

The flash drive must be formatted under FAT32. On the other hand file system The phone does not read the flash drive.

That's all you need to know about connecting flash drives to phones.

Were you able to connect the USB flash drive to your smartphone? What other connection methods are there? USB media you know, write in the comments.

Modern smartphones are not far behind Symbian-based devices in terms of permanent memory capacity. Yes, now the volume free space measured in gigabytes, not megabytes. But also the files in lately have become much heavier - just remember the video that has high resolution, due to which it can weigh up to 10 GB. This is why some users prefer to use an external flash drive. In most cases, it is a memory card. But sometimes a USB flash drive is connected to the smartphone. How this is done will be discussed below.

The USB port is a strict standard - in fact, it works the same on all devices, be it a computer, printer or phone. But that doesn't mean he has one everywhere appearance. It is physically impossible to connect a cable from a smartphone to the socket of a scanner, printer or MFP, and vice versa. This is explained by the fact that the connectors differ in both their shape and size.

On smartphones under Android control the most commonly used port is made in the form factor micro-USB. It received this name due to its tiny size. By the way, on new flagships you can find a new type of connector - . Its dimensions remained the same, but its shape changed. But in any case, connecting a USB flash drive right away often won’t work. After all, it is intended for full size USB port, which can be found on computers and laptops, but not on portable gadgets.

There are two ways to solve this problem. The first is to buy a special flash drive equipped with two connectors at once - USB And micro-USB. But so far such accessories are not very common, and they are quite expensive. Therefore, in most cases, users choose the second method of solving the problem, which is to connect a traditional flash drive to a tablet or smartphone via OTG cable . It is made in the form of a short cord, at the ends of which there is a USB female (input for a full-size USB plug) and a micro-USB output.

Unfortunately, not everything is as simple as it seems. By default, Android has supported OTG technology for quite a long time. But many manufacturers still block it, most often for the sake of security. It also happens that this technology is not fully supported. The device may not supply the required amount of energy to the flash drive through its connector. In such cases, it is impossible to connect a flash drive to an Android smartphone without special tricks, providing it with a flow of electricity. If you are not comfortable with a soldering iron, then you definitely won’t be able to use the device in conjunction with a USB flash drive.

How can I find out about the presence or absence of OTG support?

Unfortunately, there is no app you can download for this. Even famous AnTuTu Benchmark will not write to you about whether the gadget supports OTG technology. If you want to find information on this matter, you will have to go to the manufacturer’s official website and read the full technical characteristics your device. It also makes sense to read smartphone reviews published on many sites, including our resource.

If you don’t want to look for information, you can check the availability OTG support empirically. Just get the appropriate cable and use it to connect the flash drive to your smartphone. If the accessory is not recognized, then this function is blocked by hardware.

Some restrictions

While smartphones have switched to a micro-USB connector quite a long time ago, the same cannot be said about tablets. Some well-known manufacturers have models with a proprietary port. In stores like this tablet computers It’s no longer possible to find them, but it’s quite possible to buy them in person. Most often, a non-standard connector is present in “ tablets» from Samsung And ASUS . To connect a flash drive in this case, you will not need an OTG cable, but a special proprietary adapter.

Interestingly, the opposite situation also existed before. The first tablets from Acer had an additional full-size USB port. The flash drive was connected directly to such a device, without the use of auxiliary accessories.

How to read the contents of a USB flash drive?

We figured out how to connect a flash drive to Android. But how to read its contents? Do I need any additional program for this?

You can easily use the built-in tools. Now almost every smartphone and tablet is equipped with a file manager. It does not have any serious functionality, but such a utility must provide viewing of the contents of a flash drive.

And if there is no such program on your device, then go to Google Play. Download there Conductor , X-Plore or something similar. Using any of these file managers, you can easily view documents, videos and other contents of a flash drive connected via USB.

On some devices standard file managers They are not doing their job. This applies in particular to tablets Nexus 7 And Nexus 10. They may require installation USB Media Importer. You can also use free utility StickMount, but for its functioning it is necessary