The best hard drives for tablets, laptops and desktops. Increasing memory

External hard drive for a tablet or smartphone on Android - this is not a myth, but a reality. Mobile devices have become an integral part of our lives. Pocket gadgets can take photos in high resolution, no worse than large cameras, shoot video in FullHD, and flagships even in UltraHD. In general, a small device produces a lot of content, which requires a large amount of memory.

Despite this, manufacturers decided not to expand the memory, but rather latest models began to refuse a slot for external Flash memory. Perhaps this is due to rapid development cloud technologies, because when we first turn on the smartphone or create email so-called “cloud storage” are being imposed.

But still store personal photos, videos and other important information, it’s easier to have at hand on a flash drive or hard drive.

How to connect a hard drive to a tablet

Android devices have a microUSB connector, which means you can connect other devices to it. USB device. To do this you need an adapter - OTG cable. You can buy it in almost any store that sells a variety of batteries, chargers, headphones, or in a super market of electronics and household appliances.

Why doesn't the tablet see the hard drive?

At simple connection at OTG help cable, you will notice that the phone does not see external hard disk or displays a message that it is not supported. This is because it has a file system that Android does not work with.

Connecting an external hard drive to the tablet

But there is a solution. You need to download it from the app store file manager Total Commander. He has conditionally free plugin exFAT/NTFS. This plugin allows you to connect to Android drives with the NTFS file system and has a free trial period for other file systems.

After the first connection hard drive To Android tablet, give the plugin access to it, after which the plugin will open automatically and the name of the external drive and file system type will appear in the window. Next, you need to click the “Mount” button, after which the hard drive will connect and become accessible.

Connecting other devices using an OTG cable

In the same way, thanks to the OTG adapter, you can pair a flash drive or card reader with your phone if your smartphone does not have a slot for an additional flash card or you need to reset the captured material from a photo or video camera.

As for input devices, android supports most of them by default, without the need to install additional applications. So, using an OTG cable, you can easily connect wired and even wireless keyboard and a mouse.

So we found out whether it is possible to connect an external hard drive to a smartphone using only an adapter.

Today tablet computers can be very productive indeed. They can shoot Full HD video and have a large volume RAM, and also have the ability to play a huge number of video formats, and quite a few large games. Of course, this is all good, but here where can I get so much memory? for such performance to be available on good Android tablet with little memory? And that is why the question of how to connect an external hard drive to an Android tablet is quite relevant.

Article update! New relevant information for 2018 has been added, errors have been corrected and answers to several popular questions have been added - 29.04.2018

The best ways to connect an HDD to a tablet in 2018

Before we begin to consider the standard and all known options: connecting via USB cable,OTG, Let's talk about new and quite convenient methods.

Wi-Fi drive

A real innovation that gained peak popularity in 2017. It is a hard drive connected to the device via wireless Wi-Fi network (there are analogues with Bluetooth). This automatically eliminates the tedious selection of suitable wires and all kinds of adapters.

Memory capacity is usually measured in terabytes, and this amount is definitely enough for any user. Works on mobile operating systems (Android, iOS), also compatible with PCs and laptops running Windows. Supports wired connection.

Its functionality resembles a regular flash drive, but differs significantly from it a large number memory, more fast synchronization and wireless connectivity.

Like any device, this disk has several disadvantages:

Quite a high cost. Of course, purchasing it will require much more money than purchasing an OTG adapter or USB cable.
The battery lasts only a few hours. At active use you will have to charge the drive every 2-4 hours. And only the most expensive, high-quality and new models have a built-in charging module.
Wi-Fi access point required. You will be “tied” to the Internet all the time, and in places where it is not available - the only option will be the already known and annoying wired connection.

USB Media Explorer (Nexus Media Importer)

A worthy solution for users who do not understand cables and do not want to purchase special adapters. The connection is made using USB, and all other work is carried out and configured directly by the software itself.

The application is freely available and can be downloaded from by paying only about 3 dollars. The program works without problems on almost all models of all brands (exceptions are unknown and too cheap Chinese phones). Still, to be sure, we recommend that you first try the free trial version.

Moreover, do not forget that by paying only once, you can use the application on any other device by logging into your Google account.

Three ways to connect a hard drive to an Android tablet

Certainly, experienced user Memory, no matter how much you connect it, will always be small, but situations still arise when you need to dump serious, rather “ heavy» files, or working on it consumes memory, and then there is a need to connect additional device, that is HDD.

Connecting the HDD using USB

In order to carry out such a simple process, you will need to acquire a wire with USB to MicroUSB exit. One side connects to hard drive, and the second to the tablet. After connecting you will need to wait a bit ( The first synchronization of the disk and Android may take several minutes).

As a result, a message should appear on the screen that the system is trying to synchronize with the device, and if successful, we will receive an external drive like .

If connecting the hard drive using the first method for some reason did not work, consider two more options below.

Connecting an external hard drive using OTG

First, let's explain to newbies, what is OTG. Everything is simple, despite the loud capital letters, This regular cable-adapter. With its help, the device can be synchronized with a mouse, keyboard and other means of convenient control.

Buy it only if you are sure that you will not be able to connect the hard drive otherwise.

It is not expensive; on Aliexpress you can order a high-quality cable for 2-3 dollars, with both short and long wires.

Connect the HDD to the tablet via the application

Stick Mount is free application , which you will need to use if the two options described above do not suit you. But there is one “but”": you will only be able to work with the application if you have also received something as a file manager that has access to system files, Total Commander for example.

Another good option is file manager under simple name"ES Explorer". You can find out more about it in the article. The application provides excellent conditions for storage large quantity useful information, reproduces almost all video, document and image formats without any problems. Cleans, works with Bluetooth.

Now let's return to our procedure: after receiving Root on the tablet, you need to provide the application with the appropriate usage rights. This is the only way the connected HDD will be recognized and synchronized. After a successful connection, an address will appear on the screen where you will find all your folders with files (this is where we need a file manager). Once in the system root folder, you will need to go to the root external hard disk. Ready.

Nuances when working with an external hard drive

Now, having familiarized yourself with all the available and convenient ways, we invite you to read the small recommendations associated with them. Some useful tips:

When choosing an external drive, you should not buy a drive with a huge amount of memory. You still won’t be able to fill the entire volume, but this will put a significant load on the device. Result: slower performance, faster battery drain. The ideal option is 1 or 2 terabytes(this amount will be more than enough to store games, music, photos and programs).
Do not buy a disc that has too high a speed. The reason is the same as in the first case.
There are two common file format: NTFS and FAT32. For most tablets, the second file system is more acceptable. And if the drive is working under another one, the device may not see the materials stored on the drive. But there is a solution, and this is installing special programs. Is it possible to make a hard drive internal storage, replacing the built-in system memory, or is this completely impossible?
Unfortunately, it is impossible, no special utilities, no tools have been developed for this yet. A third-party hard drive can only be an external drive.
Video instructions

Like this in simple ways we were able to find out how to connect the HDD to the tablet.

Gadgets have flooded the market and have become an integral part of life for many. Thanks to technology, it has become possible to combine devices and make work easier. Therefore, many users want to know how to connect an external hard drive to their tablet.

For what?

Has become an excellent alternative additional storage. And if using it on a PC is very simple, then to use it on a tablet or other device you need additional help. But why do this?

How to connect an external hard drive to the tablet? In some cases, many do not even understand why they should do this in principle. It just so happens that not all tablet users need to expand the device’s memory. The built-in one is enough for them, but in extreme cases you can buy a memory card.

But there are users who both work with the tablet and spend time with it free time. Therefore, the amount of memory available on a standard drive is not enough. In addition to documents, they store special programs and a lot of multimedia files. Some may require more than 500 GB free space. Therefore, it is important to understand how to connect an external hard drive to your tablet.

Connections

In fact, this is a simple operation that even an inexperienced user can handle. The only difficulty is that you will have to acquire auxiliary tools.

How to connect an external hard drive to the tablet? There are not as many ways to do this as it might seem. First of all, you need to purchase an OTG-USB cable. Make sure you have an adapter in case the tablet does not support OTG.

First way: directly

For it, it is enough to take the “native” cable of the external drive and connect it directly to the tablet. In some cases, additional adapters and wires are not needed. If everything is done correctly, a message will appear on the device’s screen indicating that a drive is connected to it. Almost everything modern models are designed for such a simple connection that does not require additional costs.

Second method: using an adapter

How can I connect an external hard drive to my tablet? Sometimes you have to purchase an OTG-USB cable. This is a small wire that has an adapter with a USB port. Therefore, you can connect not only a storage device to the tablet, but also a mouse, keyboard, printer and other equipment.

This method should be used if the first option does not produce results. For example, you were able to connect the drive, but the tablet does not see it. Or you know in advance that the device does not support OTG.

The adapter is no different from others. The only thing is that it may look like a short cable or look like a flash drive. In the first and second cases, there is a micro-USB connector at one end, and a USB port at the other.

Third method: application

In the question of how to connect a removable USB disk to Android, you can find another answer. For example, it is enough to use a regular cable, as in the first connection option, but at the same time install a special application that will help establish correct operation between devices.

This software can be downloaded from Google Play. Nexus Media Importer will cost you $3, but it's worth it. It is immediately important to note that despite the fact that the name of the application mentions the manufacturer Nexus, the program also works on other tablet models.

Thanks to the software, they will be installed at the hardware level special files, which will provide OTG support.

Fourth method: economical

Connecting a hard drive to the tablet can also be done using another software. Its advantage over the previous one is that it is free. But the question now is different: installation requires ROOT rights.

StickMount can only work correctly if the user has special rights. If you have them, then it will be enough to install any conductor, and when connecting the drive, give the software the appropriate rights and access. This way you can quickly resolve the connection problem.

Connecting other devices: computer and wireless hard drives

In addition to an external drive, you can try connecting a computer hard drive. If we compare the cost of two drives of the same capacity, then a computer hard drive is definitely cheaper. But it will be more difficult to connect it to the tablet. How to connect the hard drive to the device in this case?

You need to purchase OTG-USB and SATA-USB adapters, you will also have to find a power supply for the hard drive, since it requires more power for correct operation. After that, it will be enough to connect everything together and work with the hard drive.

You can also try connecting a laptop version of the hard drive. But there is no difference with a computer one. The only thing is that the cost of the laptop version will be slightly higher. Therefore, here it is worth considering whether, in principle, there is any sense in this.

And finally, few people know, but there is a Wi-Fi hard drive. This is the most ideal option, which can only be inferior in speed. This drive is equipped with a built-in module wireless network. Therefore, you just need to connect to it via Wi-Fi to use the data.

There is also another option: you can purchase a hard drive with a built-in battery. But such models are less common, and their cost is extremely high.

Using Samsung as an example

Now we connect the hard drive to Samsung Galaxy Tab. This is a popular series of tablets, which may differ in appearance and some basic parameters. But in general, they are all similar, so the instructions for connecting the HDD to this model can be considered universal.

First, it’s better to check whether the model has a USB host. This information can most often be found on forums, since it is rarely found in official specifications.

For example, Samsung model Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 lacks this option, but 7.0 has it. Therefore, there is nothing to do with the first option at all, since inexperienced user it will not be easy to understand ROOT rights and custom firmware. But the second model is more flexible for connection.

Next, just find the necessary adapter for the tablet. Samsung Galaxy Tab has a special proprietary connector, so you will have to look for an adapter from the manufacturer. After successful searches, you will again have to start obtaining ROOT rights and installing programs. Therefore, if this scares you in advance, it is better to forget about connecting a hard drive to the tablet.

Note

It just so happens that problems with connecting the drive to tablets occur only with older models. Almost all new products support work hard drives, and connection does not require additional cables, adapters or power.

It's also easy to find an external drive that doesn't require phantom power or have special ports. It is enough to take a “native” cable to connect it to any device: tablet, smartphone, PC and even to a TV.

Whether desktop, mobile or tablet - for any device you will find in this article suitable model storage device with maximum capacity and performance.

CHIP tested 45 models hard drives for tablet, laptop and desktop Despite the availability of cloud storage and data streaming services, the need for a constant increase in the number of gigabytes in PCs and laptops does not disappear. High-definition videos, new photos and an ever-growing music collection are a source of problems with disk space. Fast solid state drives are not able to solve them, since with a capacity of more than 500 GB, the cost of such solutions is unreasonably high. Only external and internal media remain on hard magnetic disks.

Before purchasing, you need to decide on the storage capacity. If you are sure that one or two terabytes will be enough for you, you can purchase a 2.5-inch HDD. If you need a drive with a capacity of up to 4 TB, you will have to choose from 3.5-inch models. The data in the tables will help you determine which drive is the best in its category. Before purchasing a drive, carefully review your system configuration: when using drives larger than 2 TB, you may encounter hardware or system limitations media capacity. We'll tell you how to bypass them and use all your available disk space.

IN lately Tablets have become very popular. But they have little internal memory. Will help expand the possibilities for storing multimedia files new type external hard disks. They connect to home network or directly to your mobile
new device by wireless communication. We checked which drive is best suited for this.

Wireless hard drives

Small mobile drives provide smartphones and tablets with up to 1 TB of additional storage space.

New drives with a built-in WLAN module fit in the pocket of any jacket, and even more so in a bag or backpack. They weigh less than 500g. They are ideal for smartphones and tablets and eliminate space constraints by providing up to a terabyte of additional capacity. Mobile devices automatically connect to the drive via a wireless network, so collections of photos, movies and music will always be at the user's fingertips. Tablets and smartphones access the drive using special application provided by each manufacturer for iOS systems and Android.

Insufficiently successful implementation

Wireless drives make a good impression, but in practice it turned out that all the tested devices in some cases exhibit unforgivable shortcomings. Yes, winner Seagate testing Wireless Plus, for unknown reasons, does not provide the ability to create an encrypted wireless connection. However, otherwise there are practically no complaints about it. This is the only wireless drive that has a built-in DLNA server, with which it can provide all devices on your home network with DLNA support access to multimedia content. In addition, this device is ahead of its competitors in terms of data transfer speed: 4 MB/s, of course, is not a record, but it is quite enough for watching 1080p movies. Other drives fare a little worse with this. The main outsider here is the solution from Transcend. The miniature HDD case contains an antenna so small that it is not possible to broadcast HD video, and it is only equipped to transfer data from a PC to other devices. USB port 2.0. Products from Buffalo and Patriot are inexplicably hindering wireless transmission data from mobile device to disk, which is also a very annoying circumstance.

In detail: network storage

Disk management from a smartphone or tablet Information exchange with the wireless drive is carried out via software. Successful from the point of view appearance and functionality turned out Media utility App for Seagate Wireless Plus (1). The program for Transcend disk StoreJet Cloud, where wireless encryption must be manually activated (2).

Play movies, music and photos from PC The best way to copy data from your computer to a wireless hard drive is using a USB cable. IN in this case differences in transfer speed between individual drives are negligible. The only obvious outsider is the model from Transcend with a USB 2.0 interface.

Access to multimedia content The data transfer speed from the disk to the tablet is quite enough for HD video, provided that you are not too far from the drive.

Wireless HDDs: pivot table

Modern devices, such as tablets, display images in Full HD quality and can also record information in the same quality. Plus, you have the opportunity to play powerful, detailed games and listen to music, which is now available in many different genres. But there is one point. For all these purposes, a lot of memory is required. Where can I get it? One of best options— connect an external hard drive to the tablet. It can be a memory card, flash drive or external HDD. If there are no issues with the memory card, then what needs to be done to connect an external HDD?

The vast majority of manufacturers equip tablets with connectors for a memory card slot. Often this is a micro SD card. And the memory on board the devices themselves continues to increase every year. Nowadays there are already freely available tablets with internal memory(SSD) with a capacity of 64 and even 120 GB. Although there are still companies that do not provide slots for micro SD in their devices, such companies include some Nexus and Apple devices with iPad tablets etc. Here the user is content with the memory installed on the tablet by the manufacturer.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you can connect a memory card to the tablet, there will be moments in life when there will still be little memory. And there can be a lot of such situations: when going on vacation, I would like to take my favorite films with me; When you go on a visit, you need to take photos from your vacation with you, but you don’t have time to upload them to your tablet, etc. Therefore, the question arises: is it possible to increase the tablet’s memory using an external drive?

Of course you can. And even a novice user can cope with this task. There are several ways to achieve your goal; we will discuss them further, but now let’s see what is needed for this.

Connecting a flash drive or HDD to a tablet on any firmware

To do this, you will need the tablet itself, which we want to connect to an external drive, USB-OTG adapter(lace).

Method 1. If the tablet does not support OTG, which is of course rare

We take a regular micro USB-USB cord, connect one edge to external drive, and the other to the tablet and wait about one or two minutes. We wait until a notification appears indicating that the gadget is preparing the storage device for use. If nothing happens, try the next option.

Method 2. You will need a micro USB-OTG cable or adapter

Micro USB-OTG is a special cord, thanks to which you can connect to the tablet for work various devices external devices such as printer, radio and wired mouse, wired keyboard, game joysticks, flash drives and, of course, HDD. It makes sense to buy it if the first method does not work or if there is a need to connect one of the above-mentioned devices.

There are two types of such OTG:

Most common: cable resembling a regular one USB extension cable, but it differs in the wiring of contacts.
An adapter that resembles a flash drive, with the difference that at the end there is a slot for a regular USB input with specially soldered contacts for OTG standard.

Features of connecting an external hard drive

When purchasing external HDD It is worth remembering that there is no point in taking a disk with a high speed or a very large volume, since such disks will require extra food, which can lead to fast discharge tablet.

For some devices it matters which file system information is recorded on an external NTFS or FAT32 device. Due to the fact that tablets work with the FAT32 format, some devices will not want to read information in the file NTFS system from a flash drive or HDD drive. If the information is recorded in FAT32 format, then additional settings There is no need to do this in the device; after connecting, the disk will be displayed as an additional storage device.

If the connection has occurred and the tablet sees external device, but does not see the files located in it, in this case, you need to install an application on the device that will allow you to see the previously unreadable format without problems.

And here too there is important point: has tablet ROOT right or wrong.

If there are no ROOT rights and there will not be any in the near future, it is worth considering the option of purchasing paid software. Paid applications will allow you to enjoy all the delights of an external drive without hacking your tablet. One of these programs, which is available on Google Market This is Nexus Media Importer.

Well, what if ROOT rights is already on the tablet, then download any from the Market free file manager, such as Total Commander or ES Explorer. After which you can use all the files on the external device.

After considering these tips, you will know how to connect an external hard drive or flash drive to your tablet and in the future, this should not cause you any additional questions.