Greetings. Now many people do not know how to connect a USB flash drive to a phone. Because it does not fit corny, or there are other reasons due to which it is impossible to do it. In today's article, I want to take this issue apart. You will learn how to connect a USB flash drive to a phone (smartphone) on Android and how to view files on it.
Why you need to connect a USB flash drive to a smartphone, I think, there is no need to explain. 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 upload music to your phone in this way.
How to connect a USB 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 a type USB Type-A, while the smartphone has a micro USB Type-B. That's bad luck. (Read more about)
Fortunately, many modern smartphones have technology support USB On-The-Goallowing them to use most of their peripherals directly without the need for a computer or laptop. You can connect a mouse or keyboard, work with flash drives, and more. But for this you will need.
OTG cable usually has a full USB Type-A on one side, and micro USB Type-B... 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 the flash drive to the phone, need:
- so that your the smartphone supported USB On-The-Go technology... Although now almost all smartphones support it, however, there are exceptions. Carefully read the specifications of the phone before purchasing if this parameter is important to you.
- to have in stock... It is inexpensive, so it's not bad if you still have it. You never know when it will come in handy.
Adapter cables for different types of devices
OTG cables should be selected depending on which connector is available on your smartphone or tablet. It could be microUSB, appleLightning or the most modern USBTYPE-C... Some examples of these cables are shown in the table.
How to open a USB flash drive on Android (tablet or phone)?
« How to open a USB flash drive on a phone, there is also no shortcut “My computer "And nothing like that?"- you will be surprised. Naturally, for this we will need some file manager... You most likely have some kind of unpretentious file manager preinstalled. But if it is not there, then you need to install it.
Today, popular file managers on the 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. I, for example, have been using X-plore... I fell in love with him since the days when the Symbian OS was popular on smartphones. X-plore is comfortable, functional and free manager... What else is needed?
X-plore - file manager
Then just connect the USB 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 tables, but this is so inconvenient that I don't even know for whom these programs were written.
Why does the smartphone not see the USB flash drive via the OTG cable?
There can be many reasons why your smartphone does not see the USB flash drive. Let's take a look at the most common ones.
On the computer, too, the USB flash drive is often not visible, why? Read on.
Micro USB stick
You may not have known this, but there are flash drives that fit the micro USB connector. This information may be useful for you if you plan to often connect a USB flash drive to a 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 micro USB on the other. You can connect such a USB flash drive to both a computer and a smartphone. Think if this is just what you need.
If you do decide to buy a micro USB flash drive, then we advise you to pay attention to the following models with a large memory capacity. In addition, they can be connected 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 stick on your phone without any problems. Which is good news. However, if you run into difficulties connecting a flash drive, do not despair. Many of the problems are resolved quickly enough. I hope you've learned enough about how to connect a USB flash drive to your phone. If you have any questions, then ask, we will try to help you.
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Modern smartphones in terms of volume permanent memory are not far from the devices based on Symbian. Yes now volume free space is calculated in gigabytes, not megabytes. But also files in recent times have become much harder - just remember the video that has a 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 described 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 this does not mean that he has one everywhere appearance... A cable from a smartphone is physically impossible to connect to the jack of a scanner, printer or MFP, as well as vice versa. This is explained by the fact that the connectors differ in both their shape and size.
On smartphones under android the most commonly used port is made in a form factor micro-USB... It got this name due to its tiny size. By the way, on the new flagships you can find a new type of connector -. Its dimensions remain the same, but the shape has changed. But in any case, connecting a USB flash drive on the go is often impossible. After all, it is intended for full-size USB portwhich 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 endowed with two connectors at once - USB and micro-USB... But while 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 a long time. But many manufacturers still block it, most often for the sake of security. And it also happens that this technology is not fully supported. The device may not give out the amount of energy required for the flash drive through its connector. In such cases, it is impossible to connect a USB flash drive to an Android smartphone without special tweaks, providing that with a flow of electricity. If you are at odds with a soldering iron, then you definitely won't be able to use the device in tandem with a USB flash drive.
How do I know if OTG support is available or not?
Unfortunately, you cannot download any application 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, having read the complete technical characteristics your device. It also makes sense to read reviews of the smartphone published on many sites, including on our resource.
If you don't want to look for information, then you can check the fact of availability oTG support empirically. Just get the appropriate cable and use it to connect the USB flash drive to your smartphone. If the accessory is not recognized, then this function is hardware-locked.
Some restrictions
If smartphones have already switched to the micro-USB connector for a long time, then this cannot be said about tablets. Some well-known manufacturers have models with a proprietary port. It is no longer possible to find such tablet computers in stores, but it is quite possible to buy them from hands. Most often, a non-standard connector is present in " pills»From Samsung and ASUS... To connect a flash drive, in this case, you need not an OTG cable, but a special proprietary adapter.
Interestingly, the opposite situation also existed earlier. The first tablets from Acer have 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 stick?
We figured out how to connect a USB flash drive to Android. But how do you read its contents? Do you need any additional program for this?
You can easily use the built-in tools. Now almost any smartphone and tablet is equipped with a file manager. It does not have any serious functionality, but such a utility is obliged to view the contents of the flash drive.
And if there is no such program on your device, then proceed 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 USB flash drive.
On some devices, standard file managers cannot cope with their task. In particular, this applies to tablets Nexus 7 and Nexus 10... They may need installation USB Media Importer ... You can also use free utility Stickmount , but for its functioning it is necessary
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 easy, 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 started with version 3.1.
Only if you even have android 6.0, android 7.0 or even android 8, then some manufacturers block it, but you can get around the ban.
TO smartphone android can be connected peripheralssuch as flash drives, external hard drives, mice and keyboards - but you must have an otg cable with a standard USB to Micro memory stick.
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, then you can try to activate it manually, but this will require root rights.
What is USB OTG cable for connecting a flash drive
This is a cable that has a plug standard micro usb on one side and a female USB input on the other.
It allows you to connect the usual USB devicefor example a USB flash drive to the micro USB port in your android phone.
The cost of such a cable is very small - a typical "Chinese" cable 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 if an android smartphone supports connecting a USB flash drive via an OTG cable
Most android phones have built-in OTG cable support, but some are disabled by default.
To check if your smartphone or tablet supports this technology, you can use the USB OTG Checker app.
After installing the application, run the appropriate parameter for testing.
USB OTG Checker will analyze your device and check for OTG support.
How to connect a USB flash drive to an Android via an OTG cable
First of all, you must format the USB stick to the 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. Click right click mouse on the USB stick and select "Format ...".
In the new window, click on "Restore default device settings" and then in the " File system"Select" FAT32 "and confirm formatting with the" Start "button.
After completing the operation, simply connect the USB stick to your smartphone using the purchased OTG cable.
You will need the following devices, such as a cable, USB flash drive and an android phone.
Now insert the USB stick into oTG cableas shown in the picture below.
Now insert USB OTG to android phone as shown in the picture below.
After inserting, you can see that your USB stick is connected automatically and see “OTG UDisk installed” in the notification center.
After connecting the flash drive, it should be automatically detected and mounted in 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 an OTG cable on an unsupported device
If your smartphone or tablet does not work with the cable, it does not have built-in support for this mode, there is still a way to activate it yourself, only we need root rights.
After receiving them, install the USB OTG Helper app on your android phone. It is used for automatic connection flash drives via cable.
USB OTG Helper should start automatically after connecting the device via cable.
The OTG Helper interface will appear on the screen, in which we can enable (Mount) this function or disable (Unmount).
After installation, the contents of the flash drive will be displayed on the smartphone, just like a micro memory card plugged directly into the microSD card slot.
That's all. It turned out - great! It didn't work out - it's bad, but if you describe the problem in the comments, then I will help you solve it, or rather, we will solve it together. Good luck.
We told you how you can access a phone or tablet with an operating room android system connect a USB gaming peripheral such as a joystick or gamepad, both computer and game console... But the USB port installed in your Android device can work not only with joysticks.
Maybe you, like us, have thought more than once; "Why can't you just connect to your Android phone or tablet uSB flash drive and drop the file directly "? In fact, you can do this, although sometimes this operation and is fraught with some difficulties. Today we will tell you, dear readers, how to connect a USB flash drive to your mobile device.
How to connect a USB flash drive to an Android device via micro-USB
Most modern smartphones and tablets with Android OS installed as a communication port standard connector micro-USB. In order for a phone or tablet to be able to see the devices connected to it through this port, it must support the technology USB On-The-Go, abbreviated USB OTG (sometimes you can also find the name USB Host). This technology means that the micro-USB port can supply power to external devicesthus allowing them to be visible in the system. The implementation of this technology is present in the Android operating system from version 3.1 and higher, so if your phone or tablet does not belong to the old people, then everything should work as it should.
If you are not sure about the hardware capabilities of your mobile device, and do not find the relevant information in the technical documentation for it, you can try installing the USB OTG Checker application on your Android device, which is available for download from the Google Play store.
Its only function is quick check phone or tablet for USB On-The-Go (USB Host) technology support.
The only thing you need to connect a USB stick to your Android device is a USB On-The-Go (USB OTG) adapter cable.
You can buy it at any computer or mobile store and it is quite inexpensive. Sometimes manufacturers put it in the package of their devices, saving our time and money.
Insert it with the corresponding end into the micro-USB connector of your mobile device, connect the flash drive to the other end, and the job is done, you can search for the files on the flash drive in the folder usb storage (sometimes just USB), which will appear among the drives available in the system. It can be accessed using any file manager.
Unfortunately, not all Android mobile devices can work like this in a simple way... It often happens that you connect a USB flash drive to a micro-USB via an adapter using the above method, but nothing happens. If you are sure that your device supports USB On-The-Go technology, but nothing happens when you connect a flash drive to your phone or tablet via an adapter cable, do not despair.
This problem occurs because your mobile device does not mount automatically external storage, and he needs help with this. On google market Play, you can find several programs that can do this. The most popular is StickMount, which is free to download. Latest version program works with operating system Android 4.0 and up. The application can work not only with USB sticks, but also with digital cameras and other similar techniques.
Note, this application Root access is required! If you haven't opened root on your mobile device yet, it's time to do it right now. You can find out how this is done from our database article:
As soon as you install StickMount on your device, you can connect a USB stick by uSB cable OTG. When connected, your Android device will show you a tooltip asking if you want to launch StickMount. Agree with this, the program will detect your USB drive and mount it.
You can find your drive along the path / sdcard / usbStorage / sda1.
For safe extraction flash drive back, go into the program and select the "Unmount" command.
How to connect a USB flash drive to an Android device without micro-USB
Chinese firms, and well-known manufacturers, sometimes sin by installing on their mobile phones and tablets with Android OS, non-standard connectors, to which you cannot connect a USB On-The-Go adapter cable directly. If you are the happy owner of just such a device, to use a USB flash drive with it, you first need to find the appropriate adapter that connects uSB connector with a proprietary connector of your manufacturer.
This can be tricky as these adapters are not usually sold in every store around the corner. But you can always find and order required adapter via the Internet on Western or Chinese trading platforms.
Otherwise, the algorithm of actions is the same as in the previous section. Connect a USB flash drive, and if it is not immediately identified, try using special program to mount.
We hope our article helped you to understand the question "How to connect a USB flash drive to Android", and transferring files to your mobile device and back to an external drive has become much easier.
Almost all the last (and not so) flagship models Android is equipped with gorgeous widescreen displays with a decent diagonal and high ppi. On such screens it is quite convenient to watch movies and TV series on the road, but where to record them? Google has gone into a bad tradition of not installing memory card slots in its Google phones. If for the Galaxy Nexus this is still not so critical (16 GB on board), then the younger Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 are already suffering, because you cannot record a lot of video content on 8 GB, and this is not the only problem with Google phones. It remains to use removable external media. But how do you connect it to your smartphone and tablet? Very simple.
What is needed
- Smartphone or tablet to which we want to connect USB storage
- Removable USB disk
- USB OTG cable
USB On-The-Go cable is an adapter that connects to the micro USB port smartphone, and at the other end is stuck standard USB port removable disk... Cool homemade products can solder it themselves (maybe they will send instructions with screenshots to us, we will gladly publish them), while the rest can go to the Internet or the nearest specialized store and buy such an adapter there for very funny money. This posting actually opens up great opportunities. It can be used to connect joysticks, keyboards and other devices with USB interface, if only a smartphone or tablet understands them.
At the initial stage, this is enough. Now we need to find out if our mobile device wants to be friends with removable media without additional manipulations. Smartphones and tablets from one manufacturer allow you to connect USB drives from the box. We connect and watch. If it was not possible to access the storage, then go ahead.
Simple option
If you don't feel like messing around, then go to the Google Play Store and buy the Nexus Media Importer app there (it works not only with Nexuses) for $ 3. This is enough.
If you have a rooted device, you won't have to pay. Downloading free app StickMount (only works with root) and along the way any file manager if you don't have it installed for one reason or another (we like ES Explorer).
It remains to connect removable drive and allow StickMount root access.
A corresponding message will appear in the notification area stating that the storage is successfully connected and has the address / sdcard / usbStorage.
We go to this folder through the file manager and enjoy.
