How to connect a flash drive to an Android smartphone? Main problems

Today a huge role in our life is played by modern devices. It's not about computers or laptops, which are already starting to slowly recede into the background. Smartphones and tablets are portable computers that have almost all functions, like laptops. Unfortunately, these modern devices are not suitable for office work. Typing text on the tablet is quite difficult, not to mention ordinary phones.

People began to wonder how to connect a USB flash drive to the smartphone "Android" or keyboard, mouse and other useful devices. It turns out that this can be done. However, not everyone knows how to connect an additional device to your smartphone. Let's take a look at the example of a conventional flash drive. As a rule, many people try to connect this device to their device.

How to connect a USB flash drive to the smartphone "Android"

Modern devices running the Android operating system have a standard microUSB connector. In order for the USB flash drive to work on your device, it must have USB On-The-Go technology installed. Manufacturers began to implement this feature in the Android OS with 3.1 version.

As a rule, in modern tablets and the more so in phones do not install a USB-connector. Therefore, you will need a USB-OTG cable. Some manufacturers put the adapter for the flash drive in the kit, if you do not have it, you'll have to buy it at any store where digital equipment is sold.

The smartphone does not have a micro-USB connector

If you have not found a microUSB connector on your smartphone, you will first need to purchase a USB-OTG cable, and then an adapter to it. Of course, this is rather inconvenient: if you need to connect an additional device, you will have to use several cables. But this is the only way to connect a USB flash drive.

How to view the contents of an external drive

So, we looked at how to connect a USB flash drive to the Android smartphone. Now go to the opening of an additional device. How to do it? We need to download the file manager. Perhaps, you already have it, because in some devices the manufacturer installs a certain set of programs. Of course, if you do not have a file manager, you will 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 you like best.

How to open a USB flash drive on "Android"

As we have already found out, we need a file manager. After installing it, we can go into this utility and find the USB flash drive. If you can not find an external device, try entering the path to the files (/ sdcard / usbStorage). After successfully opening the USB flash drive, you can view, copy and move files as you would on a regular computer. Now you know how to connect a USB flash drive to the Android smartphone and open it, but, unfortunately, some devices have problems. Let's look at them and try to find ways to solve them.

"Android" tablet or smartphone does not see a flash drive

If you have reached this point, then you have trouble connecting the flash drive to your smartphone. This can be for various reasons. Now we will consider the most common of them.

The first. If the file manager does not see the flash drive, you should help him. Now there are applications that can eliminate this problem. The most effective program is paid, so we will consider a free alternative. Unfortunately, it requires root-rights. StickMount works not only with flash drives, but also with other additional devices.

If you succeeded in obtaining superuser rights and you installed the necessary utility, you can connect an external device. When you connect, you must agree to the rules StickMount, after which it will automatically start and see the flash drive. How to find the device? You can go in the file manager on the path / sdcard / usbStorage / sda1. Do not forget to turn off the additional devices correctly so that they will not be a problem with them in the future. To do this, go to the program and click on the "Unmount" button.

It should be noted one more quality application - USB OTG Helper, which works on a similar principle.

The second reason. Before installing additional programs and root-rights it is necessary to make sure that the problem is not in the flash drive. What is the reason for this? Your device simply does not see the USB flash drive, since it can be configured to a different file system (possibly NTFS).

USB-flash drive in this case will not be read on your device, unless you convert it to another format (FAT32 or exFAT). You can do this with a computer. Detailed instructions can be found in electronic sources.

Suppose you do not have a laptop or computer: how can I connect an additional device? You need to download Paragon NTFS & HTS + - an application that supports the required format for reading text data. Unfortunately, this application requires root rights. You can get them using the King Root program. However, superuser permissions can not be obtained on all devices. Remember: you do it 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, as the warranty will be lost in this case.

Conclusion

So, we looked at how to connect an external USB flash drive to the Android smartphone, and described some connection problems. As practice shows, questions arise on older devices. If you have a new device, there should not be any problems. To use a USB flash drive, keyboard, mouse or other applications on your device, you must follow the rules and carefully perform everything.