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can you use nexus 4 OTG with usb drive to store files?

i want to get an OGT cable so i can use polaris office to create documents and store it on my usb flash drive. this way i don't have to bring my heavy laptop everywhere. however, i've read somewhere that google took out OTG cable support in nexus 4? is this true? can i still do this?

Currently no. It's said that the N4 lacks the ability to output 5V in USB OTG. It may be possible later on, if you have provisions to supply your own power.

It has two other threads about it. Please use the search.

ziddey said:
Currently no. It's said that the N4 lacks the ability to output 5V in USB OTG. It may be possible later on, if you have provisions to supply your own power.
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DAYUM...that sucks....no point in having polaris office then

Unless you're commonly working in an area with no Internet access, it's probably more convenient and less prone to data loss if you just sync your documents to Google Drive, Dropbox, Box.net, etc., instead of using a USB drive. Of course, if your phone and/or your laptop don't have Internet access, you'd need to do something else, like maybe a wi-fi drive (Amazon currently has the 32GB Kingston wi-drive on sale for $50). For that matter, documents are usually pretty small and shouldn't take up too much of the internal memory in the phone. In any event, lack of USB host support shouldn't be fatal to the idea of using your phone instead of your laptop for documents.

[Q] Apoligies if repeat Q: will a usb hub work with Nexus 7?

I had read in some other random forum that if you have rooted your Nexus 7, which I have, and run app "StickMount" you can connect a usb thumb drive to the nexus and give yourself more space, even install apps to the USB drive to run from. I am wondering (and am going to test it out later this evening) if anyone has tried connecting a USB hub, so that you can have say 4 ports to add different drives or game controllers/whatever else and android will recognize the different devices?
As a realist, I'm just hoping the single USB stick connection will actually work as a storage expansion area, as we all know there is no micro SD slot. I actually have an old college friend I keep in touch with who works on the Nexus development team, who had no good answer as to why micro SD was removed, as well as the ability on devices with a micro SD no longer allow the installation of apps to the sd card. I was pretty convinced it was simply because the OEMs decided to name their internal memory /mnt/sdcard which used to be the external card's mount point name, but I'm told it is more complicated than that. Am I the only one that really feels like no apps to the SD in ICS or jellybean, is quite a downgrade? I understand we can use the "cloud" now ... but that's simply not the same, and surely not as fast as a local drive (maybe?) I then proceeded to yell at him to not let the group of stupid consumers influence the great features that the half-brained+ consumers know how to properly use, to no avail. Using the micro to full USB port to mount a thumb drive seemed to be the best way to add more storage locally. Thoughts? Thanks
- Herby
- Real-time embedded software developer going on 12 years, working in the satcom, medical device, aircraft display, and aerospace domains

NM - Just found app "USB Host controller" which does exactly what I asked Yayyyy!!
There are actually a whole slew of these that are even free, most require root however, which I recommend using the program with GUI interface developed specifically to unlock the bootloader, and then root the nexus 7. I think it was called Root_Toolbox or something like that. I am not at home or I would report back the official name. If anyone wants it just let me know. Thank you!

Herby6262 said:
I had read in some other random forum that if you have rooted your Nexus 7, which I have, and run app "StickMount" you can connect a usb thumb drive to the nexus and give yourself more space, even install apps to the USB drive to run from. I am wondering (and am going to test it out later this evening) if anyone has tried connecting a USB hub, so that you can have say 4 ports to add different drives or game controllers/whatever else and android will recognize the different devices?
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A hub works great. I've had 3 flash sticks mounted at once along with a mouse and everything has worked without a hitch.
The caveat here is to ensure you're not pulling too much current - the OTG max current source spec is alot less than the 500mA a normal USB PC host port is able to source.

Hitachi Touro mobile external HDD not working in Win 8

Hi, I have a Hitachi Touro Pro mobile 750GB USB 3.0 external HDD and after upgrading to win 8 the drive is no longer accessible.
It still works on Win 7, but when I plug it in on Win 8 it takes 3-5 min to show up in my computers and once you click on the drive file explorer hangs until you unplug the drive..
Anyone have a fix for this problem? it's very inconvenient for me to switch between Win 8 and Win 7...
thanks in advance!

Sounds like one of those weird drives that aren't actually USB Mass Storage but instead have some (typically both buggy and worthless) extra layer over them to do things like make it easy to back stuff up (as though Windows hasn't had backup capability built in for ages) or something equally value-added (for very loose values of "value"). Check if there's a way to connect it via USB Mass Storage instead; I know on my PC external drives work fine.
Also, try over USB2 instead of USB3, just to see if it behaves differently. I don't think Win7 even had built-in support for USB3; you would have had to install a driver. It might be expecting that driver somehow...

GoodDayToDie said:
Sounds like one of those weird drives that aren't actually USB Mass Storage but instead have some (typically both buggy and worthless) extra layer over them to do things like make it easy to back stuff up (as though Windows hasn't had backup capability built in for ages) or something equally value-added (for very loose values of "value"). Check if there's a way to connect it via USB Mass Storage instead; I know on my PC external drives work fine.
Also, try over USB2 instead of USB3, just to see if it behaves differently. I don't think Win7 even had built-in support for USB3; you would have had to install a driver. It might be expecting that driver somehow...
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Thanks for your reply.
I actually tried that drive everywhere... ThinkPad X230T, T61, Surface RT and even my friend's HP... the behavior is exactly the same on USB 2 or 3.. When I connect the drive it shows up in Device Manager as a "Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro SCSI Disk Device". I have no idea what SCSI Disk Device means... :S I bought the drive in April 2012.
I know this drive has some smart features build it, like sleep mode (drive stops spinning after no activity for a while), host detection (doesn't spin if there's power but no communication) and safe eject (stops spinning after receiving USB ejection signal).

SCSI is an old (really old) interface for disk drives. It still sees some use in servers, but that's about it. Not sure why your external USB HDD would present itself as SCSI...
All those "smart features" are exactly the kind of stuff I was talking about: useless crap that makes the drive require a custom driver even though the OS already does every single one of those with the *possible* exception of the host detection (which shouldn't require anything special).

What if you copy the data off the drive, then use Win8 to repartition/format the drive (disk management)?
The reason it shows SCSI is that for the controller being used in the external case is presenting itself as such. Most HDD controllers that aren't integrated into the chipset (and even some that do) will always be detected as SCSI controllers, it's an old-school way of how Windows sees controllers. If it's not built-in, it must be SCSI. Odd but that's how it was many many years ago.

I've a Hitachi Touro (not Pro, 2012 model) 1TB drive, which shows up in Win8 as "HitachiG ST USB Device". Driver used is standard Microsoft driver dated 2006.
Your Touro Mobile Pro is a Hitachi Travelstar 7K750 drive (SATA 2 3Gb/s, 7200rpm). Specs and performance below,
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/notebook-hard-drive-review,3270-2.html
My guess is that Win8 upgrade is the problem, as you likely didn't do a clean install. Suggest
. plug drive in and wait for it to be recognized,
. go into Device Manager, click on Disk Drives, right-click on the Touro entry, select Uninstall
. unplug drive, wait for a few seconds, then replug drive
If this doesn't work, you may need to do a clean re-install of Win8. A workaround is to remove the drive from the USB enclosure and use it as a standard SATA 2.0 drive.

External hard drive can't be mounted?? (RESOLVED!)

I just got a Shield Pro (only due to the fact that I was able to get the Pro with the remote and stand for $244) and I'm trying to connect my NFTS 3TB external hard drive, but it won't mount. I read somewhere the Shield can't recognize a hard drive with multiple partitions so I extended the original partition and now there is only one, but it still won't mount no matter what I do.
Any thoughts, tips, tricks or advice on how to get it mounted will be greatly appreciated.

Mines mounted i got it in the first usb port 1.81tb
Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

icefrog119 said:
Mines mounted i got it in the first usb port 1.81tb
Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
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Thanks for rubbing it in.

Sorry if this sounds partitioning but at 3tb sounds like it must be externally powered. I'm assuming its powered up and you can hear it spinning up? I would also try a different usb cable even if that cable works on the PC. Stranger things have been known to happen.

baileyjr said:
Sorry if this sounds partitioning but at 3tb sounds like it must be externally powered. I'm assuming its powered up and you can hear it spinning up? I would also try a different usb cable even if that cable works on the PC. Stranger things have been known to happen.
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Thanks! I'm not sure what you're saying about partitioning, but the external drive drive is externally powered and I can hear it spinning up. I'll try another cable when I get home tonight. That would be great if that was the only issue.
Thanks again.

No probs thats my damn autocorrect, I meant "patronising"

I have tried a 2TB Toshiba, a 2TB WD Passport, and a 4TB Samsung portable hard drive. All of them are 2.5" hard drives and all of them are self-powered (not plugged into an external source for power). All of them work without any trouble. They are formatted in NFTS and have only 1 partition. Maybe it's your brand of hard drive that is not working on your Shield TV.

Where did you get that deal on the pro? EBay?

birkholze said:
Where did you get that deal on the pro? EBay?
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Amazon. I was shocked when I saw the price for a Pro with all those accessories. Plus the seller never registered everything and I got the warranty too.

I haven't had any issues connecting am external HD to my Shield Pro. I have an old Western Digital 500gb drive, a Samsung EVO Pro 250gb SSD and a 1TB Western Digital HD and all of them connect just fine. The 1tb HD requires a external power source but it still works without any issues. I use ES File Explorer to access the HD if that helps at all. I also had no issues with any of my flash drives 8gb-128gb from various manufactures.

Pilz said:
I haven't had any issues connecting am external HD to my Shield Pro. I have an old Western Digital 500gb drive, a Samsung EVO Pro 250gb SSD and a 1TB Western Digital HD and all of them connect just fine. The 1tb HD requires a external power source but it still works without any issues. I use ES File Explorer to access the HD if that helps at all. I also had no issues with any of my flash drives 8gb-128gb from various manufactures.
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Thanks. I tried both ports, but it still doesn't work for me. I'm still waiting for a new cable to see if that works since I don't seem to have any other USB 3.0 cables to try.

jjdavola said:
Thanks. I tried both ports, but it still doesn't work for me. I'm still waiting for a new cable to see if that works since I don't seem to have any other USB 3.0 cables to try.
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It could be the cable but I couldn't tell you for sure. If it still doesn't work after that maybe a factory reset or a reflashing of the images may be in order. Something could be corrupted cashing the issue but that scenario is a more severe remedy to the small issue.

UPDATE: Although I tried to repair the drive on my WIn 8.1 mini-desktop, it wasn't until I connected the external drive to my AIO with Win 10 that the external drive was repaired (which took a maybe a minute) and now I can access my external drive.
Now for my bonus question (that I will create a new thread for as well). Is there anyway to access the external drive or the Pro's 500GB drive from my network? I can see it as SHIELD on my network and I can see the IP address, but I can't seem to access it. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

jjdavola said:
Is there anyway to access the external drive or the Pro's 500GB drive from my network? I can see it as SHIELD on my network and I can see the IP address, but I can't seem to access it. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
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If your Shield Device is rooted, you can always give Servers Ultimate Pro (comes up as the Amazon free app of the day quite often) a try & setup a simple SMB server. You would probably need Server Pack B (this is free). I actually have this setup on my Nexus Player with Stickmount.

jjdavola said:
UPDATE: Although I tried to repair the drive on my WIn 8.1 mini-desktop, it wasn't until I connected the external drive to my AIO with Win 10 that the external drive was repaired (which took a maybe a minute) and now I can access my external drive.
Now for my bonus question (that I will create a new thread for as well). Is there anyway to access the external drive or the Pro's 500GB drive from my network? I can see it as SHIELD on my network and I can see the IP address, but I can't seem to access it. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
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Install ES file manager. Run the remote control section inside and it will run a ftp server on the sheild. You can then ftp in with filezilla or something and access the files. No root needed, but you need to enable the sever each time you want to transfer files etc :good:

baileyjr said:
Install ES file manager. Run the remote control section inside and it will run a ftp server on the sheild. You can then ftp in with filezilla or something and access the files. No root needed, but you need to enable the sever each time you want to transfer files etc :good:
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Thanks. I have no idea why, but this doesn't work for some reason. Although I'm new to Filezilla and I'm not sure if I'm using it right.

jjdavola said:
Thanks. I have no idea why, but this doesn't work for some reason. Although I'm new to Filezilla and I'm not sure if I'm using it right.
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Put the IP address in the address bar...in the format 192.168.1.?? And make sure you have the right port number in the port box... ES file manager screen will show you the address and port number. I'm guessing you haven't put the port number in

baileyjr said:
Put the IP address in the address bar...in the format 192.168.1.?? And make sure you have the right port number in the port box... ES file manager screen will show you the address and port number. I'm guessing you haven't put the port number in
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Thanks. I actually did do that. I guess I have to keep trying.

This is going to sound odd, but if you are on ethernet, try using wireless to transfer files. Most FTP programs won't start a server on ethernet as they are programmed for wireless only. They think phones and if a phone is not wireless it's mobile network, and therefor don't turn on server. Worked for me on both ES and Solid Explorer wireless, but neither wired.

I'm having the same problem as topic creator. Using a self-powered 3 TB WD Passport, and cannot get it to mount on the Shield no matter how I format it (FAT32, EXFAT, NTFS both MBR and GPT). It reads on every other device and PC I have just fine.
---------- Post added at 05:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:54 PM ----------
ES File Explorer even recognizes the presence of a USB drive, but gives a "failed to open file" error when attempting to access it. Android's storage manager doesn't see the drive at all.

Connect Multiple external Hard Drives ?

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if we can connect multiple external HDD. I read that the shield tv can only recognize one connected at once?
I tried with xplore to connect 2 external HDD and it doesn't show my 2 HDD , only the last one connected. :/
Am i missing something?
Thank you.

As far as I know the Shield should be able to recognize multiple external drives (they are named and tagged uniquely). For curiosity sake; Are you using the 2017 version? Rooted? Are they both attached directly to the Shield or are you using a (powered) USB hub?

Radnu said:
As far as I know the Shield should be able to recognize multiple external drives (they are named and tagged uniquely). For curiosity sake; Are you using the 2017 version? Rooted? Are they both attached directly to the Shield or are you using a (powered) USB hub?
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Thanks for your answer !
Yes i'm using the 2017 pro version non rooted and both HDD are directly plugged into the shield (no hub) .
Do you use an other file manager to see two external drives connected at the same time? both HDDs work well with Xplore but only when one is connected.

Platinum1986 said:
Thanks for your answer !
Yes i'm using the 2017 pro version non rooted and both HDD are directly plugged into the shield (no hub) .
Do you use an other file manager to see two external drives connected at the same time? both HDDs work well with Xplore but only when one is connected.
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It looks like I have to get back at my previous statement. Turns out that what I thought was general Android-practice is actually a feature of the roms I use (on other devices). On top of that I guess my own current situation is slightly different than yours; while I do have both a thumbdrive and a HDD attached I have adopted the thumbdrive, so it's not counted as an external drive. If I open Xplore I can therefore see both loaded.
Since I feel a bit like an arse I did some digging to see if there is anything you could do to hook up both drives. Turns out there's more people that have run into this here including a very descriptive solution should you have 2 identical HDD's. Otherwise, below a list of possible solutions;
If you are rooted, or willing to do so.
There is an app called "StickMount" by Chainfire which basically allows you to hook up multiple external drives and even symlink them. The catch is; I am not able to test this since myself I'm not willing to root my Shield 2017 just yet.
If you aren't rooted.
There are a few things you could do.
1] The solution I went for myself; buy one big USB 3.0 drive (I went for a 5TB one) and transfer all your stuff.
2] You could choose to adopt one of the drives as internal storage. There are some glaring downsides to this though; you can no longer attach that drive to other devices, it will at first wipe the drive and if its not a fast HDD it is going to lag your Shield down. Also, since your Pro already *is* 500GB and you would basically swap that space for one of your HDDs you'd have to consider whether or not it is worth the effort.
3] A somewhat farfetched solution; should you happen to have a modem that supports hosting a HDD as as NAS, you could use that to hook it up remotely. It's not as fast, but technically it is a solution.