Installing games to USB stick? - Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I love my Nexus 7, even moreso for its USB OTG capabilities. The one burning question I have about USB OTG is whether it's possible to install game data onto a USB stick and point the games to the new directory. Right now many games install data to either /android/data/ or /android/Obb/. Would app2sd or similar applications allow that data to be installed on the USB stick instead, so that I can plug in the stick when I need the game data and live without it otherwise?

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[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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

[Q] Play movies from nexus 4 on PC

Hi
Can I play movies on PC from nexus 4 while it's connected with USB cable like it was a regular flash drive?
When I try doing it the file is being downloaded first then plays. If the file is big it takes a lot of time.
I'm using windows 8.
Better copy the film to your pc first. I got the same problem but dont think this is os related. Just a bad read speed, worse than actually usb 2.0.
The speed is onpair with usb 2.0, still copying the whole movie to some unknown place instead of direct play is unnecessary and waste of time.
My previous phone had an sdcard which appeared as hard drive when connected to PC, but N4 appears as portable device. This sucks
That's because the Nexus 4 doesn't support USB On The Go. Search xda for "Nexus 4 OTG" and you'll come across some threads about this, and a couple of workarounds that might, or might not work for you :fingers-crossed:.
Hey there
I wasn't looking for USB OTG, which is a way to connect external drives to the device. I'm looking for a way to use N4 itself as a regular external drive while connected to PC. Currently it's seen by PC as a portable device and it's pretty limited.
abbba said:
Hey there
I wasn't looking for USB OTG, which is a way to connect external drives to the device. I'm looking for a way to use N4 itself as a regular external drive while connected to PC. Currently it's seen by PC as a portable device and it's pretty limited.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would assume increasing the SD read-ahead (if you're on a custom kernel) might help with your issue here. But as someone else previously mentioned, copying to PC is definitely the better option. That, or just enjoy the movie on your Nexus4

Multiple storage devices

I am unable to mount two storage devices through a hub to my ouya. Is this standard for Android? Being able to transfer files from my PC to thumb drive and then onto the HD connected to my ouya would be so much easier than my current routine.
Both stickmount and USB otg helper will allow you to do this. I have tested with es file explorer, astro, and filepwn and both drives are visible. With stickmount they show up under /sdcard/USBstorage/. With USB otg helper they are found in storage/usbotgdrives/.
When you install games/apps from discover only one of the drives will show up. After trying a few different hubs it seems like every hub has an order it reads the USB ports. The first HD or flashdrive it finds reading in that order is the one that shows up here.
Installed stickmount (huge fan of Chainfire), and it appears to work mostly fine.
Unfortunately stockmount is part of the boot routine and the SU request tends to lag, hang and slow the boot sequence a bit (boot, as into xbmc using autorun).
Im so terribly dissappointed in the mod collection, xposed, etc. It just seems like my system is terribly slow and a reboot doesnt seem to completely clean it out.

one stop thread for problems that most people encountered. Please share your solution

Instead of new comers squandering around looking for solutions to set up the nexus player for gaming and media streaming. Lets simplify things a bit to see what accessories to get and what software to use to get our nexus player to its maximum capability.
Lollirock 1.5 rom (OTG micro usb cable and a usb mouse or keyboard are required during first bootup. It will not detect nexus remote during first bootup)
Stick mount pro(Play Store) Make sure it's the pro version or else it won't work!-
- A must have for external storage. This app enables storage drives to mount into a specific location using symbolic link option which isn't included in the free version. By default, it will mount storage devices under sdcard/usb folder instead of usb:// mount location (apps like emulators or xbmc that uses file explore do not search to this location usb://)
- I have tested it on xbmc, my boy, fpse, and ppsspp.
Known issue: external storage formatted under ntfs will not mount properly. Files will not show up under mount folder.
I'm currently using exFAT format and it seem to work fine so far.
For those who uses stock Nexus Player rom, you have to download stick mount pro from a third party site since the license won't transfer(I'm assuming that you paid for it)
Sixaxis controller(Play Store)
- Can pair up to 2 controllers for two players games. There's also a setting to set dual shock 3 or 4 to run as native android controller, so you don't have to deal with mapping everything manually.
My suggestion
Accessories : Rii 8 wireless touchpad keyboard(Amazon) mini keypad with track pad and qwerty keyboard.
Logitech keyboard k700
Ps4 controller
Inateck card reading+Hub(Amazon) -
- It very important to choose the right otg micro usb cable because it can effect read/write speed for external storage drives, including low power consumption drives such as usb flash drives and sd cards. This hub can run with or without a secondary power source.
I thought something like a flash drive with a low power consumption didn't require a decent otg cable, but it does. I was testing a psp rom off my usb storage with a much simpler micro usb otg cable and the frame rate wasn't that great also the loading time. Transfer files were also very slow. So keep that in mind, make sure to get a decent micro usb otg hub or card reader. At least get one that you can supply power to from an outlet.
For those who are looking to run Amazon prime video, download Kodi (xbmc) and Amazon prime video add-on zip.
-Amazon instant video app is crappy on android to begin with compare to IOS version which has a more user friendly UI similar to Netflix. Kodi improves that with cover arts and tv-friendly user interface.
I couldn't get sixaxis to pair my stupid ps3 controls I don't know what I did wrong...
Sent from my Nexus 6
trvbone said:
I couldn't get sixaxis to pair my stupid ps3 controls I don't know what I did wrong...
Sent from my Nexus 6
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you used sixaxis before? I'm just wondering., so I can help you figure out the issue.
I have but I think the problem is I didn't see a Bluetooth address when I set it up on the Nexus player maybe I have to fix the zoom setting in the overscan setting on my Nexus player to see it
Sent from my Nexus 6

Marshmallow, Internal Storage USB drive, can't move apps to it

Hey all,
I am finally getting around to setting up my NP. I purchased a Dodocool DC18 Gig Ethernet with 3 USB 3.0 ports to use Ethernet rather than wifi, and expand storage.
Ethernet is fine via OTG adapter, and I put in a Mushkin 32GB 3.0 usb drive (one that someone else says works well). I format it in Marshmallow 6.0.1 as an Internal storage device. It formats, I get a "slow" message (OK, I'll deal for now), and then go to any app, and I don't see an option to move the data over to it.
I was hoping to move the Kodi repo over to it (of course, if it performs). I watched a video which made it look easy, but it seems as if I don't have an option to move the data over to this USB drive.
Anyone know what I should look for? Is it not allowing the move because the drive is tagged as slow? Any hints appreciated...didn't find any hit searching for this exact issue.
TIA...Eric

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