Database Users

[Q] Question re: USB Disk drive

OK, I just downloaded and installed the 3.1 update, running stock OS.
CONFIG
I have a 32GB A500 which I assume is main memory / SSD. I also added a 32GB micro SDHC chip in it, and for testing, an 8GB thumb drive in the large USB port. They all show up in system Settings,
When I have had the A500 connected via the mini-USB port, the memory / SSD shows up, but not the sdhc card, and not a thumb drive if i plug that in (when I look at it as an extended drive)
Some applications can see memory / SSD, and the micro SDHC chip. For example, ES File Explorer has a tab which cycles between the memory / SSD file system, and that on the SHDC chip. It doesn't include USB storage.
QUESTION
First, I'd like to confirm that something (anything) can read the USB file system.
Next, I am looking for a utility that would allow me to see all three file systems: main/SSD, SDHC, and USB, and move things back and forth between them, and to/from my PC as well. Recommendations?

As far as I know there is nothing that will allow you to read the 'external' drives from PC. This was supposed to be fixed in 3.1 (just another thing borked..), so go figure when or IF it'll ever be available.
Incidentally, my 2.2 Archos 101 did all that perfectly, but the new android versions won't, funny eh?

Assuming he has the proper drivers installed, what if he went micro usb connected to pc and thumb drive in tablet. He could read/transfer files from thumb to tablet and have the pc read/transfer to/from the tablet. If that makes sense or helps.

Get a file explorer and go to the mnt directory. the internal, external and usb storage are all there.

I guess I'd be happy with an answer to the first question below, happier with an answer to the second:
1. Is there any app, running on the tablet, which will allow me to see the file system on a USB thumbdrive? Which one. It's odd to me that I can see the drive, apparently properly formed, in the tablet "system settings" app, but (so far) haven't seen how to get at it myself, and haven't found an app which access it either.
2. Is there an application, running on the PC, or an app running on the tablet, which let's me see the file systems on tablet, tablet's sdhc chip, thumb drive and PC storage in a unified way, so I can move things around without unplugging stuff? That is harder, but one of those networked file access utilities might do it.

GCurry said:
I guess I'd be happy with an answer to the first question below, happier with an answer to the second:
1. Is there any app, running on the tablet, which will allow me to see the file system on a USB thumbdrive? Which one. It's odd to me that I can see the drive, apparently properly formed, in the tablet "system settings" app, but (so far) haven't seen how to get at it myself, and haven't found an app which access it either.
2. Is there an application, running on the PC, or an app running on the tablet, which let's me see the file systems on tablet, tablet's sdhc chip, thumb drive and PC storage in a unified way, so I can move things around without unplugging stuff? That is harder, but one of those networked file access utilities might do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I use Root Explorer and I can see the USB Storage in the MNT directory in the root of the device.
2) from the PC, adb i assume, but i've never done this. For network, try Samba server - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.funkyfresh.samba&feature=search_result.

GCurry said:
I guess I'd be happy with an answer to the first question below, happier with an answer to the second:
1. Is there any app, running on the tablet, which will allow me to see the file system on a USB thumbdrive? Which one. It's odd to me that I can see the drive, apparently properly formed, in the tablet "system settings" app, but (so far) haven't seen how to get at it myself, and haven't found an app which access it either.
2. Is there an application, running on the PC, or an app running on the tablet, which let's me see the file systems on tablet, tablet's sdhc chip, thumb drive and PC storage in a unified way, so I can move things around without unplugging stuff? That is harder, but one of those networked file access utilities might do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To answer the first one, no, there is no application to read the external data drives.
As for the second, to transfer files between these, you need to get a file explorer like Root Explorer. The multimedia apps have the ability to access the external data drives so if you want to store music and/or movies on them, you do not have to use up your internal memory.
Hope that answered your question.

Does 3.1 add ntfs support??....if not can I make it support without rooting my tab??
Sent from my XT720 using XDA App

Root explorer works great, so does File Manager HD

GCurry said:
OK, I just downloaded and installed the 3.1 update, running stock OS.
QUESTION
First, I'd like to confirm that something (anything) can read the USB file system.
Next, I am looking for a utility that would allow me to see all three file systems: main/SSD, SDHC, and USB, and move things back and forth between them, and to/from my PC as well. Recommendations?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Astro, in Astro I see them all. Home, Up and you'll see all the storage areas.
Astro will allow you to move things back and forth between SD, USB and Internal storage.
Nothing that I know of, will allow you to directly view your USB or MicroSD using your PC, by directly I mean through the microusb connection.
There's an app called Wifi File Explorer Pro which may allow you to see them on the PC however I'm not certain as I never used it extensively and may be more trouble than it's worth as you'll have to open a port in your router for it to work properly.
Hope this helps.

Any file manager can access /mnt/external_sd and /mnt/usb_storage.
Drive mount or USB mount all can mount ntfs drives. Must be rooted.
Can only access internal memory front PC. End of story until google/Acer fixes it.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

Euclid's Brother said:
Any file manager can access /mnt/external_sd and /mnt/usb_storage.
Drive mount or USB mount all can mount ntfs drives. Must be rooted.
Can only access internal memory front PC. End of story until google/Acer fixes it.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on 3.1 ota and I wanted to root it for ntfs support.....but don't want to void my warranty.....(weather here is too humid so generally all electronic devices don't work or something or the other happens to them)...so I will unroot later to claim my warranty.....what else can I do with root.....(no custom roms..).......
Sent from my XT720 using XDA App

1. Is there any app, running on the tablet, which will allow me to see the file system on a USB thumbdrive? Which one. It's odd to me that I can see the drive, apparently properly formed, in the tablet "system settings" app, but (so far) haven't seen how to get at it myself, and haven't found an app which access it either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any file system application (ASTRO, Root Explorer) can access all storage devices in your system. The location for the storage devices is /mnt.
Note that the /mnt/sdcard directory is actually a FUSE mount of /data/local
The directories related to storage are:
/mnt/sdcard - a FUSE image of /data/local. This is internal storage.
/mnt/external_sd - The microSD card. Must be FAT32.
/mnt/usb_drive - A USB drive of some sorts...can be a thumb drive or a hard drive. Not sure about 3.1, but 3.0.1 needed this drive to be FAT32.
2. Is there an application, running on the PC, or an app running on the tablet, which let's me see the file systems on tablet, tablet's sdhc chip, thumb drive and PC storage in a unified way, so I can move things around without unplugging stuff? That is harder, but one of those networked file access utilities might do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answer...other than ADB, no (until Acer fixes that). When you mount your tablet to your PC, you are connecting to a FUSE partition, which is an image of /data/local. You can transfer files between /data/local (via FUSE partition) and your PC. Unfortunately, because you are accessing a FUSE partition, you are restricted to only /data/local (so you can't get to /mnt). ADB is a known exception (as it uses USB Debugging to access the tablet), but that isn't graphical at all (all command line, which means it is a lot of typing).

op mentioned ES file explorer
Use it myself - as I really like the interface and the LAN access works great for me.
You can see all your storage devices from es explorer
/mnt/sdcard = internal memory
/mnt/external_sd = microsd card
/mnt/USB_drive = USB based storage device
If you want to mount ntfs you need to root.

USB OTG to mount Galaxy Nexus?

I'm looking to mount my Galaxy Nexus to my Nexus 7, but when I go about it like I would a usb stick stickmount doesn't see the sd card. My USB OTG host cable works perfectly with my 64gb SanDisk Cruzer thumb drive, but it is NTFS formatted to get around the 4gb file size limit. I can read files, copy files off of it, and stream files from the stick just fine but I am unable to write to the stick. I'd like to be able to get rid of NANDROID backups, playstation games, other large files, etc without having to connect to a computer.
1. What format is the "SD card" on the Galaxy Nexus? Is it ext3/ext4 which stickmount can't read?
2. If there is a better way to make an NTFS formatted writable stick I'm all ears...
3. Maybe I should just get a smaller separate stick that's FAT32 and thus writable...

Nokia?
thirtynation said:
I'm looking to mount my Galaxy Nexus to my Nexus 7, but when I go about it like I would a usb stick stickmount doesn't see the sd card. My USB OTG host cable works perfectly with my 64gb SanDisk Cruzer thumb drive, but it is NTFS formatted to get around the 4gb file size limit. I can read files, copy files off of it, and stream files from the stick just fine but I am unable to write to the stick. I'd like to be able to get rid of NANDROID backups, playstation games, other large files, etc without having to connect to a computer.
1. What format is the "SD card" on the Galaxy Nexus? Is it ext3/ext4 which stickmount can't read?
2. If there is a better way to make an NTFS formatted writable stick I'm all ears...
3. Maybe I should just get a smaller separate stick that's FAT32 and thus writable...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen that done with Android devices just yet... maybe it's possible, but I haven't heard of it. I know that Nokia phones can hook up as external storage to the N8 (saw a video on YouTube) but that's as far as I know.
Also, to write files to an NTFS volume on Android, it seems that you need to add the "fuse.ko" to your kernel (in /system/lib/modules) I tried doing this with the Nexus 7 ToolKit, but I wasn't about to insmod it (make it run) since the fuse.ko I has was apparently for a different version of Android??? I've literally spent about 10 hours "searching" on xda and all over the internet. It seems (oddly) that everyone in the Android community is content with a measly 32GB total limit, and 4GB file size limit. *(facepalm)*

This won't work. Android, with 3.0, stopped exporting storage via SD card, because of reasons[1]. If at all, you can have a vendor modify Android as to export your plug-in SD card, but not the internal storage.
Currently, Galaxy Nexus etc. offer their files via the 'MTP' protocol when plugged in, and there's no support to act as an MTP client AFAIK (since Linux support for MTP sucks balls).
[1]: since a separate storage for /data, /system etc. was considered uncool, as it made you dependent on a predefined partition size (remember 256MB 'internal storage' phones and Android Market "uninstalled due to low disk space"?), newer phones, and especially the Nexus line, features a single storage container.
The USB mass storage interface works like plugging in a hard drive into your system: it gives you block-level access, and this is usually synonymous with "exclusive" access, as it results in destroyed or confused file systems if two independent systems try to mount the file system on a storage device.
Problem is that Android still needs to be able to actually run, so it can't give you block level access to the internal storage. The only way that would be feasible is to turn off your phone completely and have the bootloader give you USB mass storage access, which is counterproductive.
Thus the need for something like MTP (which was already around for a while) was born, which gives you the ability to make it look like a file system, but actually work on a client/server basis like FTP.
tl;dr: no usb mass storage ("usb stick mode") with galaxy nexus. ever.

Can't check at the moment, but can't you mount the SD card from CWM recovery on the Nexus in USB Mode rather than MTP?

What we need is a file manager that can use MTP. I'm also interested in hooking my Gnex up to my 7. There must be something out there that can do this.

Bluetooth file transfer.
or
Connect to the same wifi and share.

Problems with file copying.

Hi perhaps some of you with a Nexus 7 can help me.
I've recently got a 16GB version but I seem to have strange problem with copying data to the device. For example, if I have a folder of photos I copy over, either over wireless or using USB MTP all the copied files on the device have had their modification dates altered to the exact time of the copy procedure - each file has a second difference between them with all the same date. The files on my computer have there correct modification dates on them.
This happens with all types of file; video, pictures, zips etc and also under Windows and OS X. This doesn't happen on my SGSII with a custom ICS ROM running 4.0.4 but I connect that via USB Mass Storage and not USB MTP.
Any ideas? Why would USB MTP alter the files in this way? It's making organisation and sorting a nightmare.
My Nexus 7 is rooted, unlocked etc using the Toolkit.

From what I understand, this is a file system issue. Fat32, which is what's used by your phone with UMS, will preserve the original timestamp, but I believe that ext (still not sure if it's ext3 or ext4), which is used by the Nexus 7, will use the file creation time as the timestamp.

AZImmortal said:
From what I understand, this is a file system issue. Fat32, which is what's used by your phone with UMS, will preserve the original timestamp, but I believe that ext (still not sure if it's ext3 or ext4), which is used by the Nexus 7, will use the file creation time as the timestamp.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? That's crazy! Is there no way to change that? Surely this is a major flaw. I have photos etc which must retain there original timestamps.

It's a problem inherent to the file system used. I believe that there might be a way to do the copying on the Nexus 7's end and use some type of command line argument to preserve the original timestamp, but this would require you to mount a storage device to the Nexus 7 via USB OTG to copy the files from. It would also require someone with Linux experience to tell you how to do it because I have almost none.

AZImmortal said:
It's a problem inherent to the file system used. I believe that there might be a way to do the copying on the Nexus 7's end and use some type of command line argument to preserve the original timestamp, but this would require you to mount a storage device to the Nexus 7 via USB OTG to copy the files from. It would also require someone with Linux experience to tell you how to do it because I have almost none.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All that just to copy some photos over? No wonder people buy iPads. Guess this tab is going back to Google. No way to format it as FAT32? Also, if it's using EXT, why is the individual file size still limited to 4GB?

Nope, you can't format it to FAT32. Someone with more Linux knowledge than I have will need to answer your 4gb question (I've been wondering about it myself). Maybe someone else has another easy solution to your timestamp problem that I'm not familiar with.

[Q] Can Recovery access OTG USB drive?

Usually I would save my Nandroid backups in the ext sdcard on my SGS2 but on the N7 theres no sdcard slot.
Am worried that one day I might lose my Nandroid backups while doing some clean wipe install of ROMs.
Can the recovery mode access an OTG USB drive and save Nandroid backup there?

twrp can mount/unmount otg usb drives. it also can restore from and save directly to the otg usb storage
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

Is there a way in CWM 6.0.2.7 too?

TexasJake said:
twrp can mount/unmount otg usb drives. it also can restore from and save directly to the otg usb storage
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you actually mount the otg usb drive ?
When I look in Mount in Recovery, there is no area to actually do this ?

screenoff said:
How do you actually mount the otg usb drive ?
When I look in Mount in Recovery, there is no area to actually do this ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, its the "Use external SD" toggle in TWRP in any of the Mount/Backup/Restore/Install menus. Kind of confusing terminology, for sure - but it works.
I tried it with a thumb drive formatted as fat32, ext3, and NTFS. TWRP mounted them all, but NTFS only mounts read-only. (I couldn't remount it in rw mode using TWRP's command-line facility)
If you need to check to see if it's mounted, use
cat /proc/mounts
from the TWRP command-line facility (Advanced->Terminal Command).
It should be mounted at the /usb-otg directory.
good luck

Thank you for assisting.
I know that it is just a "navigation" problem that I have because I can see the led on the usb stick light up, so it is definitely alive in TWRP.
I just think that I am reading something wrong and not giving the correct commands to reach the usb.
This is what I did, perhaps you can steer me in the right direction.
Firstly, do I reboot in recovery mode with the usb-otg attached or do I first go into recovery mode and only then plug the usb-otg in ?
I have Named the usb memory stick ext-otg, is that correct or does it not matter ?
I then entered Terminal Mode in Recovery and chose "Select" and then typed in usb-otg, is that correct or do I need to type this /usb-otg ?

screenoff said:
Thank you for assisting.
I know that it is just a "navigation" problem that I have because I can see the led on the usb stick light up, so it is definitely alive in TWRP.
I just think that I am reading something wrong and not giving the correct commands to reach the usb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my tests yesterday, the only thing I needed to do was to touch the "Use external SD" radio button; I didn't need to do anything else (note I was using TWRP 2.4.1.0, so ymmv). Also, TWRP seems to remember your settings (dunno where, perhaps in /data/media/0/TWRP/.twrps file?), so if you were to leave this setting this way I presume it would automount the drive as soon as it was plugged in for future sessions of TWRP.**
screenoff said:
Firstly, do I reboot in recovery mode with the usb-otg attached or do I first go into recovery mode and only then plug the usb-otg in ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if it matters. In all my tests yesterday I only plugged in after TWRP was fully booted. I surmise that it would work either way.
screenoff said:
I have Named the usb memory stick ext-otg, is that correct or does it not matter ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I presume you are talking about a Windows volume label - no, that should not matter one bit.
screenoff said:
I then entered Terminal Mode in Recovery and chose "Select" and then typed in usb-otg, is that correct or do I need to type this /usb-otg ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither. You should be able to get the device to mount and dismount by using the onscreen touch controls of TWRP alone. (But see ** below). A person familiar with Unix/Linux administration can use that terminal command interface to do all sorts of things, but I can tell from your question that you are not there yet in command-line skills. However, I did give you precise instructions in my prior post on how to give a command in that interface to check if the device is mounted, namely
Code:
cat /proc/mounts
If the device is mounted you will see a line of output that starts with "/usb-otg"
good luck
** The TWRP touch UI presentation of the controls and current mount state of the USB OTG device leaves a bit to be desired (at least in v2.4.1.0, anyway). Anyplace you see "external SD" you should interpret as "USB-OTG drive". Also, note that the Mount menu toggle does in fact work correctly for mounting and dismounting, so long as you have the "Use external SD" radio button selected. To make matters worse, though, there seems to be a bug - when you use that mounting toggle control, it will indeed either mount or unmount the device - but the "X" check mark display may not correctly show the current mount status. That is why I suggested using the "cat /proc/mounts" command to check the mount status to be sure of the mount state.

bftb0 said:
** The TWRP touch UI presentation of the controls and current mount state of the USB OTG device leaves a bit to be desired (at least in v2.4.1.0, anyway). Anyplace you see "external SD" you should interpret as "USB-OTG drive". Also, note that the Mount menu toggle does in fact work correctly for mounting and dismounting, so long as you have the "Use external SD" radio button selected. To make matters worse, though, there seems to be a bug - when you use that mounting toggle control, it will indeed either mount or unmount the device - but the "X" check mark display may not correctly show the current mount status. That is why I suggested using the "cat /proc/mounts" command to check the mount status to be sure of the mount state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no "USE external SD" radio button showing at all.
I also did notice if I rebooted into Bootloader with the USB OTG plugged in, it basically froze and said to remove USB.
Once I had removed the USB OTG cable, then I was able to carry on and boot into recovery.
I have 2 different USB-OTG connections, the one is not Powered and the other is Powered.
Both of these work without any problem when I am booted into the Phone, I can access the USB drive without any problems.
But, if I try to reboot with the Powered one into bootloader, it freezes until I unplug it, in fact, it recognizes it and prompts you to unplug it.
The Non Powered cable does not freeze when I reboot into bootloader.
I cannot understand this, I have full Root, I must be missing something ?
But thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.

@screenoff - what version of TWRP are you using?
It's easy enough for me to soft-boot whatever version you are using to have a look.
The bootloader freeze is interesting - I wonder if there is a possibility the USB port is for initial flashing of the devices at the factory. (The devices are certainly blank immediately after assembly)
[ Edit ] - I just soft-booted TWRP 2.5.0.0 - the UI has indeed changed, and now there is a "USB-OTG" in the Mount menu. That seemed to work correctly for me. I hot-plugged my OTG cable (as I had soft-booted TWRP using fastboot) and then used this mount menu.
Note there is a status bar which also functions as a toggle - it shows either:
- "Storage: Internal Storage (nnnnn MB)"
or
- "Storage: USB-OTG (nnnn MB)"
If you tap on that (above) status line, it will allow you to choose between the two options, and then all the other menus Backup/Restore/Install will reflect your choice. (I copied a few Nandroid backups onto my uSD card to be sure that this worked - sure enough, the backups that I put there (in TWRP/BACKUPS/<device-serial-number>/ where the TWRP directory is in the root folder of the SD card, so it shows up after the mount as /usb-otg/TWRP/BACKUPS/<device-serial-number>/)
In the interest of time, I did not repeat the re-formatting of my uSD card into ext3 or NTFS filesystems.
I guess I would say that if you are having trouble getting a mount to occur with this, it is something about:
- use of a powered hub
- partitioning of your usb key (I only used a single primary partition)
- choice of filesystem on your SD card?

I have tried all of these versions in the link below.
http://techerrata.com/browse/twrp2/enrc2b
None of these additional functions are available with my device.
Perhaps, my device which is an HTC One X Plus, does not allow access to these functions even when the phone is Rooted ?
I have also tried it with several different ROMS, from AOKP 4.22, CM10 and various other 4.1.1 versions.
One of the reasons that I want this function is that I am continually experimenting with different ROMS and to have the ability to not have to use SIDELOAD when I wish to do a Completely New Install will be helpful.
I also like to understand what I am doing and I am fascinated by this OTG function and how it works.
- use of a powered hub - I have tried it with the Non Powered Hub as well and although it does not freeze when booting into BootLoader, the end result is the same.
- partitioning of your usb key (I only used a single primary partition) - I have one single partition.
- choice of filesystem on your SD card? - I have used Fat, Fat32, I have not tried NTFS as I believe it only had read abilities.
Thank you for your interest and help, I really appreciate it.

screenoff said:
Perhaps, my device which is an HTC One X Plus...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you might have just convinced me to never offer help to a single XDA user ever again.
This is a Nexus 7 forum.

bftb0 said:
I think you might have just convinced me to never offer help to a single XDA user ever again.
This is a Nexus 7 forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not even notice that it was a specific Nexus 7 forum, I googled Recovery otg usb or something like that and this thread popped up.
I do apologise and although you may not feel happy about helping, you have indeed helped because now I have learnt how to find my way around in Recovery.
So your help is not all in vain and I will find a solution to this problem even though everyone is not as helpful as you are.
I can say that even if I had noticed this was not an HTC One X Plus forum, I would still have asked the questions because Recovery in common to all devices I suspect and I cannot understand why the HTC One X Plus cannot and does not give the same functions.
Had I known that this was not a HTC One X Plus forum, I would have said upfront that my device was an HTC One X Plus and I apologise once again for that oversight.
Thank you once again for your kind assistance.

Formatted USB stick in FAT32 with HP USB format tool, and now TWRP recovery can see my USB-OTG. (it was 0 mb before)

[Q] Transfer files from N7 to External Hdd

Good Morning
I am having a panic, i am going on holiday soon and i take lots of photos. I have just got the N7 and i have managed to put photos onto the N7 via an OTG cable + card reader with SD card inserted and using Nexus Media Importer. Now i can see them and select them in the gallery but when i plug in my Ext Hdd then N7 recognises it but i can transfer the photos over.
What am i doing wrong
Tansk in advance
Slaine

Be rooted and install StickMount.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

slainesco said:
What am i doing wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You failed to appreciate the significance of the word "Importer" in the app's name.

bftb0 said:
You failed to appreciate the significance of the word "Importer" in the app's name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is there a good exporter app then
when i attached my fat32 1tb hdd i use stickmount and it says MBR signature not found
any ideas

slainesco said:
is there a good exporter app then
when i attached my fat32 1tb hdd i use stickmount and it says MBR signature not found
any ideas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've barely said anything meaningful about your device - for instance if it is rooted (& what ROM and kernel you are using if so).
Your mileage will depend on both the kernel and ROM you have installed. I would think that most kernels should support FAT32, but the ROM used (e.g. stock) may not have an automounter/vold which will automatically mount the device as soon as it is plugged in.
For example, this is why people will use StickMount on lightly-rooted stock, but don't need it at all with CM10.1 - the stock kernel supports mounting of FAT HDDs, but the stock ROM doesn't take any actions automatically when they are plugged in.
Right now I'm running a recent CM10.1 nightly & just plugged into my N7:
1) a 8 GB FAT32 uSD card on a reader
2) a 150 GB HDD formatted in NTFS
In both cases, the USB device mounted (without any intervention on my part) successfully - but with the NTFS HDD in read-only mode. I would think it would have mounted the HDD in R/W mode had it been a FAT filesystem. Dismounting the devices was available via Settings->Storage.
Once you've got the device mounted, any root-aware file browser app should allow you (in principle) the ability to copy files bi-directionally. The "in principle" part is that I see reports on here complaining about successful mounts but no files showing up... so you are probably going to need to experiment.
good luck
PS I believe that SD cards in card readers can be written by Media Importer - why this doesn't extend to FAT HDDs I don't really know.

bftb0 said:
You've barely said anything meaningful about your device - for instance if it is rooted (& what ROM and kernel you are using if so).
Your mileage will depend on both the kernel and ROM you have installed. I would think that most kernels should support FAT32, but the ROM used (e.g. stock) may not have an automounter/vold which will automatically mount the device as soon as it is plugged in.
For example, this is why people will use StickMount on lightly-rooted stock, but don't need it at all with CM10.1 - the stock kernel supports mounting of FAT HDDs, but the stock ROM doesn't take any actions automatically when they are plugged in.
Right now I'm running a recent CM10.1 nightly & just plugged into my N7:
1) a 8 GB FAT32 uSD card on a reader
2) a 150 GB HDD formatted in NTFS
In both cases, the USB device mounted (without any intervention on my part) successfully - but with the NTFS HDD in read-only mode. I would think it would have mounted the HDD in R/W mode had it been a FAT filesystem. Dismounting the devices was available via Settings->Storage.
Once you've got the device mounted, any root-aware file browser app should allow you (in principle) the ability to copy files bi-directionally. The "in principle" part is that I see reports on here complaining about successful mounts but no files showing up... so you are probably going to need to experiment.
good luck
PS I believe that SD cards in card readers can be written by Media Importer - why this doesn't extend to FAT HDDs I don't really know.
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Sorry for the lack off info. I have only had the N7 for over a week and it isnt rooted as up until one hour ago i hadnt a clue what that meant. So i guess it is stock and ive sinced realised Stickmount wont work.
I can mount a 32gb stick no hassles but the fat32 1tb external hdd with power supply just comes up with mbr signature not found
thanks