Related
Not entirely sure what kind of process might be needed, but is it at all possible to use the older method of transferring files between a computer to an Android device (USB Mass Storage) instead of MTP?
MTP (in my experience) is... not ideal in most cases. File transfers are seemingly slower, can only do one thing at a time (I think if your transferring a file, you can't even browse other folders on the MTP device), and sometimes file transfers just get stuck for no reason. Was trying to copy over a few PDF's to my N10 and it seems to just hang randomly, had to reboot the device 4 times already (twice to just create and rename a folder).
what about the option in settings -> storage -> and tap the menu button on the top right and select USB Computer connection?
espionage724 said:
Not entirely sure what kind of process might be needed, but is it at all possible to use the older method of transferring files between a computer to an Android device (USB Mass Storage) instead of MTP?
MTP (in my experience) is... not ideal in most cases. File transfers are seemingly slower, can only do one thing at a time (I think if your transferring a file, you can't even browse other folders on the MTP device), and sometimes file transfers just get stuck for no reason. Was trying to copy over a few PDF's to my N10 and it seems to just hang randomly, had to reboot the device 4 times already (twice to just create and rename a folder).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem at first, but I realized my USB ports on the front end of my PC arent USB 2.0, so I plugged it into the back, and works like a charm. Just a thought.
corporal_hades said:
what about the option in settings -> storage -> and tap the menu button on the top right and select USB Computer connection?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already did that and tried both options (MTP & PTP), but the N10 does not show up on my computer at all in either case, with or without USB debugging. I have had no such problems with my other android devices (all still running gingerbread, in case that matters).
My N10 is rooted and my computer runs xubuntu 12.04; I don't have a window box to test... Any suggestions? Thanks!
case-sensitive said:
I already did that and tried both options (MTP & PTP), but the N10 does not show up on my computer at all in either case, with or without USB debugging. I have had no such problems with my other android devices (all still running gingerbread, in case that matters).
My N10 is rooted and my computer runs xubuntu 12.04; I don't have a window box to test... Any suggestions? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately the answer is no.
There was a long discussion on the Galaxy Nexus forums about it a while back.
I also wish for a usb mass storage option for compatibility with radios for playing music. They don't read mtp/ptp for any generic one I've come across.
ceribaen said:
Unfortunately the answer is no.
There was a long discussion on the Galaxy Nexus forums about it a while back.
I also wish for a usb mass storage option for compatibility with radios for playing music. They don't read mtp/ptp for any generic one I've come across.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, but what's the main thing stopping this from being possible? I thought I heard of a few JB devices that were able to get USB Mass Storage (LG Optimus G I think has a method, or whatever the phone is that has similar parts to a Nexus 4), and a Galaxy Tab I used to have had Mass Storage in ICS.
Mass storage is possible when the sdcard volume is actually a separate disk. On the Nexus 10 this is an "emulated" sdcard and cannot use USB mass storage safely because that protocol gives exclusive control to PC.
The easiest solution is to use one of the many wireless transfer apps like AirDroid.
Another option for Linux users if you really want a wired transfer is to use adbfs. This is a FUSE wrapper around the usb android debug protocol.
https://github.com/spion/adbfs-rootless
adbfs would give you seamless mounting just like USB Mass Storage.
Another solution, though not a seamless mount, is QtADB: http://qtadb.wordpress.com/
This is another wrapper around the usb android debug protocol.
Oh my god, thank you for the AirDroid recommendation. Holy crap is this program useful with my new nexus 4.
dalingrin said:
Mass storage is possible when the sdcard volume is actually a separate disk. On the Nexus 10 this is an "emulated" sdcard and cannot use USB mass storage safely because that protocol gives exclusive control to PC.
The easiest solution is to use one of the many wireless transfer apps like AirDroid.
Another option for Linux users if you really want a wired transfer is to use adbfs. This is a FUSE wrapper around the usb android debug protocol.
https://github.com/spion/adbfs-rootless
adbfs would give you seamless mounting just like USB Mass Storage.
Another solution, though not a seamless mount, is QtADB: http://qtadb.wordpress.com/
This is another wrapper around the usb android debug protocol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much! AirDroid is genius!
MTP storage to USB storage: accidental solution!
espionage724 said:
Not entirely sure what kind of process might be needed, but is it at all possible to use the older method of transferring files between a computer to an Android device (USB Mass Storage) instead of MTP?
MTP (in my experience) is... not ideal in most cases. File transfers are seemingly slower, can only do one thing at a time (I think if your transferring a file, you can't even browse other folders on the MTP device), and sometimes file transfers just get stuck for no reason. Was trying to copy over a few PDF's to my N10 and it seems to just hang randomly, had to reboot the device 4 times already (twice to just create and rename a folder).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dear espionage,
i just wanted to share this with you in case it would be helpful. in fact, you might even have more technical know-how to find out how i accidentally managed this useful fix. first, the reason i was looking for this MTP to USB storage was my habit of synchronizing my thumb-drive to my desktop using any free synching software. this of course, can be only be done when the storage device is recognized as a DRIVE. unfortunately, i believe with the updating of the OS to 4.1 onwards, the USB storage option has been removed, and now only access to MTP is possible. the bad side to this is that one's device is recognized as a portable media device and this means i can no longer synch like i did before the contents of the SD card to my desktop.
second, i found the solution accidentally by installing MultiMount-SD v.2.5 into my Sony Xperia V (LT25i). accidentally i say, because when i clicked on it for the first time, it wouldn't work. it showed a help tip saying that i should trying enabling what it called an MTP fix provided by the program. i did this, restarted the program and guess what happened. there occurred a looping sequence (i guess unending) device recognition-mount and unmount (the PC sounded this off many times), since there was no end to it, i decided to UNINSTALL the program even while the recognition loop was going on. in the meantime one could see a drive appearing in the EXPLORER with a (?), then it would appear with an assigned drive letter, then finally disappear, and so on.
i successfully uninstalled the MultiMount apk, and surprisingly even with the message that the device wasn't properly recognized or installed, i could now connect my Xperia and it mounts as a USB storage device and no longer MTP. to test this 'accident', i tried connecting it to my desktop, running Windows 7, and it worked without any hitches! I don't really mind losing the MTP option, sides it's very limited in its connectivity with the PC. Another bonus, is despite this, i can still communicate with my device through the MyPhoneExplorer program that allows one to send text messages and other stuff. This was one wonderful accident.
oh, one last thing, even with rebooting my phone, the setup seems to have become a 'permanent fix'. now, when the device is connected one sees in the activated portions in the top menu saying: USB Storage - SD card connected to PC. This was never there before... And i wonder what MultiMountSD must have left permanently to allow my Xperia V to now connect as USB storage. Yahoo!!!
i hope though, you could see what the technical side of this accident is, so that somehow something more stable could be done or programmed without having to go through the 'accidental' procedure i have detailed above.
ciao,
bodega1968
case-sensitive said:
I already did that and tried both options (MTP & PTP), but the N10 does not show up on my computer at all in either case, with or without USB debugging. I have had no such problems with my other android devices (all still running gingerbread, in case that matters).
My N10 is rooted and my computer runs xubuntu 12.04; I don't have a window box to test... Any suggestions? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this issue with Ubuntu 12.04 too, after I updated to 13.04 it started to work like a charm . You can also try changing the rules in your PC, you can find how to do it in the Google website .
"This Story Ends Where It Began" - Octavarium (Dream Theater)
Sent from my GT-I9505
OTG
You can use OTG and transfer files
MTP and USB Storage
SmokinCharger said:
You can use OTG and transfer files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks SmokinCharger! I guess it's quite clear that attempts to allow certain devices to be read in USB Storage mode is a hardware configuration. If your device isn't designed for it, then it won't be able to do this. It's like wanting your volkswagen to have a 6th gear... thus, what was posted previously is true:
Originally Posted by dalingrin:
[Mass storage is possible when the sdcard volume is actually a separate disk. On the Nexus 10 this is an "emulated" sdcard and cannot use USB mass storage safely because that protocol gives exclusive control to PC.]
*I also would like to apologize what i've posted earlier regarding my accidental discovery with Multi-Mount SD. What the app actually did was to access a feature in my device (rooted Xperia V LT125i) which i wasn't aware of. All the time, my device was actually configured to have both MTP and USB Storage.:silly:
So for such devices that are hardware configured only to be MTP or PTP, the only 'solution' or 'alternative' would be to "ROOT" them and set them up with OTG (On the Go) USB access. This may have some hitches, but i've been using this quite a lot. Sometimes though, a RESET is required so that explorer applications would function normally.
Thanks again. I guess this will be all for now in our attempts to reconfigure something that is hardware defined in certain devices.
bodega1968 said:
Thanks SmokinCharger! I guess it's quite clear that attempts to allow certain devices to be read in USB Storage mode is a hardware configuration. If your device isn't designed for it, then it won't be able to do this. It's like wanting your volkswagen to have a 6th gear... thus, what was posted previously is true:
Originally Posted by dalingrin:
[Mass storage is possible when the sdcard volume is actually a separate disk. On the Nexus 10 this is an "emulated" sdcard and cannot use USB mass storage safely because that protocol gives exclusive control to PC.]
*I also would like to apologize what i've posted earlier regarding my accidental discovery with Multi-Mount SD. What the app actually did was to access a feature in my device (rooted Xperia V LT125i) which i wasn't aware of. All the time, my device was actually configured to have both MTP and USB Storage.:silly:
So for such devices that are hardware configured only to be MTP or PTP, the only 'solution' or 'alternative' would be to "ROOT" them and set them up with OTG (On the Go) USB access. This may have some hitches, but i've been using this quite a lot. Sometimes though, a RESET is required so that explorer applications would function normally.
Thanks again. I guess this will be all for now in our attempts to reconfigure something that is hardware defined in certain devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome. Chainfire is a great and well known developer that has development many great apps including Stickmount. Look it up in Play especially the Pro version, which is "The price is aimed at being approximately one beer at the bar ". It works with mounting the UBS OTG. The Pro will automatically mount and unmount.
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.
I received the update on my Amazon TV a couple of hours ago.
My thoughts:
Kodi and all other third party apps WORK PERFECTLY.
I paired my Parrot Zik Bluetooth headphones. What I noticed is that there was a lug between the controllers moves and the click sound you usually get. When I started KODI, and streamed a movie or an episode, I had to adjust the sound offset to +1.175 secs in order for the sound to match the lips of the actors. This was also mentioned by other users that had installed a third party .apk settings file that could connect to other Bluetooth devices.
Having said that, I noticed something else. The lug of a second USB might cause a few problems if people are using a USB mouse/keyboard. I guess we could try pairing a Bluetooth keyboard but I haven't seen a Bluetooth airmouse. It remains to be seen.
Overall, I can say go ahead and upgrade
athosk said:
I received the update on my Amazon TV a couple of hours ago.
My thoughts:
Kodi and all other third party apps WORK PERFECTLY.
I paired my Parrot Zik Bluetooth headphones. What I noticed is that there was a lug between the controllers moves and the click sound you usually get. When I started KODI, and streamed a movie or an episode, I had to adjust the sound offset to +1.175 secs in order for the sound to match the lips of the actors. This was also mentioned by other users that had installed a third party .apk settings file that could connect to other Bluetooth devices.
Having said that, I noticed something else. The lug of a second USB might cause a few problems if people are using a USB mouse/keyboard. I guess we could try pairing a Bluetooth keyboard but I haven't seen a Bluetooth airmouse. It remains to be seen.
Overall, I can say go ahead and upgrade
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback hopefully my fire tv will get the update today and I can test these new features.
athosk said:
The lug of a second USB might cause a few problems if people are using a USB mouse/keyboard. I guess we could try pairing a Bluetooth keyboard but I haven't seen a Bluetooth airmouse. It remains to be seen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried a USB hub?
tech3475 said:
Have you tried a USB hub?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought about that but didn't get the chance to do that..it will be too many parts hanging around it
athosk said:
Thought about that but didn't get the chance to do that..it will be too many parts hanging around it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be able to use a USB extension cable to hide it somewhere or have a hub somewhere more preferable.
did a factory restore,many reboots , flash drives formatted to fat32. Any tips on how to get it to work? cheers
UPDATE: the update somehow broke my USB port does not work at all no mouse no nothing.
I have the Blueooth delay also with Headset but with Plesk, I don't have an option to adjust the delay
guessing there's no changes to surround support. haven't been pushed the update yet
Updates
I think that the devices from the US are the first ones to get the updates. I own a device from the US and one from the UK. The US received its update the day I posted the post. The other devices, including my friends' deveices which were also bought in the UK, have not received anything yet..
Further Findings
USB drives connected to the Fire TV are, according to Amazon, to be used for storing apps and games. This feature was added to the Fire TV so that you can store more apps than the internal 8GB storage allows. There is, however, a huge disappointing shortfall with this new feature. You can only move an app’s main files to USB storage. An app’s “data” files must remain on the Fire TV’s internal storage. Many popular large games like GTA: San Andreas and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic store the vast majority of the game’s files as “data”. This means these games essentially cannot be moved to USB storage.
To get an idea of how much of an app can be moved to USB storage, look at the app’s “Size” value listed on the app’s detail/product page. The amount listed is usually how much can be moved to USB storage. For example, GTA: San Andreas lists a size of 77.2MB, which means the majority of the game will remain on the Fire TV’s internal storage. NBA 2K15, on the other hand, lists a file size of 1.8GB so you can be pretty sure that most of the app can be moved to USB storage.
As for other uses of USB storage, Amazon explicitly states that “you cannot access any media that you side-loaded onto the USB device.” The good news is that Amazon is not going out of their way to block apps from accessing USB external storage. Apps like Kodi and VLC can play media stored on an attached external drive without any issues. Files stored on a USB drive attached to the Fire TV can be found under the directory: /storage/extUsb/ source: www.aftvnews.com
Further Findings
USB hubs work with the Fire TV and external USB storage. Since the Fire TV only has one USB port, you can use a USB hub to connect both a USB drive and other USB devices like a FLIRC, mice, and keyboards simultaneously. You cannot use a USB hub to mount two USB drives. The Fire TV will only mount the first USB drive it detects.
Both powered and unpowered USB hubs work with the Fire TV. Some powered USB hubs will cause the Fire TV to freeze on the white Amazon logo during boot up. This is due to the Fire TV detecting power coming into its USB port which makes the Fire TV think it’s plugged into a computer which causes it to enter fastboot mode. If your powered USB hub does this, then you will need to unplug or power down the powered USB hub every time you reboot your Fire TV and then plug it back in once the Fire TV has booted.
source: www.aftvnews.com
athosk said:
USB drives connected to the Fire TV are, according to Amazon, to be used for storing apps and games. This feature was added to the Fire TV so that you can store more apps than the internal 8GB storage allows. There is, however, a huge disappointing shortfall with this new feature. You can only move an app’s main files to USB storage. An app’s “data” files must remain on the Fire TV’s internal storage. Many popular large games like GTA: San Andreas and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic store the vast majority of the game’s files as “data”. This means these games essentially cannot be moved to USB storage.
To get an idea of how much of an app can be moved to USB storage, look at the app’s “Size” value listed on the app’s detail/product page. The amount listed is usually how much can be moved to USB storage. For example, GTA: San Andreas lists a size of 77.2MB, which means the majority of the game will remain on the Fire TV’s internal storage. NBA 2K15, on the other hand, lists a file size of 1.8GB so you can be pretty sure that most of the app can be moved to USB storage.
As for other uses of USB storage, Amazon explicitly states that “you cannot access any media that you side-loaded onto the USB device.” The good news is that Amazon is not going out of their way to block apps from accessing USB external storage. Apps like Kodi and VLC can play media stored on an attached external drive without any issues. Files stored on a USB drive attached to the Fire TV can be found under the directory: /storage/extUsb/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
athosk said:
USB hubs work with the Fire TV and external USB storage. Since the Fire TV only has one USB port, you can use a USB hub to connect both a USB drive and other USB devices like a FLIRC, mice, and keyboards simultaneously. You cannot use a USB hub to mount two USB drives. The Fire TV will only mount the first USB drive it detects.
Both powered and unpowered USB hubs work with the Fire TV. Some powered USB hubs will cause the Fire TV to freeze on the white Amazon logo during boot up. This is due to the Fire TV detecting power coming into its USB port which makes the Fire TV think it’s plugged into a computer which causes it to enter fastboot mode. If your powered USB hub does this, then you will need to unplug or power down the powered USB hub every time you reboot your Fire TV and then plug it back in once the Fire TV has booted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not just providing a link to AFTNews ?
AFTV NEWS
I did provide the link www.aftvnews.com in a previous post so i guessed my readers would know about it
I want to add this though.....I did try a USB hub and connected the MINIX air mouse and keyboard on it. Unfortunately no connection. So i am not so sure if the HUB will work as mentioned by AFTV news or which kind of HUB would be best to connect both the drive and the mouse
I recently purchased something that would turn all my USB Hard Drives into 'wireless'.
And it did. Indeed. It came with a Windows Driver which detects the device when connected via LAN/WLAN (through a router) and the Console lists all the USB Hard Drives and Device on Windows. I can choose to connect any of the devices anytime I need by hitting the 'Connect Button'.
Clarification: The 'networked' external hard drives are mounted as Local Disks on Windows (not as Network Drives)
The Manufacturer didn't respond to a request for creating an Android Driver for the device.
It was not possible to figureout the FTP path/url for individual drives.
I hoped it could be usable on Android devices as well. But, alas. It was not a pure NAT/Network Drive. Thus not detected by any file managers/network browsers. The hard drives are mounter on Windows only after hitting 'Connect' button. But, I could not manage to figure out how it could be achieved on android. FTP/Samba didn't work
Q. Am I permitted to name the product, post product screenshot, link manufacturer page?
Do I need to link the Windows Drivers?
Here is a screenshot:
http://i.cubeupload.com/boKp1q.png
I got the same problem with dlink router makes drive in windows i can use web browser to get to usb but i cant figure out hoes reason hey wont come over. I tried using lan and webdav i dont know what im doing
network managment
hiii......
i am new sign up and pleace tell me network management information.
thanks.
Does anyone own any of the Mekotronics android TV products? I was contemplating getting one of these, but I ended up pulling the trigger and getting the r58x. I got the 16\64Gb version that runs well, but I decided to also install an NVME drive just because.
I ended up getting and installing one of these https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-blue-sn570-nvme-ssd#WDS500G3B0C.Once I installed in and boot the device, for some reason it doesn't see this storage. I tried it on my computer just to see if it recognizes it and it saw it right away so I'm not sure why this device doesn't see it.
Any thoughts?
Also on another note, I am running Android 12 on the device. I know android 12 doesn't come with the android tv remote services by default, but I'd like to install it so I can use my universal remote on my tv to control it. When I search that in the play store I get a ton of results for "android tv remote services". I'm not sure what I should be installing, and would it work for me to install it on Android 12?
Thanks!
From
m0d hipp¥ said:
Does anyone own any of the Mekotronics android TV products? I was contemplating getting one of these, but I ended up pulling the trigger and getting the r58x. I got the 16\64Gb version that runs well, but I decided to also install an NVME drive just because.
I ended up getting and installing one of these https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-blue-sn570-nvme-ssd#WDS500G3B0C.Once I installed in and boot the device, for some reason it doesn't see this storage. I tried it on my computer just to see if it recognizes it and it saw it right away so I'm not sure why this device doesn't see it.
Any thoughts?
Also on another note, I am running Android 12 on the device. I know android 12 doesn't come with the android tv remote services by default, but I'd like to install it so I can use my universal remote on my tv to control it. When I search that in the play store I get a ton of results for "android tv remote services". I'm not sure what I should be installing, and would it work for me to install it on Android 12?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about the remote, but from my understanding, all these device using the Rockchip 3588 & soc / Mali G610 chipsets are using a "dirty" version of Android TV OS. I have also learned that all of them I have tested do not support Dolby Vision and ATMOS.
Concerning the NVME, Mekotronics has told me this is still an issue. Theyare also still working on getting the UFEI boot working. I wish I could have of more help, hopefully someone else will ring in.
I hope someone can do more with the firmware, as these devices really have some great potential
Thanks for your response. I was playing on with this device for a bit and got most of my questions answered.
Regarding the remote service - this is from Google, but it doesn't seem to be compatible with the mekotronics Android 12 OS.
Regarding the NVME, I needed to format it from my computer first before installing it into the r58x device. After I did that the device recognized the storage no problem, however it can only be used as a secondary storage not primary. That's a big bummer, but since I have 64Gb to work with on the EMMC it's not too bad, and the speed is already really fast. When I contacted Mekotronics support they told me they are working on a way to get the nvme storage to work as a primary at some point.
The other big bummer is the lack of widevine L1, but I will try and play with kodi and see if that could be an option.
I had a followup question. Didn't want to create a new thread, so figured I would stem from this one.
I noticed that Radxa dev team has created an Android 12 img that supports NVME boot. I was curious to see if it would work on my r58x device, and unfortunately it doesn't.
I get a spinor error message, which I'm not quite sure what it means, but I imagine it's because their image file isn't compatible with the rk58x. With this in mind, is there a way to figure out what needs to be changed/updated on the r58x img similarly to what was done on the radxa one so I can get NVME bootable to Android 12 OS?
Have had mine for months and just keep running into road block after road block. I use mine as a plex server. ran the debian image on it for a bit but i cant get plex to see/mount usb nor NAS for some reason. I wish I could just find someone to configure it for me for $. Anyone know of such a service?
Unfortunately I don't know custom services like that, and it doesn't seem too many people have these devices.
I don't run plex on mine, but as far as mounting a drive goes... I'm assuming you mounted it in a regular PM first and then formatted it? I did a quick format in Windows on my nvme drive and then went to drive mgmt to make sure it was online. After I did that I installed it and the device came right up for me on the r58x. You have the option to go into the storage settings from Android --> settings --> storage and then you can format it there and also have the option of moving over everything to that drive to use as a primary storage. You android OS would still run from emmc, but everything else can run from the other drive.
BTW, is the storage issue an issue with plex specifically or does your OS not see the drive either?