Help External hardrive not working on android tablet - please help !!

[Android Question]

Hi

I have just bought a "unbranded " tablet - 32 GB 10.1 A31S Quad Core wifi Andriod tablet ( on Ebay and i think its a cheapy from China ? ).

Anyway we have a WD Passport ( 1 TG ) external hardrive and use it for downloading and storing films. It works perfectly on our laptops at home .

However when we connect it to our new tablet it does not work.

Does anybody out there able to help ?

We have seen some info on the internet saying 1. You need to "power source " the external hardrive. 2. there is mention of having to alter the format in order to play.

We have netflix on it already and the movies work well on this BUT we want to play the downloads on the external hardrive.

We are not particulaly " computer savvy " but capable of doing stuff with simple and idiot proof guidance !!

PLEASE HELP !!!!

Thank you

Peter and Julia

 

[mikedt]

Hi

I have just bought a "unbranded " tablet - 32 GB 10.1 A31S Quad Core wifi Andriod tablet ( on Ebay and i think its a cheapy from China ? ).

Anyway we have a WD Passport ( 1 TG ) external hardrive and use it for downloading and storing films. It works perfectly on our laptops at home .

However when we connect it to our new tablet it does not work.

Does anybody out there able to help ?

We have seen some info on the internet saying 1. You need to "power source " the external hardrive. 2. there is mention of having to alter the format in order to play.

We have netflix on it already and the movies work well on this BUT we want to play the downloads on the external hardrive.

We are not particulaly " computer savvy " but capable of doing stuff with simple and idiot proof guidance !!

PLEASE HELP !!!!

Thank you

Peter and Julia

That's very likely the reason. The tablet's USB OTG doesn't supply as much current as what a full-blown PC's USB ports do, Basically there's not enough power to spin a hard-drive, they're usually OK with USB sticks which take much less current. In fact USB hard-drives sometimes come with "Y" USB cables, so they can plug into two USB ports for extra power if needed. A fix is to use a powered USB hub, i.e. one that runs off a mains power-brick.

WD Passport drives are factory formatted as FAT32, so Android should have no problems using that. Unless you re-formatted it as Windows NTFS or Mac HFS+ - that could be a problem.

 

[Pugs1957]

Your tablet may not put out enough power to run the drive. There's only one way to find out BUT before you do that you are going to need to back up your drive content and reformat it to FAT32 as the chances are it is using NTFS which can't be seen by Android.

 

[mystery41]

Hi Guys

Thanks a lot for your helpful replies.

I need a bit more help to indentify and buy the " Y " usb cable. What ( I think ) I need is 2 micro ends ( to go into my tablet ) and 1 normal size usb to fit in the lead from my WD passport.

I have looked on the internet and i cant find any ( they all appear to be the other way round ie 2 normal and 1 micro ).................. are you able to direct me to a link so that i can buy one ?

If this doesnt work ( ie still not enough power to drive the hard drive ) then can you tell me where to get a suitable powered USB hub and we will try that.

In all of this I am assuming that the Passport format ( FAT32) will be the same as the Andriod which you have indicated is likely to be the case.

Hoping you can help

Peter