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Root Roms on external drive compatibilty

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OddGamer70

Lurker
Ok I recently bought a new Nexus 7 16 GB 2013 tablet through amazon. I am using it mostly for emulating games. Now I have plenty of space to download and play old nes games and other stuff but I would like to play N64 and PS1 games as well. I have looked in various places on the internet to find out if I can play roms on an external drive hooked up to my Nexus. I've seen I might need a UTG cable or a USB HUB for power. Also the Nexus Media Importer app might be necessary.

So the question is, can I take say a WD 1tb passport with a bunch of roms on it, plug it into my USB HUB for power and in the same HUB plug in the Nexus 7 with the installed emulators and be able to play the games?

Thanks in advance!
 
I doubt this would work unless you rooted your N7. Using an OTG cable and the Nexus Media Importer app you could probably copy one of your ROMs to the N7 and then use it but you wouldn't be able to load the ROM directly from the external drive.
 
You will need to root in order to achieve the functionality you desire.

XDA's WugFresh makes a very easy to use and reliable toolkit that can root your device with literally one click on a windows based PC.

Nexus Root Toolkit v1.8.1 | WugFresh

Note that unlocking your N7 bootloader will completely ERASE the device, ensure you have proper backups stored off the device before hand.

You can use Helium to back up your apps and data before you root, just make sure you use Helium's local webserver option or manually transfer the proper folder to a computer.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.backup

I have an OTG cable I use with a WD Passport drive along with a root app called Stick Mount that alows me to access gigs of storage and data, but my tablet is rooted and even to this day I use Wug's NRT to manage and perform additional tasks as it is very easy to use but comprehensive.
 
Ok my Nexus is now rooted and everything. So thanks for that! I'm ordering a passport through amazon so I should get in a few days.

Will I need a certain app like the one you mentioned? Also do I need to do anything else once I get my passport?
 
OddGamer70 said:
Ok my Nexus is now rooted and everything. So thanks for that! I'm ordering a passport through amazon so I should get in a few days.

Will I need a certain app like the one you mentioned? Also do I need to do anything else once I get my passport?
Click to expand...

You will need StickMount, I believe there is a free and pro version.

You will also need a good file manager, I highly suggest ES File Explorer. When Stick mount actually mounts an external memory stick or drive it will create a folder on the root of your tablet called USB Storage. In that folder you will find whatever data is on your removable storage.

It helps having a rock solid and feature rich file manager like ES File Explorer to navigate and manipulate your data.
 
One more thing -

Now that you are rooted and starting over fresh, it is an excellent time to make a nandroid backup!

You can use Wug's NRT to make the nandroid or boot your tablet into recovery and make the backup there. In recovery you can store the nandroid right to a USB stick or using NRT it will transfer the backup to your PC.

A nandroid is like a time machine, if you ever screw up your tablet or it crashes out on you then as long as you can boot into recovery you can restore the nandroid and your tablet will go right back to the way it was the minute you made the backup.

Very handy to have.
 
Total Commander and USB Stick Lite... no root solution for free.
Works for me... quick copy anything... so far... ;)


Edited June 5th 2014

While that worked, as I started needing to do this much more often, I rooted and switched to StickMount.

My previous recommendation is not root compatible...

Wugfresh is awesome!
 
Another solution if your router has the ability to take a USB drive - plug the drive into the router and the files on it are available in ES File Explorer in LAN. (No hardware, no software, and they're available on any computer in the network.)
 
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