Gadgets flooded the market and for many have become an integral part of life. Thanks to technology, it became possible to combine devices and facilitate work. Therefore, many users want to know how to connect an external hard drive to the tablet.
For what?
External storage has become an excellent alternative to additional storage. And if using it on a PC is very simple, then additional help is needed to use it on a tablet or other device. But why do this?
How to connect an external hard drive to the tablet? In some cases, many do not even understand why, in principle, do it. It so happened that not all tablet users need to expand the device’s memory. They have enough built-in, and in extreme cases, you can buy a memory card.
But there are users who work with the tablet and spend free time with it. Therefore, the amount of memory that is available on a standard drive is not enough. In addition to documents, they store special programs and many multimedia files. Some may require more than 500 GB of free space. Therefore, it is important to understand how to connect an external hard drive to the tablet.
Connections
In fact, this is a simple operation that even an inexperienced user can handle. The only difficulty is that you have to acquire auxiliary tools.
How to connect an external hard drive to the tablet? There are not as many ways of this as it might seem. First of all, you need to purchase an OTG-USB cable. Make sure that there is an adapter, in case the tablet does not support OTG.
The first way: directly
For him, it is enough to take the "native" cable of the external drive and connect directly to the tablet. In some cases, additional adapters and wires are not needed. If everything is done correctly, a message will appear on the screen that the drive is connected to it. Almost all modern models are designed for such a simple connection that does not require additional costs.
The second way: using an adapter
And how to connect an external hard drive to the tablet? Sometimes you have to purchase an OTG-USB cable. This is a small wire that has an adapter with a USB port. Therefore, not only a drive, but also a mouse, keyboard, printer and other equipment can be connected to a tablet.
This method should be addressed if the first option has not yielded results. For example, you could connect a drive, but the tablet does not see it. Or you know in advance that the device does not support OTG.
The adapter is no different from the others. The only thing is that it can look like a short cable or look like a USB flash drive. In the first and second cases, a micro-USB connector is located on one end, and a USB port on the other.
Further, it is enough to simply connect the HDD to the tablet through this cable and begin work. In the case of a correct connection, a notification also appears on the screen, which indicates a detected drive.
Third way: application
In the question of how to connect a removable USB drive to Android, you can find another answer. For example, it is enough to use an ordinary cable, as in the first connection option, but at the same time install a special application that will help to establish correct operation between devices.
This software can be downloaded from Google Play. The Nexus Media Importer will cost you $ 3, but it's worth it. It is immediately important to note that despite the fact that the application name refers to the Nexus manufacturer, the program also works on other tablet models.
Thanks to the software, special files will be installed at the hardware level, which will provide OTG support.
Fourth way: economical
Connecting a hard drive to the tablet can also be done using another software. Its advantage over the previous one is that it is free. But the question now is different: installation requires ROOT rights.
StickMount can only work correctly in case of special user rights. If you have them, then it will be enough to install any conductor, and when connecting the drive to give the software the appropriate rights and access. Thus, it will be possible to quickly deal with the connection problem.
Connecting other devices: computer and wireless hard drives
In addition to an external drive, you can try to connect a computer hard drive. If we compare the cost of two drives of the same volume, then a computer hard drive is definitely cheaper. But it will be more difficult to connect to the tablet. How to connect the hard drive to the device in this case?
You need to purchase adapters OTG-USB and SATA-USB, you also have to find a power supply for the hard drive, since it requires more power for correct operation. After that, it will be enough to connect everything together and work with the hard drive.
You can also try connecting a laptop version of the hard drive. But there is no difference with the computer. The only thing is that the cost of the laptop version will be slightly higher. Therefore, it is worth considering here whether there is any sense in principle from this.
And finally, few people know, but there is a Wi-Fi hard drive. This is the most ideal option, which can only be inferior in speed. Such a drive is equipped with an integrated wireless network module. Therefore, it is enough to connect via Wi-Fi to use the data.
There is also another option: you can purchase such a hard drive with a built-in battery. But such models are less common, and their cost is extremely high.
For example, Samsung
Now connect the hard drive to the Samsung Galaxy Tab. This is a popular series of tablets, which may differ in appearance and some basic parameters. But in general, they are all similar, so the instructions for connecting the railway to this model can be considered universal.
First, it’s better to check if the model has a USB host. This information can most often be found on the forums, as it is rarely found in official specifications.
For example, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 model lacks this option, but the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 has it. Therefore, there is nothing to do with the first option, since it will not be easy for an inexperienced user to understand ROOT rights and custom firmware. But the second model is more malleable to the connection.
Next, just find the necessary adapter for the tablet. Samsung Galaxy Tab has a special proprietary connector, so the adapter will have to be sought from the manufacturer. After successful searches, you will again have to tackle obtaining ROOT rights and installing programs. Therefore, if this scares you in advance, it is better to forget about connecting the hard drive to the tablet.
Note
It just so happened that problems with connecting the drive to the tablets are found only with older models. Almost all new products support the work of hard drives, and additional cables, adapters or power are not needed for connection.
It is also easy to find an external drive that does not require phantom power and does not have special ports. It is enough to take the "native" cable to connect it to any device: tablet, smartphone, PC and even to the TV.