The phone does not see the otg cable. How to connect a USB flash drive to an Android tablet and smartphone - transfer files using an external flash drive. How it works

Users Android smartphones or tablets sometimes encounter the problem that the phone does not recognize the USB flash drive. Now we will try to figure out what this is connected with and what to do.

Why doesn't my phone recognize the USB flash drive?

Devices running the Android operating system allow you to connect external storage devices, for example, a USB drive, HDD. This is done using a special cable called OTG. So, let's look at why the phone does not see the USB flash drive.

If you need a high-quality and inexpensive USB flash drive, order it.

Reason 1: The device does not support OTG

To connect external drives to the device, it must support On-The-Go technology. Its essence is that the phone supplies power to the storage device or hard drive via an OTG cable. You need to check whether the device works with this technology:

  1. Let's go to Play Market, enter USB OTG Checker in the search bar.
  2. Install the first application from the list of results.

  3. Let's launch it.
  4. If it shows that everything is fine, you can connect the OTG cable and the drive.

    5. This is one of the reasons why the phone does not see the USB flash drive through the OTG adapter.

    Reason 2: Android version

    The phone must have the Android operating system installed starting from version 3.1; USB 2.0 and 3.0 are not supported below.

    Reason 3: File system format

    Devices on which it is installed official firmware file systems supported:

  • exFAT;
  • FAT32.

Unfortunately, the phone will not work with others. There are two options:

  1. Format your drive for the desired file system.
  2. To install an application that supports other file systems, however, you will need root rights.

Of course, the second method is convenient; you don’t have to delete anything from the drive, but not every user has root rights and not everyone knows how to do this. Therefore, the easiest way is to simply format the drive through a computer. This is done quite simply:

Please note that during the formatting process, all data on the drive will be destroyed.

Reason 3: Lack of nutrition

It’s rare, but it still happens that the phone does not provide enough power to operate a flash drive or external hard drive. In this case, there is only one way out - to use an active USB hub to which external power is connected.

In this case, mobility is, alas, out of the question.

Reason 4: The connector is damaged

The connector where the OTG cable is connected may be faulty, and even if charging goes through it, this does not mean that it is working. The contacts responsible for data transfer may not be working. In this case, you need to go to service center.

Reason 4: The OTG cable is damaged



One of the reasons why the phone does not see a flash drive connected via an OTG cable is a malfunction of the cable itself. You need to connect it to another device and connect a flash drive to it; if the drive goes unnoticed, you need to change the cable.

Reason 5: OTG power controller burned out

Sometimes it happens that an Android smartphone does not supply power or does, but not enough. This can be checked:


In this case, you need to take the device to a service center.

How to connect a USB flash drive to your smartphone


So that there is no unnecessary questions, worth writing brief instructions How to connect a USB flash drive to a smartphone:

  1. Take the OTG adapter. It must have a USB connector. To buy an adapter of the required standard, it is better to go to the store with a smartphone, then you will definitely get what you need. If there is an OTG, connect it to the microUSB connector of the phone or tablet.
  2. You need to connect a flash drive to the USB connector of the OTG cable.
  3. Then you should go to the address sdcard/usbStorage in your smartphone’s file manager, the contents of the drive will be there.

Here's how to connect a USB drive to your smartphone.

If there is no OTG function

Some users wonder how to connect USB flash drive to a smartphone if it does not have the OTG function. Unfortunately, there are no smartphones with USB ports, as they are quite large. The only option is to use an OTG adapter; connecting a flash drive to a phone without OTG is unrealistic.

Conclusion

Now you know why your smartphone doesn’t see the flash drive and what to do if it doesn’t have the OTG function. Study this material carefully and everything will become clear.

We told you how you can access your phone or tablet with operating system Android connect USB gaming peripherals, such as a joystick or gamepad, both from a computer and from a game console. But the USB port installed in your Android device can work not only with joysticks.

Maybe you, like us, have had the thought come into your head more than once; “Why can’t you just connect a USB flash drive to your Android phone or tablet and download files directly?” In fact, this can be done, although sometimes this operation is associated with some difficulties. Today we will tell you, dear readers, how to connect a USB flash drive to your mobile device.

How to connect a flash drive to an Android device via micro-USB

In the majority modern smartphones and tablets with Android OS, a standard micro-USB connector is installed as a communication port. In order for a phone or tablet to see devices connected to it through this port, it must support the technology USB On-The-Go, abbreviated USB OTG(sometimes you can also find the name USB Host). This technology means that the micro-USB port can supply power to external devices, thus allowing them to be visible in the system. The implementation of this technology is present in the Android operating system from version 3.1 and higher, so if your phone or tablet is not completely old-fashioned, then everything should work as it should.

If you are not sure about the hardware capabilities of your mobile device, and do not find the relevant information in technical documentation to it, you can try installing the USB OTG Checker application on your Android device, available for download at Google Play market.

Its only function is quick check phone or tablet for support of USB On-The-Go (USB Host) technology.

The only thing you need to connect a USB flash drive to an Android device is a USB On-The-Go (USB OTG) adapter cable.

You can buy it at any computer or mobile store and it is quite inexpensive. Sometimes manufacturers include it in the delivery package of their devices, saving us time and money.

You insert it with the corresponding end into the micro-USB connector of your mobile device, connect the flash drive to the other end, and the job is done, you can look for the files on the flash drive in the usb storage folder (sometimes just USB), which will appear among the drives available in the system. It can be accessed using any file manager.

Unfortunately, not all mobile devices running the Android operating system can work this way. in a simple way. It often happens that you connect a flash drive to micro-USB via an adapter using the above method, but nothing happens. If you are sure that your device supports USB On-The-Go technology, but nothing happens when you connect the flash drive to your phone or tablet via an adapter cable, do not despair.

This problem occurs because your mobile device does not automatically mount the external drive, and it needs help with this. On Google market Play you can find several programs that can do this. The most popular is StickMount, which can be downloaded for free. The latest version of the program works with the operating system Android system 4.0 and higher. The application can work not only with USB flash drives, but also with digital cameras and other similar equipment.

Note, this application Root access is required! If you have not yet opened root on your mobile device, it's time to do so right now. You can find out how this is done from our database article:

As soon as you install StickMount on your device, you can connect a USB flash drive via USB cable OTG. When connected, your Android device will show you a pop-up asking if you want to launch StickMount. Agree with this, the program will detect your USB drive and mount it.

You can find your drive along the path /sdcard/usbStorage/sda1.

To safely remove the flash drive back, go to the program and select the "Unmount" command.

How to connect a flash drive to an Android device without micro-USB

Chinese companies, and even famous manufacturers, sometimes sin by installing non-standard connectors on their mobile phones and tablets with the Android OS, to which it is not possible to connect a USB On-The-Go adapter cable directly. If you are the happy owner of just such a device, to use a USB flash drive with it, first you will need to find an appropriate adapter connecting USB connector with a proprietary connector from your manufacturer.

This can be difficult, since every store around the corner usually does not sell such adapters. But you can always find and order required adapter via the Internet on Western or Chinese trading platforms.

Otherwise, the algorithm of actions is the same as in the previous section. Connect the flash drive, and if it is not detected right away, try using a special mounting program.

We hope our article helped you figure out the question “How to connect a flash drive to Android”, and transferring files to your mobile device and back to an external drive has become much easier.

Android OS tablets today are positioned as full-fledged workplaces. It's no joke, they actually already know a lot, including working with numerous USB peripherals. Mice, keyboards, printers, game controllers and many other devices are connected to tablets using a special cable. But, without a doubt, the most familiar and popular USB device, familiar to everyone, is a regular USB flash drive. In today's article you will learn how to easily “make friends” of your tablet with absolutely any flash drive.

What is USB-OTG? This technology appeared back in 2001 and was intended for the same thing it is used for now: connecting USB devices to gadgets like mobile phones and wearable media players. Key Feature OTG is that head device(in our case, a tablet) can work in both “host” and “client” modes.

In other words, through the same port, our tablet can not only work with a flash drive, but also act as one itself when connected to a PC via the appropriate cable.

How it works

But how exactly does this all work? Surprisingly, the technology has not undergone any significant changes since its invention. In order to switch the tablet to the “host” mode, the OTG cable is equipped with a special jumper, which is not included in the regular USB cable included in the kit. Thanks to this jumper, the tablet “understands” that this particular cable is connected and “gives” energy to the flash drive, rather than receiving it, for example, for charging. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

By the way, on this moment There are devices that allow tablets to work with OTG and charge at the same time, which is incredibly convenient for several reasons. Instead of a jumper, they use resistance (resistor) and voltage with charger is supplied not only to the tablet itself, but also to the flash drive connected to it. Unfortunately, this function Not all tablets support it yet.

Possible problems when connecting OTG

Sometimes it happens that your cable is working properly, but for some reason the tablet stubbornly refuses to “see” the external device. We'll look into why this might happen below.


What to do if OTG does not work

If you have read the list and know why OTG does not work, let's try to find several solutions to your problem.


However, it often happens that the capabilities of FAT32 become insufficient. The fact is that this file system has one significant drawback - it does not support working with files larger than 4 GB. This drawback can be very critical for those who like to watch movies in high resolution on their tablet. NTFS does not have such a problem, and this is where the question arises of how to teach our tablet to work with this file system. There are several ways to do this. The simplest is to install programs that allow you to mount NTFS on any device running Android OS. The most common one among them is “Paragon NTFS & HFS+”. It is distributed free of charge and allows you to mount not only NTFS, but also HFS+, which Apple uses in its Macs. The program is very convenient and simple. Its only drawback is that you need ROOT rights to work with it.

  1. As for portable HDDs. As noted above, most of them will not work with tablets due to higher power consumption. How can we deal with this problem?

The first option is an active USB hub. This is a regular USB hub, but with external power supply, allowing you to connect large quantity devices without loss of speed. Flaw this method— not all tablets support hubs, plus an additionally occupied outlet.

Example of an active USB hub

The second option is HDD with external power supply. It’s not just tablets that lack the “strength” to promote external HDDs. Some laptops also cannot cope with this task, so you can often find HDDs with two USBs on sale. One goes into the tablet, the second goes into the charger.

But the HDD with external power supply

Don't forget that almost all HDDs are formatted in NTFS, so before connecting the hard drive to the tablet, you should take care of this too.

The basics of working with external drives

So, we connected the flash drive to our tablet, what next? All modern file managers support USB-OTG. The most popular and functional is “ES Explorer”. In order to “get” to the flash drive, you need to select the appropriate item in the main menu. Now you can view files on it, edit them, copy, delete and perform any actions with them, just as you do with a microSD card or the memory of the tablet itself.

Main menu of the ES Explorer program

USB drive opened in the program

If possible to install file manager no, you can find a flash drive connected to the tablet through the manager built into the firmware. Some standard FMs are capable of displaying external flash drives in the main menu, like “ES Explorer,” while others require you to independently search for external drives. You can find a USB flash drive at the following address - root of the tablet memory (root) - storage - usbdisk.

Tablet memory root

And here is the flash drive itself

The read/write speed depends both on the flash drive itself and on the characteristics of your tablet. New devices that support USB 3.0, for example, allow you to work with external drives at speeds that are in no way inferior to internal memory.

You can test a flash drive for read/write speed on Android, for example, using the “A1 SD Bench” program.

A1 SD Bench program

Is it possible to “make friends” between two Android tablets via OTG?

Surely, this is a question that interested many after reading this article. There are situations when you need to convey large volume information from one tablet to another. For example, a folder with photos, big game or a movie of a gigabyte or two in size. Of course, even if the tablet has the latter Bluetooth versions, you will have to wait more than one hour. This, of course, is not an option. This begs the question, is it possible to connect two Android tablets or smartphones to each other via OTG? The answer is yes. However, there are some limitations. WITH latest versions Android Google is gradually moving away from mounting device memory as USB drives. Now most Android devices are connected using the MTP protocol, that is, as media devices, since this is more secure from a corporate point of view.

Smartphone connected via MTP

What does this mean? And the fact that Android does not currently support MTP connection to it. You can get around this by switching your smartphone or tablet to standard storage mode using the corresponding item in the settings. If there are no such settings, you can try to do this using special programs. Unfortunately, these programs are not a panacea and will not work with every tablet.

If the tablet does not work as a drive

As a result, if your tablet does not work as a storage device, you have only one outlet for transferring a large amount of information - WiFi. The essence of such a transfer is the following - one device is the host and opens the access point, and the other is the client, which, in fact, connects to this point. Today, many programs allow such transfer, for example, the same “ES Explorer” or the MiDrop function of Xiaomi. But the most convenient program is SHAREit

Although it was copied from the Transfer application in MIUI (they even connect without problems), it is supported by all Android devices and provides enormous data transfer speeds. There is no comparison with Bluetooth. In addition to this, it looks nice, is very easy to use and allows you to transfer data even to Apple products. In general, this is truly a “must have” for any Android device.

Now we will look at the reasons and what to do in a situation where your Android does not see a flash drive or hard drive via a USB OTG cable.

This article is suitable for all brands that produce phones on Android 9/8/7/6: Samsung, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Sony, ZTE, Huawei, Meizu, Fly, Alcatel, Xiaomi, Nokia and others. We are not responsible for your actions.

TO Android device you can connect a flash drive and even external hard disk via an OTG adapter, but this is not always possible to do the first time. The reasons may be different, from an incorrect file system to partial damage to the connector on the smartphone.

Most often, you can fix the problem yourself, but in severe cases you have to contact a service center.

Attention! In the comment there is another piece of advice from a reader with experience in solving this problem. Don't forget to check it out.

Reasons why Android does not see via OTG adapter

If you are trying to understand why Android does not see a USB flash drive, then the first thing you need to do is make sure that the smartphone can work with USB Flash.

To do this, it must support USB On-The-Go technology. It means that microUSB supplies power to the external drive via an OTG cable, so that it becomes visible in Android, just like in Windows 7/10/XP.

To make sure that the hardware characteristics allow you to connect a modem, flash drive, keyboard or any other USB device to your phone, install the application on Android.

If the program shows that the phone is ready to work with external devices through the hub, you can connect the OTG cable and establish a connection with the flash drive through it.

Increase

In addition to the lack of support for USB On-The-Go technology, there are other reasons why Android does not see the flash drive through the cord, even if the indicator is on:

  • Inappropriate OS version. To work with equipment that supports USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, the device must have Android version 3.1 and higher.
  • The volume of the connected storage device is too large.
  • If there is connection sound, but the equipment cannot be detected (or it is just charging), make sure that it is file system has a suitable Fat32 format. NTFS and ExFat are not readable on Android.
  • Flash drive malfunction. Try connecting it to your computer to make sure the drive works.
  • Damage to the connector on the phone/tablet. Even if, this does not mean that the connector is completely intact - the contacts responsible for data transmission may be damaged.
  • Damage to the OTG cable or adapter. To make sure it is working properly, connect another flash drive to another phone that is known to be suitable for this task.

In some cases, you will not be able to connect your device without root. This happens if specific model phone cannot automatically mount external storage. To eliminate the shortcoming, you need third-party software - for example, an application that can work with flash drives, modems, cameras and other devices.


 Increase

When connecting equipment via an OTG cable, the program will automatically detect and mount it. You can find the contents of the drive in the /sdcard/usbStorage/sda1 folder. To safely remove the drive, you must select the “Unmount” option in StickMount.