Access usb hard drive from tablet?

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peejayw

1841 posts

Uber Geek

#119680 10-Jun-2013 13:23

Here is the setup. I have a usb hard drive connected to my modem (Linksys X3500) and my laptop can see and access it across wifi.
Can I do the same using my tablet so I can stream content off the hard drive to the tablet?
Thanks.

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

n4

959 posts

Ultimate Geek

#833533 10-Jun-2013 13:37

ES File Manager has access to network shares (Windows/Samba). Try it and see.

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

nzlegs

52 posts

Master Geek

#833590 10-Jun-2013 14:51

I have a 1TB portable hard drive attached to my Android tablet and the only thing affected is the battery life. The ability to read content is unaffected.
I do have to install an APP to read content but that is OK.

If I use an external USB flash drive battery life is only slightly reduced.

Oh the tablet is a Nexus 7 inch by google.

Oblivian

7297 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#833603 10-Jun-2013 15:26

The topic reads as if you want to connect it directly (as with the last post), and I picked it up the same and was about to say get an OTG adaptor and make sure you use a low power device or one with its own external drive..

But what you were meaning I take it, is you want to be able to play media on the tablet from a remote location.

This will work if you use DLNA capable router and the likes of XMBC on the tablet, however streaming to android devices is quite trivial and there is no good solution so far that I could find. Including the samsung equivalent of airplay (allshare). It allows for sharing out, but not watching remote content.

There are as pointed out SMB/Samba reading file management utils. But often trying to play from remote devices will say nup can't do it (no support to know to cache/decode locally), or not know what to do with it and try and download the file instead.

peejayw

1841 posts

Uber Geek

#833748 10-Jun-2013 20:37

OK, forgot about ES File explorer, works great, thanks.

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

peejayw

1841 posts

Uber Geek

#833770 10-Jun-2013 21:08

This is not android specific now but how do I transfer from say my laptop to the USB hard drive? Have tried the normal copy methods but nothing gets written to the drive.

I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

n4

959 posts

Ultimate Geek

#833788 10-Jun-2013 21:37

Perhaps there are some read/write permissions you need to set on the router?

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees