Despite the support of an Android smartphone or tablet with SD cards up to 32 GB, sometimes you need to connect external "storage" - portable hard drives and flash drives.

The essence of the problem with USB flash drives on Android devices

Modern Flash drives have a capacity of up to 128 GB. This amount of memory is not superfluous, especially when the owner of a smartphone or tablet downloads and distributes many films, music, programs, etc. at once. Additional memory is needed. The essence of the problem is as follows.

• You cannot install more than one SD card in each gadget - these are not SIM cards, there is only one SD card slot in a smartphone or tablet. Devices with two microSD slots are a big question. There are also no memory cards with a capacity of terabytes or more, all this is a matter of the future.
• It is not always possible to transfer your content from the device to the “cloud” and back: the mobile Internet is not completely unlimited, and looking for Wi-Fi around the city or “attaching” to a router with Internet from Rostelecom at home and at work is also not an option.
• Constantly exchanging tens of gigabytes of traffic per day over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, a smartphone or tablet consumes a lot of energy. To recharge the gadget, you need an outlet or a powerful PowerBank with a battery with a capacity of 10 or more ampere-hours. In general, you need to store all your “pumped up” goodness somewhere, while remaining mobile and free to choose.

To do this, you need to connect additional “flash drives” via microUSB. An ideal option for those who often go on business trips or travel is to carry a tablet and several “flash drives” 32-128 GB in a bag.

How to connect a flash drive to an Android gadget via OTG

OTG is a USB to microUSB adapter, a replacement for a USB cable with a Card Reader. It takes up little space - no more than a standard flash drive. In this case, the flash drive must be formatted in FAT32 - with the NTFS file system for the Android operating system, not everything is going smoothly yet.

There is a more difficult way: install a special Android application that allows a smartphone or tablet to work with NTFS media. So, it can be exFAT/NTFS for Total Commander, Paragon NTFS & HFS+ and their analogues.

If the flash drive is not readable, special Android applications are needed. Some of them require Root rights.

How to get root access

Applications that allow you to get Root access without using a computer: FramaRoot, Universal Androot, Visionary +, GingerBreak, z4root, BaiduRoot, Romaster SU, Towelroot, RootDashi, 360 Root, etc.

Applications that "hack" Root via PC: SuperOneClick, Unrevoked, GenoTools, vRoot, MTKDroidTools, etc.

Remember that by obtaining Root rights, you lose the supplier's warranty and risk harming your gadget.

Another way is to change the licensed Android firmware to "custom" firmware with unattached Root access.

View the contents of a flash drive on an Android smartphone or tablet using third-party applications

USB Media Explorer App

Those who want to simplify the process of accessing a USB flash drive can use the paid USB Media Explorer application. The old name of the program is Nexus Media Importer; it was originally developed for Nexus gadgets, but quickly expanded the range of supported Android smartphones and tablets. Root-rights are not needed, the program is paid.

If this solution does not suit you, you will have to work a little.

Solutions based on StickMount

The StickMount app is one of the most famous and requires Root rights. Works in conjunction with any Android file manager, such as ES File Explorer. Both applications are in the Play Market.

Connecting USB flash drives to devices that do not have miniUSB/microUSB

A number of firms, not as well known as ZTE, Huawei, Sony and their other competitors, install non-standard interface connectors. OTG adapters with miniUSB / microUSB are absolutely not suitable for gadgets with a narrowly standardized connector without a special OTG adapter. Look on the same Ebay or AliExpress for an OTG adapter that meets the standard of the interface socket of your smartphone or tablet. Further steps to gain programmatic access to your flash drives are the same.