yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
Truth be told, I'm not even sure I care that much about being able to play the media on an external device like that. I'm just happy that there's an option for external storage giving you, at the very least, the capability to copy files to/from the external media. I think I'd lean towards that anyway so that way there's not "another mouth to feed" with having to power an additional device connected to the tablet. Sure, the power draw may be minimal, but I'd rather maximize the battery life at all costs given the chance, especially because you never know what kind of layover you may be facing in an airport. I think my opinion here stands as such because I have a few trips coming up, so of course I'm thinking about getting stacked full of movies to pass time. That said, I'm going to start to sound like a real disk hog but as I began adding up the movies I'd want to bring for the magnitude of hours I'd be on these flights, I realized even a 64GB variant of the Nexus 7 may put me at a limitation. Really the sweet spot would be 128GB. :laugh: That said, with typical day to day use, I'm extremely doubtful that myself, somebody who works in the IT field and plans to utilize this tablet at work, would max out the onboard storage. I'm even convinced I could be okay with the 8GB variant (judging on my Android phone storage usage). But hey, time will tell.

So anyway, I'm gathering that from a hardware standpoint everything is in good shape, so long as you're rooted and using StickMount. Fun side question - why StickMount? Is there something about it that's exclusive? Or are there other alternatives to StickMount? Just curious.

Now, this may come as a dumb question, so if it is pardon my ignorance, but what capability would there be for the vendor to lock out this feature? This sounds like a feature that is becoming increasingly popular on tablets, so it stands to reason to let the feature available for users to utilize. That said, far too often I hear of other vendors crippling their devices, such as the obvious top contender, Apple, and Amazon with their Kindle Fire. I guess it stands to reason to be some sort of food for thought on the matter, as I'd hate to begin to rely on a feature that somebody decides later I don't need to have via software update. Since we're talking hardware, I suppose what we have is what we have and we're in good shape - no?

About your tests Nattawat... Have you had the same experience on that 1TB external HDD as with USB flash drives? I can only imagine there's a substantial power draw difference between the two, so I'd be curious to see how they stack up against one another. Not to mention, maybe flash media with the flash drive potentially giving it a little more of a bump?
[Nexus 7 General] R3dbeaver:
my solution:

- on the go: my RAZR can tether some of its 6gb/mth plan

- at home: file shares. why move the .avi from ur desktop/whatever if u can just stream directly? ES File Explorer does the trick for me for streaming 720p to my RAZR from my torrent box...err... media server running Win7.

8Gb is fine.
[Nexus 7 General] Outrager:
I fixed it for you.
[Nexus 7 General] neok44:
i basically feel the same. may not use it, but want it.

Stickmount is the only app because it works and no one has felt like making a new one. the developer is excellent and has done a great job so everyone is satisfied with it.

There is no real reason to lock this feature out, and even if it was locked out, like in the Nexus 7, with root you can get around it. Some people say it was a "cost cutting measure" but since it's software thats bull****. Google either purposly removed it working out of the box for jelly bean or something changed to make it not work, but stickmount works with just a "jelly bean update" so it's probably just minor changes in jelly bean.

Why would google not want this? simple. cloud and google play. They don't want you bringing your own media, they want you to store all your music in the cloud and buy all your movies in google play, and if you already have movies, pay for google drive and download them that way.

What google doesn't realize is that the vasty majority of us do NOT have wifi everywhere and have to rely on tethering our phones that don't have unlimited data, so using the cloud to transfer a 3-6GB HD movie is pretty damn stupid.

but oh then you'll just rent it from the store, or use netflix. and thats probably the goal, but it's not going to work because android will always be hackable and we'll always have devs to FIX what google tries to break.

as far as a 1TB hard drive, i saw someone post in here saying they got a portable 1TB to work off the tablets power.
[Nexus 7 General] Nattawat:
Is there a stable release of VLC yet? I'm using the VLC Beta (NEON version) found on Play Store to test, and so far I haven't been able to use it. It usually froze when trying to list files inside the hard drive, and if I try to open with VLC through ES Explorer, it still doesn't load.

I didn't have a large-capacity USB flash drive to test around, but I'm curious about this too. USB flash drive use less power than HDD and I feel it is more stable than the HDD. However, I believed flash drives tend to have slower read speed than the HDD, and I'm not sure how it will do when opening a very large HD movies with all those skipping and such.
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
I see. So you don't believe this was something that is accidentally available thanks to the hardware present and the root capability? Or do you think it's possible that Google built the device with this feature in mind but it somehow got locked out software wise? Quite honestly, I would think if Google wanted it to be 100% locked out, they would have designed the hardware to not allow it. The fact that the hardware supports it, but the software does not, suggests to me that it may have been:

1 - Designed for the tweaker... for somebody to root and gain appropriate access to utilize this feature.

2 - Accidental oversight that may be fixed at the non-root level with a software update.

3 - Or possibly, somehow, someway, they flat out didn't realize this capability was here? (which I find impossible)

After all, I've never heard of USB OTG, but I've never owned a nice Android phone or an Android tablet. As I Google around it sounds like other tablets have been supporting this for some time now, so I guess it stands to reason that maybe they understand there's a market of people out there who want/need a feature such as this.

I can't help but to think... I wonder if Google's reasoning for dropping micro SD was indeed largely related to the amount of horsepower that was shoved into the device. I mean, for what it packs vs the price, I find it astonishing that they (Google and Asus) pulled it off. On top of that, micro SD is an obvious thing to sacrifice to gain another square inch (assuming they were pinching for internal space for components) considering they would have their cloud services to piggy back that notion. I don't think Google is stupid enough (maybe, though?) to remove micro SD ENTIRELY for maximum utilization of cloud services when there's no 3G or 4G capability. Not to mention, maybe they full on knew that USB OTG being supported on the hardware (and software when rooted) that it would suffice for Android tweakers who demand more expandability?

Lots of if's and maybe's. Either way, is this a feature that can somehow, someway be blocked? Or can we rooted Android users sit tight knowing it's a feature here to stay?

Side question - Do other tablets (Galaxy Tab, etc?) that support USB OTG require root to utilize?
[Nexus 7 General] WinDroidGuy:
Try builds from here http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/, I use VLC to stream and it always works.

Sent from my Nexus 7
[Nexus 7 General] simeoncader:
Worried about space? AirStash is the answer!!

http://www.airstash.com/

Pretty much infinite storage on SD cards, shared wirelessly to your tablet on the go!!
[Nexus 7 General] R3dbeaver:
thanks. that was what i meant.

interesting.................

damn. not cheap though. 16gb for $180Canadian.

its basically a USB-stick-size wireless NAS, isnt it?
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
I came across this link, which goes a little more in depth about how chaotic it can get at the file system level when utilizing SD cards.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/1...behind-galaxy-nexus-lack-of-usb-mass-storage/

Now... If I'm understanding this properly, the Nexus 7 does indeed support OTG 100%, which the mouse/keyboard working out of the box suggests. What's missing out of the box is the driver to handle USB storage, which is somehow worked around when you root the device and utilize StickMount to handle the job. I wonder... how does StickMount work to accomplish this?

According to what I read with other tablets, other tablets don't need to be rooted to fully utilize OTG/USB storage. If that's the case, it sounds like a conscious decision to leave that driver/support out which would have otherwise enabled the Nexus 7 to fully support OTG/USB storage right out of the box without the need for root. While it's easy enough to root to get this task done, it's still somewhat disappointing. That being said, I'm still very curious as to "why" it was done.
[Nexus 7 General] neok44:
in reply to this and to your other post, Google Nexus devices are the ONLY ones that have completely done away with removeable storage. The Galaxy S III and the Asus tablet that the N7 was built on both have sd slots.

Google moved onto this full internal partition because it gives you the full space for your apps and storage when previous phones only had 200MB-2GB worth of space for apps.

But Google has also decided that they don't want any removable storage on their devices, hence the removal of sd slots on the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 7. They've also evidently decided that they don't really want you hooking up removable storage, but evidently they also don't mind if you hack it on.

we will never know the real reason unless google flat out says it, and various technical reasons have been given for removing removable memory but since multiple ICS devices are out with SD and USB ports any argument against it is basically bull****.

My Asus Transformer has 2 USB ports on the dock and a microsd slot. I have a 16GB microsd inserted at all times, i've also had my 1TB portable HD and a 32GB flash drive all plugged in at the same time with NO issues on ICS. everything works perfectly.

so basically in the end it's just a decision that google has made for their devices. And luckily stickmount, (ask the dev how he did it) fixes it for us by enabling OTG storage support.

I know if it wasn't for stickmount i probably would of sold my Galaxy Nexus for a Galaxy S III
[Nexus 7 General] dferrey:
I would guess it's the same reason as not including an sdcard slot.

Google has positioned this as a cloud device and easy access to storage beyond what's directly included would distract from that focus.
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
I can't help but to call bull**** on the cloud service, because without 3G or 4G, I feel like that argument holds no water. Even WITH 3G or 4G I'd still argue against it, because I see the cloud as a convenient platform, but not something you can 100% rely on. It very well may be the case though... which if it is I just happen to disagree with it.

The more reading I do on the subject, the more it sounds like it's more of a software limitation. It almost has to be since of course it works when rooted (suggesting the hardware is there and working), unless StickMount does some serious crazy voodoo black magic on it. If it is a Jelly Bean limitation, it makes me wonder if other devices will lack this feature when they get their 4.1 update.
[Nexus 7 General] rmm200:
See if you can get some information from the stickmount author about what he did.

My understanding - it is not a driver.

Likely to be modifications to the mount point and maybe permissions.

Google likely broke it when they revised partitions, to get away from the arbitrary 2GB limit on the data partition.

Never attribute to maliciousness what can be explained by incompetence.
[Nexus 7 General] digital_pro:
Good news about playing media off OTG-USB...

Some good news. After the 4.1.1 update my (rooted) Nexus 7 (Google I/O version) can now play videos off my OTG-USB + Patriot 32GB Flash drive. Used stock video player. I'll do more experiments soon, but this was certainly a promising development.
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
Were you using StickMount to accomplish this? I'm equally curious if a non-rooted deivce with the OTA update you speak of could run a test drive and see...

Let us know what you find! :good:
[Nexus 7 General] Bayton:
This absolutely requires unrooted testing.
[Nexus 7 General] oconnell84:
Here is another option:

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Wi-Drive-External-WID-16GBZ/dp/B00576APBQ/ref=pd_cp_e_1
[Nexus 7 General] digital_pro:
Yes, forgot to mention that I used Stickmount, and Root Explorer. Interestingly, even after un-installing Stickmount & rebooting, I could still see & play the video files UNTIL I removed and re-attached the OTG cable. They were no longer to be found at that point until I re-installed Stickmount & re-ran its mount command. So from my limited testing so far, the good news is media files can play directly off my OTG-connected flash drive (although they do not show up in the Google Video list, etc.), but I do still need Stickmount to see them (and therefore root).

PS I agree that being able to use OTG unrooted would be ideal, but am at least glad that we're getting closer for rooted devices. Perhaps there is some other magic to getting the OTG drive to show up unrooted as well, but I couldn't think of any to try besides a few file browsers.
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
As far as I know, StickMount on rooted N7's always worked with OTG/USB storage devices... so I'm not sure the OTA you got really had any involvement with it working whatsoever.

What the concern/desire is for the mass amount of users is to have the N7 with the capability of using OTG/USB storage without the need for root. Sure, most of us will root. Yes, rooting is relatively easy. But that's not the point. It's the fact that this feature once existed yet now seems to not exist out of the box is what's pissing people off, myself included.

I can only hope it's an overlooked glitch or a feature they plan to enable. Removing micro SD cards is one thing, based on the extensive Android dev response I read on the matter. But ALSO blocking out OTG/USB storage out of the box just screams "hi I work for Apple". I hope we see it implemented without the need for root. Soon.
[Nexus 7 General] digital_pro:
With 4.1.1 I can now play videos directly off the flash drive. That is new, as even with stickmount that did not seem to be possible before the OTA.
[Nexus 7 General] Outrager:
People confirmed it worked root+StickMount pre-4.1.1, but with a few hitches.
[Nexus 7 General] kendibattista:
Cloud FTP?

at the risk of being redundant* - has anyone else tried Cloud FTP? I'm not much of a post-er so you'll have to google it yourself ...

We've been using this for car/shuttle/hotel use for a while with an iPad and a couple of Android phones and it streams video pretty well.

* searched the thread and didn't see it - doesn't mean it isn't there
[Nexus 7 General] digital_pro:
Not to beat a dead horse, but my experience and that of everyone else whose posts I found, was that pre 4.1.1 media _only_ worked when the files were copied to the internal memory or had been on the internal memory originally, both pretty big hassles. So 4.1.1 was a definite improvement, AFAIK, since now you can load up a flash drive (maybe other drives?) with as many videos or other media as you want and play them directly.
[Nexus 7 General] kiewee3:
So now you can just use a flash drive? Just wondering because even 16 gb isn't enough for me.
[Nexus 7 General] digital_pro:
kiewee3--With 4.1.1, root, Stickmount & Root Explorer, I can mount & play media files using the stock player directly off a 32GB Patriot flash/thumb dirve (only one I have with me to try, but assume most will work). In my case the flash drive is formatted FAT32. Limitations:

* Still seems to require root & Stickmount

* Don't show up in media lists (need to browse to them)

* Unmount & remount of different drives may still be kind of flakey or require a reboot

But the videos I played seemed to work fine, didn't notice any performance issues (I don't have any HD content with me so they're NTSC-ish rez mp4 videos)
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
Based on everything I read, EXT3/4 still sounds like the best bet for this. Can't say that was a surprise, though.
[Nexus 7 General] kiewee3:
Okay that's good enough for me! Thanks for the info. as development continues, I'm sure there will be less and less problems
[Nexus 7 General] david279:
Is ext4 a good file system flash storage?

Sent from my EVO 4G LTE
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
Random side question about how OTG works... if I understand USB OTG functionality correctly, a few key pieces are required for it to work.

A USB port

Software support

Auto mount support

If I understand properly, the Nexus 7 of course has a USB port. On top of that, the OS itself (Jelly Bean) has baked in support for USB OTG functionality, which is what gives us the USB keyboard/mouse functionality out of the box. What it doesn't have is the auto mount functionality, which sounds like this is the reason as to why USB storage devices don't know what to do when plugged in. Based on my reading this is essentially what StickMount enables... a way to mount the storage device.

Is that to say that as long as we have the proper hardware (a regular micro USB port) and the proper software (baked in OS support + auto mount capability) that we should always technically have USB OTG storage functionality even on future devices? Or is there a special chip/controller that allows the USB port to act as USB OTG? I suppose in the event USB OTG would not exist, then we wouldn't have USB keyboard/mouse functionality either. I take it that the only difference between storage working and a keyboard working is the fact that the storage would need a way to get mounted, hence auto mount utility - no? :confused:

Overall I'm just trying to grasp how the big picture works, specifically in regard to the hardware. Originally somebody explained the process to me about how the tablet needs a very specific hardware chip in order for USB OTG to work, etc etc etc, but the more I read, the more it sounds like USB OTG just needs a regular USB port. After that, the hardware piece is over, and it's all up to the software (OS support + auto mount support) to complete the job.

Am I accurate on my gathered thoughts and assumptions here, or completely off in left field?
[Nexus 7 General] Eagle1337:
Usb port, usb otg is actually part of the usb 2.0 and 3.0 spec.
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
Oh. I wasn't aware it was part of the spec. Had I known that I wouldn't have given "will the nexus will have USB otg storage"? much thought. The question I would have had is how could it possibly *not* have it?
[Nexus 7 General] flub:
stickmount works fine with me

stock / rooted

playing video fine from sd card inserted into reader
[Nexus 7 General] jamesking420:
Is it possible to mount your phone to see and uyse that memory?

Eg:

Tablet -> USB OTG -> USB cable -> Phone

Does this work?

Thanks,

James
[Nexus 7 General] :
tell him get archos tablet they have 250 gb hard drive versions

---------- Post added at 04:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:40 PM ----------

and some of them have full usb support
[Nexus 7 General] iwantanandroid:
I have formatted my flash drive from FAT32 to EXT3. but now my pc won't let me put files onto the flash drive. Anyone know a way around this?
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
EXT3 and EXT4 is a Linux file system, which is what Android OS is heavily based on, hence it being somewhat preferred. If you're running Windows or Mac OSX, I am unsure how you can work around it. I guess I never thought about Win/Mac users running into this, as I run Linux full time, so it never crossed my mind.

I do recall there being an EXT3 program for Windows, but I'm unsure how well it worked...
[Nexus 7 General] SoHaunted:
Would this cable be the one I need to connect my 32gb usb stick via root/stickmount?

http://www.amazon.com/Electronics-Micro-USB-Host-Cable/dp/B005GGBYJ4

If so thanks for the help, if you know any other cheaper alternatives that have a cable on them I wouldlike to take a look.
[Nexus 7 General] Censura_Umbra:
SD card brand and cable brand would be nice to know.

Btw ppl there is a thread in the accessories section for reviews
[Nexus 7 General] adiliyo:
working for me as well

otg cable: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0081CRXGI/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

sandisk 16gb class 2 microsd card (FAT32) with sandisk adapter

video plays fine using supervideo for app (windowed video watching!)

have to use root explorer to launch the file but no copying to internal memory is necessary.

can't seem to find thread in accessories, can post there if someone links me to it.
[Nexus 7 General] adit9989:
OTG is part of the specs but this does not mean all ports are OTG. The ports in your PC are HOST only. The port in your camera is SLAVE (or DEVICE) only. Some devices can support OTG which allows a port to work both as HOST and as SLAVE. Both the hardware and the software MUST support this mode to work. It's manufacturer decision to implement it, and also it's his decision to set what profile/devices it's support.If they decide to implement the port is OTG.If not it's still a standard USB port, either host either device only.
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
Oh... I wasn't aware you had to utilize a specific explorer to get to the files. Dumb question but is "root explorer" the name of the app, or will Astro or something else work?
[Nexus 7 General] adiliyo:
you don't need a specific one, i'm just listing the one i used.

you can use any file manager to launch the file (ES explorer, ASTRO, etc) since it doesn't put the mount point anywhere you would need root access to get to.

i've only played with it to try it out so far, but on first go, the gallery app or supervideo both won't see the usb mount automatically for some reason, so afaik, you will need some kind of file explorer app to get to the files.
[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
Ah I see what you're saying. That being said, I'm trying to wrap my brain around why it would make sense to NOT implement a USB port that supports OTG in a current mobile device. Are there even any current Android smartphones/tablets that don't have OTG? I was surprised to see the original Samsung Galaxy S supported OTG... I thought this feature was brand spankin new. :eek:
[Nexus 7 General] jbshibla:
Accessories Thread

can't seem to find thread in accessories, can post there if someone links me to it.

Nexus 7 Accessories > External Storage Device Compatibility Review
[Nexus 7 General] Eagle1337:
You can use an otg cable on your computer though without issue.
[Nexus 7 General] flub:
Sorry forgot

cable is just cheap generic Micro USB Host Mode OTG Cable from Amazon £2.99 that I had brought for my Galaxy Note

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aftermarket-Product-T-Flash-GT-i9100-GT-N7000/dp/B005FUNQXS/ref=?ie=UTF8&m=ADSCLDKL0FHCQ

Card is a sandisk 16gb micro sd card inserted in the supplied sandisk reader, card is formatted fat32
[Nexus 7 General] Censura_Umbra:
Post all reviews of your USB-OTG setup in this thread:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1766260

Thank you and be sure to read the OP
[Nexus 7 General] stressballs:
wifi direct?

Does the nexus 7 have wifi or similar, like in the galaxy s2/3? if so then can't you just transfer files to And from the two devices? i have 32 plus 14 gig total storage on my galaxy s2 and usually never without that on my person like most of us.
[Nexus 7 General] flub:
Done Boss LOL
[Nexus 7 General] RMXO:
I'm really bummed out about it not having a sdcard slot but having Jelly Bean by mid July changed my mind & I pre-ordered one.

Sucks I can't install all my games but I guess you have to pick your poison as some have said.