Connect external hard drive to tablet - so it'll work

Storage space on tablets is limited. You can therefore connect an external hard drive to many Android tablets. More and more devices support the USB OTG standard ("USB On the go") or have a USB host function. We'll show you how to do it.

The right adapter for the Android tablet

Tablets usually don't provide enough power to run an external hard drive. A separate power supply must therefore be set up. Special adapters and configurations can help here:

• 3.5-inch hard drives with their own socket connection do not have to be supplied via the USB connection. 2.5-inch hard drives without a power supply are more difficult: There are special Y-USB adapters that integrate a power supply for power supply via a third connection.
• A special Samsung connector is required for models of the Samsung Galaxy series, which cannot integrate a power supply. Here's a trick: Connect an active USB hub (with its own power supply) to the Samsung tab and let the hard drive run over it.

The correct formatting of the external hard drive on the tablet

In general, small USB sticks that require few resources are better suited for connecting to Android tablets. Large hard drives can cause problems:

• Android is practically only understood with FAT formatting, which is primarily used for smaller storage media such as USB sticks. Android does not support common hard drive formatting (NTFS). Here you have to reformat if necessary, which however requires a complete backup of the hard disk.
• If you root your Android tablet, there are more options. Thanks to the "USB OTG Helper [root]" app, you can also use this to format disks as Android storage. We explain how to root your device here.