Format OTG USB Thumb Drive w/ Android Lollipop

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Kurtois

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Sep 5, 2015, 10:29:33 AM9/5/15
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I have a thumb drive connected to a USB hub that is connected to a USB OTG cable to a Nexus 7 running stock Android Lollipop. I am unable to determine a way to format the thumb drive. Sorry, my UNIX experience is minimal. A GUI way of doing this would be swell.

EschewObfuscation

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Sep 5, 2015, 7:32:45 PM9/5/15
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I imagine there's a command line that would do that, but if it were me, I'd plug the thumb drive into a windows or mac, format, put it back. Would that be feasible?

Gene J. (GeekTinker)

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Sep 6, 2015, 5:25:48 AM9/6/15
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Wouldn't the Nexus 7 have to recognize the USB hub first? Is there an Android Lollipop driver for the USB hub? I'm familiar with the OTG, but not so much with the Nexus 7 / Android OS (other than using it on tablets/smartphones).

Gene 

Kurtois

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Sep 6, 2015, 1:05:17 PM9/6/15
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EschewObfuscation - Actually, no. I am trying to keep my gear to a minimum. I plan to use just an Android tablet and iPhone on the road while bicycle touring. My hope is to upload video to Amazon Cloud Drive in the evenings of my bicycle tour. 

The less gear, the better.


On Saturday, September 5, 2015 at 6:32:45 PM UTC-5, EschewObfuscation wrote:

Kurtois

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Sep 6, 2015, 1:07:49 PM9/6/15
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Gene J. - I already have that working (N7 + USB Hub + USB Thumb Drive). No additional work necessary to make that happen. Just have to get a known good hub to work with Android.

What bugs me is that under the previous version of Android OS, it is documented how to format USB OTG connected media. With Lollipop, I am not finding any help online.

Here is one article how to do so:

Kurt

Tom Blevins

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Sep 6, 2015, 4:42:08 PM9/6/15
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May I suggest an alternative to the usb hub and drive and just go with an OTG cloud. Mine has various inputs from micro sd to usb drives and it runs off of a rechargeable battery.
-Tom

Brad Tissi

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Sep 6, 2015, 5:20:57 PM9/6/15
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Shot in the dark, but FX (file explorer app) has helped me in the past. I've never tried to do that though.

Kamikaze Joe

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Sep 6, 2015, 10:13:27 PM9/6/15
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I was under the impression that access to USB storage was disabled in Lollipop, unless you rooted your device.




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On Sun, Sep 6, 2015 at 4:20 PM, Brad Tissi <bti...@gmail.com> wrote:
Shot in the dark, but FX (file explorer  app) has helped me in the past. I've never tried to do that though.

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Chris Weiss

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Sep 7, 2015, 9:03:21 PM9/7/15
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if it shows up under storage, unmount and then you should have a format option

Kurtois

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Sep 8, 2015, 1:48:58 PM9/8/15
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Tom,

I was unaware of the OTG Cloud. That said, I think I have something that appears similar: ADATA AE400. However, the app they built is not stable, in my opinion. I read I could use one of the "File Explorer" type apps out there to use with this device. Are you using the app created for the device or a 3rd party app for file operations?

Kurt
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