Accessories External hard disk?

emen · 09-23-2010, 04:37 AM

Has anyone tried an external hard disk, does it work with the Edge? I really need to expand my storage, but considering the price of the high capacity SD cards, I would rather go with an external hard disk.

borisb · 09-23-2010, 09:12 AM

Yes, any external USB drive will work. The small portable ones are best as most don't require an AC adapter to work with the eDGe (for example, the Western Digital Passport drives). If your drive comes with a Y cable, you'll probably need to plug it into both USB ports to provide sufficient power to the drive. Some forum members have reported that some small portable drives do need separate AC power to run, but I can vouch that the WD Passport ones don't.

Bear in mind that external drives will reduce the battery runtime of the eDGe.

You may want to consider large USB memory sticks instead - something like a 32 Gb or 64 Gb one. These don't draw the same amount of power as a hard drive.

emen · 09-23-2010, 11:14 AM

As always, Boris was the first one to help

. I actually have in mind some of those HDD racks with an internal SATA disk in it (I have some old hard disks I might use), precisely because of the AC adapter. Anyway, I don't use my Edge on the battery very often.

I actually have a 32 GB USB memory stick, but I would prefer something I could use for safe storage. I have to come up with an idea how to organize thousands of ebooks I own

.

borisb · 09-23-2010, 11:20 AM

If portability isn't the issue, then any sort of external drive would work. In theory, even a NAS drive would work via ES File Explorer.

emen · 09-23-2010, 11:23 AM

OK, thanks, I hope it'll work. The hard disk will be used as a backup option, as I won't be switching through different library backups that often, at least I hope so

, so the portability isn't an issue.

emen · 12-25-2010, 02:39 AM

Just wanted to let you all know that internal HDD's coupled with an external enclosure/HDD rack, just don't work on the Edge. I seriously start to detest Android. So limited an OS... Again, everything works with full OS's, just the Edge doesn't react at all. I tried two different (new) enclosures, without success. The enclosures are of plug and play type, so no drivers needed. Such a disappointment.

borisb · 12-26-2010, 04:05 PM

External enclosures often need AC power to work...

kenjennings · 12-27-2010, 03:53 PM

I plugged a Firefly Smartdisk 20G hard drive which does not require external power into the edge. The drive spun up fine and there was a notification a new drive was plugged in. However, it was formatted ext2, and the edge reports the usb storage is either blank or using an unsupported filesystem.

I reformatted the USB hard drive as FAT32 on a PC and now the edge mounts it and shows files. It seems that ext format (a standard for linux which is what Android is built on) is intentionally not supported.

So, the problems with a USB hard drive on the edge would be the formatting, and how much power it requires.

emen · 12-28-2010, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by borisb

External enclosures often need AC power to work...

That's exactly why I bought these two external enclosures, because of the ac adapter. I plug it in, but the Edge doesn't show at all there is an external disk/device plugged in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenjennings

So, the problems with a USB hard drive on the edge would be the formatting, and how much power it requires.

Like I said, I use the external adapter. Both disks are less than a week old (500GB) and are freshly formatted (NTFS, of course). It's really annoying, since I bought these disks for my Edge Library.

ivan · 12-28-2010, 06:21 AM

A question. Does the EE see the usb drive at all?

If it does then you will need to change the format of the drive to fat32 which appears to be the universal format for large drives and all OS. NTFS is a windows format, taken from HPFS on OS/2 and made only useful on win systems.

If it does not see the drive at all can it see a USB stick, thumb drive? For drives to be seen they must be to the standard MSD specification.

There are some external USB drives that require a win driver for them to work and so will only be of any use on windows - a friend with linux was bitten by one such and there was nothing we could do to make it be seen on his or our systems.

sjarrel · 12-28-2010, 07:09 AM

FWIW, I have a LaCie 500 Gb external drive. NTFS-formatted and powered on AC. Works fine with the EE.

borisb · 12-28-2010, 09:56 AM

Just to throw it out there - are you plugging the hard drive into the large USB connector on the eDGe, or the mini-USB connector? The latter is only for PC-to-eDGe connection, not for USB devices...

kenjennings · 12-28-2010, 12:55 PM

Does edge support NTFS?

borisb · 12-28-2010, 01:09 PM

sjarrel indicates "yes" in post #11 above. I seem to recall it working for me, too.

kenjennings · 12-28-2010, 03:43 PM

When you plug the drive into a Windows PC, does it also automatically create one of those virtual CD devices on the PC that contains Windows drivers, etc? The Firefly doesn't do this (and works), but I do have a couple of other USB drives that (annoyingly) do that unecessary stuff (untried on edge). Maybe that's what confuses the edge.

12-27-2010, 03:53 PM	#8
kenjennings Edge User	External USB Hard Drive Works I plugged a Firefly Smartdisk 20G hard drive which does not require external power into the edge. The drive spun up fine and there was a notification a new drive was plugged in. However, it was formatted ext2, and the edge reports the usb storage is either blank or using an unsupported filesystem. I reformatted the USB hard drive as FAT32 on a PC and now the edge mounts it and shows files. It seems that ext format (a standard for linux which is what Android is built on) is intentionally not supported. So, the problems with a USB hard drive on the edge would be the formatting, and how much power it requires. Last edited by kenjennings; 12-27-2010 at 04:52 PM.

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09-23-2010, 04:37 AM	#1
emen Edge User	External hard disk? Has anyone tried an external hard disk, does it work with the Edge? I really need to expand my storage, but considering the price of the high capacity SD cards, I would rather go with an external hard disk.

09-23-2010, 09:12 AM	#2
borisb Edge User	Yes, any external USB drive will work. The small portable ones are best as most don't require an AC adapter to work with the eDGe (for example, the Western Digital Passport drives). If your drive comes with a Y cable, you'll probably need to plug it into both USB ports to provide sufficient power to the drive. Some forum members have reported that some small portable drives do need separate AC power to run, but I can vouch that the WD Passport ones don't. Bear in mind that external drives will reduce the battery runtime of the eDGe. You may want to consider large USB memory sticks instead - something like a 32 Gb or 64 Gb one. These don't draw the same amount of power as a hard drive.

09-23-2010, 11:14 AM	#3
emen Edge User	As always, Boris was the first one to help . I actually have in mind some of those HDD racks with an internal SATA disk in it (I have some old hard disks I might use), precisely because of the AC adapter. Anyway, I don't use my Edge on the battery very often. I actually have a 32 GB USB memory stick, but I would prefer something I could use for safe storage. I have to come up with an idea how to organize thousands of ebooks I own .

09-23-2010, 11:20 AM	#4
borisb Edge User	If portability isn't the issue, then any sort of external drive would work. In theory, even a NAS drive would work via ES File Explorer.

09-23-2010, 11:23 AM	#5
emen Edge User	OK, thanks, I hope it'll work. The hard disk will be used as a backup option, as I won't be switching through different library backups that often, at least I hope so , so the portability isn't an issue.

12-25-2010, 02:39 AM	#6
emen Edge User	Just wanted to let you all know that internal HDD's coupled with an external enclosure/HDD rack, just don't work on the Edge. I seriously start to detest Android. So limited an OS... Again, everything works with full OS's, just the Edge doesn't react at all. I tried two different (new) enclosures, without success. The enclosures are of plug and play type, so no drivers needed. Such a disappointment.

12-26-2010, 04:05 PM	#7
borisb Edge User	External enclosures often need AC power to work...

12-28-2010, 06:21 AM	#10
ivan Edge User	A question. Does the EE see the usb drive at all? If it does then you will need to change the format of the drive to fat32 which appears to be the universal format for large drives and all OS. NTFS is a windows format, taken from HPFS on OS/2 and made only useful on win systems. If it does not see the drive at all can it see a USB stick, thumb drive? For drives to be seen they must be to the standard MSD specification. There are some external USB drives that require a win driver for them to work and so will only be of any use on windows - a friend with linux was bitten by one such and there was nothing we could do to make it be seen on his or our systems.

12-28-2010, 07:09 AM	#11
sjarrel Edge User	FWIW, I have a LaCie 500 Gb external drive. NTFS-formatted and powered on AC. Works fine with the EE.

12-28-2010, 09:56 AM	#12
borisb Edge User	Just to throw it out there - are you plugging the hard drive into the large USB connector on the eDGe, or the mini-USB connector? The latter is only for PC-to-eDGe connection, not for USB devices...

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12-28-2010, 12:55 PM	#13
kenjennings Edge User	Does edge support NTFS?

12-28-2010, 01:09 PM	#14
borisb Edge User	sjarrel indicates "yes" in post #11 above. I seem to recall it working for me, too.

12-28-2010, 03:43 PM	#15
kenjennings Edge User	When you plug the drive into a Windows PC, does it also automatically create one of those virtual CD devices on the PC that contains Windows drivers, etc? The Firefly doesn't do this (and works), but I do have a couple of other USB drives that (annoyingly) do that unecessary stuff (untried on edge). Maybe that's what confuses the edge.