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How To Connect Flash Drives To Galaxy S6/Galaxy S6 Edge

April 03, 2015  ,  27 comments
Samsung Galaxy S6 is the latest flagship smartphone in the Galaxy Series. It features a Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57 CPU, 3 GB LPDDR4 RAM, Mali-T760MP8 and 5.1 inch QHD screen. It has also got a micro USB UFS 2.0 NAND flash memory for high speed data transfer into memory which will help transferring data faster to  usb storage devices like pen drives, flash drives, external HDD etc. Previously Samsung was using USB 3.0 port on Galaxy S5 but the UFS 2.0 NAND flash memory on S6 is much faster in data transfer. The Samsung Galaxy S6 has USB OTG support which means you can connect external storage devices to it with a OTG cable.

Connecting flash drives or external hard drive to your Galaxy S6 makes it portable to transfer data to and from the usb storage and can be carried anywhere. The Galaxy S6 has 2550mAH battery that can provide enough power to connect pendrives, flash drives, card reader, PS3 or PS4 gamepads or even external hard drives. Galaxy S6 Edge and the Galaxy S6 doesn't have support for micro sdcards, so you should choose 32/64/128 GB model according to your storage requirements. If you run out of storage then USB OTG is the only option to increase storage space in Galaxy S6.

Also you can connect a keyboard. Using a keyboard will help you do the typing work very fast as you do it on a computer or a laptop. So there is no need to use the phone's on-screen keyboard, because typing with it is very slow. You can also play emulator games on your phone that support gamepad with keyboard used as a gamepad. Also browsing the internet with keyboard will make typing websites' names and dropping comments very fast. The keyboard, mouse and the usb flash drive require only 0.2 Ampere of current, so make sure your Galaxy S6 is charged above 60%. Enable power saving mode then use it to save more power when keyboard or other usb devices are connected.

Requirements

  • Samsung Galaxy S6/Galaxy S6 Edge cell phone.
  • A USB OTG cable for Galaxy S6.
  • A storage device like flash drive, pen drive, external hard drive of WD or Seagate brand. Don't use unreliable brands as they can damage the battery of your phone. Please note that all external HDDs may not work due to power requirements. But you can still test it with OTG cable.
  • Sandisk USB On The Go flash drive [Optional]

Connect USB Drives/Flash Drives/External HDD/Keyboard/Mouse/Card Reader To Galaxy S6

  • Buy a separate USB OTG cable specially designed for your Galaxy S6. A USB OTG cable has two connecting ends. One end fits in the phone and other end has a female USB connector in which you can connect keyboard/mouse/external hard drive or flash drives. See the image below.
  • First connect the one end of the OTG cable to your phone then connect either usb flash drive, external HDD, keyboard or a mouse.
  • On connecting any of the above mentioned usb devices you will get a notification on your smartphone.
  • When keyboard is connected then you can use your smartphone as a computer to edit and create Microsoft office documents much faster as compared to using the on-screen/software touch keyboard.
  • Connect a USB flash drive/pen drive/zip drive/thumb drive/external hard drive to directly view the files stored in it and copy data from the flash drive or copy files in it. You can directly watch movies on your Galaxy S6 by connecting a usb drive by using OTG cable. No matter what the format of the movie. The Galaxy S6 supports all the major formats like MP4, MKV, AVI, MPEG.
  • Before removing the flash drive from the OTG cable go to 'Settings>Storage>Unmount USB OTG'. Then remove the flash drive after unmounting.

Using Sandisk USB On The Go Flash Drive On Galaxy S6

If you want to use the Sandisk on the go flash drive then it will be good idea as this storage device will eliminate the need of cables and directly connects to your cell phone. The Sandisk on the go drive has two connecting ends one end is micro USB and other one connects to your PC. The micro connector connects to the phone. But the drive can't be connected to PC and phone simultaneously. This is a quick way to transfer files between Galaxy S6 and PC.


Advantages

  • Directly connecting a flash drive/external HDD to your Galaxy S6 will save much time and you can directly copy data from it to your phone.
  • The Galaxy S6 can't support microSD cards and if you have you have the 32 GB model then use the OTG feature to save time and money.
  • Also you can listen to music and watch movies directly from the flash drive or external hard drive.
Now you have successfully learnt to connect the usb keyboard, flash drive, external hard drive, card reader and a pen drive to your Galaxy S6.

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27 comments:

  1. Mun MattApril 23, 2015 at 3:49 PM

    Great article! Answered all of my questions! Thanks man!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dave BrownSeptember 13, 2015 at 2:32 AM

    my s6 doesn't recognize the usb when plugged in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. unknownSeptember 13, 2015 at 8:39 AM

      this can't happen, the usb drive may be faulty or it may be the faulty OTG cable.

      Delete
    2. UnknownNovember 10, 2015 at 2:13 PM

      No OTG support for Galaxy S6

      Delete
    3. unknownNovember 13, 2015 at 11:28 PM

      S6 has otg support.

      Delete
    4. BigSoftyDecember 22, 2015 at 7:27 AM

      No, the S6 does NOT have OTG support. They want you to buy bigger model, for stupid money. And who said USB 3.0 is slower than USB 2.0? What idiot wrote this article?

      Delete
    5. unknownDecember 22, 2015 at 7:49 AM

      You can contact GSMArena for providing wrong info, but it works on it. And if you go through the article again then you will find that it is UFS 2.0 which is said to be faster than USB 3.0. But usb 3.0 is still faster when transferring data to external devices which are usb 3.0 compatible. UFS and USB are different things, UFS is used by mobile phones for transferring data at high speeds within internal storage and memory. While USB 3.0 is used for transferring data between two devices. If you are using a 2.0 device with a 3.0 phone then speeds will be of USB 2.0.

      Delete
  3. NandoDecember 21, 2015 at 7:01 AM

    I have Sandisk USB On The Go Flash Drive but when I connect it to my S6 and open the Sandisk APP for file transfer it says that it can only copy files from MicroSD and not from internal memory!!! What can I do? I bought Sandisk USB On The Go Flash Drive to save space and now I can't use it like I wanted. Thanks for your
    help!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. unknownDecember 22, 2015 at 2:41 AM

      Very simple. First of all format the OTG drive. Then connect it to your galaxy s6. Use ES File explorer to copy files from internal storage to OTG drive. Do not use the sandisk app.

      Delete
  4. UnknownJanuary 4, 2016 at 10:23 PM

    how can i listen to my music from an otg on my s6 but in the music app? it only lets me listen to them in the files folder. I want to make playlists and have songs continuously going from my otg. since there isnt an sd card slot in the s6 you know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. XUV1000January 5, 2016 at 12:22 AM

      Go to music>Playlists>Folders. Check here if the OTG folder is visible or not.

      Delete
  5. EmmaMBJanuary 10, 2016 at 11:16 AM

    Do you know what to do when file transfers suddenly start stalling? This has been happening regardless of what stick I use.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. unknownJanuary 11, 2016 at 12:19 AM

      Sometimes it may happen due to large files. Your galaxy s6 may take longer to do the file operations. I suggest you to remove useless files and folders from phone. If possible use an USB OTG usb drive for mobile phones. These otg drives have an added advantage over the traditional USB OTG cables when it comes to data transfer.

      But any OTG cable will work fine, please make sure that your phone should not contain useless files.

      Delete
  6. ERJJFebruary 24, 2016 at 3:01 PM

    how can i listen to my music from an otg on my s6 but in the music app? it only lets me listen to them in the files folder. - See more at: http://www.pcnexus.net/2015/04/how-to-connect-flash-drives-to-galaxy-s6.html?m=1#sthash.epC3WAKf.dpuf

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. unknownFebruary 25, 2016 at 3:39 AM

      Connect the USB OTG drive first. Then open the music player. Here you will see 'Genres' on top left corner, tap it and select 'Folders'. Browse the USB OTG drive for music and create a playlist. If not working then use the Sony Walkman Music Player, get it here

      Delete
  7. B.RossiterApril 1, 2016 at 2:57 PM

    Great Article, Thanks. My Neice has 1400+ Photos and Just under 100 vids, totalling 39GBs. Using an EXT HDD, does it matter if its portable, or has its own power source? And, should I move them in lots of 100 or so pics at a time rather than all at once?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. unknownApril 2, 2016 at 12:08 AM

      All external hard disks may not work. But some of toshibas and WD elements are compatible. You can connect your external HDD to phone. I suggest you to copy all the data from phone to HDD at once and do not use move instead of copy. It will be good if you first transfer data from phone to PC and then from PC to external HDD. Since you have 39 GB data and external HDD works super fast on PC.

      Delete
  8. UnknownApril 25, 2016 at 5:32 AM

    Hi. I tried connecting my S6 using USB OTG cable to WD external but a display error prompted saying my WD is corrupted. Can you please tell me what to do? BTW, my WD is working fine via PC. TIA :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. unknownApril 26, 2016 at 2:48 AM

      Please make sure that the drive's partition format is FAT32. If it is FAT or NTFS then it will not work on your Galaxy S6. However NTFS and FAT will have no problem on PC.

      Delete
  9. UnknownAugust 31, 2016 at 12:00 PM

    i have a Samsung galaxy s6 edge and it is not reading the otg dual usb by sandisk after a software update what is the solution for this issue? my cellphone is running now on android 6.0.1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. unknownAugust 31, 2016 at 12:36 PM

      This is not a problem. Connect the otg drive to your S6 edge. A notification will appear in the status bar. Here you will see two options eject and explore. Explore to access the drive. You can also use file commander app or ES file explorer but they may ask for storage permission. If storage permission is not granted by you then the otg can not be accessed by any file manager.

      Delete
    2. UnknownAugust 31, 2016 at 1:05 PM

      thank you for your information but even on the status bar I am not getting any notification after connecting the otg usb

      Delete
    3. unknownSeptember 1, 2016 at 12:31 AM

      My advice is to use ES file explorer. ES file explorer automatically gets the storage permission. So if you are still not able to see the USB otg in ES then either the OTG drive is faulty or your phone has some bugs, related to the latest update. Try the otg drive on another phone.

      Delete
    4. unknownSeptember 1, 2016 at 12:34 AM

      Hello, you can also try SanDisk Memory Zone app to transfer data from your phone to USB OTG.

      Delete
  10. cheserem Titus August 31, 2016 at 6:56 PM

    does s6 edge have to be rooted for otg to work?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. unknownSeptember 1, 2016 at 12:33 AM

      No there's no need to root. It works once you connect the flash drive to the charging port of the phone.

      Delete