Access Multiple partitions on a portable USB hard drive

danielg5

Member
May 3, 2011
42
1
So, I am looking for suggestions or solutions to this issue. I had previously thought that I could access multiple partitions on a single portable drive. but it would appear that I was mistaken. I have a small USB drive that I created multiple partitions on in the hope that I would be able to access more storage space simultaneously. But only one partition shows. since the tqblet is limited to 32 G of storage, no matter how big your drive is, if you can only access one partition, then the Max storage capability for any storage device with the tablet (android in general) is 32G. does anyone have a solution or work around to this problem? Thanks.
 

Half Colin

Member
May 10, 2011
12
1
I've got a 320Gb USB hard disk connected to mine with about 75Gb of video files (all accessible) and I can copy files from the Tablet to the hard disk with no problem. Not sure where a 32Gb limit comes from but it doesn't,t seem to be a limitation.
 

frieslander

Member
May 18, 2011
18
1
The 32Gb limit comes where the Windows system can only format a maximum partition size of 32Gb to FAT32. The NTFS is not recognized by the tablet. I formatted one partition of 10 Gb to FAT32 and the tablet recognized it. When I formatted a second 30 GB partition to FAT32 the tablet refused to show anything, not even the first partition that showed before. I then removed all the partitions and formatted all 500Gb to FAT32 using AESUS Partition Master Home Edition (free for home use). This time the tablet recognized the whole drive. The AESUS program is fast and easy to use.
 

spexwood

Member
May 11, 2011
229
18
According to the Acer website (and these are copy and paste quotes):
"The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is able to natively read external storage devices formatted for FAT16 or FAT32 file systems with a single partition."

I have recently experimented with this by separating my 1TB HDD into 2 partitions: 75% FAT32, and 25% NTFS. I wanted to use the NTFS portion for PC-to-PC file storage and transfer, while the 75% for Tablet storage such as movies, etc. I couldnt get either partition to read on my tablet until I gave up and reformatted the entire drive as a single FAT32 partition again.

Also, the Acer site says:
"Note: While the Acer Iconia Tab A500 does not natively support the NTFS file system format there may be applications available that enable this functionality."

I found a way to read NTFS if your tablet is rooted. If it IS rooted, the process for reading NTFS is super freaking easy to do and it does work. I am using it right now whenever I need to read an NTFS drive. Read my post at: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum...tructions-inside-personally-tested-works.html
This is most likely what this second quote is referring to.
 
Last edited:

KiwiNessie

Member
May 9, 2011
26
0
I am also able to access my 500GB portable hard drive once I reformatted it as FAT32.

Sent from my A500 using Android Tablet Forum
 
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