Why Android is not reading your external hard drive

[@peaches-and-rain]

I had this issue too. turns out it just took like 2-3 minutes to show up in my files because the hard drive used/had a lot of files and it took a while to load.

[@josephbauman1793]

I got exfat hard drives and it still won’t recognize my files

[@alawngolchegar4872]

My Android doesn't recognize all the content of my 4 Tb External Hard Drive. I'm mount it in the device with Paragon and using Total Commander or X-plore. In desktop or notebook, I can access the whole content from the external Hard Drive. Any idea to solve this problem?

[@LAVA-LINK]

Hi there, The two issues we see the most with external hard drives involve File Format & Power Requirements. Android Tablets are only able to read drives that are formatted in a FAT File Structure. If your hard drive is formatted to be NTFS that would explain why you can see your files on your Desktop/Notebook, but not on your Android Tablet. If this is the case you'll need to backup your files and reformat the drive. Alternatively, if your hard drive requires more power than the Android Tablet can provide that would be another reason why the drive isn't showing up. I'd recommend trying a smaller USB Flash drive to see if you can read the contents since it likely requires less power to access. - LAVA Team

[@Rockitfilm94]

So Is there a way to recover your hard drive if you connected it to your android phone? I had pictures of someone really important and now I feel like I lost it all

[@LAVA-LINK]

Hi there, that really depends on what you did on your end. Plugging a hard drive into your Android Phone, shouldn't wipe it by default unless you specifically asked to format the drive. I would recommend reconnecting the Hard Drive to the Computer you were initially able to load the data onto the Hard Drive. If you have in fact formatted the drive, you may need to look into either a data recovery tool or service. - LAVA Team

[@MorningCoffeeDaily]

my tablet recognizes my External hard drive, but my Note Doesnt...

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

"PC _or_ laptop"? Uh... many laptops *ARE* PCs.

[@beangie]

PC is usually used to refer to a Desk computer. Laptop is used to refer to a portable computer. it maybe not right, but it is what it is.

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

@@beangie: 1. Not usually, actually, but originally. 2. "Desktop" isn't a brand name." 3. Actually, this reference ("PC" just as the original term, short for "personal computer") would be more correct in a way, except thanks to IBM for having their branded model series "IBM PC" and "IBM PCjr." Even deeper and more actually, though, coming full circle, this actually _wouldn't_ be strictly accurate, considering that it sounds like an even broader category that would include desktop, laptop, tablet, hand, and watch computers. But still I've heard most people around my listening circle use "PC" to just mean IBM-compatible (or IBM-compatible-compatible) computers, be they desktop or laptop ones, but not others desktop/laptops that are Macs and 3rd+.