USB host?

[PhillyB]

I have a Droid 2 (A955) running Froyo. Does anybody know if there is any way to use your micro (mini?) USB charger port as an input for media? I have two microSD cards: a main one with my settings and music on it, and a secondary with tv shows and movies on it. If there is any one thing I liked about my Eris over this Droid 2 (and it's only the ONE thing lol!) it's that you could unmount the SD card, pop the battery cover off and swap out cards. On the Droid 2 you have to power down the phone so you can remove the battery to swap out the card, and then again when you go back to the original. And while the secondary card is there, your custom, media-based ringtones, apps on SD card, settings etc. are inaccessible.

I got this little adapter that goes from the micro USB port to USB female, which allows me to plug in a USB-SD card reader, but the phone won't recognize it and allow me to access the files. I assume because the charger is unpowered? Any way to power it?

 

[gunz.jones]

I understand the appeal of apps2sd for phone with low memory, but why not move the files to the phone? You have the better part of 6 gb to play with at most even with a few decent sized programs installed. Get root explorer or similar program to move them around. Or get a larger sd. They are coming down in price now that the new type is being pushed out soon....64 gb and higher flash memory.

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[PhillyB]

The apps on the SD was a bad example--I actually have moved them back to the phone and that's the least of my concerns. That's a minor part of the point I was trying to make with my desire to leave one card in place. The problem is, apps are the only thing I can move to the phone's memory, and I can do that already with the phone's OS without needing to download and pay for a separate app. I actually considered moving just the music to the phone's memory, then using the other for video, but I don't see how to do that. Probably a root thing, but I don't intend to root.

And I only see microSD cards up to the 32GB flavor--and they're not cheap ($75+).

 

[gunz.jones]

Check pricewatch. 64 isn't available yet....but wally world just dropped 16 down a bit too. If you don't intend to root, I don't think there's a program that would reverse the usb from in to out otherwise. To create pne would call on hardware/driver files to be rewritten or added to....I am at work now, but I can look through my stuff later and check if it;s controlled through any specific script....

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[chrstdvd]

"I have a Droid 2 (A955) running Froyo. Does anybody know if there is any way to use your micro (mini?) USB charger port as an input for media?"

My first instinct is to say NO. But when we flash the sbf to the computer, or copy apk's from the computer to the phone, we are doing what you want to do, just not media, unless we copy and paste to the sd card from the computer.

You can access your sd card from the computer without rooting.

You can unmount you sd card: Menu>SD card & phone storage>Unmount SD card.

I have never done this, but I would assume you do not have to pull the battery to remove the sd card and place in another one, then go back to the above sequence and it will say Mount sd card.

So I am confused what you want to do. You can use "double twist" on your computer and phone to xfer media back and forth.

???? Not sure what the problem is.

 

[SerenityNetworks]

I have had post out for months on various forums looking for a way to put my Droid 2 into USB Host Mode. I'd prefer something native, but I'd go for rooting if needed. I've got nothing. Apparently the drivers for common devices are present, but no way to get the device into Host mode.

There was a hardware hack (see Chris Paget's blog) that worked for the Droid, but it doesn't work for the Droid 2 - I've tried more than once.

I'd still love to find a way to get it going, but I've had no success. Maybe this post will yield some results.

Andrew

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[gunz.jones]

Have you tried a powered usb hub? It would provide the power your phone doesn't. The problem I see is there would have to be something there to tell the os there is an external device to read from.

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[PhillyB]

Have you tried a powered usb hub? It would provide the power your phone doesn't. The problem I see is there would have to be something there to tell the os there is an external device to read from.

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No, but I picture myself listening to music in an airport or something, then seamlessly switching over to watching a movie when I get on the plane without powering down, removing the battery, booting back up, etc. to do so every time. A powered hub would require cables, adapters, an outlet, etc. My whole desire is to keep this portable.

 

[PhillyB]

I'm just going to buy a bigger micro SD card. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.