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Transfer of files

gleneagles
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Transfer of files

In general chat someone mentioned their phone becoming full with photos and other files.....is it not possible to transfer photos and files from a phone to a external hard drive to free up space ?

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RobPN
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Re: Transfer of files

It certainly is, and if you choose Android over Apple then you can often (usually?) install a MicroSD card, or if that's already been done,replace the one installed with a larger one.

Baldrick1
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Re: Transfer of files

@RobPN 

Really? Can you just plug an external USB interfaced HDD in to the USB port on a phone? I assumed that you would have to go via a computer.

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Anonymous
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Re: Transfer of files

@Baldrick1 @RobPN Makes no mention of USB or have I missed something?

JayG
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Re: Transfer of files

 I'm a belt and braces kind of guy, so apart from automatically backing up to the cloud (Google photos in my case, because it's free and I'm also a tightwad kind of guy ), I copy the photos from my phone to my PC.

Can't guarantee anything will work all the time on all devices these days, but using Windows and connecting your phone using a USB cable, you can simply use Windows Explorer to copy or move them wherever you like (they should be in the phones DCIM folder.)

Anonymous
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Re: Transfer of files

I can see the appeal of using cloud based storage but regardless of who the provider is you need to remember the adage:

If the service is free you are not the customer, you are the product.

 

Baldrick1
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Re: Transfer of files


@Anonymous wrote:

@Baldrick1 @RobPN Makes no mention of USB or have I missed something?


The question was can you download photos and files from a phone to a HDD.

I couldn’t think of another way to connect a HDD to a phone. Is this incorrect and there are now say Bluetooth connected external disks?

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Anonymous
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Re: Transfer of files

Indeed, and I see why you posted your reply the way you did. To answer your question as regards Bluetooth enabled external drives, the answer is yes. https://uk.pcmag.com/hard-drives/95000/the-best-wireless-hard-drives

RobPN
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Re: Transfer of files


@Baldrick1 wrote:


The question was can you download photos and files from a phone to a HDD.

I couldn’t think of another way to connect a HDD to a phone. Is this incorrect and there are now say Bluetooth connected external disks?


@Baldrick1 

I acknowledge your superior (to me at least Wink) technical prowess, but to be pedantic the question was actually "transfer photos and files from a phone to a external hard drive", i.e no mention was made of method or route, and files can clearly be transferred from phone to external HDD. Wink

In fact as well as the now-mentioned Bluetooth, it's also possible to transfer files via WiFi over LAN to other networked devices, at least it is with Android, but I know nothing of Apple in that respect.

One App for Android which makes this easy is called 'X-plore' which I think I first saw mentioned somewhere on these forums by @7up 

 

PS Probably the Another quickest easy method of transfer if the files are already on a MicroSD card would be to pull the card and plug it directly into another device.

Baldrick1
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Re: Transfer of files

@RobPN 

Reading your reply I get the impression that I have in some way ruffled your feathers. I will be the first to admit that I know little about the interfacing of phones with computers etc.. In the past I have had an Android phone and found that I could easily transfer photos to my computer. I have recently changed to a second hand Iphone and am still trying to work out the capabilities.

My question to you was no more than asking for confirmation that it is indeed possible to do this direct transfer, so thank you for confirming this with Android devices and a suitable App.

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RobPN
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Re: Transfer of files


@Baldrick1 wrote:

@RobPN 

Reading your reply I get the impression that I have in some way ruffled your feathers.


@Baldrick1 

Not at all (hence the smilies, well winks), I apologise if I gave that impression.  

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PS  I was trying to let you know that I respect that you probably (usually) know more about things technical than I do!

7up
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Re: Transfer of files

I use an android app called X-plore. It's got two columns like an FTP client has.

It's the best i could find. Not only does it let you move files from one directory to another but also phone to PC (or vice versa), to any ftp account you have, several online storage providers like dropbox, SSH file transfer and it even has a built in http server so that you can access stuff from your PC by visiting your phones IP address.

Also when connecting via vpn it can naturally access the network too which is incredibly handy. Best of all it's not really very restricted price wise. If you like it you can donate a beer, two beers, 3 beers or a meal (basically whatever amount of cash you want). Doesn't matter how much or how little you donate, you still get the full app.

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