[Discuss] Attaching an external USB drive to a tablet

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 05/07/2012 04:19 PM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote:
>> From: discuss-bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org [mailto:discuss-
>> bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of Jerry Feldman
>>
>> I've been doing a bit of research for a coworker who broke her laptop,
>> and now wants to get a tablet. But she also wants to preserve her
>> pictures and stuff from her HD. 2.5in HD enclosures are cheap. I bought
>> one for $7.00 a few years ago, and an easy search shows a number of them
>> in the $20 range.
>> I was recommending either a high end Android tablet or an iPad. To
>> attach a standard USB drive to an iPad requires the iPad Camera
>> Connection Kit but I've seen some blogs about attaching an external HD
>> to an Android tablet. The Galaxy Tab also has a connection kit.
>>
>> My recommendation to Sybil is either a Galaxy Tab 10.1 or Asus
>> Transformer Prime or possibly the latest Moto Xoom. But I also want to
>> let her know what some of the downsides of tablets are.
> Generally speaking, you're not going to do this with a tablet.  I'm not
> saying you can't, I'm just saying you probably won't.
>
> On android, install FTP Server, or SSH Droid, or one of many cloud sync
> applications (dropbox, box, spideroak, etc) to transfer files wirelessly.
> You could use bluetooth, but bluetooth is slow.
>
> On ipad, just stick it all in itunes or whatever.  Let it sync.
>
> I saw Tom's comments about Asus Transformer having wifi issues.  I'm not
> saying other people don't have that problem, I'm saying I don't have that
> problem, and I don't know why it would be different for other people.  I
> absolutely love everything about this device, except that the touchpad
> doesn't disable itself while typing, so you have to hit the F3 (or
> equivalent) key on the keyboard to toggle disable the touchpad off yourself.
> Also, as far as I can tell, you can't get it with swype.  Which makes it
> only comparable and the same as everything else.  But since I got swype on
> my phone, I really really want it on every device I ever use from now on.
> Granted, you don't care about swype when you're using the physical keyboard,
> but you're not going to *always* use the physical keyboard.  That's kind of
> the point of making it detachable.
>
>
>
>
I tend to agree with you regarding cloud. A tablet has very limited
internal storage unlike a laptop, but what you get is a very highly
portable device. We've had a pretty thorough discussion on tablets, and
they will (actually are) certainly cut into sales of laptops. But, they
will not replace the laptop for quite a while.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id:3BC1EB90 
PGP Key fingerprint: 49E2 C52A FC5A A31F 8D66  C0AF 7CEA 30FC 3BC1 EB90