Nokia N800 & N810: How to connect a USB flash drive to your tablet using the USB cable

To get the most out of this tutorial, watch the video above and then read the text below. The tutorial assumes that N800 owners have upgraded to OS 2008. If you want to find out more about upgrading your N800, click here.

If you want to comment on this tutorial, please post in the comments section at the end. If you have any questions or problems regarding your tablet, please post about them on Internet Tablet Talk's Newbie Forum.

Why would anyone want to connect a flash drive to an internet tablet?

USB flash drives, sometimes known as thumb drives (and sometimes incorrectly as memory sticks), are basically flash memory cards with a plastic casing around them and a USB connector built into them. You can plug them straight into the USB port of any computer and the computer will treat them as an external drive which can be used for storing files. Many people use them for storing backups of important files, or for carrying files with them for use on another computer.

The N800 and N810 both come with built-in memory card slots, so in theory you don't really need to attach a USB flash drive, you could just use tablet-compatible memory cards. From a technical point of view a flash drive's memory and a memory card's memory are absolutely identical.

However, in real life many people prefer to use USB flash drives because they are larger and more durable if you want to carry them separately. They can also be plugged into a computer without a card reader, whereas memory cards always require a compatible card slot.


How to connect a USB flash drive to your tablet

As the video above says, you need to do two things before you can connect a flash drive: install the free "USB Control" application on your tablet, and buy a Female-Female USB adaptor.

F-F USB adaptors are extremely cheap, they only cost a few dollars or euros because they're basically just a conveniently-shaped bit of metal. You can buy them in any major electronics shop or website, and you can also find them on eBay.

Installing USB Control is much less complicated than it sounds, and we're going to go through it step by step.


How to install and use USB Control on your tablet

1. Click on the globe and open a new browser window. Go to maemo.org/downloads

2. Click on the search box in the top right hand corner and enter "USB Control". When the search results appear click on the title that says "USB Control".

3. Click on the green installation arrow on the right side of the screen, which will launch the automatic installation process. Say OK, Yes and I Agree to all of the questions that appear.

4. After USB Control has been installed, close the Application Manager using the X in the top right hand corner. You now have USB Control on your tablet.

5. Open USB Control by clicking on the Applications menu (three green squares), then Extras, then USB Control. Click on the "Host" button at the bottom of the screen and close the application using the X in the top right hand corner. The tablet is now ready to be attached to your flash drive.


How to attach the USB flash drive to your tablet

1. Plug your tablet's USB cable into the tablet's USB socket. Leave the other end of the cable not plugged into anything.

2. Plug the other end of the tablet's USB cable into the Female-Female USB adaptor.

3. Plug your USB flash drive into the other end of the Female-Female USB adaptor.

The flash drive is now attached to the tablet, and the tablet should automatically launch the Application Manager which will let you transfer files onto and off the drive. The App Manager will automatically show you the contents of the drive on the right side of the screen.

Don't worry if the tablet says "Device not supported", you can ignore this message.


What do I do when I've finished using the USB flash drive?

The one thing you should NOT do is unplug it straight away. Just like on a PC, you have to make the flash drive safe to remove before you unplug it, otherwise you may damage it.

To do this, close any applications using the drive (such as File Manager), then click on the USB icon (the three-pronged arrow) in the status bar at the top of the screen. Select the "Disable" option, and wait for a message telling you that you can disconnect the USB cable. After the message appears, you can unplug the flash drive.

Note that if you intend to attach your tablet to your computer using the USB cable, you will need to take it out of "Host" mode first. You can do this by opening the USB Control app, clicking on the "Peripheral" button, and then closing the app.

"Host" is the mode for using the flash drive, and "Peripheral" is the mode for attaching the tablet to a computer. You can use USB Control to switch between these modes, and the tablet will remain in that mode until you change it. You can close the USB Control app if you want, the tablet's USB mode will remain whatever you set it to.

Switching the tablet off and then on again will automatically put it in "Peripheral" mode, so try to avoid this if you want to use the flash drive regularly. As has been mentioned elsewhere on this site, you shouldn't really switch the tablet off anyway because computers use far more energy starting up than they do staying on.


I've tried doing this but nothing happens when I plug the flash drive in!

First of all, check that all the connections on the drive, adaptor, cable and tablet are secure, then try connecting the flash drive again.

If that doesn't help, open USB Control again, click on the "host" button and close the app. Try connecting the flash drive again.

If it still doesn't work, there's a possibility that the flash drive you're using is trying to draw too much current from the tablet. If that's the case, the tablet will never let it connect. Try using a different flash drive if you can, and avoid using a drive with a built-in LED light. If all your flash drives have a built-in LED, try to use the drive with the smallest LED.


So some USB flash drives won't work with the tablets? Why?

The USB standard allows accessories to be powered by the device they're plugged into, but the device usually has a limit on how much current it will give out to an accessory. Because the tablets are pocket-sized with a fairly small battery, they have quite a low limit on current for USB accessories.

Keyboards will work because they don't draw much current, and USB flash drives will work too as long as they don't go over the limit either. Unfortunately some drives do go over the limit, especially those that have large LEDs which light up during connection. We managed to successfully connect the tablet to a drive with an LED in it, but it was quite a small LED and it didn't stay lit up permanently.

If you're unsure about whether a USB flash drive will work with your tablet, the best thing to do is try connecting the drive and see what happens. If it won't work, nothing will happen because the tablet will simply refuse to connect. If it does work, the tablet will connect to the drive and bring up the File Manager application showing the drive's contents.

It's possible that the current drawn by a drive may be right on the tablet's limit, in which case the tablet will start connecting but won't go through the whole process. Such a drive won't work with the tablet, as the drive is still going over the limit eventually.


Can I use this method to attach other USB accessories?

Yes, some other USB accessories can be connected, although as noted above you cannot connect anything which draws too much current from the tablet.

Ordinary computer keyboards will work, and you can find out more about connecting them to your tablet in our keyboard connection tutorial by clicking here.

External HDDs (aka hard disks aka hard drives) will also connect successfully if they have their own external power supply (so that they don't draw too much current from the tablet). You can see our tutorial on connecting an HDD to the tablet by clicking here.

In theory USB computer mice can be connected too, but the tablet doesn't currently have any mouse drivers installed, so even if you connect a mouse successfully it won't actually do anything. Some tablet enthusiasts have written applications which use any connected mice, but they're still at the experimental stage and not anywhere near finished yet.