iPhone w/External USB Drive?

July 4, 2007 8:18 AM

iPhone has OSX and USB. Can I hook it up to an external USB hard disk?

I don't even have a personal computer anymore, just a company-issued one. I don't need a computer for much outside of work, so I'm thinking the iPhone might just be serviceable ...if it can connect to an external USB hard disk by itself and run iTunes as a standalone device. The idea would be that when connected to the external drive I could move tunes to the flash drive inside the iPhone.

I'm doubting this is possible, but I thought I'd ask.

posted by jstrater to Technology (6 answers total)

Setting aside the iPhone's lack of a USB port (yes, it has the Dock Connector on the bottom, but it needs one that could let it act as a host device, rather than just a slave), I strongly suspect that if there were a known way of doing it, it'd be all over the gadgety blogs I read obsessively.

Short answer: If it is possible, no-one's figured it out yet.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:28 AM on July 4, 2007

Nope. You must have a Mac or PC running iTunes to activate it or transfer music/video/photos/everything. Plugging it into the external storage will do nothing.

Once you've done that once, you could never connect it a computer again as long as you're happy with the content you've put on it. Or until there's an update -- like to use part of the flash drive as storage, a chat client, bug fixes.

The iPhone is great, but don't get one without a computer.
posted by birdherder at 8:29 AM on July 4, 2007

From what I understand, the iPhone has no file management capabilities, nor is it likely to contain a USB host controller / root hub.
So, my guess would be you're not gonna be so lucky.
posted by jjb at 8:30 AM on July 4, 2007

Nope - it's not a USB master, therefore it cannot host the external drive.
posted by unixrat at 9:42 AM on July 4, 2007

No - this is rare. Intel designed USB to encourage people to always tether their devices to PCs (more CPU sales!), and Apple is playing along with its itunes "one interface to rule them all" strategy. To free your device from PC dependence, you'd need something like the Toshiba G900, with "USB On The Go" (basically, a master). Some mp3 players have these chips as well, such as the iRiver h320.
posted by meehawl at 11:34 AM on July 4, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks for the responses. As I said, I didn't think this was possible, but it sure is a nice idea, isn't it? I just checked out meehawl's link to the G900 and that piqued my interest. USB On-The-Go is something worth exploring.
posted by jstrater at 6:37 PM on July 4, 2007