So I received word that my cables are shipping from Hong Kong as I mentioned but I just cannot wait that long to test out my tablet with an external hard drive. I could wait but I’m impatient. 🙂
I called around a few places and finally found a micro USB OTG (on the go) cable at my local computer store. They were out of stock but the sales clerk remembered seeing one somewhere in the back. I wasn’t hopeful but, sure enough, he was right! Dell should really ship one of these with the unit.
So with that in hand I bought a 4 port powered (very important) USB hub to connect it all together. Then I connected my external small form hard drive and voila! My Venue immediately recognized my hard drive! Success! The powered USB hub is important since the venue micro-USB port does not provide enough power to spin the hard disc in the drive.
And “success” is relative. I am still unable to power the unit while doing this. Works in a pinch but the other cables that will allow me to power up while importing images – the ones slowly making their way across the Pacific – should do the trick!
So the setup looks like this:
Venue –> micro USB OTG cable –> USB A Type / B Type –> POWERED USB hub –> hard drive AND SD card reader
Total weight, around 3 lbs!