reading an external hardrive

[kflesher]

how am I able to read an external hard drive, directly from my phone, I have an s5.
the hard drive sems to requires some power to run it,

 

[Rukbat]

You need a 3-port OTG cable - one plugs into the phone, the drive plugs into the second port and the power supply (assuming it's 5 volts - the drive is powered from the USB port) plugs into the 3rd port. You should be able to use the phone's charger -the USB port can't put out as much as most chargers, so if it runs off a USB connection, it'll run off the phone's charger. (The phone won't be powered, so be sure the battery is fully charged.)

 

[TravisSanders]

You need a 3-port OTG cable - one plugs into the phone, the drive plugs into the second port and the power supply (assuming it's 5 volts - the drive is powered from the USB port) plugs into the 3rd port. You should be able to use the phone's charger -the USB port can't put out as much as most chargers, so if it runs off a USB connection, it'll run off the phone's charger. (The phone won't be powered, so be sure the battery is fully charged.)

Thank you for that well thought out and complete answer.

 

[kflesher]

Rukbat, thanks for the reply.
I do have a OTG, but it doesn't seem to have the ports I need, (1usb, 1micro sd, and a sd, Slot)
it will recognize the sd cards fine, as soon as I plug the drives USB into it, it fails to recognize it.
Could you recommend a OTG that may work, thanks.