Features, settings & updates

[jackavram]

Is it possible to add an external USB storage to the Roku Streaming 4K Sticks with an "OTG adapter with power" ?  There are adapters that work well for other devices like Amazon Firestick to add external USB drive storage but I can't find any that support Roku Streaming 4K Sticks.  All the OTG adapters I'm finding say they don't support Roku. 

[AvsGunnar · Accepted solution]

@jackavram 

Users have reported that the Smays brand work.  Basically you need to look for 10/100 ethernet adapters (not 10/100/100, although other users have reportedly gotten some of these to work as well).  Also needs to support/include AX8877X or SMSC95XX chipsets.

https://support.roku.com/article/360058027813

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From Amazon, these two have reportedly worked. (Also, make sure it has its own power adapter as these two devices).

https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Replacement-Streaming-External-Internet/dp/B09BFPQ3V5?th=1

https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Adapter-Compatible-Chromecast-Internet/dp/B078MNW25Q/ref=sr_1_2?crid...

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You can also the explore the possibility of just adding a drive (USB thumb drive, hard drive, etc) directly to your router's USB port if your router has a DNLA server and then access your files that way.  Normally just have to enable a UPnP or a USB NAS setting from within the router so as to share files across a network.  Then access them using the Roku Media Player (RMP).  

[atc98092]

Also to clarify a point. When you connect a USB drive to a Roku device, it doesn't add any storage to the device itself. The only thing you can do with a connected drive is stream media from it, such as music, video or pictures. You can't store anything from the Roku on it (although it does permit pausing live TV on a Roku TV, but will not function as a DVR). It won't improve the performance or allow installing more channels. 

[jackavram]

@AvsGunnar Fantastic! This is exactly what I needed.  

@atc98092 Good to know!  Perhaps someday Roku will allow storing apps on the external storage as well like the Firestick. Yes, I'm just curious to add external USB storage for videos, music, photos playback.  I assume it supports at-least FAT32 formatted USBs but NTFS would be awesome too for 4K quality videos (4GB filesize limit on FAT32).   

[atc98092]

Per a Roku support page:

Roku devices support USB drives that are formatted with the FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, and HFS+ file systems.

https://support.roku.com/article/230160368

[AvsGunnar]

@jackavram 

From Roku's Support article (How to use Roku Media Player to play your videos, music and photos),  https://support.roku.com/article/208754908...

"Roku Media Player supports drives that are formatted with the FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, and HFS+ file systems."

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As long as you format your drive in one of the above formats, you should be good to go.