[Daveabuk]

Good day, 

I have a Android box connected to my router via ethernet and a 2.5" external HDD connected to to my Andoid box.
I also have a Laptop running Win10 connected to Kodi on the android box using SMB over wifi.

The problem I am facing is 1080p movies seems to buffer, while 720p movies play just fine. 

I am looking for any ideas to transfer movies to the external HDD connected to my Android box that doesn't include removing the HDD.
I'm aware I can use ES File Explorer on Android and simply copy the movies over to it, but I would like something more convenient. 

Something similar to an SMB client on Windows wehre I could transfer files directly onto the HDD.
Or any other ideas people may have, including fixing the buffering I'm facing.

Thank you.

[DarrenHill]

Thread moved to Android

Does the box have access to the play store and/or app sideloading? There should be several options for an SMB or NFS server available outside Kodi, or just make a new share on your laptop, add it as a source and use the Kodi file manager (or an external one) to copy the files from that source to your connected drive.

[Daveabuk]

It does yes, that's what I have done previously. But I'm looking for something more on the laptop side. Are you aware of any Windows applications I can download to transfer the files? Something similar to a Windows version of ES File Explorer? Alternatively, is there a fix for the 1080p buffer? Thanks for your fast response.

My Android box is AMLogic, if that helps to narrow it down.

[DarrenHill]

My thinking was to set up a server (SMB probably is easiest) via an app on the box (running in parallel to but outside Kodi), use that to share your HDD onto the network and then just use the normal Windows Explorer on the laptop to connect to the share and transfer files directly to the HDD that way.

For your other question, the wiki notes on HOW-TO:Modify the video cache (wiki) may help, but in the end if the root cause is the speed of your network (or the connection of the box or server to it) then no amount of cache adjustment will fix things short of caching the whole file, which is basically what the transfer to HDD is anyway.

[wrxtasy]

Life is much much easier when you run LibreELEC Kodi Krypton from a Sandisk Class 10 U1 microSDHC card with AMLogic devices.

LibreELEC also has a built in SAMBA server, you simply connect HDD's, they auto mount and then you can transfer files easily over a home network:

https://wiki.libreelec.tv/accessing_libr...__sambasmb

[jjd-uk]

Using the Kodi File Manager to copy the files across from the laptop SMB share is probably the best option. You're not going to get anything to run on the laptop as it will be impossible for anything to see the USB drive as the android box won't be sharing it over the network, therefore any solution has to be done on the android box.

[Daveabuk]

After reading and trying everyones ideas, I settled for using the Remote Manager on ES File Explorer. This is a great way to transfer files to my Android device using Windows. You simply emable Remote Manager and it will give you an address. Simply type this address into Windows explorer and you can view all the files on the Android device. Thank you for all of your suggestions.

[Tinwarble]

First, what version of Android is your box running?

There are limitations depending on what Android version you are running.  With Android 6.x (maybe 5.x) or above you can not use the Kodi File Manager to just copy files to an attached HDD.  This is because an app has to ask for permission to write to the root or any other folder than the apps folder on the HDD.  Kodi does not ask for permission!

Second, you should not be using ES File Explorer.  Not only is it bloatware/crapware verging on malware, it doesn't implement the Storage Access Framework correctly which can cause issues with external drives.

[Daveabuk]

First, what version of Android is your box running?

There are limitations depending on what Android version you are running.  With Android 6.x (maybe 5.x) or above you can not use the Kodi File Manager to just copy files to an attached HDD.  This is because an app has to ask for permission to write to the root or any other folder than the apps folder on the HDD.  Kodi does not ask for permission!

Second, you should not be using ES File Explorer.  Not only is it bloatware/crapware verging on malware, it doesn't implement the Storage Access Framework correctly which can cause issues with external drives.

 My android box is running version 6.0.1. I have tried to use Kodi File manager but as stated I wanted something more laptop friendly. While using ES, I can simply type the Android box IP into Windows explorer and do what I please on the system. The only problem with that is when I exit the app the connection closes after a few minutes. Something similar to that, but Kodi based would be perfect. I don't really need to use it for the HDD, but I asked for that just in case I ever need to.