Some Android phones — including those made by Xiaomi (and its Redmi and Poco brands), Oppo, Realme, and OnePlus — have a setting called OTG connection that must be turned on before the phone will recognize an external drive like your Ultimate Backup. If this setting is off, the Ultimate Backup app won't detect your drive when you plug it in.
OTG (short for "On-The-Go") is the Android feature that lets your phone power and read a USB drive. On most Samsung, Google, and Motorola phones it is already turned on, so there is nothing for you to change.
The phone brands listed above are the ones we hear about most often, but they aren't the only ones. Vivo, iQOO, Honor, Huawei, Infinix, and Tecno phones often have the same setting, and other brands may have it too. If your phone isn't a Samsung, Google, or Motorola and your drive isn't being detected, it is worth checking for this setting before anything else.
How to turn on OTG connection
On Xiaomi, Poco, Oppo, Realme, and OnePlus phones you'll usually find it under Settings → Additional settings → OTG connection. Other brands keep it in a similar place but may word it differently — look for a menu such as Other settings, More settings, or More connections. The surest way on any phone is to open the Settings app, use the search bar at the top to search for OTG, and turn on the setting that comes up. Once it's enabled, open the Ultimate Backup app and connect your drive.
The videos below walk through the steps brand by brand. If your phone is a different brand, the screens will look a little different, but the setting works the same way, so the closest video is still a good guide.
Xiaomi / Redmi
Poco
Oppo
Realme
OnePlus
Important: on many phones that have this setting, OTG connection turns itself off automatically after about 10 minutes if no device is connected, so you'll need to turn it back on each time you want to run a backup. This behavior is built into the phone by its manufacturer and can't be changed by the Ultimate Backup app.
If your drive still isn't detected after turning on OTG connection, please reach out to one of our live support agents and we'll be happy to help.