The procedure of preparing a USB drive for optimal use with Android devices involves reformatting the storage medium to a file system compatible with the operating system. This process typically erases all existing data on the drive. An example would be reformatting a USB flash drive to the FAT32 or exFAT file system for seamless compatibility with a smartphone or tablet running the Android operating system.
This preparation ensures that the device can readily read and write data to the drive, facilitating tasks such as transferring files, backing up data, or expanding storage capacity. Historically, limitations in file system support on Android devices necessitated specific formatting procedures to overcome compatibility issues and enable seamless interoperability between the mobile device and external storage.