On my quest to go full cloud-storage-free, I moved all my files from my cloud service into a portable HD and I purchased a USB to smartphone (OTG) cable so that I can connect my HD to my phone when needed.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work as expected, as I have already encountered a few corrupt files here and there (specifically when moving photos from my phone's memory into my HD), even though I have been very careful about unmounting my HD from my phone before unplugging.
While it's not the best solution, from now on, I plan to use this HD with my phone but only to browse and open files – not write.
My question is this: While a portable HD is mounted on a phone (or computer) and given that I freely browse and open files but never modify any of them (or move any files from/into the HD), is there anything else that's being written on the HD? Maybe probably on the background, without me even knowing?
a. If no, would this new way of using it be enough so that I don't encounter other corrupt files in the future?
b. If yes, how can I prevent any write process on the HD? Could I set an HD to recognize a device and automatically disable write permissions?
c. Would replacing my portable HD with an SSD, or a flash drive, or an SD card, by any chance make things easier for me or enable me to set different permissions?
I'm on a MacBook and an Android phone most of the time, if it makes any difference. But the idea is to be able to use it with any device.
I know I can't be the only one who's wished to go full cloud-free, but I've found so many obstacles on my quest to do it, it's unbelievable.
Thank you for any advice.