Link Safe

Last week, I plugged my Android tablet into my PC, only to discover that the micro USB connection had become faulty. I knew something was wrong because a notification appeared to say that it was charging. but my PC didn‘t recognise the device. I tried using a different cable, different PC and even reinstalling the manufacturer's drivers, none of which worked, so I knew it was the connection on the device itself.

My tablet is out of warranty, and I wasn't keen on paying any repair fees, so I wondered how else I might be able to transfer large files to my PC without a cable. A quick Google search returned WiFi File Transfer, an Android app (bit.ly/wifi) that lets you browse your device’s file directory from your PC browser. Using this, I was able to back up all my precious files to my PC much more quickly than using a cloud service, because the files are transferred directly from one device to another. Both devices need to be on the same network and there's a 25MB file-size limit when moving files to your tablet from a PC. If you need to transfer files bigger files there is a Pro version of the app you can buy for 88p.

I love how easy it is to use and. because it runs wirelessly as a background service, I can carry on using  my tablet on the sofa while the files are transferred!