Quick Guide: File Transfer Options on Retro Handheld Devices

Let’s look at the four ways you can transfer files to and from your device. This guide applies to all RK3326-based devices, like the Anbernic RG351 series, PowKiddy RGB10/20, ODROID Go Advance/Super devices, and so on.

The fastest way to add game files is to remove the SD card from the device and plug it into your computer. Depending on the SD card reader you use, you can get upwards of 60mb/s transfer speeds. I use this SD card reader from Anker, which is between $10 and $15 on Amazon and worth every penny.

Many of these devices have internal WiFi, but if you have something like the RG351P, you will need to use an OTG adapter and a WiFi USB module (I have this Wifi module, and it works really well).

Open up your FTP client, like WinSCP for Windows/PC, or ForkLift for Mac. Create a new SFTP connection, and for the server/address, add your IP address. Here are the login credentials for each major firmware:

You can also use a wired ethernet connection to get faster transfer speeds (and not have to worry about a WiFi login/password). I use this Anker ethernet adapter to connect my devices for fast file transfer.

If you have ArkOS, you can use their built-in ArkOS Browser to transfer files back and forth using your computer’s internet browser. This is handy because you don’t need an FTP client, just your regular browser. Here is more information on the feature (this link is specific to the RG351P/M, but you can find similar rundowns in the ArkOS FAQ pages for the respective device).

Additionally, here is a neat method to access the device via File Manager (note you will need to translate the page from German to your language of choice).

Here are the average file transfer speeds for each options:

And as shown in the video above, here are the pros and cons of each file transfer method:

Note that if you transfer files using a Mac, you may find mysterious files on your device that start with a “._” prefix in addition to your regular game. So for example you’ll see both Sonic.bin as well as “._Sonic.bin”. These are files created by MacOS to aid in their QuickLook function. You can delete these files from your device by pressing SELECT > Edit game metadata > Delete. Or, you can also clear them from your SD card while on your Mac, using this method:

Open the Terminal app, and type “sudo dot_clean-mn/Volumes/SD/” where “Volumes/SD” is the path to your SD card.