[Q] PTP the whole sdcard - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi xda,
I got my Nexus 4 last week. I'm really happy with it and paranoid-android except for one missing feature. The good old USB-Connection. I've read a lot of articles and post and I know the reason is that it is physically impossible to mount only a part of a partition.
MTP is also no use for me because it doesn't work on any Linux I've tried without installing and configuring it. What does work is the PTP-Connection. The only disadvantage I see is that I can only access the DCIM folder on the emulated sdcard. Wouldn't it be possible to modify the PTP-Connection so that I can access the whole sdcard?
Of course I'm very interested in other solutions too if there are any...
kind regards & thanks in advance
Hubi

no one?
It really pisses me off....
I want to mount my sdcard from a linux systems without root... putting everything into the DCIM folder isn't really a nice solution...
Why didn't android think of linux-users ???
cheers
hubi <-- a disappointed android and linux user

Related

[Q] [REQ] Andoird on I8910 OmniaHD??

can someone tell me if is possible port Android on this amazing device??
someone is working on this???
I wuold like a lot if someone port Andoid on oHD!!!
lukas_ita said:
can someone tell me if is possible port Android on this amazing device??
someone is working on this???
I wuold like a lot if someone port Andoid on oHD!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was working on it for a long time. Unfortunately it is impossible, due to limited bootloader space (not enough for an android one) and no recovery partition. Also it would need a totally new partition layout (as it only has two accessable internal and one external drive, so no cache, recovery access, nor swap.
And also do not forget about the hardware incompatibility. Even if we manage to boot it, you will hardly be able to even make a phone call. Not to say use WiFi, or GPS, BT, or anything.
hi i joined because of some interest in this,
first of all let met tell you that i own a samsoung i8320 (vodafone h1).
this in some way helps because we now have a 'working' limo kernel, in my opinion it might help us out here.
the problem i have is that i never ever yet have been able to do 'any of the work here under' - the fact that i know howto doesn't make me capable of doing, (its like the fact that you know a plain fly's because of big wings and an engine, doesn't make you a pilot)
---------
the H1 uses a rather standard linux kernel as far as i can tell from the source could, though i havn't been able to run it inside quemu yet..
some guys allready interested in porting android say that they got android running but without functions like phone or wifi. this is because thay used an android kernel rather than the samsung one.
step 1:
so what if you would strip the samsung rom from all 'userland' software, keeping only the kernel, its drivers and busybox stuf.
creating a root shell only - you may even be able to make it mount as /boot rather than /
step 2:
now ad ad adtional filesystem on the internal phone memory or an external sdcard ... format it as you like (ext3 with noadtime could do, but other options are also availible).
this should now be where the remaining of the android rom should be. you could now always update most of your your android and apps exept for your linux kernel or drivers. without reflashing. this idea is largely based on apps-2-sd so we all know its been done before.
fonix232 said:
I was working on it for a long time. Unfortunately it is impossible, due to limited bootloader space (not enough for an android one) and no recovery partition. Also it would need a totally new partition layout (as it only has two accessable internal and one external drive, so no cache, recovery access, nor swap.
And also do not forget about the hardware incompatibility. Even if we manage to boot it, you will hardly be able to even make a phone call. Not to say use WiFi, or GPS, BT, or anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The i8910 community is great....this phone is great...a porting of android on this phone wuold mean a great number of donations!
cannot you use E\ (massmemory...8Gb or 16Gb) like partition?

[Q] Encrypted container for Android

I am using Truecrypt on my PC as well as Ubuntu 10.10.
I am looking for a similar technology in Android.
Like you can mount and unmount a container like a SD card.
Nearest I reached was, people suggesting hiding files, which is not secure, simply put the card in another machine, you will see everything.
Another suggestion was to use some secure files, but it can store some information only.
I cannot see any evidence in truecrypt forums, they are working on any android version.
I was just checking Folder Lock, they do have a iPhone version. Not that impressive idea. Needs to upload data online to see in iPhone!!!
We need better and safer ideas from Androids.
Crack on...
I have the same problem for Android.
The only programs I found that you can use are secretvault pro en FileCrypter.
I use the last one. It encrypts the folder you want, but it's a little bit slow for maps above 100 MB.
I don't understand that with more than 250.000 apps, nobody comes out with a program like truecrypt, etc, where you can mount the map as a container with his own driveletter.
Berny Boss said:
I have the same problem for Android.
The only programs I found that you can use are secretvault pro en FileCrypter.
I use the last one. It encrypts the folder you want, but it's a little bit slow for maps above 100 MB.
I don't understand that with more than 250.000 apps, nobody comes out with a program like truecrypt, etc, where you can mount the map as a container with his own driveletter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
technical limits maybe?
Just manually encrypting folders and files might be no problem, but truecrypt is different. files from a truecrypt storage are decrypted in memory and there's a driver that makes the native file functions of the OS think that the files are coming from a real storage.
I don't think you can develop such drivers for Android, at least not on non-rooted phones. It would have been possible on Windows Mobile. I mean, it has existed already: SafeGuard for instance.
Thank you very much for your suggestions
I tried both Filecrypter and secretvault pro on Samsung Galaxy S, but encrypted files were visible on gallery!!.
This was after encrypting the folder.
Does android 2.2 saves gallery viewed files in any cache or tmp folder?
Yes we are in a desperate need for encrypted containers, which can store anything.
If we loose phone, nobody will return it, we need to safeguard our personel files.
Let the thief format the sdcard and use it.
Encrypted Container for Android
Hi,
I did a project for a client implementing encrypted container for the android phone. Unfortunately I can't release any source. But, if somebody is willing to recreate this I can guide them. PM me for details.
i know this post is old, but is there anything available today that can mount veracrypt containers? i know of eds but its just awful. android should do this by now.

[Q] USB Mass Storage (UMS) on Transformer Prime / Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)

Hi!
I know, that this question has been asked many times, so I'll try to formulate it a little different. I know, that Google wants to abandon USB Mass Storage (UMS) with Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) and focus on MTP / PTP.
This is however a pain in the @ss for most users. Since the Transformer Prime (TF-201) has only 1 partition, which can not be "exported" via UMS - because it has the system on it - would it be possible to modify ICS so, that the internal storage will be partitioned? Let's say 5GB for ICS and Apps, the rest on a separate partition. And the second partition could act like an "SD Card", like it's on most phones?
Would this somehow be possible?
I prefer UMS over MTP/PTP, since the latter 2 are not usable on Linux, and even in Windows Total Commander does not show the MTP/PTP devices (no official support, no plugins that work...) and I'm "forced" to use Windows Explorer
Thats what i though too when i connected my prime to the pc.
Was expecting to connect it in UMS.
Usually partitions are defined by the bootloader, so this would need a bootloader edit which nobody really wants to try due to the lack of nvflash access
Would it be possible with root?
brantje said:
Would it be possible with root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, because UMS would require having an actual "sdcard" partition on the device, and this is not the case. As Diamondback said, to change the partitioning of the storage would require full bootloader access which is not possible without the likes of nvflash.
Personally I think you are better to figure out a way to use the MTP. I use Linux so ?I know what a pain it is, but for the very occasional times I need to access sdcard from my PC MTP works "well enough".
Android 4.0 Compatibility Definition at 7.6.2. Application Shared Storage says
Regardless of the form of shared storage used, device implementations MUST provide some mechanism to access the contents of shared storage from a host computer, such as USB mass storage (UMS) or Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). Device implementations MAY use USB mass storage, but SHOULD use Media Transfer Protocol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read that as saying the method used is down to the developer. I think if mtp was required then the word "MUST" would be used and "SHOULD" is "do this unless there are valid reasons not to do it"
peterk-1 said:
Android 4.0 Compatibility Definition at 7.6.2. Application Shared Storage says
I read that as saying the method used is down to the developer. I think if mtp was required then the word "MUST" would be used and "SHOULD" is "do this unless there are valid reasons not to do it"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it is down to the "developer" as in the ROM chef. Your quote clearly says "Device implementations" - i.e. the way the device is set up. So, a device manufacturer who is creating an ICS device could either configure the device with a separate partition or card for /sdcard and use UMS or they have a single shared partition and use MTP.
The problem with UMS as I understand it is that it requires a dedicated partition, and when that partition is mounted on the host PC, it cannot be accessible to Android (remember all the issues with widgets which were installed on the sdcard on previous android versions not working ?).
The MTP method, on the other hand, does not have this restriction and also allows the dynamic sharing of a single partition between /data and /sdcard which makes much more efficient use of available storage.
So basically this was a design decision which the manufacturer made at design time. In order for a ROM developer to change that, they would need access to be able to split the current /data partition into two chunks: one for /data and one for /sdcard. That capability does not exist with the Prime.
Then again, I could be totally wrong
barryflanagan: Quite right in what you say. It's such an easy mistake to type developer instead of manufacturer!!
Cheers
Diamondback said:
Usually partitions are defined by the bootloader, so this would need a bootloader edit which nobody really wants to try due to the lack of nvflash access
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
barryflanagan said:
No, because UMS would require having an actual "sdcard" partition on the device, and this is not the case. As Diamondback said, to change the partitioning of the storage would require full bootloader access which is not possible without the likes of nvflash.
Personally I think you are better to figure out a way to use the MTP. I use Linux so ?I know what a pain it is, but for the very occasional times I need to access sdcard from my PC MTP works "well enough".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Guys!
First, thanks for the answers.
Second: "well enough" is not what I would aim for in a high quality and premium device like the TF Prime...
So, if I'm interpreting this right, "we" (the geeks & developers at XDA) need only nvflash for the Prime. That doesn't sound too hard. Personally I don't know nvflash, or how to get it working on the Prime (I'm not a developer), but since we already have root access and an unlocked bootloader it should be no problem.
I ran into the following site after a quick Google search: http://androidroot.mobi/2011/06/13/nvflash-on-asus-transformer/
I think I'm not alone, when I say, that UMS is better than MTP/PTP. Personally I don't care about a shared storage. When I want to copy music or movies to my phone or tablet I'm prefer the UMS method (umount on device, mount on PC).
<rant>On another note, why I dislike MTP: many years ago I had a Creative Zen Touch (20GB), which used MTP. On 2 out of 3 PC's I could not get it work, no matter what I had done, and even the rare times it worked, I could not copy bigger file (I think 1GB or larger) to the device, the transfer always broke up.
After I got the TF Prime, I was really disappointed to see, that ASUS chose this path too (since it's not mandatory, only recommended - I think some ICS Phones have a partitioned internal storage, where 1 partition can act like an SD card). The first thing that happened to me after I got the Prime: I copied a directory from my work notebook on the TF Prime. After some time I deleted that directory (I used the File Manager that came with the device). Then (after the directory was deleted) I connected the Prime to my home PC (the TF Prime was *never* connected to that PC before), and the first thing I saw, was the previously deleted directory - though I did *not* see the directory in the File Manager anymore! So that's why I'm against MTP/PTP. </rant>
drunken_m said:
Hi Guys!
First, thanks for the answers.
Second: "well enough" is not what I would aim for in a high quality and premium device like the TF Prime...
So, if I'm interpreting this right, "we" (the geeks & developers at XDA) need only nvflash for the Prime. That doesn't sound too hard. Personally I don't know nvflash, or how to get it working on the Prime (I'm not a developer), but since we already have root access and an unlocked bootloader it should be no problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If only it were that simple. Let me know when you have it ready
As for the whole MTP issue, I agree with you but the reality is it ain't going to change any time soon, at least not in the Prime.
The Galaxy Nexus (Google's own flagship device) I think shows the strategy being pursued, which is not only MTP-only, but also has no storage expansion. What Google, Apple and the rest want is to force us all onto the dreaded Cloud and wean us off local storage all together.
BTW, even on the GNex, I am not aware of any ROMs which have implemented UMS, and that phone IS totally unlocked, unlike the Prime.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4
I've been very frustrated with this issue, but it does make a bit of sense. It sounds like the underlying issue here, going forward, is that what we really need better support across the board. If MTS is going to be the future, it will need to be much more robustly supported on other devices, and we'll need android tools to manage what is available on those devices.
I'm currently looking into other methods of network file access, which will allow me to transfer what I want where I want it, to and from TF201, files of large size and small, with decently high throughput. Running an SFTP server on my tablet looks to be the most likely candidate for what I'm trying to do.
The worst part for me is that MTP volumes are not detected in file recovery programs.. I recently accidentally lost a small lot of pictures and couldn recover them as a result of MTP...

microSD card access in Android Apps

Hello,
I'm considering purchasing the Samsung Chromebook Plus when it gets released and I don't to get anything wrong considering I live in the EU and will be importing it from the USA shall I decide to make this purchase. What finally pushed to towards purchasing a Chromebook is Android Apps and Play Store availability. However, as I understand, the only folder Chrome OS and Android actually have in common and can both access in the Downloads folder, which means no access to microSD card. In any case, if a purchase a chromebook, I plan to put it in Developer Mode, for multiple reasons among which is the ability to install a APK. My question is : is it possible, when in Dev Mode, to create a symlink (the way you create a symlink in *NIX systems) in the Downloads folder that leads to the microSD card and access the external storage from Android Apps (one of the main reason I want to do that is sync Dropbox and OneDrive files to the microSD) ? I thought I read it was possible sometimes in late 2016 but I can't seem to find it anymore.
Thanks in advance for your help.
There's a way to mount it as read only: http://nolirium.blogspot.com/2016/12/making-sd-card-content-accessible-to.html
Or if you get root within the android application it may work: http://nolirium.blogspot.com/2016/12/android-on-chrome-os-rooting-shell.html
Wow thanks! That's not even very difficult (at least for read access). Only problem is when suspending. Maybe that could be solved by automating the process!
Do you know if it is possible to manually mount ext4 sd cards in chrome os ? I just thought you might be unable to write due to folder ownership but maybe setting it manually would help.
Do you what the unix username of Android user is ?
EDIT: there is so little information about it that I believe I'll have to try it out myself

Can I get Sony's Remote Shares feature on a Custom rom?

Remote Shares is a must for me, I can't get by without it, "mounting" 5TB hard drives on android to access videos, books, magazines, backups, move stuff to and from my XZU with ease, just as if I was moving it inside the phone's storage, it was day to day stuff for me, I was happy with my KitKat stock rooted, but it started failing badly, had to move on, why not upgrade my system? but really didn't think custom ROMs (not based on sony stock) wouldn't have one of Sony's greatest features...
Can anyone with knowledge point me in the right direction?
What do I need to learn to be able to add this feature to my current rom (RR LP 5.5.9)? is it kernel related? add or edit some files in /system?, perhaps I can create some script in a shell to mount at boot? although I'd rather have Sony's original method with switches to mount or unmount at will, not a permanently mounted hdd.
Please help, I think this can be useful to more people.
I'm willing to give my time for this, just need to know where to start, but if possible without having to learn the whole Android OS...
Sent from my Xperia+Z+Ultra using Tapatalk

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