[Q] External Card and USB Connection - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 5

Dear all,
I had been using an old HTC Glacier with Android 2.3 until last week and just the I've got a new S5. Android 4.4 is very new to me, so I am sorry for the newbie questions.
It's my understanding that Google changed permissions so that apps cannot access the external card. Can rooted devices and/or custom ROMs allows that? (I plan to install the Project Infiity ROM soon.)
With my old phone (using CM 7) I could connect it via USB and have it recognized as a Mass Storage Device. Do custom ROMs allow that still?
Thanks!
Luis

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#1. you can use foldermount app to link internal sd's folders with external card
#2. since 4.3 USB mass storage have been removed in favor of MTP. I have not seen any new custom ROM with usb mass storage. However you can still browse your internal and external sd when you hook your phone to a computer, just know that MTP has piss poor speed.

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kawaiichi said:
#1. you can use foldermount app to link internal sd's folders with external card
#2. since 4.3 USB mass storage have been removed in favor of MTP. I have not seen any new custom ROM with usb mass storage. However you can still browse your internal and external sd when you hook your phone to a computer, just know that MTP has piss poor speed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is MTP?
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app

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[email protected] said:
What is MTP?
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MTP is where your device shows up as a "media player" or camera and is not assigned a drive letter. You can still access your files, but is much more restricted to where you can only copy, paste and delete. In order to modify or even rename you must copy them first, then do your modifications and then push them back. They did it this way to better protect the Android filesystem.
Now, with your S5 it is still possible to mount as mass storage. You will need root. If you have root, get terminal emulator and enter in su (to get su privileges) and then type "setprop persist.sys.usb.config mass_storage". DOING THIS DOES THE JOB BUT CAN POTENTIALLY MESS UP YOUR DEVICE. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD WITH MAC DEVICES. ONLY WINDOWS/LINUX. Windows XP recommended. Hope this helps!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app

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aarongillion63 said:
MTP is where your device shows up as a "media player" or camera and is not assigned a drive letter. You can still access your files, but is much more restricted to where you can only copy, paste and delete. In order to modify or even rename you must copy them first, then do your modifications and then push them back. They did it this way to better protect the Android filesystem.
Now, with your S5 it is still possible to mount as mass storage. You will need root. If you have root, get terminal emulator and enter in su (to get su privileges) and then type "setprop persist.sys.usb.config mass_storage". DOING THIS DOES THE JOB BUT CAN POTENTIALLY MESS UP YOUR DEVICE. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD WITH MAC DEVICES. ONLY WINDOWS/LINUX. Windows XP recommended. Hope this helps!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the fast response! I was also wondering why MTP has such a lousy speed?
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app

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[email protected] said:
Thanks for the fast response! I was also wondering why MTP has such a lousy speed?
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because MTP hosts a virtual filesystem, where the internal sd is secured and protected from the computer, whereas mass storage is a direct.
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Say thanks if I was of help!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app

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Understood. Also an app called WiFi file transfer has awesome xfer speeds for moving files to and from the PC.
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app

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Firstly, thanks all for the informative responses!
aarongillion63 said:
MTP is where your device shows up as a "media player" or camera and is not assigned a drive letter. You can still access your files, but is much more restricted to where you can only copy, paste and delete. In order to modify or even rename you must copy them first, then do your modifications and then push them back. They did it this way to better protect the Android filesystem.
Now, with your S5 it is still possible to mount as mass storage. You will need root. If you have root, get terminal emulator and enter in su (to get su privileges) and then type "setprop persist.sys.usb.config mass_storage". DOING THIS DOES THE JOB BUT CAN POTENTIALLY MESS UP YOUR DEVICE. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD WITH MAC DEVICES. ONLY WINDOWS/LINUX. Windows XP recommended. Hope this helps!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried this last "hack" with the GS5? That sounds great, although your remarks scare me a bit. (I'm virtually always on Linux, though, and own no Mac.)
Thanks again!
Luis

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finotti said:
Firstly, thanks all for the informative responses!
Have you tried this last "hack" with the GS5? That sounds great, although your remarks scare me a bit. (I'm virtually always on Linux, though, and own no Mac.)
Thanks again!
Luis
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not tried this with an S5 but I can confirm that this works with some S3's and S4's (doesn't work on Verizon/Sprint versions, got it to work once on at&t, however it would be logical to assume it's processor dependant as these devices come in multiple processor variants; my guess is it doesn't work on ARM and does on Exynos.)
Idk, it's worth a try, you will only mess up your device if you don't "safely remove hardware" during write.