I frequently synchronize media files from my Windows 8.1 desktop to my Android 4.4.2 devices and I find MTP to be very unreliable. After much reading it seems there are no fixes available to make MTP more reliable.
I am therefore exploring all other options including FTP, WebDAV, and Samba but I prefer UMS (USB Mass Storage) for its simplicity, performance, and compatibility with my desktop media synchronization tools.
I understand the problems that UMS can cause because of its need for exclusive access to the storage media.
I am wondering if there might be a different approach to having access to UMS on my devices?
I would like to shutdown Android and boot into something else that turns my device into a simple USB flash drive which I can then connect to my desktop for adding/deleting files on the ex-FAT external SDcard in my device. When done I would shutdown UMS and boot back into standard Android.
Does anyone know how to accomplish this?
Related
I have been trying to get my MAC to recognize my tablet as a mass storage device with NO success.
i have installed kies and within that application it does recognize my Galaxy and i can transfer media files but there is no option to transfer any other types of files.
i downloaded android file transfer but when i plug in device and run that application, my galaxy is not found.
The galaxy never shows up in my finder application.
Does anyone know a resolution to this? Samsung has no idea. I have called them a few times already,
You can't mount the Galaxy as a mass storage device to any machine - it simply doesn't support mass storage.
There are two methods for transferring files which it supports. One is MTP, one is Android Debug Bridge (ADB). I'm not sure which one Android File Transfer uses. If ADB, then you need to enable USB debugging. If not, well, it seems like the GTab's MTP support is pretty buggy.
Worst case, you can transfer files using ADB. http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-x-faq/74089-how-setting-up-adb-mac-osx-your-droid-x.html has a MacOS ADB tutorial.
The Issue
So, as you certainly noticed, ICS-toting devices such as the Touchpad running CM9 do not offer the USB Mass Storage feature anymore.
On Windows, I hear that you can mount your storage using MTP (Media Storage Protocol)
On Linux and OS X, from what I've seen, there have been some attempts at building drivers for MTP but those seem to provide quite unreliable connectivity.
On Windows itself, it appears that the protocol takes quite a while to mount your device.
Google does not offer USB Mass Storage anymore in part due to the fact that you would need to unmount your whole storage from your phone to mount it on your computer.
The Solution
Alt Mounter! (I know, such an original name)
Alt Mounter is two things: 1) a small service and its widget, running on your device; 2) a helper running on your computer.
When you use Alt Mounter, mounting your storage on your computer is close to instantaneous. It works like a Dual Mount application; i.e. it does not unmount your storage from your device (it does not need to)
Platforms
Currently, the helper only exists for OS X. It should not take long to port it to Linux and/or Windows if there is a demand.
The OS X version requires you to install OSXFUSE or any other FUSE package. It does not install these drivers itself because many MAC owners have already installed FUSE one way or another (for instance, OS X running in Parallels will not require any extra installation)
GET IT
Alt Mounter is currently a beta product. I use it without problem daily on my Galaxy Nexus and my CM9 Touchpad but of course your mileage may vary.
Get it from the Beta Page.
Hi. Mac Version only for 10.7? Is there a Version planned for 10.6.x? I hope so...
cheers....
When I connect my S3 to my Windows XP laptop it connects as a media device, showing only 2 folders - data and media. When I connnect to a Windows 7 desktop I can access both the internal and external SD cards as storage devices - which is what I want to do on the laptop.
Is there any way that I can get full access to my phone's SD card from a Windows XP machine?
itm said:
When I connect my S3 to my Windows XP laptop it connects as a media device, showing only 2 folders - data and media. When I connnect to a Windows 7 desktop I can access both the internal and external SD cards as storage devices - which is what I want to do on the laptop.
Is there any way that I can get full access to my phone's SD card from a Windows XP machine?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd suggest trying to install KIES for the drivers and see if that helps
Or search for the SaMSUNG usb DRIVERS .
jje
I had already installed the Samsung USB driver, so that wasn't the issue. I've now installed Kies, but that seems to have made things worse - I now get an error installing the hardware device when I plug the phone in, and the laptop can't see it at all :0(
itm said:
When I connect my S3 to my Windows XP laptop it connects as a media device, showing only 2 folders - data and media. When I connnect to a Windows 7 desktop I can access both the internal and external SD cards as storage devices - which is what I want to do on the laptop.
Is there any way that I can get full access to my phone's SD card from a Windows XP machine?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? It is my understanding that stock s3 does not support usb mass storage, only mtp (which is why you see it appear as a media device). You can download easy usb mass storage from the s3 android apps forum to enable mass storage mode (requires root and busybox), but only for the external sd card. As the internal sd card is a single partition mounting it in windows would render the device unusable. Could you elaborate on how you are achieving this in win7,and what you are running on your s3 (firmware, rooted etc)?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
jwchips said:
Really? It is my understanding that stock s3 does not support usb mass storage, only mtp (which is why you see it appear as a media device). You can download easy usb mass storage from the s3 android apps forum to enable mass storage mode (requires root and busybox), but only for the external sd card. As the internal sd card is a single partition mounting it in windows would render the device unusable. Could you elaborate on how you are achieving this in win7,and what you are running on your s3 (firmware, rooted etc)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was no special setup on Win7. I'm running Win7 Enterprise and did not manually install either Kies or a Samsung driver - I just plugged the phone in. The phone is rooted, and running CheckROM 3.5. It is listed as a media player, but shows the internal SD card as "Phone" and the external card as "Card". Now if only I could get XP to do something similar.
Will investigate easy usb mass storage....
itm said:
There was no special setup on Win7. I'm running Win7 Enterprise and did not manually install either Kies or a Samsung driver - I just plugged the phone in. The phone is rooted, and running CheckROM 3.5. It is listed as a media player, but shows the internal SD card as "Phone" and the external card as "Card". Now if only I could get XP to do something similar.
Will investigate easy usb mass storage....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the speedy clarification. If you went into either phone or card could you see non-media files (e.g zip files)? I think you may be running in mtp mode on both machines, and I think you can only see media files in mtp mode. However I am definitely no expert or developer.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
jwchips said:
Thanks for the speedy clarification. If you went into either phone or card could you see non-media files (e.g zip files)? I think you may be running in mtp mode on both machines, and I think you can only see media files in mtp mode. However I am definitely no expert or developer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I'm running MTP mode. The only other option is Camera (PTP). On the Win7 machine I can see all files and directories - it behaves just like a mass storage device.
MTP mode
Connected via Samsung USB cable to Win 7 PC.+ drivers installed
Open My Computer
Open GT-i9300
Two drives Phone and SD card exactly the same as in USB mass storage mode .
Cut Paste Copy Delete all the normal functions on all the user folders .
jje
itm said:
Yes I'm running MTP mode. The only other option is Camera (PTP). On the Win7 machine I can see all files and directories - it behaves just like a mass storage device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I just plugged my phone in to test and can see non-media files in mtp mode. I'm sure it has drawbacks but I'm afraid I can't remember them lol. I know the positive points for mtp is the phone can still access the card, and media files will be formatted to the optimum file type when you transfer them (for example movies will be re encoded to native resolution).
I'm afraid I've reached the limit of my knowledge in this area and don't think I can be of any more assistance. The best I can advise is use easy usb to access the external sd card on your xp machine, and research the limitations of mtp mode, and how xp handles mtp.
Edit: after some brief research it seems you need windows media player 10 or higher for mtp to work on xp, although I seriously doubt you have an older version. Also as you are rooted you could install Solid Explorer Beta from the play store (free) and browse the file system via wifi by pressing menu key and selecting file sharing from within the app.
I'm now officially out of ideas
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Do you have the latest service pack installed on XP (sp3), as well as as latest windows media player? The XP MTP support comew with one of those, i don't remember which one, though. Wouldn't hurt to have both anyway.
PS: Those recommending Kies should think again! It has NOTHING to do with it and its a piece of cr^H^H^H bloatware.
I'm sorry if this has already been answered (I couldn't find it) but I am having trouble finding USB mass storage mode on cyanogenmod 12. I get MTP and PTP but not Mass storage mode.
Any ideas?
lorenz32 said:
I'm sorry if this has already been answered (I couldn't find it) but I am having trouble finding USB mass storage mode on cyanogenmod 12. I get MTP and PTP but not Mass storage mode.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MTP is essentially USB mass storage that's what you should be using.
Google is your friend look what i found in 2 seconds http://www.howtogeek.com/192732/android-usb-connections-explained-mtp-ptp-and-usb-mass-storage/
lorenz32 said:
I'm sorry if this has already been answered (I couldn't find it) but I am having trouble finding USB mass storage mode on cyanogenmod 12. I get MTP and PTP but not Mass storage mode.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IreshS said:
MTP is essentially USB mass storage that's what you should be using.
Google is your friend look what i found in 2 seconds http://www.howtogeek.com/192732/android-usb-connections-explained-mtp-ptp-and-usb-mass-storage/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
last CM12 nightly i tried had usb mass host broken so check cmxlog and see if and when if they have fixed.
Previously i was able to connect my phone with my TV via USB MASS STORAGE (TV was able to detect my phone as a storage device), i could access the videos & songs after connecting it through but now i can't do that.
What i think is USB Mass Storage has been disabled on core Android/CyanogenMod in favor of MTP and PTP as there is a problem with the way mass storage works. When you connecte the device to the computer then mass storage method needs exclusive access of the storage (intarnal extarnal sd card) and so it disconnects totally from the Android operating system running on the device. Any files or apps stored on the SD card or USB storage would be unavailable to android os when it was connected to the computer so to make Android os running smooth during that pc connection but I can't appreciate this as mass storage is really essential to connect it to inferior devices like TVs and car music player.
Anyone know a way to activate mass storage in Android? Running on Android 5.0.2/Cyanogen 12
Came to this thread because I'm looking for the same thing, yet for my Xperia ZL. I've found MTP mode unstable on my device (even with stock ROM) and using it as Mass Storage Device is the only reliable way to access my 64GB SDCard. So IMO +1 on MTP/PTP not being the only available USB modes out there!
any update on this issue???
MTP option not open CM12
Hi,
I have lenovo A6000 Plus mobile and cynogenmode12 os in it. I am not able to open the MTP option it. Pls help me for the same.
Thnkas in advance
Hi there,
Apart from MTP, PTP, MIDI, etc, would it be possible to connect Android device with the UMS protocol to the computer?
If so, how to enable it (ex. some app)?
Update: I found the post on XDA on how to connect the device with the computer via UMS.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-root-usb-mass-storage-enabler-v1-6.3240097/
BUT after installation of UMS Enabler v1.6.2, only external SD card is connected to the computer as a disk, not the userdata or any other partitions from the Android device.
How to solve it?
Thanks.
wenyendev said:
Hi there,
Apart from MTP, PTP, MIDI, etc, would it be possible to connect Android device with the UMS protocol to the computer?
If so, how to enable it (ex. some app)?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can find the answer with an explanation in this thread:
UMS protocol on Android Tabs
I'd like to have a android tablet on ics which allow UMS (usb mass storage) I saw that some of the current models didn't propose UMS (like galaxy tab 2 or google nexus), only MTP. It sounds like a
android.stackexchange.com
ze7zez said:
You can find the answer with an explanation in this thread:
UMS protocol on Android Tabs
I'd like to have a android tablet on ics which allow UMS (usb mass storage) I saw that some of the current models didn't propose UMS (like galaxy tab 2 or google nexus), only MTP. It sounds like a
android.stackexchange.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply.
If
- changing partition format to FAT32 (or any other format recognizable by Windows); and
- using UMS protocol for connection
could enable the Android device to used as a mountable Windows machine?
Even if you strangely change the formatting of the phone's internal memory, it is rather certain that the system will stop working due to lack of proper permissions for files/directories.
Seriously, UMS is the stupidest thing in this universe.
It's the reason why we have /sdcard case-insensitive.
It's like handing over your hard drive to some random person and saying, "Um, be sure not to screw up all the file tables, ok?"
"Oh, sorry, I pulled the USB cable in the middle of a transfer..."
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/mount-device-as-an-external-disk-via-ums.4535133/post-87935297