Hi all!
I have just purchased a new phone (Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro), and I must say that if I had known, I would have stuck with my 3 year-old Huawei P20 Lite for a little longer. The reason why I am so disappointed is that I am using a Samsung portable SSD drive (T5) that I also use with my Windows computer. I went with the exFAT file system because it is supported by both OSes, or so I thought because my old Huawei phone supported it out of the box! But apparently my new Xiaomi doesn't. So it seems that Huawei has actually gone the extra mile to add different file system support to their implementation of Android. From what I remember, I could even use a regular external drive formatted in NTFS, I just didn't do so much because it was such a drain on the battery. So the fact that none of those file systems are supported by my Xiaomi really feels like a let-down.
But I know my complaining about it won't change anything so before I take back the phone (which is otherwise great) to the store, I have one big question: is there a file system for such drives that is natively supported by both Windows and Android? I don't mind backing up the content of the drive, re-format it with a new file system supported by both and copy back everyting on the drive.
Of course I know about FAT32 but it won't cut it (let alone FAT). Its file size limitation is a no-go because some of my files are more than 4GB in size.
I have looked at the Paragon (I think that's the name) app that can provide exFAT support to Android through the Total Commander app, but I don't want to be tied to a specific file explorer, so it's not really an option.
Any idea or nudge in the right direction would be very much appreciated!
Also, are there other phone brands than Huawei that support NTFS or exFAT? E.g. Samsung, Motorolla, Nokia, ...? I'm not even sure new Huawei's phones still provide that support for the same reason Google cannot provide them with their services. If possible of course I'd like to stick with this new phone, but just in case...
Thank you!
Fa
Well, I should have tested a little more before asserting that the phone does not support exFAT or NTFS. In fact it does, even though I get a small message saying it doesn't every time I plug in my samsung drive.
I tested with USB sticks formatted in both NTFS and exFAT, and I can read and write on both just fine using USB OTG. So the issue must be between my Xiaomi phone and my Samsung SSD drive. The phone just crashes and restarts after 30 seconds every time I plug the drive in. The drive is otherwise fine and still works well with another phone, so I'd say the issue lays squarely with this phone, but it's definitely not the lack of support for file systems. It launches the Samsung decryption app when I connect the drive. So far no issue. It's when it starts to scan the content once I've provided the encryption key that the crash happens.
I will now have to test some more. I guess I will delete the whole drive content and try to test both NTFS and exFAT on the non-encrypted drive to see if it makes a difference or if the issue is a matter of hardware incompatibility.
Still looking for input though, so feel free to throw in ideas!
Thanks!
Related
Hey !
I've searched the web as well as the forum but i didn't find any solution and it seems i'm not the only one wanting to do that.
Is it possible to see hidden folders of internal sdcard through MTP ?
I really talk about hidden folder like ".android_secure", not the photos that aren't yet scanned by the media scanner service.
In my windows environment i already set the view all hidden files/folders as well as view system files.
If i have to change folders permissions through terminal what are the correct permissions i should put ?
Thanks for the help !!
Am i the only having that problem ?
Do you guys see the hidden folders through mtp connexion ?
If you'd bother reading a bit before asking questions, you might have the answer already.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol
MTP and PTP specifically overcome this issue by making the unit of managed storage a local file rather than an entire (possibly very large) unit of mass storage at the block level. In this way, MTP works like a transactional file system - either the entire file is written/read or nothing.
More or less, it is designed to keep hidden what should be hidden stick to USB storage or FTP/SCP.
PS: can't believe we're using a transfer protocol designed by Microsoft in a Linux-based system mastered by Google. The horror, the pain... no wonder it doesn't work on my Mac!
VAXXi said:
If you'd bother reading a bit before asking questions, you might have the answer already.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol
MTP and PTP specifically overcome this issue by making the unit of managed storage a local file rather than an entire (possibly very large) unit of mass storage at the block level. In this way, MTP works like a transactional file system - either the entire file is written/read or nothing.
More or less, it is designed to keep hidden what should be hidden stick to USB storage or FTP/SCP.
PS: can't believe we're using a transfer protocol designed by Microsoft in a Linux-based system mastered by Google. The horror, the pain... no wonder it doesn't work on my Mac!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx for the link ! I knew what mtp is but its always good to refresh things up
I read the whole article and unfortunately it doesn't answer my question.
I understood that its the same for all of us meaning that we are not able to see hidden folders.
But the main question is if there is a way to bypass this behavior ? Where is this defined exactly ?
It seems according to the article that its not on the file permission layer ? Should it be at partition level ? How can mtp know what to share with the host ?
It's not a "behaviour" per se, but more/less a database. Remember that media scanner program which wakes up every time you change something on your SD card, be it internal or external ? it simply keeps a "database" of files which are presented to the MTP client (your computer) and hides away the phone's internal folders which are not supposed to be seen by the end-user.
Theoretically, this is done in order to have the iPhone-like behaviour: seeing the entire device memory as one big unified storage which you can fill as you want (no more of those partition size limitations which brought us the app2sd hacks). In my opinion, it's more or less just a small step done in order to "secure" phones for DRM protected content.
Studios and media companies require devices to have such measures of protection in order to allow you to sell media content (like movies, books, etc) and since Google wants to push its business further with the Play Store, it needs to cave in to the studios' demands. In the future, it will probably even become illegal (DMCA-style) for me to give you the information below
Back to the technical part of our show now.
At the first boot in the life of the device, Media Scanner will look under /system/media and index everything there. After that, it will scan everything under /mnt/sdcard (hence your external SD card too, if you have one, as it's mounted under /mnt/sdcard/external_sd). On some devices, you have an "internal.db" file and one "external-123xyz.db" file; that's a unique ID of the SD card which was scanned. The idea here is you might have 2-3 SD cards which you swap often, and it's not nice to do a full rescan each time you change the SD card. These databases are in /dbdata/databases/com.android.providers.media (on my phone, there is only one "external.db" for example).
So what you're looking for is a way to populate this database with all the files found by the Media Scanner. But Media Scanner doesn't want you to see the hidden folders you mentioned above. So, you get an application which doesn't ignore them, like Rescan SD Card! or SDrescan.
Happy now ?
Thank you very much i really enjoyed reading the explanation as it answers completely my questions and it makes sense !
Ill give a try to the apps but i'm also curious to investigate on those files
Cheers
PS. Is this a disguised way to support non open source protocols ?
Well, you could poke around inside the database with sqlite if you want. But don't really see what's so interesting about them.
It is just another protocol which is supported, which happens to be designed by Microsoft (and probably licensed/paid by Google to be used in Android). I understand the technical explanation behind this decision, but I'm also wary that someday UMS will be disabled by default and enabling it will disable content purchasing for that device (just like having a rooted phone now disables some "sensitive" apps, like banking and online TV).
As a system admin its interesting to know whats happening on my system
As a hobby its interesting for my personal knowledge
And from a development point of view it gives me some ideas for maybe future apps
You say that its just another protocol which is supported but to my understanding there are not so many of them ! So i would say that Google was kind of forced to use the MTP method, first from a hardware point of view and second to be compliant with the rest of the world.
Is there any other protocol that could suite their needs ? Since USB mass storage is not usable on some devices and MTP is well spead.
.HiddenAndroid folders in Win - Here Yesterday, Gone Tomorrow
<Win 7 and GN2>
What's curious and a bit frustrating to me is that, yesterday, when I mounted my device ALL of the hidden (.folders and .files) were visible and searchable. Today, when I went to explore some more, all are gone. I understand that I can use a 3rd party app, just can't figure out why it was visible yesterday and not today.
Hmmph
Did you ever resolve this issue? I really hate MTP for several reasons but this is one of the reasons why! I need to back up all my directories on the SDCard because some apps store them as hidden files in hidden directories. Furthermore, I came across the Play Store bug that requires me to delete a "temp.asec" file in the ".android_secure" directory, but of course it is not visible.
In a post further up it was suggested to use a "Rescan" app to force the DB to include hidden files/directories, but I have tried no less than 4 of these apps, and all they do is trigger the built-in android media scan, which is the problem in the first place!
So has anyone ever been able to access hidden files and directories using MTP?
EDIT: I have an HTC phone that actually shows hidden files and directories, so they have obviously implemented their own media scan. The problem I am currently having is on a Samsung phone (Epic 4G touch)
It may depend on the implementation. For example, using stock rom for the phone doesn't show some files and folders, for example folders starting with dot. But if you use Neatrom Lite it will show all files and folders.
Flash forward about 6 years and Samsung still does not show hidden folders/files when viewing the phone contents in Windows File Explorer, but HTC does.
The reason this is still a problem for me, is that I want to backup the contents of a particular directory (WhatsApp) which contains some hidden folders, so I can restore it anytime on a new phone or the same phone.
I recently switched from HTC to Samsung and alas, it seems the problem with this implementation still exists. Anyone found a workaround to this to allow File Explorer to see the hidden folders?
Update: It appears that hidden .nomedia files (and probably others) appear under regular folders, so the problem is limited to hidden folders themselves
Hello XDA Developers!
tl;dr I need either a solid, light OS replacement for Android 2.3 on my Atrix, or I need a video streaming and virtualization app with no lag that works between android devices and either windows or linux desktop.
First I'd like to say how impressed I am with you folks. Massive amounts of work most be done on a regular basis, and so I tip my hat to you in thanks for looking at my potential problem/question.
I've got two devices that I'd like to make some serious software changes to, one of them my Atrix (the other is a Flytouch Tablet ARM11 with Android 2.3, but that's for a different forum). Let me start by saying that I like to think of myself as very technically literate, but when it comes to linux I just don't have nearly as much experience as I do with windows/mac, and it is about to really show.
What I want to do is load a light Linux OS on these devices. Normally, if I was going to install a new windows kernel on a machine I would copy an ISO to a USB thumb drive and make the drive bootable (using the MS program Windows 7 USB/DVD maker), then startup the PC and either through the BIOS or by hitting the proper button during the startup sequence I would ask the PC to boot into the drive and begin the installation.
Questions:
What is the image file type for mobile OS's?
How would one choose the right type of linux OS for an Atrix?
What is the difference between flashing a ROM and installing and OS?
Why is it when I updated my phone recently that it became unrooted?
(and) Is there any way to revert this process to make rooting easier?
Is there any way to capture a video output (like a stream) and broadcast it to these mobile devices so I can avoid changing their software alltogether?
(and) Could I just remotely control another PC from the mobile device, letting it do all the actual computing?
Can I use the Webtop Dock as a monitor for my desktop if I can find the proper HDMI cable to connect it to the HDMI output on my desktop video card?
(and) Can I also connect the Micro USB and use the keyboard/mouse (hooked into my desktop motherboard) on it as well?
(and finally) Can I use my Atrix as a prototype omni-tool by docking it in a docking station, attaching various tools that work with a linux operating system (wide-spectrum ultrasound imaging, temperature monitors, vital monitors, electronic laser saw (USB) (with separate power attachment of course) and extendable, movable USB cameras?) and then strapping it onto my wrist with a cool leather bracer design?
My end-goal is to have all three of these devices on the same network, with the ability to seamlessly access my data between them. For example, if I'm working on a document, I'd like to be able to access the document in a document editing program across all the platforms (imagine google docs with multiple users) however with one MAJOR stipulation: I'll be on a local network with NO INTERNET ACCESS!
Briefly (to better help you understand just what I'm trying to do) I am a freelance archaeologist/deep sea explorer/ROV tinkerer about to do a series of surveys mostly by myself in some VERY remote locations. I'll have a Wi-Fi network to link all of my devices together running out of my boat, but it's only for data sharing between each other, and since Satellite Internet is a joke, I can't think of any way to get data out there, and I've decided to live without it while I'm away.
I have a webtop dock for my Atrix, and the environment developed by Motorola is far too restrictive. I've tried countless fixes to try and get the webtop2SD to work, but I must be doing something wrong (Maybe the latest update screwed it?). I think since I'd like to use some linux applications while on the mobile devices, I would rather install a custom OS for both.
OR (preffered)
Even more simply, I'd like to stream the video feed and remotely control my desktop PC (located on the boat) on the mobile devices, but with yet another stipulation: I can't have FPS lag (I usually get 1-2 FPS with all the virtualization and remote control apps I've tried). This would in some senses be the preferred option, since I really don't want to spend oodles of hours trying to get some program to work in a difficult, restricted environment like these mobile device's current OS's. Is there a good, non-lagging version of desktop virtualization for Android OS?
About that webdock: I can't seem to find a female-to-female micro HDMI cable anywhere on the internet, thought I did find one Micro HDMI extension cable, and bought it promptly. I could buy another, but cut the male ends off and splice the female parts together (**** just got kinky). But if I could, would this work?
Phew that was a lot! Again thanks so much for thinking for me!
I've personally never found any kind of remote desktop software that works without lag, but it might be possible to find some. Someone else might know what to tell you there.
After doing some basic searching, the only collaborative document solution that I've found has been Etherpad Lite. You could set up a desktop or laptop running linux as the server, and all the other devices on your small network could (theoretically) run a browser based client similar (but far less advanced) than Google Docs. This way, everything on your LAN/WLAN could access the application, if it's stout enough to support your needs.
https://github.com/Pita/etherpad-lite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collab...Real-time_collaborative_text_editing_software
Everything you're looking for just seems to be limited for Android, I wish you the best of luck.
I have always found Teamviewer great for remote PC control from my Atrix. They have a nice app and free license for home/personal use. I get minimal lag controlling my PC at home when at work, but that's over WiFi. Not very fast and pretty laggy if I am on data with my Atrix.
BTW............I can work on documents, transfer files to and from PC's and laptops, print documents on my wireless printer, etc. across my home network from my Atrix, all routed through a Netgear WNR3500L running stock firmware (dd-wrt actually slowed my network down and reduced WiFi range considerably, so I reverted to stock).
First, there is no "magic" within the lapdock device. It is a nice HDMI screen, a couple crappy input devices on the USB side, and a battery. The standard Moto software does recognise the usb device and do some software magic, but certainly you could use the dock on it's own w/o the phone.
As to completely replacing the /osh webtop OS that Motorola provides, that is challanging.
There are 2 basic ways to open it up though. Go to the developers subforum and look for webtop2sd and "full Debian".
Somebody did post recently with an attempt to fully replace the webtop OS. he was using gentoo, so look for that and you should find it. But I suspect it is early, and likely to be a significant WP.
As to learning all this ****. If you do some Linux developement or heavy hacking (which it kind of sounds like) you should set up a full full blown 'droid dev platform and start playing. It is big and bulky, but you will learn faster that way than just searbhing around.
EDIT: just reread your post that you are light on Linux. if you want to do anything more than just follow along, it might be a good idea to setup something like an Ubuntu and get familiar there. 'Droid is way different looking (it really basterdises things around) but yoiu need to know both if you want to play with webtop hacks.
Thanks all. I'll look around again to see if I can find the threads you mentioned. I've tried Webtop2SD but to no success so far.
Thanks again.
The Z2 supports OTG apparently. My question is, can I move files directly from my current Android phone to my Z2 using OTG? Or Do I still have to use my PC as the middleman between the two?
sacredsoul said:
The Z2 supports OTG apparently. My question is, can I move files directly from my current Android phone to my Z2 using OTG? Or Do I still have to use my PC as the middleman between the two?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cannot directly connect two phones with a cable and transfer files. The reason is that the phone never exposes its filesystem directly, but uses an MTP client to make files available on a PC. Since the Z2 is not an MTP host, it cannot see the files on the "old" phone.
There could be an exception if your "old" phone is really old. Originally, Android phones used a FAT filesystem for the "SD card", and then often exposed that directly to PC's, and then they ought to work also with an OTG phone as host. I cannot confirm what phones from what manufacturers would work in that manner, however.
Another way to transfer files, if your old phone supports OTG, is to use a USB memory stick as intermediate storage. A PC might still be more convenient, however, compared to using a clunky file manager on yotr phones.
Hi everyone,
I have a big problem with this box and I hope someone with experience will be able to help...
I got a 2TB hard drive to use as media storage (videos, music, pictures...) with my Mi box, but it seems there is no way I will be able to do that, I hope someone will prove me wrong.
What is possible is:
- for the box to hijack the whole drive, encrypt it and use it as internal storage. Unacceptable because I want to be able to use the drive with the data on other systems in case I want to transfer files (I don't even want to try transferring 2TB of data over wifi) and in case something happens to the box or I decide to upgrade to a different one, all my data would be lost.
- to use the external storage as read-only, which is useless, I might as well connect it to my TV then and play the contents...
I want to be able to download stuff to it in Android. For instance I could just remotely send torrent files to it while out and about and by the time I get home they would be downloaded. Or I can set all my pictures to be synced with a folder on that drive...
Regular versions of Android generally don't have a problem with this, but Android TV seems to lack the in-built Documents Android file manager functionality that allows for writing permissions once you select the drive (or an SD card) from within an app like Flud for example.
I was hoping upgrading to Nougat would fix this problem, but it seems it won't. The nVidia Shield has the same problem, but it's rootable and using the SDFix app when rooted saves the day.
Rooting would also allow me to use my PS4 controller with the box and other fun stuff, so I really wouldn't mind doing it, but a lot of people had bad experiences with rooting the Mi Box, so I would do it only if I'm sure it'll work.
Does anyone have any suggestions or is this a hopeless endeavour?
Thank you!
an app called airexchange allows you to access your tv box over your wi-fi and do anything you need, download, delete, move...this is the only and easiest way i found to transfer files from my mi box 4 to my pc. might help. just download and follow the instructions, super easy to use.
Good day!
Since version 4.x of the Android mobile phone operating system, Google has removed the USB Mass Storage mode and replaced it with Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) and Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). This means that the phone appears as a camera or scanner in Windows Explorer, without a drive letter, and that means that many file types cannot be copied to the phone, no new files created there, many PC based recovery and synchronization programs do not function properly, etc. The feature was removed to take control out of users' hands, because a lot of things would be a lot easier to achieve if one could access all directories and files on the phone from the PC -- a disk/hex editor is a powerful tool. Yes, some people bricked their devices by using them stupidly, but given all the locks and hurdles that manufacturers and carriers increasingly impose on customers who paid a huge sum of money for their little toys with every new version of the operating system, there is a clear tendency to see: milk consumers for all they are worth, but keep in control and decide what they are allowed to do.
To partially remedy the problem, most tutorials recommend to install a WebDAV server on the phone and map it as a network drive on the PC via Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, many of the more interesting operations need to be done before the phone is up and running, before software is installed and before a Wi-Fi network can be configured/established, and other operations can simply only be done via USB cable.
There is a company called Cranking Pixels that produces a PTP as well as an MTP driver for Windows, which bring back the drive letter for file-based (not sector based) operations. Unfortunately, there do not seem to be any recent versions floating around in the netherworld, and the price for the software is rather steep, especially when needing several copies. Therefore I would like to ask ...
a.) User experience
Does anybody have experience with the software and can say whether it offers sufficient bang for the buck to justify the expense? This means being able to access all folders & subfolders, create/copy/delete/edit/move all types of files from/to the phone and PC? Can system files be modified/patched so that certain flags that the phone system sets when detecting a rooted phone can be modified in a way that things like OTA updates, secure folders and banking applications still work?
b.) Similar programs
Is anyone aware of similar solutions that do the same or more but cost less?
c.) Alternative solutions
Are there other approaches that bring back Mass Storage USB mode to Android Oreo and Pie, be it flashed files for the phone, be it modified USB drivers for the computer or whatever?
Yes, phones can be rooted and so on, and so on, but it usually requires manual intervention to keep things running smoothly after every update and security patch. There are also many situations when being able to treat the phone like a mass storage device (external hard disk or USB stick) is simply more convenient and quicker or preferable for other reasons.
Any pointers and tips will be appreciated. Thank you for your attention and have a pleasant afternoon.