Hi,
does any of you know if the device can work in USB Mass Storage mode, i.e. can it be seen as an external drive from Windows/OSX/Linux without additional software? I own a MacBook Pro and HTC support told me that they are going to release soon a piece of software that works under OSX, but it would be wonderful to have access to the device storage without additional software..
Question already asked and answered here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1543735
They dont use USB Mass Storage they use Media Transfer Protocol to deal with USB connection. This change was introduced in Honeycomb and has continued into Ice Cream Sandwich.
You can still transfer files to and from the devices its just a diffrent way of doing it.
Forum user Gogol posed these questions:
- Why Google is using MTP instead of USB file transfer on Honeycomb?”
He received the following response from a Google developer:
“MTP is a big improvement over USB mass storage — for devices with lots of internal memory, a manufacturer no longer needs to come up with some hard partition between the USB mass storage and internal storage. Instead, they are all in one partition, with MTP providing access to the directory of media files that would normally be available through USB mass storage. This means there is no longer a need for apps on SD card for such devices, because what used to be the ‘internal SD card’ is in the same partition as where applications are stored. The storage on your device can be used for either applications or media, depending on what you want to put on it. You aren’t stuck with how much space the manufacturer decided to leave for the two areas.
Oh also this means that the media storage doesn’t need to be unmounted from Android when it is being access through the PC.“
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Click to collapse
Source: http://glasskeys.com/2011/02/28/why-google-uses-mtp-instead-of-usb-file-transfer-on-android-3/
A main reason for using MTP rather than for example the USB mass-storage device class (MSC) is that the latter operates at the granularity of a mass storage device block (usually in practice, a FAT block), rather than at the logical file level. In other words, the USB mass storage class is designed to give a host computer undifferentiated access to bulk mass storage, such as compact flash, rather than to a file system, which might be safely shared with the target device (except for specific files which the host might be modifying/accessing). In practice, therefore, when a USB host computer has mounted an MSC partition, it assumes absolute control of the storage, which then may not be safely modified by the device without risk of data corruption until the host computer has severed the connection. Furthermore, because the host computer has full control over the connected storage device, there is a risk that the host computer may corrupt the file system, reformat it to a file system not supported by the USB device, or otherwise modify it in such a way that the USB device cannot completely understand it.
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. The storage media is not affected by failed transfers.
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Click to collapse
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol
No idea how this works with OSX though I'm a Windows guy
HTC-Gunge said:
No idea how this works with OSX though I'm a Windows guy
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Click to collapse
Very nice reply, thank you very much!
I've found Android File Transfer Google utility for OSX: http://www.android.com/filetransfer/
Actually, the One X still uses mass storage mode. Plug it in and you get the same old prompt for charge only, disk drive etc. and it still shows up as a removable disk.
Yes, vanilla android handsets like the GN use MTP mode, but HTCs don't. They have a separate partition still.
Hmm that's interesting if its true, it means HTC have implemented it independently of the OS. Could even be a selling point as I know quite a few people didn't really like the change from USB Mass Storage to MTP.
Thanks for the info!
I'm one of those who hates MTP because it is not as reliable as USB Mass Storage. MTP just doesn't want to play nice with my Win7 machine on my Nexus so I'm really looking forward to the One X and getting proper USB Mass Storage on it.
As much as i prefer MSC over MTP (mainly because you can open music and video files directly from your mass storage device, but if you use MTP, they will have to copy the entire file over to your computer before it will play), my office blocks MSC devices, but strange enough, MTP devices are not blocked.
Therefore i am actually trying to find out of i can use MTP mode in my One X, since MTP is embedded into ICS, there might be a chance. This will enable me to access my One X in office..
anyone has any idea?
I have a slightly similar problem here:
How do i tell the HTC ONE phone, that i want use the mass-storage-mode in USB, and not the f******g HTC/Nero bloatware crap?
Before the update to Android 4.1.1 it was working fine as mass-storage.
CBrown0815 said:
I have a slightly similar problem here:
How do i tell the HTC ONE phone, that i want use the mass-storage-mode in USB, and not the f******g HTC/Nero bloatware crap?
Before the update to Android 4.1.1 it was working fine as mass-storage.
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Click to collapse
HTC has changed mass-storage-mode to MTP in their latest update. I didn't find any way to use as mass storage so I installed CM10.1 (A8 supports mass storage mode).
parkentosh said:
HTC has changed mass-storage-mode to MTP in their latest update. I didn't find any way to use as mass storage so I installed CM10.1 (A8 supports mass storage mode).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this info. Unfortunally is this no option for me. I dont want to hack my phone, i want to use it.
CBrown0815 said:
Thanks for this info. Unfortunally is this no option for me. I dont want to hack my phone, i want to use it.
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Click to collapse
Agreed - I have the same problem with my OneX on 4.1.1. 4.0.4 was great, 4.1.1 is a backward step in several ways. My Galaxy Nexus (bought to play with Ubuntu Touch!) did the same [email protected] until it updated itself to 4.2.2, and now works correctly - to my mind - as a mass storage device. I think Google realised the error and quietly fixed it. I can't find a document that details all the changes in 4.2.2 so not sure.
Related
[SOLVED] : using dropbox now for file transfer...
After I installed the latest build of stock XDAndriod on my Rhodium, it does not connect to my PC (win-XP) using USB port. I have tried multiple times to reset my phone and re-flash my winmo with no help.
My computer does not detect a USB device at all when I connect my phone when in Android. When I plug in my phone, nothing happens. But my phone does begin charging from the USB port and does detect that is plugged in to a power source.
How do I get my PC to recognize my phone?
Phone details:
H/w : standard AT&T tilt2
Winmo : JackOS build Aug/19
XDAndroid version - [MJG]Rhod.2.2Froyo.083010.rar
Thanks,
Dhanvi
PS: I did check the thread here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=641444&highlight=USB+problems and that hasn't solved my problem.
If you read the port status, USB data connections are not currently supported. Only charging is supported via USB.
Thanks for that pience of info, but I do not see anything saying USB on the project development page. Is there some other page that I should be looking at too?
If that is indeed the case, then how do I transfer stuff over from my PC to my SD card when in andriod ? Is there any other method?
Thanks.
kapiladhanvi said:
Thanks for that pience of info, but I do not see anything saying USB on the project development page. Is there some other page that I should be looking at too?
If that is indeed the case, then how do I transfer stuff over from my PC to my SD card when in andriod ? Is there any other method?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use dropbox. www.dropbox.com for you pc and download dropbox in the market.
Thanks for the tip!
Dhanvi
Great Idea but waiting for more help
Hey Fist post here about the xAndroid. I have to say this rocks!! First time I got it up I said to myself this is how a phone is supposed to run.
To the questions do any of you know if this USB connection is going to be fixed anytime soon sine I would really like to see if you can connect Google App Inventor to the phone while on this great mod.
Thanks
Lennyz1988 said:
Use dropbox. www.dropbox.com for you pc and download dropbox in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By far the simplest way to get it done.
I went for installing ADB and droid explorer on my pc. It works, but I have much less hair now.
with the current way xdandroid is built, I can't see it being probable that usb mode will ever work (could be wrong, so feel free to correct me).
i.e. currently we have a FAT partition on the SD card and we loopback mount files on it to act as the android system and data file systems, and the fat can then act as a normal SD card.
because of this, it can't expose the FAT partition to anyone outside of the OS instance (i.e. 2 OS's will be writing to the FAT table (redundant I know) independently and can clobber each other.
On the other hand, I think the way the cyanogenmod port works, by partitioning the SD card into multiple partitions to hold the different sets of data (though not sure it takes it all the way), is an approach that could be made to work for usb access, if separate partitions would be made for the system and data file systems on the SD card and a third partition just used for the FAT FS. This way, android can unmount the FAT partition only (nothing else depending on it) and let it be accessed by whatever machine the device is attached to over usb.
there's a reason its not done this way currently as its much harder to manage and continuously update.
just my 2 cents.
Hm, does this also mean, you can not use tools like MyPhoneExplorer (Outlloksync via UBS with Android phones) due to absence of data over USB? Seems like a decent app, but it does not see my TYTN over USB, says no conenction. I also note, Windows XP is trying to install an 'Android Phone' driver when I connect the TYTN to the Laptop. Is this all somehow related?
Oddly, my phone decides to turn on USB after it's been sitting plugged in for a time, which exceeds an hour. It's like it checks for USB connectivity at some long interval.
thetoady said:
with the current way xdandroid is built, I can't see it being probable that usb mode will ever work (could be wrong, so feel free to correct me).
i.e. currently we have a FAT partition on the SD card and we loopback mount files on it to act as the android system and data file systems, and the fat can then act as a normal SD card.
because of this, it can't expose the FAT partition to anyone outside of the OS instance (i.e. 2 OS's will be writing to the FAT table (redundant I know) independently and can clobber each other..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With Android on my wife's HD2 (booting from Windows via Haret.exe) USB mass storage mode works fine, so it's definitely doable.
toadlife said:
With Android on my wife's HD2 (booting from Windows via Haret.exe) USB mass storage mode works fine, so it's definitely doable.
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Click to collapse
No clue how - when you're in WinMo, what happens when you plug in your phone and select to use it as a disk drive? It unmounts the SD in WinMo and mounts it on your PC. Same thing would happen in Android, but when the card can't be unmounted - as Android is running off of it.
arrrghhh said:
No clue how - when you're in WinMo, what happens when you plug in your phone and select to use it as a disk drive? It unmounts the SD in WinMo and mounts it on your PC. Same thing would happen in Android, but when the card can't be unmounted - as Android is running off of it.
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Click to collapse
Well I have no idea how it works. I just know that it works.
toadlife said:
Well I have no idea how it works. I just know that it works.
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Click to collapse
I've been told it's flaky on the HD2 and not recommended for use anyways. Still not sure how it works tho.
We won't have true SD card access (USB mass storage) until Android is flashed onto our devices. Until then, true USB mass storage will NOT work.
In the meantime, there's ADB. Perhaps the HD2 guys hacked something up based on ADB, who knows.
I cant seem to find an option to use the Galaxy S4 as USB mass storage, only media device (MTP) or Camera (PTP) is available. Cannot find any USB options in the settings either.
How am I able to copy files from and to my SD card and/or phone HD?
I appreciate any helpful posts. Thank you!
crco said:
I cant seem to find an option to use the Galaxy S4 as USB mass storage, only media device (MTP) or Camera (PTP) is available. Cannot find any USB options in the settings either.
How am I able to copy files from and to my SD card and/or phone HD?
I appreciate any helpful posts. Thank you!
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Click to collapse
You us MTP fyi usb mass storage has been gone for a while i know for a fact the gs3 & note2 used MTP
deeznutz1977 said:
You us MTP fyi usb mass storage has been gone for a while i know for a fact the gs3 & note2 used MTP
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Click to collapse
with MTP my device doesnt show up in Mac, as well as my Sony TV or LG receiver. what to do?
Is there anyway to disable MTP and go back to mass storage? Also, is the SDCARD MTP as well?
Mass Storage is gone for good... and while it sounds bad, there's a good reason..
Using Mass Storage forces the storage partition (or external sdcard) to be unmounted by Android, so any data/apps/widgets on there are no longer available until you disconnect your device from your PC. Using MTP allows the data partition to remain mounted and available concurrently on both your device, and on your PC via USB.
1) No, you cannot get UMS back.
2) This belongs in Q&A.
3) For Macs, you will need this.
Questions go in Q&A
Thread moved
FNM
The auto-unmount is ok...
pakraider said:
Mass Storage is gone for good... and while it sounds bad, there's a good reason..
Using Mass Storage forces the storage partition (or external sdcard) to be unmounted by Android, so any data/apps/widgets on there are no longer available until you disconnect your device from your PC. Using MTP allows the data partition to remain mounted and available concurrently on both your device, and on your PC via USB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"there's a good reason" is somewhat subjective. To me the great benefit to the more general usb mass storage option is so you can connect the phone to any device as if it were a usb flash drive. No driver issues, no worries about camera or MTP mode, no Mac issues, no linux issues, no Windows issues ... it's just a usd flash drive and can be treated as such. I am ok with the side affect of auto-unmounting the sdcard from Android when I connect the phone to another device to use as noted USB drive.
Is there in fact any way this will ever come back?
I can't get my phone to show up on my computer for nothing.have the correct drivers installed and everything.running Windows
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
umlguy said:
"there's a good reason" is somewhat subjective. To me the great benefit to the more general usb mass storage option is so you can connect the phone to any device as if it were a usb flash drive. No driver issues, no worries about camera or MTP mode, no Mac issues, no linux issues, no Windows issues ... it's just a usd flash drive and can be treated as such. I am ok with the side affect of auto-unmounting the sdcard from Android when I connect the phone to another device to use as noted USB drive.
Is there in fact any way this will ever come back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was an app someone made for the GS3 that did some filesystem trickery to expose the storage as UMS (needed root). I'm sure something like that will come around that works on the GS4 too.
I had the same issue until I installed Kies, no issues after that
TheAtheistOtaku said:
I can't get my phone to show up on my computer for nothing.have the correct drivers installed and everything.running Windows
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
umlguy said:
"there's a good reason" is somewhat subjective. To me the great benefit to the more general usb mass storage option is so you can connect the phone to any device as if it were a usb flash drive. No driver issues, no worries about camera or MTP mode, no Mac issues, no linux issues, no Windows issues ... it's just a usd flash drive and can be treated as such. I am ok with the side affect of auto-unmounting the sdcard from Android when I connect the phone to another device to use as noted USB drive.
Is there in fact any way this will ever come back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How could anyone possibly know if it will come back, especially "in fact?" My guess is you would have to ask Samsung that question to get anything other than a guess or an opinion (which would be NO) but it's not "in fact" just "in an opinion."
I jumped from an S2 to the S4 and was also annoyed that USB mass storage wouldn't work either. Since I use Linux as my desktop, MTP is not an option "out-of-the-box". I therefor turned to an awesome app (that I heard about on this site!), Airdroid. Now I was able to quickly get an album/picture/book datastore onto a shiny new 32GB microSD! And yes, I know I could have put the microSD into a slot on my laptop, etc., but I shouldn't have to, just because I choose to use Linux!
I mean, its rather ironic not to be able to use Linux to connect to Linux (android), don't you think? If I'm completely wrong about this, please someone point me to the right path.
Thanks
There is a "hack" to allow the external to be read as UMS. Also, the internal sdcard is no longer yaffs2 its ext4 and only linux knows ext4. So if you were to use UMS, only a linux computer would "see" the sd card and nothing else.
elesbb said:
There is a "hack" to allow the external to be read as UMS. Also, the internal sdcard is no longer yaffs2 its ext4 and only linux knows ext4. So if you were to use UMS, only a linux computer would "see" the sd card and nothing else.
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Click to collapse
elesbb,
That's awesome news! Thanks for the tip. I use opensuse (currently 12.3) with kde, will definitely make the necessary tweaks to get this going in dolphin.
Thanks again!
Ignore. Posted in wrong thread.
If you are rooted and busybox installed yes there are lot of apps on play store that can convert your externel SD Card to Mass storage.
I always connected my phone to my pc via usb and use "Total Commander" file manager. To connect android phones I install "TotalAndDroid" plugin and all worke perfect. Now with my new s4 I can't see the internal and sd memory via "Total Commander". What do I need to define in my galaxy s4 to use "Total Commander" as always ?
xperia_88 said:
I always connected my phone to my pc via usb and use "Total Commander" file manager. To connect android phones I install "TotalAndDroid" plugin and all worke perfect. Now with my new s4 I can't see the internal and sd memory via "Total Commander". What do I need to define in my galaxy s4 to use "Total Commander" as always ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your previous phones used versions of Android less than 4.0 (ICS), what may have happened was that your phone now supports the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) rather than USB Mass Storage (UMS). There was a tradeoff to the move. One big one regarding Android is that MTP allows the device to remain mounted on the phone. OTOH, your phone's memory is no longer visible as a drive (that was the catch--in order for phone memory to be mounted on your computer, it had to be UNmounted on the phone). You should check your system and see if it supports MTP (most Windows systems will as the underlying technique was Microsoft's idea).
In my personal experience (I run a Linux system at home) I've found it easier to avoid the matter altogether and transfer files back and forth using an Android file manager (I've personally used ES File Explorer for years) and perhaps a Windows/SMB share.
If you MUST use your phone's SD Card as Mass Storage, there is a thread here that discusses a way to switch the SD Card to Mass Storage mode. However, it will require rooting the device.
WhosAsking said:
If your previous phones used versions of Android less than 4.0 (ICS), what may have happened was that your phone now supports the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) rather than USB Mass Storage (UMS). There was a tradeoff to the move. One big one regarding Android is that MTP allows the device to remain mounted on the phone. OTOH, your phone's memory is no longer visible as a drive (that was the catch--in order for phone memory to be mounted on your computer, it had to be UNmounted on the phone). You should check your system and see if it supports MTP (most Windows systems will as the underlying technique was Microsoft's idea).
In my personal experience (I run a Linux system at home) I've found it easier to avoid the matter altogether and transfer files back and forth using an Android file manager (I've personally used ES File Explorer for years) and perhaps a Windows/SMB share.
If you MUST use your phone's SD Card as Mass Storage, there is a thread here that discusses a way to switch the SD Card to Mass Storage mode. However, it will require rooting the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good::good::good:
Since I have installed this update I can no longer access the storage on my one via usb to pc? Before the update I would just plug the usb in and windows would ask if I wanted to open this mass storage device and I would just click yes and then I was in. Now there is nothing. I tried explorer but cant gain access that way either. Is there something I need to install or change in the phones settings now? Also what the hell is MTP mode? Running stock 4.3 now and was stock 4.2.2 before this update. Do I need to update a driver on my pc now to accommodate 4.3? I am drawing a blank now as to what the deal is??? Can someone please point me in the right direction? And yes I have tried different usb cables
MTP mode is what google uses since 4.2. basically instead of the phone dividing up the available memory for apps / storage it now puts all available storage together for you to use what you need it for. before you would get phones with 8gb storage and 1gb would be dedicated to apps, 7gb for storage. when you installed too many apps you would run out of room on the 1gb and start trying to figure out how you could move apps to sd-card to get more storage, etc... now with MTP you don't have that issue. there is no preset to how much storage can be used for what.
you should not need any additional drivers other than what windows will automatically install when a new device is plugged in. also, my phone shows as a device now in explorer and not as a drive letter.
is it possible when you plugged your phone in via usb cable that you accidentally cancelled the new device install? perhaps you can go to your device manager with the phone plugged in and see if there are any devices with an yellow ! point and then try to reinstall drivers for that device.
I don't understand. MTP mode is the only way that the HTC One ever interacted with a PC. To my knowledge, Google removed USB Mass Storage as of JB 4.1
I've tried every single method over the internet and here in XDA forum...
Nothing worked..
How I can connect my tablet as a mass storage device please??
AhmadLight said:
I've tried every single method over the internet and here in XDA forum...
Nothing worked..
How I can connect my tablet as a mass storage device please??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As of Android 4.0 I believe they removed mass storage from all subsequent builds of android. They had a reason for it which I do not recall but it is not possible on any 4.0+ device no matter the hack.
nrage23 said:
As of Android 4.0 I believe they removed mass storage from all subsequent builds of android. They had a reason for it which I do not recall but it is not possible on any 4.0+ device no matter the hack.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MTP has several advantages over mass storage mode, some of which include:
1) storage can be accessed simultaneously by both the Android tablet/phone as well as the computer it is connected to by USB
2) does not need to be selected on the device after connecting USB (likely related to Item 1 above, as the storage no longer has to be "unmounted" from the device
3) app storage and user storage are now unified
Item 3 above is probably the primary reason for the move to MTP. And of course MTP has its drawbacks.
I've seen mass storage enabled on custom ROMs on other devices (HTC One X in particular). So it is possible. But whether we will ever see this on the Note 8 is another story.
I've tried these two:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2175747
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mohammadag.samsungusbmassstorageenabler
But both didn't work...
Many people on 4.0 and higher got to enable Mass Storage Device mode..
So I was thinking about how to do that..
I'll wait till someone successfully make it able on NOTE 8.0
Thanks