[Q] USB Drive Encryption Android - Windows - Nexus 7 (2013) Q&A

Using a USB OTG cable I'm able to read/write to a flash drive but I'm trying to find a solution to encrypt the drive so I can use it on my Nexus 7 and Windows PC. I see one solution in the play stroe EDS which uses TrueCrypt but looks like I need root to use it without having to decrypt to a local folder on the Nexus. The other solution seems to be for advanced users and I'm just looking to plug in the drive and have it work.
Looking at other solutions like IronKey (expensive) but there isn't an Android client. I searched Google and surprisingly didn't find a good solution to what I would have thought is a common user issue.
I don't need to block the NSA from looking at my data, as if that was possible, I just don't want to lose my usb drive and have all my data available to anyone with a PC. Thanks.

Have you considered going old school and just encrypting critical files using pgp or gnupg? It works nicely but is just a bit labor intensive.
Sent from my XT1031 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Yea, but was hoping at this point there'd be a better solution. My N7 is already rooted so I may just go with TrueCrypt.

you might try cryptonite (https://code.google.com/p/cryptonite/). For encfs on Windows you might use encfs4Win (http://members.ferrara.linux.it/freddy77/encfs.html )

Ever solved this ? Im in the same situation, got a usb type c to usb 3.0 pendrive, want to encrypt both on windows platform and android

I was looking for a solution as well right now, couldn't find any...

Related

Mounting the EVO as a wireless drive on a PC?

Anyone know how I would go about mounting my EVO's sdcard on a pc wirelessly? Thanks.
bluetooth?
lol, yes that is a question
Bluetooth File Transfer from the Market works well for me, although obviously your PC has to have Bluetooth as well. I bought a cheap Bluetooth dongle for my laptop.
Sent from my Evo using XDA App
ghirsch said:
Anyone know how I would go about mounting my EVO's sdcard on a pc wirelessly? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just use dropbox. drop the file you want on your dropbox folder then go to your phone, find that then download it and your good
Drop box is a necessity that or sugar sync basically same thing. I use it for all my side loaded apps so they are always ready when I flash a new rom.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
I use ftpserver on the phone and cuteftp on the computer.
Try SwiFTP, I think its what youre looking for.
thorpe24 said:
Drop box is a necessity that or sugar sync basically same thing. I use it for all my side loaded apps so they are always ready when I flash a new rom.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why not use a2sd? (apps 2 sd)
Ive tried most of the solutions mentioned. I'm particularly looking to be able to access my EVOs sdcard either through a mounted drive or windows share wirelessly. Its important I can access it in this fashion because I work on computers all day and would like to be able to carry my drivers collection around with me. Its nice to be able to just point a machine to a drive share load the appropriate drivers. FTP, Dropbox and WebDAV solutions just to make this process efficient for me.
EStrongs File Browser is nice how it can browse PCs on the same subnet but I would like to do the same except browse my phones storage from the PC side via a share.
If you used something like dropbox you wouldn't need to use your phone at all just load up your dropbox with all of them and then just log on to the dropbox website on the computer you need the drivers.
I would think that anything that would make so you could wirelessly push files from your evo to a computer, would require a program or driver installed or a Bluetooth dongle, and that would take most of the point of away
you can always just carry around a usb cable and do it that way.
do a bluetooth file transfer, that usually works for me
try android desktop it is a small websserver on your phone it allows you to access your phone through the pc web browser. free from ao store. Blue tooth is fairly slow on large files. with the desktop you should be able to use the wifi or 3 g.

The state of MTP on Mac OS X (as required for ICS/GNex)

So, this isn't about the Galaxy Nexus per-se, but I know many of you are scared of the change to MTP and the interaction with the computer, especially those of you coming from Gingerbread directly through to the Galaxy Nexus.
I've had a Motorola Xoom (which doesn't support USB mass storage mode) for a while. Simply put, there is _no_ native support for MTP in OS X (10.7 or lower). If you plug your Galaxy Nexus into your Mac, nothing will happen at all. OS X won't see it, DoubleTwist doesn't see it, Songbird won't and iTunes (obviously) won't see it. As far as I know, there's no way of enabling your Mac to see the device natively, and all of the software designed for other MTP devices that I've tried doesn't work.
In fact, the only way your Mac will ever see it is if you download Google's Android File Helper software. This program, once installed, runs in the background, and whenever you plug in your Honeycomb (or ICS) device, it pops up a window showing the contents of the phone's memory. From here (and only from that window), you can pull files from the phone/tablet or put them onto it.
This works acceptably, but with a few hangups. First, unlike a normal finder window, only one transfer can occur at once, and there's no queueing. So, if you drop one folder on to copy, you're not able to move anything else onto or off of the card until it's finished. Also, large transfers (~10 GB) don't work particularly reliably, and may fail partway through, so you may consider dragging files in in groups. Finally, and most frustratingly, it will often not be up to date with what files are on the device, especially if you've recently deleted them. So, folders or files may still show up that you've recently deleted. Maybe this has been changed in ICS (I hope so!), but that's my experience.
That's your primary way on or off the device. I've had limited success using DDMS for transferring files on and off of the device, and although it's clunky and requires USB debugging mode, it's the most reliable way I've found for transfers that fail in the Transfer client. In practice, I'd recommend using something like SwiFTP to copy (smaller) files to and from your device, and avoiding the hassle when you can.
In short, you definitely CAN use OS X to transfer files onto and off of your Galaxy Nexus, but it's not as easy as it was for Gingerbread Devices, and tools like DoubleTwist and Songbird can no longer access your device at all (in their current versions). You can get around this using AirSync for DoubleTwist to load music, or doing so manually, but it's kludgey. It's unlikely that Apple will choose to support MTP in future versions of OS X (it's a Microsoft protocol now used mostly by Android), but hopefully Google will improve the tool as time goes on.
Sorry if this is all well known and obvious, but if you were on the fence about the GNex because of this, don't be. The MTP switch is annoying, but nothing showstopping, even for OS X. Just FYI.
wanderfowl said:
I've had a Motorola Xoom (which doesn't support USB host mode) for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which doesn't have USB Mass Storage mode (not USB Host - this is USB OTG where you can plug in other USB peripherals into the Xoom). Sorry just a pet peeve watching people confuse the two.
Thanks for an informative post. MTP looks like it is going to cause headaches to every non-Windows device by the looks of it. Ironic for a Linux based device ; ).
Jebus99 said:
Which doesn't have USB Mass Storage mode (not USB Host - this is USB OTG where you can plug in other USB peripherals into the Xoom). Sorry just a pet peeve watching people confuse the two.
Thanks for an informative post. MTP looks like it is going to cause headaches to every non-Windows device by the looks of it. Ironic for a Linux based device ; ).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoops! Edited
So WiFi File Explorer outta work though if your other ftp type app did?
Thanks for the info. I remember using the app on my MacBook when I had the Xoom. I didn't mind it too much, but it was a tad annoying having to open the app rather than just pop open 'finder' and go. FWIW it DID work just fine for my couple months with the Xoom.
So WiFi File Explorer outta work though if your other ftp type app did?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, FTP apps of all sorts work fine. I use Transmit on the Mac to access the phone via FTP, and that works like a charm.
martonikaj said:
Thanks for the info. I remember using the app on my MacBook when I had the Xoom. I didn't mind it too much, but it was a tad annoying having to open the app rather than just pop open 'finder' and go. FWIW it DID work just fine for my couple months with the Xoom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works fine to the internal storage. Maybe I should've said explicitly that I had more issues using the Android File Transfer app with the SD Card in the Xoom.
I'm glad Google gave this a thought, now they should make one for linux too, but they probably won't.
wanderfowl said:
iTunes (obviously) won't see it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My post is pointless, but hell will freeze over before iTunes recognizes a Samsung device, lol. If it wasn't for laws and standard, they wouldn't allow their PC to recognize Samsung devices either.
eksasol said:
I'm glad Google gave this a thought, now they should make one for linux too, but they probably won't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the nice part about Linux. The people working on Linux have an active incentive to add this functionality, as it improves the experience. With OS X, they have an active (marketing) reason to not add it, anti-competitive behavior. Don't give up hope
wanderfowl said:
It's unlikely that Apple will choose to support MTP in future versions of OS X (it's a Microsoft protocol now used mostly by Android), but hopefully Google will improve the tool as time goes on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a protocol native to the USB standard since 2008 so if Apple want to be standards compliant they should implement it. There are lots of other devices that use it as well.
wanderfowl said:
As far as I know, there's no way of enabling your Mac to see the device natively, and all of the software designed for other MTP devices that I've tried doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those apps probably just need an update to libmtp.. for some reason that library has the device ID of every device it supports hardcoded in, rather than working out whether a device supports mtp in other ways as things like windows do.
If anyone has ported mtpfs to OSX you should be able to get that going (will probably do that myself when I get time.. Android File Transfer is OK but a bit quirky).
blunden said:
It's a protocol native to the USB standard since 2008 so if Apple want to be standards compliant they should implement it. There are lots of other devices that use it as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me, I'm not defending it, but I can't imagine Apple in its current state implementing a change which would help in supporting a competitor's product (especially Android) just to be open and compliant. Given how willing Apple as a company is to cut off its nose to spite its face, I doubt that they'll rush to help their users here. Prove me wrong, Apple.
TonyHoyle said:
Those apps probably just need an update to libmtp.. for some reason that library has the device ID of every device it supports hardcoded in, rather than working out whether a device supports mtp in other ways as things like windows do.
If anyone has ported mtpfs to OSX you should be able to get that going (will probably do that myself when I get time.. Android File Transfer is OK but a bit quirky).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried working with the existing mtpfs ports, but wasn't able to get very far at all. I'm hoping that ICS will spur people to develop further on that, maybe pulling it into MacFUSE.
wanderfowl said:
Trust me, I'm not defending it, but I can't imagine Apple in its current state implementing a change which would help in supporting a competitor's product (especially Android) just to be open and compliant. Given how willing Apple as a company is to cut off its nose to spite its face, I doubt that they'll rush to help their users here. Prove me wrong, Apple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You certainly have a point and is the primary reason I dispise Apple as a company.
My main point was that it's not to be considered a "Microsoft protocol" as it's been part of the USB standard for years now. Nothing is stopping any OS from implementing it and as a standard they really should as it brings some nice improvements like not requiring the OS on the PC to have support for the filesystem used on the device. Considering FAT32 and exFAT are basically the only filesystems that work in all major OSes, the former being old and having severe limitations and the latter requiring a license it's nice to be able to use something like ext2/3/4 or any other filesystem of choice and still maintain compability.
Apple hasn't typically been particularly resistant to implementing standards and protocols used to communicate with 3rd party devices. Also, the major force behind Apple's resistance to just about everything is gone now... We'll see if they continue the trend without him.
Just bumping this again for the new crop of ICS users
So I've just gotten my VZW Gnex, and unfortunately, Android file transfer seems to have the same problems with not refreshing the files in the folder as it did on the Xoom.
That said, if you're trying to get into a given folder and your Android File Transfer can't see the contents (or the folder itself), just reboot the phone and when it comes back up, the new folder should be there and right as rain.
wanderfowl said:
OS X won't see it, DoubleTwist doesn't see it, Songbird won't and iTunes (obviously) won't see it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If syncing with iTunes is your goal, you left out iSyncr. Our app can sync Android 3.0 and 4.0 devices with iTunes on a Mac over USB (and WiFi). If your Android device is supported by Android File Transfer, it is supported by iSyncr.
As always, you can shoot me an email if you are having an issue with this.
-Justin
I seem to be having a new issue. All of a sudden, I can't sync anything to my XOOM. I had to unlock, and re-unroot it to install ICS on it. I don't know why, but everytime I begin a transfer to my XOOM Android File Transfer instantly says that my my device is locked and I need unlock the screen and/or it can't access the media storage device. It's really frustrating. I can't push the SU.zip bc it gets lost in between the "Ext SD Card" and the "Internal SD Card." Long story short... my Xoom boots into ICS and runs perfectly fine, but I can't finish the root process. Any help?!
Android File Transfer supports files up to 4gb in size. This may be why you are having trouble transferring files that are 10 gb. At least this is the case in OS X Lion
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Not showing up in linux

So I have the vzw nexus....its unlocked, rooted and cmw recovery flashed. All this was done through my windows machine. When I connect it via USB cable to my Linux machine (Ubuntu) it doesn't recognize it, has anybody else had this issue and know of a fix or something special I need to do. I really don't like having to dig out my windows machine just to put pics and videos and what not on my phone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Do a search for MTP on the forum. There are ways of getting linux to work with MTP, but it take a bit of messing around.
In the short term, install wifi file explorer from the market.
Thanx for the info....
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Recognized via ADB?
after a bit of stuffing around (ubuntu) I found wireless ftp easier.
Or airdroid, which gives you browser access to your phone from your computer, so long as they're on the same wireless network.
I have found this guide. Working so far with the exception of the auto mount option, still working this part out. All credit goes to the op of the guide.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1077377

What I really really hate about this phone? No native USB support

The usb storage. MTS or whatever you call it . Very slow, terrible for navigating/editing multiple directories/windows at once. Frustrating. Can only find size of files by going in the directory and selecting all files. Anyone know of a good quick solution to this? I've played with the common game editor but don't really see it as encompassing the solution to all the problems of not having the classical USB mount
You think thats bad? Try having Mac. I can't even get it to recognize me phone lol. I'm forced to used my windows machine.
And I believe its a JB thing, not necessarily Samsung.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
g2tegg said:
You think thats bad? Try having Mac. I can't even get it to recognize me phone lol. I'm forced to used my windows machine.
And I believe its a JB thing, not necessarily Samsung.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this problem too with my macbook pro then I found a solution tonight. Try this:
1. Install Kies if you haven't already, if you have make sure it's updated.
2. Connect your phone.
3. In Kies, click Tools, then Install Drivers (this will reinstall drivers
4. Download Android File Transfer.
Should work after this. Also make sure you have USB Debugging on and use PTP not MTP.
johnnyutah22 said:
I had this problem too with my macbook pro then I found a solution tonight. Try this:
1. Install Kies if you haven't already, if you have make sure it's updated.
2. Connect your phone.
3. In Kies, click Tools, then Install Drivers (this will reinstall drivers
4. Download Android File Transfer.
Should work after this. Also make sure you have USB Debugging on and use PTP not MTP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will be sure to give this a shot tomorrow and send along an update. I rarely use Kies, updated it yesterday but never tried the drivers thing. Android file transfer never used to work but maybe the "install drivers" step is all that's needed.
And thats why I love it here on XDA. Thanks for the help brother!
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
I agree... coming from a s2 skyrocket, I really miss UMS. Why bother having expandable storage when it takes hours to transfer to a class 10 32gb sd card? That is if I can get it to transfer at all.
I'm now resorting to unmounting sd card and putting it in the computer to transfer files...big PITA
SGS3 Easy UMS doesnt work either.
Edit: Actually, I'm using kies now... still miss drag and drop
Agreed. Always had driver problems with this phone. Sometimes it wouldn't connect because drivers failed to install or "bad hardware ID" pops up in the corner. Only way to get it to work was to restart comp. And it would only work until I disconnected it, then gotta restart again. -.-
I'm gonna switch back to linux once I get some free time. I recommend you do the same.
g2tegg said:
And I believe its a JB thing, not necessarily Samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a problem in ICS as well. I think the reason for that they went with MTP is that users would create a "messy" file structure when they randomly dragged and dropped files anywhere on both the internal and external card. Samsung can keep things organized when they encourage you to use Samsung Kies to add files to the device.
The mandate for MTP is also to reduce piracy of protected media files by ensuring the DRM is properly done. In the past, I could connect my phone directly to my Samsung SMART TV and play 720/1080p movies via UMS. This is now blocked with MTP.
Anonymously_Unknown said:
It was a problem in ICS as well. I think the reason for that they went with MTP is that users would create a "messy" file structure when they randomly dragged and dropped files anywhere on both the internal and external card. Samsung can keep things organized when they encourage you to use Samsung Kies to add files to the device.
The mandate for MTP is also to reduce piracy of protected media files by ensuring the DRM is properly done. In the past, I could connect my phone directly to my Samsung SMART TV and play 720/1080p movies via UMS. This is now blocked with MTP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I also noticed the slow data transfer speed when I upgraded my SII to S3. Thought it was something I was doing wrong. I've changed the default transfer to PTP and will check it out tonight.
seamus24 said:
I've changed the default transfer to PTP and will check it out tonight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't bother with PTP. PTP is just a camera. It's not like UMS so you might as well leave it on MTP
g2tegg said:
You think thats bad? Try having Mac. I can't even get it to recognize me phone lol. I'm forced to used my windows machine.
And I believe its a JB thing, not necessarily Samsung.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was annoyed by this as well. Now when I want to add something to my sd card I just take it out of the phone and put the sd card in my Mac and add files that way. It's a little annoying but its not that big of a deal.
I think the closest you'll get to a true UMS experience is using Samba Filesharing Server (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.funkyfresh.samba). You can then treat it like a network shared drive.
Of course you'll be limited by your WiFi speed. I think a possibility would be a USB host adapter and a USB ethernet adapter. I'm not sure if Android has support for a USB ethernet adapter but if that works then you should be able to connect to a gigabit switch/adapter and just be limited by USB2 speed.
It's not just this phone in general. They're all going that way as of ICS (Honeycomb as well) and up. If you use Windows it's not terrible but it is still slower. And yeah trying to use it with my Mac or even my Linux box is just frustrating. The primary reasoning was to merge the data and application volumes to give more space for applications. This is a better explanation of it. I do miss USB storage mode though.
Yep, totally frustrating for me also.
I remove my microSD card when I need to do lots of file management. But it's a clumsy workaround.

Question Reliable way to access filesystem using USB (rooted)? on windows

Am I the only one experiencing issues with USB connection and file transfers? I'm having a very hard time using my sync tools to automate transfer of entire internal shared storage. Windows sometimes shows two internal storages. Sometimes if i copy the entire internal storage over, it will only do a few files and then crash or stop. My automated tool for syncing directories can't even access it reliably. It reads the contents and then just hangs or crashes. I can copy files over manually no problem, but sometimes if I copy bulk folders over it will crash or have some kind of issues and I have to do it again. I feel you have to manually navigate inside the internal shared storage to really get it to work, like windows can't really dig deep into the filesystem on its own.
God I miss TWRP
But what is with the usb mounted storage?
I haven't had any troubles with accessing my Pixel 6 Pro from Windows unless I accidentally hit the cable the wrong way, but then once I fix it, it works reliably for me again until/if I have another accident.
Are you using the cable that came with the phone?​​Is this a laptop or desktop?​​If a desktop, are you using a USB-C connector on the outside (top, front, or side) of your computer, or are you using a USB-C port that's directly on the back of your computer?​​Do you have a spare cable you can try, even if it's a different type (USB-A instead of USB-C, etc) - as long as it supports USB 3.x Gen 1 (5 Gb/s) at a minimum.​​Do you have access to a spare computer to test if you have the same problem with it?​
Also, I don't use Windows Explorer at all. I find file transfers of any type work much better through GPSoftware Directory Opus (I have nothing to gain advertising them - I've been using Directory Opus for 30 years, so I'm very experienced with it).
There may be other Windows file managers that also work better, or there is even TeraCopy although I haven't touched that in years.
Good luck, I hope you get it working better for you. Let us know either way.
I use DOPus also!
Man, I have tried all the usb slots. The one directly on the motherboard and otherwise. If I use DOpus, if i try to copy the internal shared storage folder as a whole, it crashes part way through. But I was able to succeed if I used DOpus' synchronize tool, which digs into the directories before copying. I don't know why, but that helps. That is what I'm saying. It seems windows needs help digging into the folders before it can do anything with it.
I have also tried multiple cables including the white one that came with it. No big difference.
Cool that you're a DOpus fan too!
Is there any chance you can have temporary access to another computer to try with it? If necessary, you could try a computer at the library just for testing purposes.
Back when I used CodeSector TeraCopy, it had a way of more easily integrating with DOpus, specifically, if you end up trying TeraCopy and see if it helps.
Also, is this Windows 10 or 11? (I'm on 10)

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