Develop Bugs

[Q] HELP: any way to enable the mass storage mode on the galaxy note 2 ?

can any one help me and suggest a method to enable the mass storage mode in my note 2 , when connected to my laptop ?

Firstly why? MTP is better when you get it working as you don' t need to unmount anything from the phone first!
Secondly, it is likely to be possible yes probably very similar to how it was hacked to work on the s3, however it only worked for external sd and caused lots of corruptions to sd cards... so it is far from perfect.
My advice would be to get used to MTP.

i was need it to let my stereo car read mp3 files i solved by installing an s3 hack that can make the extsd a mass storage unit take a look here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1711009 it worked for me i'm with omega v4 rom

Lennyuk said:
Firstly why? MTP is better when you get it working as you don' t need to unmount anything from the phone first!
Secondly, it is likely to be possible yes probably very similar to how it was hacked to work on the s3, however it only worked for external sd and caused lots of corruptions to sd cards... so it is far from perfect.
My advice would be to get used to MTP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand what you mean but. ..it becomes virtually impossible and frustrating to transfer stuff to internal memory or even external memory because it is slow. ..Very slow
External memory I can manage by taking out my card and using an adapter to plug it into my laptop card slot..
Is there a way to mount internal memory as usb mass storage? I don't mind if I have to turn my phone off or something
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

Did you try Airdroid?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

try Kies over wifi...
it transfer data using local connection and transfers GBs of files in some minutes definitely MUCH faster than MTP and prefer it to AirDroid, but it hasnt been working lately (last time i checked was a week or two back)

This is a problem for those like me using Ubuntu. I never managed to make MTP work on it.
Wi-Fi transfer of files can be done with X-Link, but the lack of mass storage is a nuisance.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

Yes, MTP is a big problem on Ubuntu. I have tried 3 implementations of MTP protocol on 12.04 and 12.10, no dice.

i'm searching for an answer. worst thing with mtp is the fact that it hides directories from you! so you can't backup everything properly. annoying

bump! MTP is too/painfully slow. Reminds me of 1995. We need an alternative. Whoever put up this technology without due consideration and testing, before deploying it on these popular devices needs to be consider a different job.

looks like I wont be getting this phone until mass storage mode is added

harishdhandev said:
can any one help me and suggest a method to enable the mass storage mode in my note 2 , when connected to my laptop ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, there is no way to enable UMS mode without rooting the phone.
I had to find a solution for my car stereo be able to read mp3 files.
I just rooted the phone and install SGS3 easy UMS ( PlayStore ). Yes its working just perfect on NoteII.
I'm using Ubuntu at work and it works like a charm as well.
Don't forget to unmount the drive in Ubuntu before unplug, and stop the service on Windows.
Also, on the UMS app, switch back to MTP before unplug, to avoid files errors ( no problem if u are just reading, ie: car stereo)

fmpmuld said:
Unfortunately, there is no way to enable UMS mode without rooting the phone.
I had to find a solution for my car stereo be able to read mp3 files.
I just rooted the phone and install SGS3 easy UMS ( PlayStore ). Yes its working just perfect on NoteII.
I'm using Ubuntu at work and it works like a charm as well.
Don't forget to unmount the drive in Ubuntu before unplug, and stop the service on Windows.
Also, on the UMS app, switch back to MTP before unplug, to avoid files errors ( no problem if u are just reading, ie: car stereo)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
one question - how to make two-way sync folders between my laptop and SGN2?
I always did it with GoodSync, but now it is impossible...
thx

Haha isn't this a cool icon? ---->
Gah.... I was hoping there was a way to USB mass storage on this phone. I guess I should have done more research on the phone before I bought it. I'm still in my 2 week return it period, but that's not THAT much of a deal breaker. Just really stupid... Why can't I have it all?? I mean we finally got USB host (OTG or whatever; same same) from a stock phone, only to lose USB Mass Storage! Oh the frustrations!
Dramatics aside, will a custom ROM allow something different? I'm not clear on what layer this MTP mode is operating at. I did think it was funny that it popped up as a camera type device in Windows. Right now I'm only using internal flash. Usually I want to browse pics on the phone from the PC, and in this case, if I use IrfanView to open one on the device, it copies it local and then opens it, so I can't scroll through them. Silly, and mildly frustrating. :-/
I'm going to look into some networking options to see if those work (Kies, AirDroid, maybe FTP). Actually, Dropbox might solve this particular problem for me now that I think of it.
I saw the thread for mounting external SD as USB mass storage. I take it there's no way to co-mount the internal storage as a USB mass storage device?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1711009

AllanonMage said:
Gah.... I was hoping there was a way to USB mass storage on this phone. I guess I should have done more research on the phone before I bought it. I'm still in my 2 week return it period, but that's not THAT much of a deal breaker. Just really stupid... Why can't I have it all?? I mean we finally got USB host (OTG or whatever; same same) from a stock phone, only to lose USB Mass Storage! Oh the frustrations!
Dramatics aside, will a custom ROM allow something different? I'm not clear on what layer this MTP mode is operating at. I did think it was funny that it popped up as a camera type device in Windows. Right now I'm only using internal flash. Usually I want to browse pics on the phone from the PC, and in this case, if I use IrfanView to open one on the device, it copies it local and then opens it, so I can't scroll through them. Silly, and mildly frustrating. :-/
I'm going to look into some networking options to see if those work (Kies, AirDroid, maybe FTP). Actually, Dropbox might solve this particular problem for me now that I think of it.
I saw the thread for mounting external SD as USB mass storage. I take it there's no way to co-mount the internal storage as a USB mass storage device?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1711009
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, Samsung turned off the USB Mass Storage for obvious reasons. But anyway, I can access both memories from my computers, using MS Windows.
On windows, there's no problem at all as you can manage all the files directly from explorer.
On Other systems, the problem is different. For some reasons, like with all other systems (ie car stereo or media player...), the galaxy will not be recognized because MTP needs drivers. Then, you have to use UMS and the only way to install and use it is to root the phone. But keep in mind UMS will only permit access to external memory card.
Well, if I have to transfer files from internal memory through UMS, I copy the files I need to external memory before using it..... That's not a big problem , is it ? And because your phone is rooted, you can even find a script to copy some folders automatically.
Hope I'm clear enough and it helps.

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.

[Q] Sd Card and File Managers

Hello. Just got my Ouya yesterday. Having a bit of a hard time getting roms to work in my emulators.
I have a couple of questions regarding this..
1, Is an attached usb stick regarded as an sd card in the settings menu?
2. Are there any file managers available for the Ouya at this time. Preferably ES File explorer for its network capabilities, or something comparable
I'm also on a mac, and can't get the Ouya to recognize even fat formatted usb sticks.
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks

Install via Browser
xonkwerdna said:
Hello. Just got my Ouya yesterday. Having a bit of a hard time getting roms to work in my emulators.
I have a couple of questions regarding this..
1, Is an attached usb stick regarded as an sd card in the settings menu?
2. Are there any file managers available for the Ouya at this time. Preferably ES File explorer for its network capabilities, or something comparable
I'm also on a mac, and can't get the Ouya to recognize even fat formatted usb sticks.
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Sadly, no. This is a point of annoyance for me, actually, since it means you cannot install apps/games to the USB drive as you could
with an SD card.
2. As for file managers, the OUYA does not have any built in but you can go to the "Make" menu and open the web browser. From there you can web search for an ES File Explorer APK (or create a backup on your phone and send it to dropbox, then access it from your browser).
a. I personally used my browser to install Box and Dropbox so that I can backup apps from my phone and send them to my browser.
It makes the side-loading process easier. I now have Amazon app store, emulators like N64oid and XBMC on my OUYA.
As for being on a Mac, I am not sure how formatting works on that.
UPDATE (just now haha): I will be trying this to see if it can be used to move apps to a USB stick. That would be brilliant! Will update with results.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1410262
Cheers!

I've create a single fat32 partition with the default settings in linux/KDE on my drive. When I connect the drive to ouya using USB, it gets mounted at /mnt/usbdrive. I can see in the logcat output vold handling all the mounting the same as it would for an SD card. There are no other signs though, that anything is being mounted. There is no environmental variables like EXTERNAL_STORAGE pointing to this location. It does not appear in the settings->storage menu like it does on other devices. You kind of just have to know where it is and then you can browse to that location in your apps.

I'm in the same boat. I'm sitting here trying to get my 500gb 2.5" portable laptop HDD to load with my roms. At first I thought it was because of NFTS. So I formatted. Nothing. Then I wiped all the partitions into 1 huge exFat partition. Nothing. Plugged in my 32gb USB Stick that is NTFS. Nothing. Grabbed a MicroSD-USB adapter and used my 16gb from my MK808. Nothing. Grabbed my old 16gb and reformatted it as FAT32. Nothing.
Nothing is reading on my Ouya. Wtf?
None of my apps are reading anything.

It cant be exfat; it cant be NTFS. You need to make it fat32. There's something in windoze where it refuses to create a fat32 partition over a certain size, but you can do it on just about any other computer. You can make your whole 500GB hard drive fat32 and ouya will see it fine. Or you can wait until we have more development to enable ntfs support. Don't hold your breath for exfat, since M$ is charging big licensing fees for it.

No I think my USB port is shot.
I've formatted several USB thumb drives to FAT32 and it still refuses to see any of them. Really sucks because the sole reason I bought the OUYA was to load all my roms on it. The bad thing is that they are so backordered that I'll just have to deal with it for a while.

player911 said:
No I think my USB port is shot.
I've formatted several USB thumb drives to FAT32 and it still refuses to see any of them. Really sucks because the sole reason I bought the OUYA was to load all my roms on it. The bad thing is that they are so backordered that I'll just have to deal with it for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you trying to test if they work? Because MOST people's problem is that it doesn't show up on the OUYA itself, it's all app specific and there is no directions built in to find USB storage at this time.
Grab a USB Keyboard or Mouse and try that to see if it works, at least that way you can rule out a bad USB port.
I've tried multiple different USB devices all with 0 problems and it seems like the people who go through 3 or 4+ different ones just don't know where to look.
I'm NOT saying this is your problem exactly or that you're dumb in anyway, you may have a bad unit, just trying to help with what I've observed while helping others on this forum.
And to address the FAT32 vs NTFS: Plenty of people have confirmed that NTFS works, including myself. It was rumored at the beginning that only FAT32 worked, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Good shot on a USB mouse or keyboard. I don't have anything wired but i have some RF wireless that should work. I've tried everything else. All of the emulator apps see sdcard1 and sdcard0. One shows internal storage and the other shows nothing. Won't even show folders. It shows this regardless if its plugged in or not.
The light on my USB lights up and so does my HDD. So the power is there but no communication. I'll have to look at it closer tomorrow.
I got it from gamestop and it was opened. Looked used actually. The tie wraps on the cables were gone, the internal box was bent, there was some kind of fiber/hair in the box, and fingerprints all over it, and the batteries were in the controller. I got 10% off and a free 1yr warranty. So they'll just have to give me a new one later. Its the only one available within 100 miles. Best buys out too.
I'm an IT admin so even if it "kinda" works, it shouldn't be this flaky. 4 storage devices and all not working. Someone probably blew out the USB and returned it, and GameStop tried to sell it as new.
Edit
I do have my PS3 with its wired miniUSB. I'll try that tomorrow.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

player911 said:
Good shot on a USB mouse or keyboard. I don't have anything wired but i have some RF wireless that should work. I've tried everything else. All of the emulator apps see sdcard1 and sdcard0. One shows internal storage and the other shows nothing. Won't even show folders. It shows this regardless if its plugged in or not.
The light on my USB lights up and so does my HDD. So the power is there but no communication. I'll have to look at it closer tomorrow.
I got it from gamestop and it was opened. Looked used actually. The tie wraps on the cables were gone, the internal box was bent, there was some kind of fiber/hair in the box, and fingerprints all over it, and the batteries were in the controller. I got 10% off and a free 1yr warranty. So they'll just have to give me a new one later. Its the only one available within 100 miles. Best buys out too.
I'm an IT admin so even if it "kinda" works, it shouldn't be this flaky. 4 storage devices and all not working. Someone probably blew out the USB and returned it, and GameStop tried to sell it as new.
Edit
I do have my PS3 with its wired miniUSB. I'll try that tomorrow.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck! At least you can always take it back to gamestop once they ahve another one to get it, but I hope it doesn't come down to it for you!

Holy crap my PS3 is working?!
Now I'm totally confused.
EDIT!!!!!!!!
Got it working. I ended up having to do a Factory Reset. Here is the quote I posted from the Ouya Forums:
Player911 said:
Well I just fixed it!!!
I just got my OUYA yesterday and immediately threw on my 640gb HDD but it wouldn't see it. I kept screwing with it and screwing with it. Nothing. 32gb Flash drive. Nothing. 16gb Flash Drive. Nothing. 16gb microSD-USB. Nothing. I screwed with Fat32, NTFS. Nothing worked! I thought my USB was blown. Someone suggested trying a USB device so I used my PS3 controller. BOOM. Worked. USB Storage... Nothing.
I'm an IT Admin with a N7 and a Galaxy Nexus. I know my way around.
Well in this thread, I saw someone did a Factory Reset and that worked. WTH right? So I did a factory reset and low and behold, my HDD is reading like a champ.
So if you have USB HDD issues, use the Formatter Tool to format it to FAT32: http://ouyaforum.com/showthread.php?...ll=1#post35834
If that doesn't work. Factory Reset and set it back up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

player911 said:
Holy crap my PS3 is working?!
Now I'm totally confused.
EDIT!!!!!!!!
Got it working. I ended up having to do a Factory Reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you go it working! Makes me wonder what the problem was in the first place, since it worked for HID but not storage. Maybe bad install or update of drivers.

I dunno. First thing it did when I turned it on was an update. I've spent all day screwing with it and dredging through forums. There are tons of people who have had issues after the last update, where it WAS working and magically stopped. So I'm thinking it was a firmware issues, perhaps something they changed. Since mine was probably used, perhaps it had drivers in there and got screwed up after the update. Who knows.
I do plan on swapping this out with a new one as soon as Gamestop has them in stock, since he was so kind to give me a 1 yr warranty. The USB port isn't tight and the connections feels sloppy. At first I was thinking that it wasn't making a good connection. For all I know, someone had an early edition and swapped it out with a new release day model. Like you said, something makes me wonder. I don't want anything else to happen down the road because of mal-use of a previous owner.

[Q] Ok i've got a weird one or two

i suppose i have a couple of questions really, and they confound me greatly=).
Occasionally when i am listening to music on the phone (i finally decided on rocket player after much ado), the phone tries to record me.(ok google. i've...mostly?...disabled it?) I don't know if this is a hardware(as in the headphone jack) or software issue...but it bugs the heck out of me.
Happens over and over again. I've managed to disable the error message and so forth but am not sure why i can't make it go away.
The second issue is that the only Windows computer I have in the house is an ancient xp desktop(ive got a win7 laptop that that is quite new but it's not set up for it yet been busy) that is disconnected from the internet for good reason. I used it to root the phone, fix the softbricks that i accidentally did (learning curve etc). But once I installed a 128 gig sd expansion, it would no longer recognise either phone hard drive in usb debug mode(they show up as identical unrecognisable 32 gig drives). I've gotten around this with stickmount, but it is also irritating. EDIT: Installed lg g3 drivers on laptop. Doesn't recognise the phone period. XP computer recognises the drives but cannot see the contents
Third question. The xda app stopped working on my phone, and i can't figure out why. It's one of the few apps that has enough permissions to access internet etc.
Last one. What's the best custom lollipop firmware...i only ask this as an addendum bc i haven't had time to look at them recently, still using kitkat. The fact that phone is no longer recognized by computer also makes this process more difficult if i screw it up

File transfer mode NOT media device mode?

Sorry for a kinda double post, as ive posted this in the noob thread, but I think its being overlooked.
When connecting to a PC, how can I get a normal file transfer mode?? the media mode is just too limiting, one file at a time, transfer with no ETA, cannot browse picture folders with image viewers.. "this file cannot be played are you sure you want to copy it" blah blah blah...
I'm sure on my old HTC sensation as well as media mode you had file mode.. but I cannot find it and I don't have usb 3.1 on my laptop only 3.0 so hopefully that's not the answer..
please help.. mostly after getting at my SD card without removing it from the phone as I can never find the "proddy thing".. not fussed if I need to install a third party app or other... but currently on stock EU rom non-rooted.

stupink said:
Sorry for a kinda double post, as ive posted this in the noob thread, but I think its being overlooked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... im not sure if i can help you really. What is the operating system you are using there? MTP works for me in Linux aswell as with Win 10.
stupink said:
When connecting to a PC, how can I get a normal file transfer mode??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When connecting to a PC it should pop up a question about how you want to use the connection. So select Filetransfer and trust it with "Yes". And that s it basically. You can also find this in the notification bar... eh about what to use USB for.
Also be sure to have suiting drivers. IIRC they should be installed with HTC Sync Manager. Maybe installing HTC Sync Manager would fix your issues already?
stupink said:
I'm sure on my old HTC sensation as well as media mode you had file mode.. but I cannot find it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How old? I think this special mode you refer to was removed some Android releases ago already. Nowadays theres MTP. By all this speed of that USB ports nowadays intention seems to be initially that you do not have to unmount it in order to get all that stuffs you knew from past. I remember when my ONE-S got a update suddenly in past where exactly this step to MTP happened. Since the USB2 hardware in this old phone was a bit older and worse it became slower than before. Many ppl had been looking for a fix for this, since you could not enable it like it was before. IIRC one solution was to use a custom ROM. I can not recommend using a custom ROM personally.
stupink said:
and I don't have usb 3.1 on my laptop only 3.0 so hopefully that's not the answer..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it is not. I m also having a 3.0. Still at least with marshmellow you would have to enable the fast file transfer with 3.1 explicitly in the case you really have such port on your Computer. And still theres some influences and things to consider to get optimum bandwidth.
But a 3.0 connection is usually not as crappy as you describe it now. So i would sugguest you:
- I assume a driver bad.
- Or Faulty cable.
- Maybe some setting in your file browser on the computer?
- Is the preview disabled maybe?
- Latest drivers for the phone? (HTC Sync Manager)
At very first i would try to get latest HTC Sync Manager for HTC10 from HTC website. Or if you are in linux, check your packages, udev rules and that MTP gets rolling.
Hope this helps a bit.
PS.: Try connect your Phone to another computer with maybe Windows 10 and latest HTC Sync Manager. Just to exclude that your computer or its software might cause this issue.

Thanks for the reply, my "old" htc was probably 6+years ago.. I think it was my first android phone, Recently I have been using LG G3 running cyanogenmod, so have always had a proper "file mode".. it was just like plugging in an external hard drive. I did not realise this was not a feature anymore in standard android.
The main problem I dislike is not being able to view pictures... If I open one picture from my phone or SDcard, then my picture browswer says viewing picture 1/1 even if the folder has 200 pictures in it, I cannot space/tab through the pictures, I have to close that one, then open the next.... I do find it frustrating only being able to copy one file at a time, and constantly having to tell it that I do want to copy the file despite not being able to play it, but those things I can live with.
I already have tried installing extra software and on windows 7, (I am running W10) but no luck
It just sounds like they want you to remove the SD card.. shame they make it so impossible to do.. I'll continue to hunt for a solution without custom rom.. and post any findings.

stupink said:
cyanogenmod, so have always had a proper "file mode".. it was just like plugging in an external hard drive. I did not realise this was not a feature anymore in standard android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes! I think this i why they kept (keep) it alive.
stupink said:
The main problem I dislike is not being able to view pictures... If I open one picture from my phone or SDcard, then my picture browswer says viewing picture 1/1 even if the folder has 200 pictures in it, I cannot space/tab through the pictures, I have to close that one, then open the next.... I do find it frustrating only being able to copy one file at a time, and constantly having to tell it that I do want to copy the file despite not being able to play it, but those things I can live with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is it. How do you think about an alternative way to transfer data like e.g. from playstore Air Droid using WLAN.
Did you try another data cable, by all ports and operating systems?
And just in case. Do both of your computers feature the same USB drivers and hub? Maybe a driver issue.
I noticed one thing recently. When i connect with MTP and copy lets say: "400 MB pictures" taken with my old phone, spread on 97 files to the SD card it does not take long. But what takes long like 20 seconds after copying is done is that it shows previews. I have to really wait until it is done transferring.
So could it be maybe the case your phone does not finish somehow?
And yes the Windows Photo thingie does not see it as folder to slide through.
Meaning: i can not deny your issues fully.
Honestly what i totally love is an Plasma Desktop for linux is an software which called KDE Connect. You get WLAN connection to your phone and can even control the mouse. Do simple file transfers. And what i totally love about it is, is that it almost seemingless integrates into the Desktop. On the other End i think WIN10 does not feature such service (stock). Air Droid is one of those tools in this way which you can expand the computer expirience with. The preview and copying over WLAN is blazing fast. Plus you do not have to connect the cable.
But it requires a client/server and permissions on both ends. And thats what i dislike about the Windows side. It is not so seemless. And it is in the way of one of those extra services, running.
Also the speed of the SD card does in fact matter. Is it maybe one of the older generations you inserted?
The new SD's from this year are much faster and bigger.
E.g. read about SD card speed classes SDXC class U1, U2 and U3
Even if you can push 1 GiB /s through a cable.... if the SD only takes 96 mib/s...... lol
Maybe interesting to have a look at what about capacity / price is happening in 6 years.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10315/market-views-hdd-shipments-down-q1-2016/3
So lets say you was using a 6 years old SD.
Your phone is worth (lets say 600 $) but the SD is not worth any cent. In case the SD was so old.

This is how Android now is.
What you're looking for is USB Mass Storage mode. They removed that because it was a wide security hole where someone could just plug your phone into a computer and copy all your storage and mess things up at will. Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) is all Android has now. Your phone memory doesn't just have your photos and music on it; it also has your apps, logins, systems files, etc.
The "file cannot be played" prompt that bothers you can be disabled in Windows. Just do a Google search on that. As for transfer speed, I'll bet you that it's a bad cable and nothing more. MTP isn't slower than UMS.
Good luck.

Thanks also.
I didn't mean to imply it's slow transfer. By limiting I mean it's holding me back. I like to transferr a 20GB video, and while it's doing it, go to my pics and view+sort them etc. But now I cannot. One at a time. Zzzzz..
It sounds like I will either need to investigate lineage again. (I'm unsure at this stage what I loose if I do, camera apps, mirror cast etc). Or perhaps buy a hand full of "proddy things" so I can more easily remove the SD card. I can never find it when I need it.
Thanks for helping me get my head around this alien tech/systems. I feel I understand now what's happening and why.