Develop Bugs

StickMount Mount Label

Hi, I have StickMount (Paid version) on FTV. I have a USB mounted (Ext4 type).
StickMount mounts it correctly and I can see it with the "mount" command.
The problem is, even though I have selected the option "Mount as partition label", StickMount will mount the USB as "sda1". I have verified that my USB has a partition label of "FTV", set through the MiniTool software. I can clearly see the "FTV" as the label name in the tool.
I also ran "blkid" on FTV and I see this line for the USB storage:
/dev/block/sda1: LABEL="FTV" UUID="......."
Any reason why StickMount is not mounting it as "FTV"?

Well, I have tried both ways by checking/unchecking the option in StickMount, no mas. At this point, is there any manual way by writing a script to do the mount? Do I need to create a block device in /dev/block. I am still trying to understand it, coming from a Windows background. Clearly, there is a bug in StickMount, unless I am missing something very simple. I have scoured through the logcat and I don't see any mention of my partition label name. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Has this bug been fixed yet?

Neo3D said:
Has this bug been fixed yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure. I stopped using StickMount a long time back (probably around the time of my OP) as it never worked correctly. E.g. it used to give a bogus message that my USB was mounted when there was no USB connected to FTV.... I used the "OTG Helper" after that, it did not have the mount name option, but it did work correctly as far as basic functionality was concerned. Finally stopped using USB and now use WD MyCloud for my needs.
As regards to the other Q about buying the paid version, I had bought it through Google Play Store and not Amazon. Thanks.

Directory Bind and AFTV2

I'm trying to bind the "Android" folder on my Fire TV 2 to the "Android" folder on my HDD but it doesn't seem to work using the all "directory Bind". Has anyone been able to bind directories on the 4K Fire TV after acheiving Root access?
Edit: OK, I'm stuck. I tried Directory Bind with absolutely no luck. Then I tried Folder Mount but that required a bind of every individual folder. That's just not happening! Lastly I tried Link2SD but this app will not pickup on my USB drive. this really sucks. What's the point of having a 1tb hard drive and root access if I can't bind the damn drive. Hell, even the OUYA doesn't have these issues. WTF Amazon?!

Updated Findings for "Directory Binding"
I guess nobody around here gives a damn that the storage on the Fire TV 2 is seriously gimped. With that said, here are my findings.
NOTE: THIS IS ALL ABOUT THE AFTV2
Directory Bind
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vanpit.android.directorybind
DOES NOT WORK
Folder Mount
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devasque.fmount
Works with some MAJOR limitations on the Fire TV side of the fence.
* First off, Folder Mount has a issue where you can't add your license for the full version onto your Fire TV. This is due to there being no proper Google Play solution. I've already sent an email to the developer so hopefully that person can help me around the issue.
* Secondly, with the free version of Folder Mount you can bind up to three games. Sadly you cant do the whole "Android" folder as well as "data" and "obb"
* You can however, bind a game's individual folder WITHIN "data" or "obb". The catch is, you need to have a "stub" (to use a term from the Wii hacking scene) folder in the original location.
For example​
Let's use Asphalt 8. The meat of this game (BEFORE binding) is within this location: storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com/gameloft.android.AMAZ.GloftA8AS
the folder is 1.56 GB
- before binding, copy/paste this folder onto your desired location within your external USB hard drive.
- Go back to the original folder and erase everything out of it. By doing this, you are creating the "stub" that the Fire TV needs so it can believe that the files are still in the proper location
- head back to Folder Mount and create a binding, giving proper folder locations and...
- Start game and play.
If you check your internal storage within the Fire TV settings, you can clearly see that the space the game used to occupy has now been freed. This alone would be a perfect solution if it wasn't for one thing. We need a place to stick the original APK files. I tried mapping the ASEC folder. - needless to say, it was a f***ing mess! From what I can see, the ASEC folder is used primarily for apps that have been pushed to the SD card. The moment I tried binding that folder, most the apps pushed to SD was in a "not found" state for Fire OS. If someone could figure out where apps are "installed" to, on the Fire TV 2, I would be willing to test a bind.
Speaking of the SD cards Fire OS does this hocus pocus bulls**t with them. Bind the ASEC folder and you might get 2 or three SD removed apps to show but all others will be "not found". Try binding the entire SD card to a folder of your choice and Fire TV will get VERY "sometimey" with you. Sometimes you might have a card at the capacity of whatever card you have (in my case 4GB for testing). Sometimes it will show that you have a card inserted with NO space available. See what I mean? utter bull****! It's as if the Fire TV reads the physical capacity and locks things there.
One more note. The freggin Fire TV 2 is obsessed with stub folders. It makes things a pain in the ass when you're trying to figure out which folder is the "real" one. At one point I had stubs in three locations. Talk about an annoying patchwork system for file management. Ugh!
I'm done for now. Hopefully this will give someone a starting point for helping this community fix the biggest problem with this Android device. Seriously, the team behind the 4K Fire TV should be kicked in the rear end for this screw up! I get wanting to lock things to some degree but at least let me install as many games from YOUR store that I want and not limit me to 5 really good ones at a time.

Have you tried using ln from an adb shell? Was able to get this working for a single file earlier today with this method, not sure how well it works for directories.

thepacketslinger said:
Have you tried using ln from an adb shell? Was able to get this working for a single file earlier today with this method, not sure how well it works for directories.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't tried ADB shell yet. I'd like to see what others can come up with at this point. I'm also waiting for a response from the dev of Folder Mount. Hopefully I'll get a response within a few hours. Otherwise I'll be waiting for someone to bring property Google Play support so that I can use my Folder Mount license.

@lightykd thanks for sharing your findings. The tiny storage of the Amazon FireTV has always been an annoyance. It became a hindrance once I started using an app that downloads media files. FolderMount seems to work for my purposes. It has allowed me to pair the local media folder ("source" in FolderMount terminology) with a matching folder on my SD card ("destination") so that files written to and read from the source are transparently redirected to the destination.

Accessing an NTFS drive via Fire TV 4k

Hello!
Just purchased a Fire TV 4k to replace my WDTV Live and I've run in to a bit of a problem. I have successfully rooted the machine and I installed Stickmount to be able to access my NTFS-formated external hard drive but Stickmount appears to be unable to see the drive. The drive is a Seagate 4TB, powered by a separate PSU but it does not appear to turn on at all either when plugged in to the Fire TV or when trying to mount it.
Is there something silly that I am overlooking? Is there a known issue with some drives or perhaps I am just really unlucky and this one won't work? Are there alternatives to using Stickmount?
All I want to do is have a nicer looking, better performing version of the WDTV to play my media... Why must you make it so tricky Amazon?
Anyway, really appreciate your help and patience!

okay so, turns out switching off debugging via USB allowed the drive to power up but it still doesn't seem to be mountable or, perhaps, i can't see the drive's contents on kodi.
any idea where that stuff usually goes?

I only rooted two days ago. Stickmount hasn't been useful for me. Paragon exFAT, NTFS & EFS+ however has been great with my NTFS hard drives. It seems to run and do most stuff automatically, it does have a couple of options. If your drive is alive after installation this is the process to get things working in Kodi.
1) Go into KODI and select the Video menu then Files below it.
2) Select Files from the menu then Add videos. A window called Add Video source should appear.
3) Click the Browse button. Select External storage. You'll see a folder named ParagonNTFS If your drive is mounted.
4) Select or Open ParagonNTFS then click OK on the right side of the screen.
5) The Add Video source window appears, click Add. Then OK
From there it's straight forward. Kodi will ask how you have your files stored, index them and other fun things. So far with hard drives I've found that the Fire TV 2 wants them to be powered or connected to a powered USB hub.

NutterNatter said:
I only rooted two days ago. Stickmount hasn't been useful for me. Paragon exFAT, NTFS & EFS+ however has been great with my NTFS hard drives. It seems to run and do most stuff automatically, it does have a couple of options. If your drive is alive after installation this is the process to get things working in Kodi.
1) Go into KODI and select the Video menu then Files below it.
2) Select Files from the menu then Add videos. A window called Add Video source should appear.
3) Click the Browse button. Select External storage. You'll see a folder named ParagonNTFS If your drive is mounted.
4) Select or Open ParagonNTFS then click OK on the right side of the screen.
5) The Add Video source window appears, click Add. Then OK
From there it's straight forward. Kodi will ask how you have your files stored, index them and other fun things. So far with hard drives I've found that the Fire TV 2 wants them to be powered or connected to a powered USB hub.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ah fantastic, i shall look in to this. what's the easiest way to get ParagonNTFS onto the Fire TV?

May I make a suggestion if this doesn't work out? Your router might have a USB port designed to allow a hard drive's contents to be a network share. Not only will Kodi be able to access the drive easier, every computer/Fire TV will be able to access it, too.

Sizzlechest said:
May I make a suggestion if this doesn't work out? Your router might have a USB port designed to allow a hard drive's contents to be a network share. Not only will Kodi be able to access the drive easier, every computer/Fire TV will be able to access it, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately mine doesn't. i have found out that my old WDTV Live acts as a NAS server of some kind (i guess, it allows a harddrive to appear on the network anyway) so i am using that for now and able to view all my files. i will try out Paragon or otherwise buy the cheap usb-ethernet device i was linked to via Reddit.

Glad I found this thread.
Here's a Mac guide for this. It will cover formatting a drive in NTFS and the program you need on the Fire TV to mount the NTFS drive and how to make this work with Kodi.
http://marksmods.com/Hack-the-Fire-...e-Fire-TV-and-use-an-External-Hard-Drive.html
I'm loving this Fire TV more every day.

Just for hard drive?
Guys, being limited to fat32 and related file size < 4gb is the biggest issue that really sucks with ftv for me. I have some questions, as you already successfully removed this limt.
Does this way by paragon ntfs help even to mount an usb stick? Will stick be mounted as otg (as fat32 before) or do i will find it in the paragonntfs folder, same as the HDD?
What method you took for rooting?
If used kingroot, did you apply factory reset after finished , as i read of this recommendation?
Thanks and cheers

Meandi51 said:
Guys, being limited to fat32 and related file size < 4gb is the biggest issue that really sucks with ftv for me. I have some questions, as you already successfully removed this limt.
Does this way by paragon ntfs help even to mount an usb stick? Will stick be mounted as otg (as fat32 before) or do i will find it in the paragonntfs folder, same as the HDD?
What method you took for rooting?
If used kingroot, did you apply factory reset after finished , as i read of this recommendation?
Thanks and cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An external drive is an external drive. I don't see why there would be any difference to paragon whether you were using a flash chip or a spinning platter to contain your data files.

Rooted today and paragon app works well with flash chip. Anyone experience with CF stickmount? What's the difference to Paragon except it needs extfat formatted drives?

Paragon ntfs su notifications
Hi,
im on the latest prerooted rom on my 2gen fire tv with Paragon ntfs intalled.
But i always get these paragon su granted notifications on screen every 5-10min, which drives me crazy
Does anybody get the same notifications?
How do i get rid of them?

usb charging will not turn off ??

I'm trying to transfer some photos from my note 7 to a usb stick and it keeps triping back to usb charging??
I have...
in developer options
usb debugging "on"
networking
usb configuration
MTP selected
when I plug the stick in I pull down the notification page when I tap "supplying power via usb"
I try to select "Transferring media files" ( MTP) for 2 seconds in engages then automatically switches back to "Supplying power via usb " ??? I can't transfer anything ???
any ideas on this one ??

skyeking69 said:
I'm trying to transfer some photos from my note 7 to a usb stick and it keeps triping back to usb charging??
I have...
in developer options
usb debugging "on"
networking
usb configuration
MTP selected
when I plug the stick in I pull down the notification page when I tap "supplying power via usb"
I try to select "Transferring media files" ( MTP) for 2 seconds in engages then automatically switches back to "Supplying power via usb " ??? I can't transfer anything ???
any ideas on this one ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your usb stick is not a computer, it does not need to read your phone with MTP protocol.
The phone should provide power to the USB stick, exactly as it is saying, so that your phone can read the contents of the USB stick.
Get a File Manager like FX to transfer items to and from your USB stick.

I have the same problem. It always says usb charging and I could not transfer pictures to my usb using the usb-c/usb adaptor. I tried using file manager app but I get confused with all these asking permissions and I end up unable to transfer anything. I never had this problem with my S7 edge before. I tried connecting the phone directly to the mac using android file transfer but could not connect. I would really appreciate if someone can give us a more detailed steps on how.

edsol said:
I have the same problem. It always says usb charging and I could not transfer pictures to my usb using the usb-c/usb adaptor. I tried using file manager app but I get confused with all these asking permissions and I end up unable to transfer anything. I never had this problem with my S7 edge before. I tried connecting the phone directly to the mac using android file transfer but could not connect. I would really appreciate if someone can give us a more detailed steps on how.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jcadduono said:
Your usb stick is not a computer, it does not need to read your phone with MTP protocol.
The phone should provide power to the USB stick, exactly as it is saying, so that your phone can read the contents of the USB stick.
Get a File Manager like FX to transfer items to and from your USB stick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that I have ES file explorer like "edsol" said it won't mount the stick because it's in charging mode
I tried several time to switch it off of charging mode but always flips back after a few seconds.
if "edsol" has the same problem then I guess it's not just my phone........there must be a fix for this??

I had the same situation, and I had to format the USB stick in "exFAT" to be able to copy files to it. NTFS is supported only for reading, but not for writing.
So check that your USB stick is not NTFS.
FAT32 and exFAT are the same, the difference is that exFAT doesn't have the FAT32 limitations (maximum file size of 4 GB)

Goremael said:
I had the same situation, and I had to format the USB stick in "exFAT" to be able to copy files to it. NTFS is supported only for reading, but not for writing.
So check that your USB stick is not NTFS.
FAT32 and exFAT are the same, the difference is that exFAT doesn't have the FAT32 limitations (maximum file size of 4 GB)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks...but it is exFat......I did a reformat just incase.......still a no go ??

you probably need some file manager to do what you want, Android sucks when it comes to manual file management.
Anyway I have ES file explorer loaded on my phone, so plugged in USB c to USB2 adapter, put in 32 GB FAT32 memory stick, ES file exp. open up and I transferred couple files from stick to SD, just to test it if it works. It did, but you would have to pay me a lot of money to do it on regular basis, so awkward. I just plug my phone to PC and use windows click and drag to move files around. Now I run into problem, when I was transferring my pictures, couple days ago, F???? Android lock my sd card for no reason (F????? Google is messing SD cards on phones since at least kitkat). I had to fix sd and take write protect off, but I'm sure it's Google not Samsung. Anyway, it works like a charm, just watch out for Google's broken permissions showing it's ugly head.

What File Explorer are you using? Some of them can't write to external storage because of Marshmallow permissions.
"My Files" of Samsung worked for me while "ES File Explorer" didn't work (before root)

I used ES File Explorer, I'm sorry I said wrong in my previous post, I moved couple files to phones DCIM folder, not SD, it's so awkward and I just wanted to see if it works at all, it did, I confirmed the files were moved, before deleting them. So actually I don't know if it would work on SD card, but I would never ever transfer files like that: I would use my pc laptop for direct transfer between SD and stick. So the concept I described works, but as far as permissions to particular folders go, they're so messed up and don't even want to test it again against SD. In theory it should work at least for transfer to root directory, since card is not protected, may not work for transfer to folders created by other programs due to permissions. At some point I may have to root this phone just to fix those stupid permissions, but I haven't used Marshmallow until now, so not sure how broken those permissions are here.

pete4k said:
I used ES File Explorer, I'm sorry I said wrong in my previous post, I moved couple files to phones DCIM folder, not SD, it's so awkward and I just wanted to see if it works at all, it did, I confirmed the files were moved, before deleting them. So actually I don't know if it would work on SD card, but I would never ever transfer files like that: I would use my pc laptop for direct transfer between SD and stick. So the concept I described works, but as far as permissions to particular folders go, they're so messed up and don't even want to test it again against SD. In theory it should work at least for transfer to root directory, since card is not protected, may not work for transfer to folders created by other programs due to permissions. At some point I may have to root this phone just to fix those stupid permissions, but I haven't used Marshmallow until now, so not sure how broken those permissions are here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried a few file programs including My Files..........but the usb stick isn't recognized because it stays in charging mode
so can't even attempt to transfer anything....this is frustrating !!

Fire Stick 4K Non-Rooted with USB OTG and mounting

Hello, I have a FTV 4K Stick non-rooted with an 8 GB USB stick connected to it via OTG cable and wanting to move few apps and some app files (without moving the app itself) to it. It seems there are couple of ways to do it, but neither approach "seems" to give me the entirety of what I would like to do. In both cases, I start out with the USB formatted as FAT32 using Rufus.
Approach 1:
I insert the USB. Next, I run " sm list-disks" which correctly shows my USB. Next, I run " sm partition disk:8,0 private". I reboot FTV and when I run "df -h" or "cat /proc/self/mountinfo" or "cat /proc/self/mounts", I see this USB change its format to Ext4 and the mount point is at "/mnt/expand/GUID". With this I can move apps with "pm move-package PACKAGE GUID" to the USB and all is good. The problem is, I cannot drill into this mount point to see what is inside. I am assuming it has similar structure like the internal storage (like /Android/Data...) As I cannot see what's inside, I don't know where I can put app files (but not the whole app itself). Is there any way to drill into this and see what files reside in it for the apps that I moved using the pm command?
Approach 2:
I insert the USB. I don't run any sm commands. When I run the "df" or the "cat" commands, I see the USB mounted at "/storage/UUID" instead of being mounted at "/mnt/expand" and the format of the USB stays as VFAT. In this case, the UUID is 8 characters long instead of a GUID that I get in the previous approach. I can now drill into this mount point and see the structure and move app files to it. The problem is, the "pm move-package PACKAGE GUID" command fails with error of "-6". In the command, the GUID is the 8 character long string that I get at "/storage/UUID".
So, to summarize, with Approach 1, I can move apps but not app files. With Approach 2, I can move app files, but not the apps themselves. I am missing something and there must be a way to combine the approaches. Any help is appreciated.

Expand Internal Storage On 4K Firestick with a USB Drive | TechDoctorUK
www.techdoctoruk.com
You can move apps using the instructions.

Got it, I had to learn about portable and adopted storage. All good!