Develop Bugs

[Q] No USB Mass Storage

So I know that the Galaxy Nexus doesn't have USB Mass Storage like other android phones did, but what can be done to get around this? Does rooting help at all, or using some other ROM? What alternative is there for getting files from your computer to the phone? Thanks.

I don't quite see what the problem is, MTP seems to work fine for me...

bleets said:
I don't quite see what the problem is, MTP seems to work fine for me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, don't understand the hype against mtp
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

I'm sorry but what is MTP?

MTP is Media Transfer Protocol . it's what the GNex uses instead of USB Mass Storage.
This means that all the internal memory is open to you for your data and for apps. Unlike previous android devices which had a set amount of data for apps and then storage.

neok44 said:
MTP is Media Transfer Protocol . it's what the GNex uses instead of USB Mass Storage.
This means that all the internal memory is open to you for your data and for apps. Unlike previous android devices which had a set amount of data for apps and then storage.
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Click to collapse
It's what Ice Cream Sandwich uses.. all phones upgrading to ICS will use MTP instead of USB Mass Storage.
E.G. CM9 Kangs.... on non-GN phones, they have MTP

zephiK said:
It's what Ice Cream Sandwich uses.. all phones upgrading to ICS will use MTP instead of USB Mass Storage.
E.G. CM9 Kangs.... on non-GN phones, they have MTP
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Click to collapse
The official ICS on the nexus S has USB mass storage.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

internal storage as removable?

does it support USB Mass Storage???
i connect device to PC via cable (debugging mode already on) but internal storage doesn't determines as removable... seems like it is in PC-mode only.
how to make it removable? i am former sgs2 user and the only thing i had to do is mark debugging mode, connect the device to PC, in status-bar choose removable device/mass storage.

You can't. It uses mtp
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

There is no USB mass storage.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Not sure if it's available for Windows but I use Android File Transfer for Mac and it lets me transfer files to and from my Verizon Galaxy Nexus.
http://www.android.com/filetransfer/

To expand a little - the GN doesn't do UMS because there's only one data partition, formatted as ext4. To make it support UMS you'd need to repartition it to have an extra fat32 partition, afaik no-one's done it nor said they're going to try.
MTP deals with the file system for you, should work OOTB for Windows Vista and 7 (MTP is a microsoft product) but winXP users seem to have problems.
Android file transfer does something similar for mac.
MTP is a pita under linux; I run Ubuntu and have switched to airdroid for doing transfers over wifi.

joshnichols189 said:
There is no USB mass storage.
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Click to collapse
I don't see a difference though? As you can just plug it in your PC and put whatever file you want on it.

If you're running Linux you can also look into using sshfs and an SSH server on your phone. I use that now and it works great, even automatically reconnecting when I leave home and come back again. But I also had the SSH server (QuickSSHd) installed on my phone prior to this.

Tanith said:
I don't see a difference though? As you can just plug it in your PC and put whatever file you want on it.
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I don't see a difference either..

joshnichols189 said:
I don't see a difference either..
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The difference is most marked for those running linux, to a degree for mac users and also for some xp users.
If you're running Vista or Win7 you won't notice unless you're moving big files (say > 1Gb) - MTP is slower.

I couldn't move files to my nex from my PC either:/ ..so I started using drop box to move files back and forth
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Check out the StickMount app, if you use a ROM. With the right cable, you can mount a USB stick. Works great.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[Q] ROM which supports USB Mass Storage on Galaxy Nexus?

Hi
To my great dismal, I only noticed after having bought the Galaxy Nexus, that it doesn't support USB Mass Storage (UMS) mode I've read Dan Morrils explanation, but don't subscribe to it - since I'm on Linux and since PTP and MTP don't work too well there (at least on my two Ubuntu 11.10 installations) his statement "On the whole it's a much better experience on the phone." is just plain wrong, as far as I am concerned. The pseudo SD Card in my "old" Nexus S worked totally fine…
Oh well… Enough for the rant…
I'm now looking for a ROM which allows to mount the device in good ol' USB Mass Storage mode. I read that the modaco ROM supports this - but only after a "rebake" (what's meant with this?).
Are there alternatives?
Thanks,
Alexander

same opinion!

I don't know if there are any
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

There is no sdcard, internal or not. There probably was on the S. The data partition and sdcard are one and the same. Sdcard is a symlink to data/media. Android does not support mounting individual folders as ums. So until someone devises a way to partition sdcard separately, you will have to live with mtp.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

I don't use it but I understand you can install Stickmount by Chainfire from the market. That will give you USB host.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

samizad said:
I don't use it but I understand you can install Stickmount by Chainfire from the market. That will give you USB host.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is not usb mass storage, which the thread deals with

I too wish there wish there was a mass storage option.
In my car - I get a constant connect/disconnect cycle when attempting to charge it via the auxilliary usb jack which renders the radio useless. Another car just failed to recognize the device and wouldn't read the directory structure, so couldn't play over usb. In both cases, iDevices work fine :/
PS - why are the captchas so darn hard to read on this forum?

ceribaen said:
I too wish there wish there was a mass storage option.
In my car - I get a constant connect/disconnect cycle when attempting to charge it via the auxilliary usb jack which renders the radio useless. Another car just failed to recognize the device and wouldn't read the directory structure, so couldn't play over usb. In both cases, iDevices work fine :/
PS - why are the captchas so darn hard to read on this forum?
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Click to collapse
Where do you see any captchas in this forum...?

anton2009 said:
Where do you see any captchas in this forum...?
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Click to collapse
Might be due to the low post amount or searching while not logged in?

I'm hoping they go away after 10 posts? But I constantly find I have to take several attempts for it to say that I got it right.
Anyway back on topic... does anyone know of any software/roms/etc that would make the usb media on your phone look more like mass storage for things like car radios to read them proper?

ceribaen said:
I'm hoping they go away after 10 posts? But I constantly find I have to take several attempts for it to say that I got it right.
Anyway back on topic... does anyone know of any software/roms/etc that would make the usb media on your phone look more like mass storage for things like car radios to read them proper?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=27495288&postcount=13

scandiun said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=27495288&postcount=13
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Click to collapse
Stop bumping old posts.
"Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light."

USB Mass Storage

I was wondering if the HTC one X will (as the Galaxy Nexus) lack the support of USB Mass Storage for transferring files to and from the computer. If anybody knows any information about this please share it.

molecule_cc said:
I was wondering if the HTC one X will (as the Galaxy Nexus) lack the support of USB Mass Storage for transferring files to and from the computer. If anybody knows any information about this please share it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Galaxy Nexus lacks support for USB Mass Storage? I find that hard to believe.

UrInsan3 said:
The Galaxy Nexus lacks support for USB Mass Storage? I find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's true
http://www.theverge.com/android/2011/11/22/2579691/galaxy-nexus-usb-mass-storage-mtp

Although it says it lacks it on the Nexus it doesn't, I have always been able to transfer files to and from my Gnex. I think it is just another way of doing it when I plug my Gnex into the PC it appears in my computer and doesn't require me to press mount like it used to on gingerbread this isn't ideal but it works
Sent from my aokp_tenderloin using Tapatalk

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.“
Click to expand...
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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

having one unified partition would cause problems when we want to flash custom roms..

I owned a Sensation XL that had internal storage as the One X
When you connect, it just shows up like an SDcard, and transfering files is no problem at all.
It's a better solution then I have on my Samsung Gtab.
Only thing to remember is, with my 16Gig Sensation XL internal storage, I only had 8Gig of free space to use, the rest is taken for/by the system.
So if you NEED space buy the 32Gig, and I hear you'll have 29Gig of free space.(This has not been confimed)

but your Sensation XL was running gingerbread right? and the change to MTP came with Honeycomb and was continued with ICS. So on the HTC One X it will be the same as your Samsung Gtab.
With the One X internal memory 26GB is user-available.

HTC-Gunge said:
but your Sensation XL was running gingerbread right? and the change to MTP came with Honeycomb and was continued with ICS. So on the HTC One X it will be the same as your Samsung Gtab.
With the One X internal memory 26GB is user-available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was on GB... Did not know of the Change to MTP.. tought it was a Samsung thing.
Tnx for the info

fi3ry_icy said:
having one unified partition would cause problems when we want to flash custom roms..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure it's like the prime with an sd card partition that won't be wiped on factory wipe.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA

HTC-Gunge said:
but your Sensation XL was running gingerbread right? and the change to MTP came with Honeycomb and was continued with ICS. So on the HTC One X it will be the same as your Samsung Gtab.
With the One X internal memory 26GB is user-available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These manufacturers really shouldn't be able to get away with marketing a product as 32gb storage when only 26 is actually available to the user. And if the sensation was only 8 out of an advertised 16 then that's even more of a bump. It's not so much an issue if there is an SD card but when it cannot be expanded it is important consumers are aware of exactly how much they can actually use.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

narcoustic said:
These manufacturers really shouldn't be able to get away with marketing a product as 32gb storage when only 26 is actually available to the user. And if the sensation was only 8 out of an advertised 16 then that's even more of a bump. It's not so much an issue if there is an SD card but when it cannot be expanded it is important consumers are aware of exactly how much they can actually use.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
quite agree with this..
i sure hope they dun come out and release a 64gb version a few months from now.. i would be REALLY PISSED off..

The MTP or PTP modes are safer for the phone, because you can cold disconnect your phone without any risk, the phone is still controlling bulk read/write to the sdcard. On the other side the operating system can prevent or disable access to any files it wants, like hidden/system files and so on. Thus, this is not intended for making backups in the Nandroid style.
Also, there is less control over the data than in USB Mass Storage Mode. With the Mass Storage Device Class (MSC) you directly access the partition in hardware mode. You can see all the files within the sdcard, and you can use filesystem tools like partition editors (Easeus Partition Master) or recover deleted or corrupted files at block level (Recuva) which is not possible with MTP or PTP, where you only can use phone-side software that usually is much more limited.
More information here:
[GUIDE] MTP and PTP (Media Transfer Protocol) vs UMC (Mass Storage Class)

How do I enable mass storage?

I'm trying to connect my phone to my Father's Mini via usb, but the car does "see" the phone.
I've noticed that the check box for mass storage is greyed out and I cannot select it.
Does anyone have any good ideas for me to try out and get my gnex to connect?
For what it's worth, I'm using Liquid rom, and but my dad's HTC Desire HD running AOKP has the same problem, yet I have no problem connecting a BlackBerry.
Cheers.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

your nexus will never have mass storage as the partition is 1 giant partition used by the system and used for storage.

You will never be able to use USB Mass Storage on the Galaxy Nexus. It uses MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) and PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) to xfer files between the phone and a PC.
The reason why they use this is to provide the phone with 1 partition for the entire storage, rather than separate system, apps, data and media partitions. It also allows for the OS to be running while accessing the files.

MTP is much better than Mass Storage.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the quick explanations. What I don't understand, is why the option is there under usb connections (in storage options). If the option is not available on our phone, why show it?
As far as MTP being better, it's not when you want to play music on a Mini!
I'm not convinced that MTP is my problem though, as my dad's phone (see above) will not connect either. Interestingly the option to select mass storage is not available on his HTC.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

itsfozzy said:
Thanks for the quick explanations. What I don't understand, is why the option is there under usb connections (in storage options). If the option is not available on our phone, why show it?
As far as MTP being better, it's not when you want to play music on a Mini!
I'm not convinced that MTP is my problem though, as my dad's phone (see above) will not connect either. Interestingly the option to select mass storage is not available on his HTC.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ice cream sandwich supports mass storage, the nexus does not. the option is going to be there since it is stock android.
The HTC phone, did you actually select it to be in mass storage mode?

itsfozzy said:
As far as MTP being better, it's not when you want to play music on a Mini!
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Click to collapse
can you elaborate? do you mean a Mini, as in the automobile?

JoeM01 said:
can you elaborate? do you mean a Mini, as in the automobile?
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Click to collapse
im pretty sure he means the car.

Zepius said:
im pretty sure he means the car.
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If so, what's the problem? there's no shortage of people who connect their nexus to their car stereo's (myself included)

Quick bit of clarification.
Yes it's a BMW Mini (2009)
Yes I did connect via Mass Storage on the HTC, yet it still did not work. It would not connect to an iPod Classic either. I wonder if it needs a special cable to connect? My wife's Seat Leon needed a dedicated cable to make it compatible with the car stereo.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

JoeM01 said:
If so, what's the problem? there's no shortage of people who connect their nexus to their car stereo's (myself included)
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Click to collapse
They are trying to connect it through usb, and the vehicle will not communicate with a mtp device
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

As of now, Android does NOT support USB audio, which explains why the Nexus nor the HTC worked. Blackberries DO support USB audio, as far as I'm aware.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

itsfozzy said:
Thanks for the quick explanations. What I don't understand, is why the option is there under usb connections (in storage options). If the option is not available on our phone, why show it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I take it you're using a custom ROM? The option is not there in standard ICS.

Frosty666 said:
As of now, Android does NOT support USB audio, which explains why the Nexus nor the HTC worked. Blackberries DO support USB audio, as far as I'm aware.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
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Click to collapse
I think what he's getting at like myself I used my Evo to USB to car CD player and could access my music files and play them and I guess that's cause the Evo has a sd card. now with the nexus i cant that IM aware of.

It's very annoying that we can't use UMS anymore. I know it's great, to have only one partition but MTP just sucks. I wasn't even able to copy files from Windows 7. The only system that has worked for me so far was Windows XP Pro.
I'd rather have a well sized Internal storage plus some Mass Storage 8/8GB or so.
And well, I'm mainly a PowerPC Mac user. Android File Transfer crashes all the time when I connect the phone (seems to use Intel-Only libraries which is very typical for Google) and on Intel Macs it's slow as hell.
So I always had to use ADB which was......very comfortable.
To the devs: Wouldn't it be possible to emulate a Mass Storage device thru software?
land.apfel
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

land.apfel said:
To the devs: Wouldn't it be possible to emulate a Mass Storage device thru software?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep in mind that wanting to maintain two separate partitions isn't the only reason for wanting to switch to MTP. Another reason was so we no longer had to store our data on the fragile and limited fat32 file system. In order to emulate a fat32 block device over USB you would need to be able to translate between fat32 and ext4 at a low level. I don't think there is generally a 1-1 mapping between structures in the two file systems which would make this difficult and slow if not impossible.

theking_13 said:
MTP is much better than Mass Storage.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At which point?
Some examples?
There are so many things, which dont work with MTP
I didnt found any advantages, yet

land.apfel said:
I know it's great, to have only one partition but MTP just sucks. I wasn't even able to copy files from Windows 7. The only system that has worked for me so far was Windows XP Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't like MTP either, and was missing being able to use it as a Mass Storage. My biggest annoyance with MTP is that I can't get last modified date Windows Explorer
I've not had any problems copying files to/from my Galaxy Nexus from one Windows 7 system, but another didn't work until I installed the Samsung drivers (the MTP device came up with a "?"). What was the problem you had?
---------- Post added at 06:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 PM ----------
itsfozzy said:
Yes it's a BMW Mini (2009)
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LOL, because I first thought you meant a Mac Mini, but then realized you meant a car and thus a Mini Cooper... because no one I know calls it a BMW, even though it is.

pfmiller said:
In order to emulate a fat32 block device over USB you would need to be able to translate between fat32 and ext4 at a low level. I don't think there is generally a 1-1 mapping between structures in the two file systems which would make this difficult and slow if not impossible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why can't we just take the ext file system? Who cares what the Mass Storage is formatted for?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

land.apfel said:
Why can't we just take the ext file system? Who cares what the Mass Storage is formatted for?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if that would work, but assuming it does, we then have to face the issue of the single partition storage that the Nexus has. If we were to mount it via UMS, the whole phone would become completely inoperable.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus