Enabling USB Mass Storage in Android Kitkat 4.4.2

[Aashish Patel]

Hi,

I am running android 4.4.2 on pandaboard and I am not getting any popup when usb cable is connected for Mass storage.

How to enable Mass storage ?

Thanks in Advance.

[Aashish Patel]

I did some more digging and found out that google has removed UMS support after honeycomb and uses MTP and PTP for file transfer instead.

Earlier Android used to have /data partition for app data and /sdcard for movies, music and rest. Say you are an app freak and have installed lots of apps, what happens in /data fills up but still you can't use space from your /sdcard as it's a separate partition. Now what Google has done is used unified file system. So that you can share space between /sdcard and /data. USB mounts storage on host and gives entire block level access to the host. If this is done the partition is unmounted from your phone. It was fine when /sdcard was separate now since both /data and /sdcard reside on same partition Android can't afford to allow full block access to another host.

I also found out that Microsoft holds patents for long file name support on FAT filesystem. That's one patent for which they demand royalties from OEM's. If you use USB mount, you need to format your /sdcard as FAT because most users use windows. If you use FAT, you need to pay MS or risk a lawsuit. With MTP, Google can use ext3/4 btrfs whatever they please and there is no risk of lawsuit.

Finally, formatting filesystem with ext3/4 instead of FAT gives lots of read/write improvements since Android uses linux kernel.

Also MTP is still in developing phase like other features and has issues with larger files.

[Prat]

@Aashish,

  I am having a really hard time connecting my ubuntu system to my phone via MTP. I have a google play edition gs4 with kitkat 4.4.2 (not-rooted). You would think since MTP (like you said) is ext3/4 it should be easy from linux. Do you know why it is such a pain to connect my nix machine and manipulate my files on the extSdcard ? I cant even see the drive let alone dealing with large files.

p.

[Prat]

I was able to solve my issue. Thanks to adb. Forgot about it. Too bad I have to use a low level utility tool like this to achieve some routine operations like move files from my phone to my computer. tsk tsk google!

For those who are also stuck consider using adb. Your tech level needs to be above average. 

on ubuntu, 

sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb

then you need to enable USB debugging on your phone

settings->developer options -> usb debugging

then you can see your device when you issue

adb devices

you can pull files using adb pull. eg:

adb pull /sdcard/DCIM/Camera Camera

p. 

[Aashish Patel]

Hi Prat,

You can transfer using MTP also , I found out some links ( Haven't tested it yet coz m working on a bigger issue right now ) .

Here are the links install the packages mentioned here

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise/+source/libmtp

Then follow the instructions given here:

http://www.mysolutions.it/mounting-your-mtp-androids-sd-card-on-ubuntu/

I will update once I have tested it myself.

Hope it helps

[Michael Toledo]

Any chance you guys know how to enable USB mass storage or the equivalent on a droid ultra running 4.4? I went to turkey and took a bunch of photos that i cant recover from the internal storage, ive tried OTG and numerous other programs and none have given me any results. I'm aware the Mass Storage is no longer a feature however is there any way i can access the memory before it gets over written? I;m really trying to save these photos. Thanks Fellas

[Wes Peacock]

I've found that, although it's slow, I can use an FTP server on my android tablet. I set to the default directory to / so that I can access both the internal and external SD devices.

I run an FTP client (filezilla) on my PC and get access to all the files.

[nith...@teamta.in]

Hey guys I think I found the solution

MTP mode can be enabled/disabled in Settings > Storage > (overflow menu or 3 dots right top of the screen) > USB computer connection> tick the MTP

after that we can get access to sd card storage.

Tested and verified on window and mac system.

[Falak Chhaya]

 This didn't work for Ubuntu. Any suggestions ?

[shridutt kothari]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2223401

[Saharsh Chordia]

Hi,

I recently upgraded my Gionee P4 to KitKat 4.4.2.

I am unable to connect it to laptop as USB storage since then. I do not wish to root my phone. Is there any way this can be resolved?

Thanks!

On Wednesday, March 19, 2014 6:50:43 PM UTC+5:30, Aashish Patel wrote:

[digginsolos]

Same Problem.

I would like it in attempt to recover deleted data on a Motorola Raxr Maxx HD 182.46.15 which i think is 4.4.3.  My hope is a drive scan tool (recuva, Dr fone ...) would let me recover old files (from before a restore by my 4 year old).  adb pull will not work and I cannot get things to work from a terminal.  I do not want to root or add an SD card, or install an app on the phone, thinking they will cause more writes over the old data.

Any help would be great given its been 6 months since a backup.

Thanks

 

[Santosh JM]

Thanks It Work fine now

[Sumon Islam]

On Tuesday, December 9, 2014 1:35:19 PM UTC+6, Santosh JM wrote:

Thanks It Work fine now

But How?

[Michael Kyritsis]

Thank you Nithin! You solved my issue.

[박선우]

It will be best if you don't power up your device as the temporary files written to the free space might accidentally remove the data on it.

But: devices like your phone uses flash storage - therefore is different from traditional hard drives. You may find yourself struggling to recover any data from it.

2014년 11월 24일 월요일 오후 3시 59분 13초 UTC+9, digginsolos 님의 말:

[Edgar Petit]

Tnks!!

... from Mexico!! 

[Edgar Petit]

Hi!!

In 4.4.2 I can't see the 3 dots or access to secondary menu, the button menu is unable.

[Jean-Chris]

Thanks Aashish Patel and Prat for the useful information.

Now let's say what must be said : this MTP/PTP feature is a real pain in the a**.

It just doesn't work, even slowly.

Maybe it is a Windows™®©-put whatever makes you loose time and money here- issue, maybe a lack of consistence with the protocol or its Android implementation. Users just don't care.

Now, i got to go with the adb thing or got to root my phone... How could i thank someone for that ?

Have a nice day.

[Anthony Gomes]

Same issue.  I did a factory reset, since then the USB option does not show up on connecting, even though charging works fine.  I tried the developer mode, usb debugging option, MobileGo and Smart Switch softwares, but the USB storage option does not show up, neither does the 3 dots on storage menu.  Any help is appreciated!

[Ashfaque Ahmed Phaniband]

I have Lava iris x1 KItkat 4.4.2 is not connecting to PC (Windwos 7). PC show USB Device not recognized and the USB Computer connection doesn't popup in my device. Even the USB Symbol does not popup.

 

I googled but did not find a solution.

I tried Changing the cable, Computer but of no use.

Please Help me.

On Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 6:50:43 PM UTC+5:30, Aashish Patel wrote:

[Farhan Fazal]

it's simple....., Settings>Device>Storage>Options>USB Computer connection>Media Device (MTP) (checked)

[Amit Nimbhorkar]

Changing the cable worked. First I was using a cheap cable bought from street, and it worked best for charging. But when I used a standard branded cable (this was Samsung) and it worked like charm....

[zenzapzero]

rsync, also copies metadata (permissions, dates ..) of files, unlike adb pull.
 
just tried, worked fast.
See
http://ptspts.blogspot.nl/2015/03/how-to-use-rsync-over-adb-on-android.html
For my android device, after setting up, I used
rsync -av --progress --stats rsync://localhost:6010/root/storage/emulated/legacy/ /mnt/bk/androiddevice/sdcard/
  instead of
rsync -av --progress --stats rsync://localhost:6010/root/sdcard/ /mnt/bk/androiddevice/sdcard/
  b/c /sdcard turned out to be a symlink to /storage/emulated/legacy.

[Eldar Eldarovich Musayev]

I'm joining this group specifically to post my solution. I had working USB mass storage on 4.4.2 and one day it simply stopped. Tried restarting, did NOT have the extra menu in storage options so that was a no go. Here's what worked:

I'm assuming you've already enabled dev mode, and that USB debugging is on, as it was with me.

I took the USB cable out.

I turned USB debugging off.

Then I restarted.

Then I turned USB debugging on.

Then I pressed the power button to lock.

Then I plugged in the USB cable.

And the options returned - Gave me my "turn on usb storage" option again. Here's hoping it helps one of you. Cheers!