Database Users

[Q] Browsing Tab from a PC using USB slave

Hi,
Why isn't the Iconia seen as a USB mass storage ? My computer (Win7) sees it at a "device storage" and don't assign any drive letter to it :-(
Moreover it doesn't refresh the content. I created new files on the A500 and if I connect it to my PC I can't see new created files or new installed application's directories, why ? (I hit F5 with no result)
Thanks,
Seb

install the ACER USB Driver from the website ACER that should resolve your problem

Thanks but , done, of course, before connecting the tab for the first time ;-)
USB debuging works fine, I can connect with adb.
Can you see the tab as USB mass storage with a drive letter assigned ?
Thanks,
Seb

Is this a normal behaviour ? No drive letter assigned to the A500 when connected to a PC with USB ?

CSeb95 said:
Is this a normal behaviour ? No drive letter assigned to the A500 when connected to a PC with USB ?
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Click to collapse
Well yes, is normal since you dont need to un-mount internal_SD while connected to the computer.
And if you write some file on A500 while connected, you can see that file instantly on the iconia.

The A500 used MPT not Mass Storage, so it won't appear as a mounted drive with drive letters etc. It should show up under My Computer like some music players do (Cowonn for example can use either mass storage or MPT)

Thanks.
I hope this will be a choice when connecting in 3.1 ;-)

I don't think this is something that's going to be changed. I had originally thought this might have been an issue specific to the Iconia, but it looks like it's cooked into Honeycomb.
This forum post has some details, although no link to a specific post by the "Google developer" who supposedly explained why MTP not USB Mass Storage.
The basic is that MTP allows Honeycomb to not have to have a separate partition to be mounted, and that it allows the tablet to share access with the PC (as opposed to dismounting the SD card mount to allow it to be accessed by the USB host.)

Except this makes it impossible to sync with apps like HandBase which require a drive letter be assigned. Works perfect on my Atrix but not on the Acer Tablet.

It must be a Honeycomb thing - My Archos 101 (A2.2) doesn't need the extra mSD unmounted for me to see TWO drives in my PC, with peoper icons and eberything (2 = internal mSD "drive" and plugged-in mSD).

accessing android phone (USB Mass Storage)

am i being stupid ??
im sat here with my HTC Desire (running GingerVillain) connected via USB to my transformer dock. Ive enabled USB mass storage on my phone.
Can i find it using File Manager ? No ... nor ES file explorer ..... am i going mad ? im sure when i was at home i was able to find a USB drive through file explorer ... is this a quirk of Android mass storage or am i just being thick ??

It doesn't work for me either. Would be nice if they got this to work soon. I thought maybe it was because I din't have 3.1 but even after the update it won't work. Kinda sucks.

this is similar as connect together two windows pc, It never worked like that . why should work here then?

qq67 said:
this is similar as connect together two windows pc, It never worked like that . why should work here then?
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Click to collapse
hmmmm. but isnt the whole point of the Android USB Mass storage 'mode' that it works like a USB Flash drive ? ... and the Transformer copes with USB Flash Drives !!!
im not suggesting that its like plugging two windows pcs together ????

i had a thread about this last week.
it does the same thing for me (i have an HTC desire). very annoying!!!!
the only way i found to easily transfer files was using a bluetooth transfer app called:
"Bluetooth file transfer" free in the android market.
its not that fast (bluetooth limitation) but allows transfer of smaller files etc.
i wanted to transfer all my music (like 4gb) but over BT that would take days lol
so i have to wait to copy paste it all to a computer, copy paste to a USB stick, copy paste onto the transformer
OR, upload on my wifi to Dropbox and then download onto my transformer. uploading 4gb would also take days....
hopefully it will come soon...!!!

connected my san francisco (CM7) to the TF, it's mounted as 'removable' correctly...

I have my external HITACHI HDD on NTFS working fine but when I've tried to connect my Nexus S in as a drive its just blink on Transformer task bar and thats all
I would love to see my NS connected to Transformer so I can do more work on it.
Any1 know how to make it work ?

I have the same problem. I am on 3.1, but my X10 mini is not seen by the Transformer. No problems with thumb drives - or even a Microsoft wireless mouse (with own dongle) works perfectly.
It's a little surprising that an Android device is the only thing that is giving me problems!

Playing video files on USB thumb drive

Is it possible to have videos played directly (in Divx or any other compatible format) from a USB thumb drive connected to the GT10.1 via the addon USB accessory?
Thanks
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

thumbs up for this question! Would like to know this, too!

The answer to your question is no... not directly. The only way to do it is to connect your tab to a computer, copy the file over, disconnect the tab, and play it from the local hard drive on the tab.
When I copied movies over, it took an .mp4 file and converted it to wmv on the tab.
I also noticed that when your tab is plugged into the computer, you can't do anything on the tab. If you do, it disconnects the tab from the computer.
Hope this helps.

After doing a bit more research, here's an update:
It looks like Samsung makes a usb adapter. I can't post links, but google "Galaxy Tab Adapter (USB)"

Yes, once the USB adapter is available you will be able to use thumb drives, portable hard drives, etc, to play movies, music...

Will you be able to transfer files back to the Thumb Drive once the USB adapter is available? Or will it only be able to download?
I assume we have no idea when Samsung will make said adapter available.

im.thatoneguy said:
Will you be able to transfer files back to the Thumb Drive once the USB adapter is available? Or will it only be able to download?
I assume we have no idea when Samsung will make said adapter available.
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It is (said to be ) usb host. I have used usb host before. literally it is 100% a usb drive. you can upload, download, read, edit, play, delete, any file that is attached to it.
And you can connect a mouse or keyboard too. Just think of it as a usb slot. If the adaptor is legitimate usb host then it should perform every of the above.
I'm also waiting too.

a usb drive should function the same way it does on your computer. you will be able to play files that are on it, copy files from it and load files onto it. it will act just like sd cards do now in android.
the adapter is available for order now, but I believe it's listed as "back order"

Has anyone else noticed that due to the design of the tab, if you have a usb drive plugged in and are using headphones, you won't be able to prop it up? They're on opposite sides, so one plug would always be blocked!
I decided this wasn't the biggest deal for me, but it's definitely an annoying design decision.

Hey guys, I'm sorry to bring this back up again almost 4 months later, but has anyone tried to use an external cd/dvd drive with the usb adapter? I'm wondering I could play a movie from the external cd/dvd drive and have it play on the tabet. Thanks.

99scooter said:
Hey guys, I'm sorry to bring this back up again almost 4 months later, but has anyone tried to use an external cd/dvd drive with the usb adapter? I'm wondering I could play a movie from the external cd/dvd drive and have it play on the tabet. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't done it, but I think you would need an external power source to power the dvd drive. The USB does not supply enough power for that. Also, I think the USB hub for the Tab can only read FAT32 formatted drives, so I don't think it has the software to read directly from DVD, but I don't know.

Just play the from the USB device. How can this be a portable device if it has everything dangling from it...For that get a thin notebook.

It depends... USB can only provide about 500mA of current tops but with that tablet it probably even less, so your HDD would need external power supply.
Also, out of box, Galaxy Tab support only FAT32 as file system. So, you would need drivers/modules to support anything else.
I am using pershoot kernel with NTFS module, so I tested 16Gbyte jump drive formatted with NTFS. I was being able to mount it and read from it no problem. So, I see no problem to mount and read from HDD (granted you have to have external power supply for it).
If you are talking about CD/DVD drive then you would need driver/module for that and I did not see it available.

No USB?

Hey,
So I ordered the Nexus 4 about a week ago but I just read that there is no USB support. However do you transfer files from your phone to your computer and how do you get new roms onto your phone? I typically download on my computer because its so much faster in terms of internet connection and then I plug my usb in and just drag the roms or files or whatever onto my phone.

ImHavenHart said:
Hey,
So I ordered the Nexus 4 about a week ago but I just read that there is no USB support. However do you transfer files from your phone to your computer and how do you get new roms onto your phone? I typically download on my computer because its so much faster in terms of internet connection and then I plug my usb in and just drag the roms or files or whatever onto my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where on earth did you read that???
There is just no USB-OTG (on the go) support, AKA support for USB keyboards/mice/thumbdrives

ImHavenHart said:
Hey,
So I ordered the Nexus 4 about a week ago but I just read that there is no USB support. However do you transfer files from your phone to your computer and how do you get new roms onto your phone? I typically download on my computer because its so much faster in terms of internet connection and then I plug my usb in and just drag the roms or files or whatever onto my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is USB support, just not as the host.

Thanks! Some people obviously have their information wrong. Yeah I had read about no on the go support but I read that there was no USB port either, someone was blogging and about and ranting about how annoying it was going to be to have to access files wirelessly on his computer instead of being able to plug it in. It's good to know he had his info wrong! lol

ImHavenHart said:
Thanks! Some people obviously have their information wrong. Yeah I had read about no on the go support but I read that there was no USB port either, someone was blogging and about and ranting about how annoying it was going to be to have to access files wirelessly on his computer instead of being able to plug it in. It's good to know he had his info wrong! lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even without using usb you can always transfer the files over the LAN from your PC using ES file explorer or some such. :good:

honestly transferring files over WiFi isnt anymore inconvenient then always having to carry around your micro usb cable, run airdroid on the phone navigate on your pc browser, drag and drop files...

djkinetic said:
honestly transferring files over WiFi isnt anymore inconvenient then always having to carry around your micro usb cable, run airdroid on the phone navigate on your pc browser, drag and drop files...
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Click to collapse
it is less inconvenient than the other 2 options imo.
Or is that what you meant?

i think what you are concerned about is the usb mode in which the phone acts when plugged in via usb. it defaults to mtp mode rather than the old USB Mass Storage.

I had the same question as the OP. Did a little research, and with Windows you just plug your device in; on MacOS you need to install an app on your computer. It's not quite as convenient as having it appear as a connected device in MacOS Finder -- can't preview the images in place, for example -- but it's OK.
(I can't post outside links yet as a new user; google "stackexchange nexus 4 usb storage connect", it's the first result)

[Q] Play movies from nexus 4 on PC

Hi
Can I play movies on PC from nexus 4 while it's connected with USB cable like it was a regular flash drive?
When I try doing it the file is being downloaded first then plays. If the file is big it takes a lot of time.
I'm using windows 8.

Better copy the film to your pc first. I got the same problem but dont think this is os related. Just a bad read speed, worse than actually usb 2.0.

The speed is onpair with usb 2.0, still copying the whole movie to some unknown place instead of direct play is unnecessary and waste of time.
My previous phone had an sdcard which appeared as hard drive when connected to PC, but N4 appears as portable device. This sucks

That's because the Nexus 4 doesn't support USB On The Go. Search xda for "Nexus 4 OTG" and you'll come across some threads about this, and a couple of workarounds that might, or might not work for you :fingers-crossed:.

Hey there
I wasn't looking for USB OTG, which is a way to connect external drives to the device. I'm looking for a way to use N4 itself as a regular external drive while connected to PC. Currently it's seen by PC as a portable device and it's pretty limited.

abbba said:
Hey there
I wasn't looking for USB OTG, which is a way to connect external drives to the device. I'm looking for a way to use N4 itself as a regular external drive while connected to PC. Currently it's seen by PC as a portable device and it's pretty limited.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would assume increasing the SD read-ahead (if you're on a custom kernel) might help with your issue here. But as someone else previously mentioned, copying to PC is definitely the better option. That, or just enjoy the movie on your Nexus4