Database Users

[Q] Does mounting the sdcard as diskdrive really screws up a2sd?

I've read somewhere here in the forums that it can screw up the a2sd function
so how can i connect the phone to my PC (because using a card reader every time you need to connect your phone to a PC is @[email protected])
Is this true? any alternative?
I'm using wildpuzzle ROM btw

Hi Dudin.
As standard, when you connect the phone to the pc as a removable storage, Android prevents the SD from being seen by the phone at the same time. As A2SD installs apps to the SD, this obviously causes any Apps on the SD to not work. I dont think its a permanent screw up, as it all should right itself after you disconnect from the computer, but you do have options:
1:Connect as Sync or Charge only. (a quick but pointless workaround if you want to browse your Sd card from the pc),
2: Or do as I do and install "Dual Mount SD" from the market It makes the SD card accessible by both Android and the USB at the same time. Works perfect for me, I can still use my aps and access the SD from the PC simultaneously. (I have used it on Wildpuzzle, Openfire and Cyanogen Mod, Eclair and Froyo versions). You need to be rooted for this though as it asks for superuser permissions.
Hope this helps.

Ok I will clarify for you. If you use dt app2ext patch. When you mount your sd card, the computer mounts the fat32 partition, and does not detect the ext partition, so it does not screw your card up, or the apps.
if you are using froyo app2sd, the apps that are on your sd card will not work when the sd card is mounted.

thanks for the replies

I find a good alternative is Dropbox - and it is mentioned in a lot of threads.
I already used it for work and it is great. No looking around for a USB cable or turning off/remove case/remove card etc which takes ages! Dropbox is free so give it a go! I use it in conjunction with EZ File manager (i think thats what its called) to transfer stuff and unzip archives.
Hope it helps!

How do I navigate to the USB drive?

I had it at one time but because I'm an Android newbie, I have no idea where to look.
Using Astro or ES.

rorytmeadows said:
I had it at one time but because I'm an Android newbie, I have no idea where to look.
Using Astro or ES.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's ok, we all start somewhere right?
Load up astro hit home then up and your usb storage device is whatever is in usb_storage. Remember to give it a few secs to detect it and prepare the drive.
Your SD card (internal) is sdcard and your microsd is external_sd.
GL.
Hope this helps.

Neoprimal said:
It's ok, we all start somewhere right?
Load up astro hit home then up and your usb storage device is whatever is in usb_storage. Remember to give it a few secs to detect it and prepare the drive.
Your SD card (internal) is sdcard and your microsd is external_sd.
GL.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent! Thanks.

Is it possible to access the micro SD card through a computer? When exploring the acer drive after plugging it in you can see all the stuff on the internal memory but can't get to the external_sdcard folder.

at the moment i dont think this is possible but give it a few days and it might be a possibility.

tuffghost said:
Is it possible to access the micro SD card through a computer? When exploring the acer drive after plugging it in you can see all the stuff on the internal memory but can't get to the external_sdcard folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can purchase (I think it was a whole $1.50) an app called WiFi File Explorer. It sets your tablet with its own IP address from whatever source you are using for WiFi. Then you access your SD Card by entering in the IP address line in your browser. The app will give you the exact address line to enter into your browser.
Its like a virtual FTS server actually. Works like a charm. If you are worried about security, you can require a password.

Accessing external sd and usb drives
It is possible to access the SD and USB drives using a file manager such as Astro or Estrongs. The drives can be found in the main directory under subdirectory /mnt.
Hope this helps. I had the same problem at first.
Tam the Bam

tuffghost said:
Is it possible to access the micro SD card through a computer? When exploring the acer drive after plugging it in you can see all the stuff on the internal memory but can't get to the external_sdcard folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to Acer, that isn't possible right now. Not that I'm inclined to believe them, but the manual is pretty thorough and I decided to go through every page and it clearly states "Transferring files from a microSD card to your PC.
Remove the card from the tablet and use a card reader or USB adapter to access the card as an external storage device."
I'm REALLY hoping they address this in an update. I thought it was a Honeycomb limitation due to the Xoom but Asus has addressed it by looping it as a folder in the internal storage so I mean, Acer and Xoom should be able to do that as well. Unless there are unforeseen problems with doing that? /shrug.

USB and a camera
Thanks for starting this thread! I'm also a newb and I have Astro and ES installed (now).
I am trying to read images from my camera (Nikon D3). When I attach the USB and turn on the camera the A500 says scanning for media. But none shows up in the photo browser (I'm sure I need a better viewer and suggestions are welcome!). When using ES or Astro and navigating to the usb_storage directory it shows as empty.
For background, the D3 holds 2 CF cards with the 2nd typically used as overflow and both are 8GB. Each card normally just has a DCIM directory with photos in one or more directories below that.
Once I connected up the A500, on one of the cards 2 additional directories were created (the one without any images currently) called .android_secure and LOST.DIR. I can't see any of these directories on the A500 or any of the images (all .jpg). I plugged into my laptop for this info.
I am trying not to have to carry my laptop anymore so any suggestions, ideas or research resources would be appreciated.

I've run into a HUGE issue. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this.
The files on my USB flash drives begins to get erased/deleted if it is still connected to the tablet when the device is activated from hibernation mode. I don't know if the file explorer apps are causing this bug. I've used Linda File Manager and Astro and 3 different USB drives to test this. I've even restored my tablet to factory settings.

Hello,
I have also problems navigating the usb drive.As mentioned above I found the dir but it shows (Directory empty).Im using a 8gb transcend flash drive.On 128mb flash drive there is no problem viewing and accesing the files.Any other have the same problem or solution?
I change the file system from NTFS to FAT32 and it works now(such a stupid user Ive become)

micro SD. Not showing in file manager [SOLVED]

As the title says. I've put the microsd card of my htc g2/z in the iconia and its working. Though i cant seem to find it anywhere in my file managers. (Music app shows ext. Sd content) tried es and file manager for honeycomb. I want to transfer music and video's over to internal sd. Since acer does not have usb drivers for mac, this is kind off my only option. Right?
SOLVED:
1.
Micro SD card slot shows up under: /mnt/external_SD.
So in your file explorer you have to go to root, and then mnt.
2. There are no mac drivers for the acer A500. You can try http://www.android.com/filetransfer/
Though, that program seems to crash alot!
3.
Transfer your files from mac to A500 using USB sticks, SD cards, FTP servers (loads in market).
USB stick can be found: mnt/external_USB

huppelkutje said:
Since acer does not have usb drivers for mac, this is kind off my only option. Right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it isn't your only option, you install this: http://www.android.com/filetransfer/.
Regards,
Dave

I will check it out. Thanks alot!
**edit**
Android file transfer keeps crashing as soon as i connect the tab. Tried reboot, but still crashing.
Any other solutions? I've tried FTP and such apps. They work, but ofcourse not as fast as usb connection.
and why is my micro sd card not showing in file explorers?

if you're using es strogs file manager than you first need to go to root (click on the left most icon on top) than go to /mnt than /external_sd <-- that's your micro sd card than simply copy and paste your files from there to your internal storage.

shock2sys said:
if you're using es strogs file manager than you first need to go to root (click on the left most icon on top) than go to /mnt than /external_sd <-- that's your micro sd card than simply copy and paste your files from there to your internal storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. This makes copying my music alot easier.

Dual File Manager works too. When you start it, just hit the Android back button and you'll see "external_sd"
Sucks that it doesn't mount on my PC though.

huppelkutje said:
Thanks. This makes copying my music alot easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Winamp on the desktop and the A500. It syncs music from my desktop machine to my tablet automatically whenever my tablet connects to my home wifi.

just put the card in and power down/on the device.

as mentioned, power down fully, not just On/off until the screen blanks. Found out the hard way, lazy person that I am.
Odd thing I've found though is that when connecting my Acer tab to my Acer .... err ... laptop ... feels so incestuous .... is that the mSD card appears as simply "SDCARD" while it's external_SD from the device itself. Ah the sweet smell of O/S kludges in the morning

qhinton said:
just put the card in and power down/on the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to power off > back on. Just put the sd card in and voila! It worked right away. Just could not find the sd card in ES file. But now I know it's under mnt/external_SD/

actually I wouldn't call it solved, its kind of an annoyance if anything else. Titanium Backup for one won't see it, I thought honeycomb was going to mnt internal as essc (or something like that) and the external sd as sdcard?
You can soft link it (now that we have root) but that won't carry across a reboot for now.
any how still loving this thing!

[Q] Question re: USB Disk drive

OK, I just downloaded and installed the 3.1 update, running stock OS.
CONFIG
I have a 32GB A500 which I assume is main memory / SSD. I also added a 32GB micro SDHC chip in it, and for testing, an 8GB thumb drive in the large USB port. They all show up in system Settings,
When I have had the A500 connected via the mini-USB port, the memory / SSD shows up, but not the sdhc card, and not a thumb drive if i plug that in (when I look at it as an extended drive)
Some applications can see memory / SSD, and the micro SDHC chip. For example, ES File Explorer has a tab which cycles between the memory / SSD file system, and that on the SHDC chip. It doesn't include USB storage.
QUESTION
First, I'd like to confirm that something (anything) can read the USB file system.
Next, I am looking for a utility that would allow me to see all three file systems: main/SSD, SDHC, and USB, and move things back and forth between them, and to/from my PC as well. Recommendations?

As far as I know there is nothing that will allow you to read the 'external' drives from PC. This was supposed to be fixed in 3.1 (just another thing borked..), so go figure when or IF it'll ever be available.
Incidentally, my 2.2 Archos 101 did all that perfectly, but the new android versions won't, funny eh?

Assuming he has the proper drivers installed, what if he went micro usb connected to pc and thumb drive in tablet. He could read/transfer files from thumb to tablet and have the pc read/transfer to/from the tablet. If that makes sense or helps.

Get a file explorer and go to the mnt directory. the internal, external and usb storage are all there.

I guess I'd be happy with an answer to the first question below, happier with an answer to the second:
1. Is there any app, running on the tablet, which will allow me to see the file system on a USB thumbdrive? Which one. It's odd to me that I can see the drive, apparently properly formed, in the tablet "system settings" app, but (so far) haven't seen how to get at it myself, and haven't found an app which access it either.
2. Is there an application, running on the PC, or an app running on the tablet, which let's me see the file systems on tablet, tablet's sdhc chip, thumb drive and PC storage in a unified way, so I can move things around without unplugging stuff? That is harder, but one of those networked file access utilities might do it.

GCurry said:
I guess I'd be happy with an answer to the first question below, happier with an answer to the second:
1. Is there any app, running on the tablet, which will allow me to see the file system on a USB thumbdrive? Which one. It's odd to me that I can see the drive, apparently properly formed, in the tablet "system settings" app, but (so far) haven't seen how to get at it myself, and haven't found an app which access it either.
2. Is there an application, running on the PC, or an app running on the tablet, which let's me see the file systems on tablet, tablet's sdhc chip, thumb drive and PC storage in a unified way, so I can move things around without unplugging stuff? That is harder, but one of those networked file access utilities might do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I use Root Explorer and I can see the USB Storage in the MNT directory in the root of the device.
2) from the PC, adb i assume, but i've never done this. For network, try Samba server - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.funkyfresh.samba&feature=search_result.

GCurry said:
I guess I'd be happy with an answer to the first question below, happier with an answer to the second:
1. Is there any app, running on the tablet, which will allow me to see the file system on a USB thumbdrive? Which one. It's odd to me that I can see the drive, apparently properly formed, in the tablet "system settings" app, but (so far) haven't seen how to get at it myself, and haven't found an app which access it either.
2. Is there an application, running on the PC, or an app running on the tablet, which let's me see the file systems on tablet, tablet's sdhc chip, thumb drive and PC storage in a unified way, so I can move things around without unplugging stuff? That is harder, but one of those networked file access utilities might do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To answer the first one, no, there is no application to read the external data drives.
As for the second, to transfer files between these, you need to get a file explorer like Root Explorer. The multimedia apps have the ability to access the external data drives so if you want to store music and/or movies on them, you do not have to use up your internal memory.
Hope that answered your question.

Does 3.1 add ntfs support??....if not can I make it support without rooting my tab??
Sent from my XT720 using XDA App

Root explorer works great, so does File Manager HD

GCurry said:
OK, I just downloaded and installed the 3.1 update, running stock OS.
QUESTION
First, I'd like to confirm that something (anything) can read the USB file system.
Next, I am looking for a utility that would allow me to see all three file systems: main/SSD, SDHC, and USB, and move things back and forth between them, and to/from my PC as well. Recommendations?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Astro, in Astro I see them all. Home, Up and you'll see all the storage areas.
Astro will allow you to move things back and forth between SD, USB and Internal storage.
Nothing that I know of, will allow you to directly view your USB or MicroSD using your PC, by directly I mean through the microusb connection.
There's an app called Wifi File Explorer Pro which may allow you to see them on the PC however I'm not certain as I never used it extensively and may be more trouble than it's worth as you'll have to open a port in your router for it to work properly.
Hope this helps.

Any file manager can access /mnt/external_sd and /mnt/usb_storage.
Drive mount or USB mount all can mount ntfs drives. Must be rooted.
Can only access internal memory front PC. End of story until google/Acer fixes it.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

Euclid's Brother said:
Any file manager can access /mnt/external_sd and /mnt/usb_storage.
Drive mount or USB mount all can mount ntfs drives. Must be rooted.
Can only access internal memory front PC. End of story until google/Acer fixes it.
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on 3.1 ota and I wanted to root it for ntfs support.....but don't want to void my warranty.....(weather here is too humid so generally all electronic devices don't work or something or the other happens to them)...so I will unroot later to claim my warranty.....what else can I do with root.....(no custom roms..).......
Sent from my XT720 using XDA App

1. Is there any app, running on the tablet, which will allow me to see the file system on a USB thumbdrive? Which one. It's odd to me that I can see the drive, apparently properly formed, in the tablet "system settings" app, but (so far) haven't seen how to get at it myself, and haven't found an app which access it either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any file system application (ASTRO, Root Explorer) can access all storage devices in your system. The location for the storage devices is /mnt.
Note that the /mnt/sdcard directory is actually a FUSE mount of /data/local
The directories related to storage are:
/mnt/sdcard - a FUSE image of /data/local. This is internal storage.
/mnt/external_sd - The microSD card. Must be FAT32.
/mnt/usb_drive - A USB drive of some sorts...can be a thumb drive or a hard drive. Not sure about 3.1, but 3.0.1 needed this drive to be FAT32.
2. Is there an application, running on the PC, or an app running on the tablet, which let's me see the file systems on tablet, tablet's sdhc chip, thumb drive and PC storage in a unified way, so I can move things around without unplugging stuff? That is harder, but one of those networked file access utilities might do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answer...other than ADB, no (until Acer fixes that). When you mount your tablet to your PC, you are connecting to a FUSE partition, which is an image of /data/local. You can transfer files between /data/local (via FUSE partition) and your PC. Unfortunately, because you are accessing a FUSE partition, you are restricted to only /data/local (so you can't get to /mnt). ADB is a known exception (as it uses USB Debugging to access the tablet), but that isn't graphical at all (all command line, which means it is a lot of typing).

op mentioned ES file explorer
Use it myself - as I really like the interface and the LAN access works great for me.
You can see all your storage devices from es explorer
/mnt/sdcard = internal memory
/mnt/external_sd = microsd card
/mnt/USB_drive = USB based storage device
If you want to mount ntfs you need to root.

SD Card problems

I just purchased a the tab 2 10.1 and installed a 32gb card, that I purchased with it. I run Linux mint on an aluminum Imac. When I connect the tab with the USB cord, it says "unable to mount GT-P5113 Error initializing camera: -60: Could not lock the device". I ended up transferring my mp3's by using FTP server into the music folder on the card. I uploaded like 10GB then said it was out of storage. Under device memory, it shows me that the available space is very minimal and under SD card it shows the available space is the same as the total space. When I check in es file explorer the /SDCARD directory has all my music files. I'm confused as to where these files are really saved. I'm also trying to gain root and have been having problems. Any help would be appreciated.

First things first. Do you know where the 32g card came from? If it's not a name brand from a known good company it could be fake. i would put the card in your Mac and format it and also run a test on it to make sure it is a real 32g. I forget the name of the sd test program but you can google it.

superdog404 said:
First things first. Do you know where the 32g card came from? If it's not a name brand from a known good company it could be fake. i would put the card in your Mac and format it and also run a test on it to make sure it is a real 32g. I forget the name of the sd test program but you can google it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its h2testw on windows.

if you are transferring to the Music folder on the tablet, then you are transferring onto the internal memory of the Tablet, which explains why you ran out of space....
You need to connect to whatever mount the tablet uses for the External SDCard. I use windows, so i cannot tell you how to connect to External SDCard of the tablet using Linux,. However, when using file Explorer on my P5110, it shows the EXTERNAL SDCard mounted as /mnt/extSdCard
If I've helped, click Thanks, if not, good luck I hope you find a solution

Patriot is the brand name, I purchased it along with the tablet from tigerdirect. It seems the problem is Linux is not recognizing the tablet by USB.
Thanks, it works. Phones that I have rooted had /sdcard as the root of the sdcard

Michael61182 said:
Patriot is the brand name, I purchased it along with the tablet from tigerdirect. It seems the problem is Linux is not recognizing the tablet by USB.
Thanks, it works. Phones that I have rooted had /sdcard as the root of the sdcard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear it :thumbup:
Sent from my GT-P5110 using xda premium