Unexisting files visibile on PC? - Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have this problem with my Nexus, and it's been there on my 1st Nexus and on my 2nd (after replacing motherboard, so I suppose it counts as different device )
When I connect N7 to a PC it sees it as media device and I am able to copy files to it. But then I delete some of the files from Ghost Commander on N7 and when I reconnect, it shows the files are still there? Is this normal? I am on non-rooted stock device.
Thanx,
D.

Yeah, it's normal as in "happens all the time, happens to/for everyone".
The thing is that the sucky MTP process doesn't refresh the filesystem content that often and reports cached directory structures to the PC.
Same thing when adding files, they might not show up on MTP right away.
Not exactely sure on how to trigger a refresh on the MTP process, that's why I always reboot before having the PC touch my files.
Also (as you mention Ghost Commander ) I don't use MTP most of the times, I use Ghost Commander's SMB capability to just copy files via WiFi to an from my PC.

HellcatDroid said:
Yeah, it's normal as in "happens all the time, happens to/for everyone".
The thing is that the sucky MTP process doesn't refresh the filesystem content that often and reports cached directory structures to the PC.
Same thing when adding files, they might not show up on MTP right away.
Not exactely sure on how to trigger a refresh on the MTP process, that's why I always reboot before having the PC touch my files.
Also (as you mention Ghost Commander ) I don't use MTP most of the times, I use Ghost Commander's SMB capability to just copy files via WiFi to an from my PC.
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Good to know. The problem of using SMB is when I'm at work that my PC is on other network than Nexus and Dropbox is too slow for huge files Thanx anyway,
D.

Related

MTP-Connection not working -> empty internal memory

I just copied some photos from my phone to a windows xp computer, disconnected the phone, took some more pictures and wanted to copy them over. So the phone shows up, i clicked on DCIM and Camera, selected the photos, CTRL+C and CTRL+V on my computer, but nothing happend. So i tried drag+drop, but nothing happend, even after several tries. So i thought the computer has a problem (it's Windows!) and i restarted the PC and i still saw the pictures, but couldnt copy them. So i restarted the phone and what happend? The internal memory is empty (empty empty!)... And as it's mounted as MTP device there is no way to use a data recovery software like i could do with SD cards... i didn't like MTP devices before, but now i really hate the MTP protocol - something like that never happened to any other of my phones with internal and or external memory and which were all able to use USM aka mass storage mode. And who invented MTP? Microsoft...
Beside that:
* Windows 8 doesn't show its nice copy progress window when copying to an MTP device --> https://www.google.com/images?q=windows+8+copy
* Windows 8 doesn't offer copying with skipping existing files in the target (only copy new files). on the first match, it asks to overwrite. if you disagree the copy process stops.
So, can the phone see the contents, or have they entirely vanished from the phone's side as well?
it's neither here nor there, the data is just gone. thankfully i uploaded almost all photos to the cloud some days ago and everything else could be found somewhere, except the media files from whatsapp. so my concern is less about the lost data than that it happens again and i always found mtp slower and less reliable than mounting as a block devices (mass storage). beside that there is still alot windows software out there that doesnt work with mtp devices. the only benefit is that you can access the data on both systems at the same time. in general most points are already known, i just wonder what happend. is there anything for mtp devices like "safely remove hardware" for mass storage devices?
You could always switch protocols and "mount" it as a "camera device", in which case I believe you would have access only to the DCIM folder on the virtual SD. And, you if you need to transfer non-photo files around, you can always just resort to an on-device file explorer, moving from the Dropbox folder in and out, if you use that. Dropsync works really well for reasonably-sized files.
thanks for the hint. cause of that i already installed foldersync to backup files in the free 50gb box.net cloud which i never needed before. but it's never a bad idea to have a backup *sigh*

[Q] How do I connect my Nexus 4 to a Windows PC, so as to transfer my files ?

How do I connect my Nexus 4 to a Windows PC, so as to transfer my files ? I cant use LG PC Suite V, even though its a LG device ! So my question is it possible to manage my Nexxi with a pc suite, Like I used to do it with my previous android devices ? :cyclops:
This is my first Nexus device(which is by far the super awesome device i have ever had), so please dont mind if I am missing something very obvious.
Just use a USB cable and connect your N4 to your windows PC. You should be able to transfer files using window explorer.
As far as I know all the suites you are talking about are made by the manufacturers for phones running their own UI's, Sense, TouchWiz, etc. I use Windows Media Player to sync music, photos and videos with my N4. You can also just drag and drop files into it if need be. While WMP doesn't quite do all that a suite does, backup is one thing, it is sufficient for what I need to get done.
If both the pc and cell are connected to wireless use airdroid. Cant get any easier than that.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sand.airdroid
Definitely airdroid, it works like a charm.
junks2010 said:
Just use a USB cable and connect your N4 to your windows PC. You should be able to transfer files using window explorer.
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Yes. I did that, but nothing came up i could not browse through the phone memory.. Although there was a eject nexus 4 in the right bottom bar ( like it comes when you connect a pen drive or an external hard disk), but i don't see nothing connected to browse in my computer.
kzoodroid said:
As far as I know all the suites you are talking about are made by the manufacturers for phones running their own UI's, Sense, TouchWiz, etc. I use Windows Media Player to sync music, photos and videos with my N4. You can also just drag and drop files into it if need be. While WMP doesn't quite do all that a suite does, backup is one thing, it is sufficient for what I need to get done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will surely try it out tomorrow. Thanks for the info. BTW I am using Windows 8
David ! said:
If both the pc and cell are connected to wireless use airdroid. Cant get any easier than that.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sand.airdroid
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Click to collapse
jhock said:
Definitely airdroid, it works like a charm.
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Click to collapse
Well since i use my desktop i don't have wireless access. thanks for replying though:thumbup:
Sent from my Nexus 4
Try installing the drivers from pda.net. They will allow you to transfers the files. You can also use - WMP, iTunes etc too.
ak700 said:
Try installing the drivers from pda.net. They will allow you to transfers the files. You can also use - WMP, iTunes etc too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PDA.NET ? Is that a link to some website ? Cause i am not able to open it. Right WMP, I am gonna try as soon as i catch hold of my PC
Sent from my Nexus 4
gameme said:
PDA.NET ? Is that a link to some website ? Cause i am not able to open it. Right WMP, I am gonna try as soon as i catch hold of my PC
Sent from my Nexus 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you do a search on pdanet, you'll see it's an app that has almost every freaking driver imaginable.
Did it finnaly ! I could connect it VIA AirDroid with USB tethering ON. Just like wireless connection, Airdroid supports connection via USB too.
Actually you should be able to just plug it in and browse the phone through windows explorer (kinda like a usb hard drive). Dont think air droid is necessary for usb.
Especially since you have the option to eject it from your pc i don't think its a driver issue.
I once had a similiar issue to yours and what i did was go into settings > storage > the menu button (the 3 vertical dots in the upper right) > usb computer connection > and check MTP. For some reason it was not checked.
coinsk said:
Actually you should be able to just plug it in and browse the phone through windows explorer (kinda like a usb hard drive). Dont think air droid is necessary for usb.
Especially since you have the option to eject it from your pc i don't think its a driver issue.
I once had a similiar issue to yours and what i did was go into settings > storage > the menu button (the 3 vertical dots in the upper right) > usb computer connection > and check MTP. For some reason it was not checked.
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Yes, but the actually problem, some time ago I had installed the ADB drivers, thinking that I had to install some driver to connect my device. Yesterday, Saw that this caused the problem and neither the windows media player nor the explorer could browser through the phone memory.
After uninstalling that driver for good, I could connect easily, although it shows as a media device and I cannot get to see the list of folders in explorer, hence I started searching for AirDroid using USB. And Voila !!
So let me get this straight... I just bought my Nexus 4. The last Android phone I had was a Galaxy Nexus, and I could simply open Windows Explorer, and drag n drop any file I pleased. Simple.
Now with this phone, I can't do that. For example, a zip file, keep getting the error "Cannot Copy Item". This is with MTP on. I haven't tried the cable that the phone came with, but would that really make a difference? I tried different folders too.
Am I missing something?
UPDATE: So I tried a new text file, and it worked... My zip file was 11mb. I'm guessing it only recognizes certain file types in MTP? If so, guess I'll have to use something like AirDroid
I can see most of the things that are on my phone from the desktop, but it seems like a lot of stuff is missing...
I checked in the connection settings, MTP is selected, and on my desktop I selected "Show hidden files". I can access the N4 from My Computer, and I see a lot of folders, music shows up fine. But for example I can't see web pages that I've saved using OffBrowser. From the phone I can use the X-Plore app to view the files I have in the phone's memory, and from there I can see that OffBroswer has saved over 250 MBs worth of web pages. But when I try to drag-and-drop them to the desktop, Windows Explorer tells me the OffBroswer has 1 byte of storage in use.
As I said, I made sure to show any hidden files, so why aren't all of the files showing up. Anyone have any idea?
EDIT:
Same with the Opera browser. I've been saving a handful of webpages using Opera Mobile and I wanted to copy them onto my desktop, but they don't seem to show up in Windows Explorer, I just see a lot of TMP files in the Opera folder.
Screw it. I just use Airdroid now. So easy and great features.
Sent from my Nexus 4
gameme said:
Yes. I did that, but nothing came up i could not browse through the phone memory.. Although there was a eject nexus 4 in the right bottom bar ( like it comes when you connect a pen drive or an external hard disk), but i don't see nothing connected to browse in my computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this might help : To connect nexus 4 to computer via usb:
plug in the usb , connect usb to phone . it will display the charging icon as battery will be charning. Go to settings -storage -on top right you will see 3 vertical “square dots” click it will say “usb computer connection” then it will give you two options a. MTP and PTP. Simply select MTP and you are good to go. It will now show nexus 4 as a usb drive on my computer.

File transfer issue

I downloaded a 1.2GB file to my nexus 4. upon connecting it to windows to transfer it over I don't see the file.
I see the other files in the folder but its like the larger file is hidden. Is there some file size cap that prevents it from showing in windows?
Edit: turning on and off usb debugging has no effect, still only see various files except for larger files
anyone?
that happens alot, no file cap, i fix it by rebooting 2 or 3 times to get it shown, must be a issue with nexus media storage manager or some lousy process, i dont know why google wants to make it harder for us.
In Windows try to search a dot (.) in the folder. If you couldn't see it then the file is likely encrypted.
republicano said:
that happens alot, no file cap, i fix it by rebooting 2 or 3 times to get it shown, must be a issue with nexus media storage manager or some lousy process, i dont know why google wants to make it harder for us.
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Click to collapse
Cool a restart did the trick. Weird that files don't show up at first, guess it needs a fresh media scan to work.

Not all files showing when connecting to new windows 10 laptop

So when I connect my Nexus 6P to my new Dell XPS13 and I chose file transfer as the connection option, the device shows up and I can see all the folders but when I open them it's like only select files are there. For example my download folder has a few word files, an xcel file, a few pictures and a small movie file. In the file explorer on my laptop, I only see one word document. So I know it can see the files but where are the rest? When I look on my phone they are still there.
Also my TWRP folder I see a few things but not the backup folder with my backup in it. I have hidden files selected to be shown on my laptop, is there something else I am missing?
EDIT: So this is strange, if I boot to recovery while connected, the drive pops back up and my laptop can see everything just fine, but if I reboot back to just the regular phone, the laptop stops seeing select files? I had an older windows 10 laptop and it didn't have this problem (I've since sold that, so that's not an option.)
Which files in particular? I noticed that sometimes I have to force media scanner to run and reconnect the phone to the computer at times, but the behavior is a bit erratic I havent pin pointed a specific time this occurs.
uodii said:
Which files in particular? I noticed that sometimes I have to force media scanner to run and reconnect the phone to the computer at times, but the behavior is a bit erratic I haven't pin pointed a specific time this occurs.
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Click to collapse
It's actually kind of random, but specifically in the TWRP folder there is a folder called BACKUPS that has my backup of my phone, and that whole folder doesn't show up.
Then random stuff like the one word document and one xcel document not showing up, but another word document does show up, it makes no sense to me.
Try going into device manager update device drivers, select location yourself and chose the phone for drivers location. Had to do that to mine when I first got it. It wouldn't let me even copy anything to the phone or create a folder or see contents of folders anytime I clocked on something it would say device disconnected
bump, this is driving me nuts.
This too happens to me. Formatting the phone completely had no effect... I'm going to do more playing around and see what happens.

issues with accessing internal storage, folders & files (with windows 10)

Hi ppl
before i start... english is not my native language. please excuse some inaccuracies and language defects.
I have this phone for more than two years now. already it have last OTA system update offered by xiaomi: MIUI 11.0.2 estable (with Android 8 kernel ). very satisfied with the phone itself... but the internal storage accessing and copying of files to the PC always been problematic.
first have to manually select "transfer files" option ALWAYS even selecting this option as default in the developer options, this happens since day one. "well, ok". second: access a folder with many files ALWAYS have been a chore... laggy, unreliable, slow.... but the worst issue is the folder contents often does not update correctly when the folder contents change.
lets say i access a folder with... 8000 files inside, using the PC with windows with intention to copy them to the PC (e.g. telegram pictures folder)... it starts "counting"... 100...200...300...500 files (¿?) showing some of them in no particular order... at some time, it stops counting AND STILL CANT SEE ALL FILES IN THE FOLDER!!!... and after 3 or 4 minutes... ¿it timeouts?... with a windows explorer error. "solution": unplug the phone, replug, have to select again "file transfer" mode, re-access to the folder, and windows "remembers" the interrupted accounting and the showed contents and began to account from where stops previously... after 2, 3, or more "retries", it finally "accounts" all the files, then i select them and want to begin copying to the PC, "copy" (ctrl-c) them... and lags before starting doing ¿precaching? ¿or something else?... sometimes starts copying... sometimes not... sometimes timeouts after copying 500 or 1000 files... sometimes sooner, sometimes later... in one occasion i use a file admin tool in the phone itself, and delete... say 5000 files of the folder. next time i enter with windows in the same folder, and the 5000 deleted files STILL APPEAR INSIDE, obviously are "zombie / not real" files, but still appear and still not appear other files that really are inside the folder.... this issues makes me angry... but still there is more.
a couple weeks ago, i change folder configuration in a camera app (one bought at the store, not the standard one bundled with the phone)... and cannot access this new folder from the PC. it does not even appear as a folder. it appears as a "blank file" with a "blank paper" icon, not identified as a folder and system not allow me to enter... restart PC and phone does not change anything... "bueh, some folder issue with this app"... and forget it.
and now it started to do the same with MORE folders in the internal storage. including some folders that could be previously accessed... now to access these ¿unaccesible? folders, i have to enter with file admin app on the phone, move the folder to another location and now (after a unplug/replug cycle)... now maybe i can reach the folder on the new destination.
MTP always been... not very "powerful" in the performance side... but this issues are ridiculous. i can bear a not very fast (30-40MB/s) file transfer speeds, and some lag accessing a folder with an absurd file counting (say over 5000 files or so)... but the lags, timeouts, have to "recycle the connection", deleted or moved files not updated, inaccesible folders... its simply overkill. its highly patetic.
is the accessing to the internal storage from windows in this phones always so terrible f#cked? i dont remember issues that bad with other android phones (samsung, motorola...) is the internal storage dying? there is a way to solve this issues?
thanks for reading. :angel:
ok ppl.
After some more time dealing with this issues, i have come to a conclusion, and a (in a certain way) solution.
the conclusion -> MTP is a hell*sh piece of sh*t, it's crap, and it's the source of all this trouble.
the solution -> stop using MTP and use another way to deal with this matter.
that another way is by using WebDAV, to accomplish this, have to do 3 somewhat simple steps.
1.- NOT USE MTP when connect the phone to the PC via USB cable. leave on "charging mode".
2.- activate USB tethering, do so by activate it in the "more..." section of the communications settings
this activates a network link via the USB cable between the PC and the phone. this IP network can be located by the IPconfig / ifconfig command in the PC side, refer to an ethernet "RDNIS" section. the phone side IP usually assigned to 192.168.42.129 (it can depend on the network configuration PC side)
3.- enable a WebDAV server on the phone. there are various apps to do so available in the play store. I tested some of them and finally came using "webdav server" (free version) by The Olive Tree, but you can use whatever you like or suits you better.
by doing this, and enabling (in my case, windows 10) a network link to the server in the files explorer... bang! access to the files on the phone with far better reliability and much less issues than doing the old way.
I post it here in case it can be of use to someone in the future.
best regards to the community.

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