Database Users

Can't Mount SD Card

Hey Everyone,
I apologise if this is in the wrong forum (not sure if it should be in Android Development), and before I start I want to make it clear that I DID use the search function, I searched for "Can't Enable USB Mass Storage" and "No option to mount SD Card" with no relevant results.
Rom: JFv1.51 CRB43-EU
Ok, I was using my phone fine I managed to sync around 12GB worth of music and transfer a few files last night (I flashed the ROM around 20:00 GMT after trying out several hero builds).
This morning I mounted the SD Card to my laptop (OS is Windows 7 RC1) and transferred a few APK's. Suddenly as I was in the market the phone comes up with "Checking SD Card for Errors" and had for some reason unmounted itself from the PC.
Now when I plug in the USB cable all I get is the light to indicate it's charging. There's no option to mount the SD Card. I've tried it on my Laptop, My Vista Desktop AND My Xbox 360 (usually there's a mount option when you connect to that which allows the xbox to see music on the phone).
Strangest thing is the MicroSD Card seems fine, I am able to play my music and see the 2 pictures I have stored on it. Another site suggested using Anycut to make a shortcut to SD CArd and then ticking Enable USB Mass Storage. This doesn't work either, I get a ! in a triangle in the status bar saying USB Mass Storage Enabled but neither my laptop or my desktop will pick it up.
Any Suggestions?
Thanks,
Steve.

Is USB debugging enabled in settings>applications>development?

alritewhadeva said:
Is USB debugging enabled in settings>applications>development?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, Should it be?

Yes it should be. Try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers (USB mass storage devices)

Edit: Double pOst

[Q] USB Mass Storage mode only for reading ?

I'm the only one having problems with usb mass storage? With all builds from all chef and all kernels it happens the same. I can read from the pc what is on the SD, but if I copy a file Android dont see it , the file size is 0. And new files created in android can't be readed by windows either (I can only read the files that were written on the SD before the last android boot)
I missing something? I tryied dismounting the SD from android with same results
Are you using it in the same way USB MASS STORAGE in WM6.5 ???

I use USB storage all the time and in every andrioid build I've used(about 20) I've never had any problems. There are many people like me that also have no problems, but there are also many like you that have plenty of problems. I'm not sure that anyone really knows why.

RobertsDF said:
I use USB storage all the time and in every andrioid build I've used(about 20) I've never had any problems. There are many people like me that also have no problems, but there are also many like you that have plenty of problems. I'm not sure that anyone really knows why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answering. Do you have 2 partitions on the sd ?

Just want to check a few things:
1: you plug in via usb and select "disk drive"
2: you are not still connected via usb when trying to read the items on the sd card?
3: When you disconnect the usb, you use the usual method (right click the icon in the taskbar and select "safely remove hardware") then wait for the SD card to be prepared by android before accessing it?
Also, how are you accessing the files in Android?

Reno_79 said:
Just want to check a few things:
1: you plug in via usb and select "disk drive"
2: you are not still connected via usb when trying to read the items on the sd card?
3: When you disconnect the usb, you use the usual method (right click the icon in the taskbar and select "safely remove hardware") then wait for the SD card to be prepared by android before accessing it?
Also, how are you accessing the files in Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 & 2: Yes. Windows assing the drive letter and can read it fine.
3: I connect Android to pc, choose USB MASS STORAGE, in windows access the new drive letter, rename a file , choose "safele remove hardware", disconnect the cable, wait for Android to "prepare the sd" , go to the file and it has the old name!!! the weird thing is that if I connect to the pc again, I see in the pc the new name!
Is like Android is working with his own FAT32 table IN MEMORY and not refreshing it.
I tried Ghost Commander/ES file manager/Root Explorer, all with the same results.
PD: I found something else... If I DISMOUNT the SD from Android Im still able to access it with ES File Manager,etc. So its not really dismounting it Why can this be happening with all builds/roms?

I have the same problem. Strange thing is it worked fine fore the first couple of days. Anybody have a solution?

Try using "Rescan Media" app after you copy your files to the SD

Still nothing. I have to boot back into winMo to transfer files to my SD card! This is really annoying,

Plenty of other tools provide media scan as well, like Optimize toolbox, Switch pro widget and more. they all worked for me.
[edit] sorry, optimize toolbox doesn't offer it, it just clears the cache :/
power control plus however has this function as well.

Applications SD access while in USB mass storage

Hi People.
Sorry if this isn't an appropriate forum to post this.
I am trying to connect my SGS2 to car radio through USB cable to access music files.
First, there was a problem to even connect the phone to the radio and the car told me that there is an error connecting to the device.
But after turning on USB Debug mode on the phone, now I can connect (Although after 2-3 attempts, why ???) to the car and it finds all my mp3's on Internal SD.
But now there is another problem. Because the car now uses the SD card (As Mass storage), any application that trying to access it is denied.
So when I'm trying to use Waze for example while listening to music it writes me that Waze can't access my SD card.
Is there a workaround to be able to use the SD card from both the car and the applications at the same time ?
I'm using Lite'ning Rom v1.4

Search in the market for dual or multi mount.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

Multi Mount SD Lite - doesn't work.
All is the same as it was, when I mount the SD the applications can't access it.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong ?
The notes say don't use android mount feature.. what does it mean ?

Anyone? It's really annoying that I can't hear music while navigating..
Please help..
P.S - If I'll buy external SD card for music, will be there an ability to mount only it, so the internal will be for the applications and the external for the car radio to mount ?

Ok, the question is still open.
Is there any real solution, like patch or something ?
Because both Multi Mount and Dual-mount doesn't work.
If I use those apps the car can't even find the phone as if it is not mounted. (With the built in mount feature the car finds the phone on the 5 try or something..)

any answers as follow up? i got myself a dension gateway 300 and when i try to plug in my galaxy s (2.3.4) i have the same problem.. multi mount sd manages some time to do the trick.. but its very random..
i am thinking that the android system is "fighting" with the multi sd app. and it manages to mount the internal storage or something like that. ]
does anyone have any hint?
cheers

My guess is that the Dension only mounts the first partition it sees (i.e. the /sdcard directory). At least that's what I've seen with memory sticks I've tried to put into my Gateway 300 -- I haven't tried mounting the SGS2 since I have all the same music on a dedicated 32GB microSDHC card & USB card reader.
Anyway, if the Dension has mounted the /sdcard directory, you should be able to access the SD card through the external_sd directory.

Actually it does not seem to mount any of the partitions. if i check at the source menu it says "no usb".
when i use "multi sd mount" app i can sometimes get it to work (setting the app to mount only the external sd) but thus is only once every ten tries. i cannot do it at will...
it seems somehow that the android mass storage software and the app are "fighting" somehow. (of course the android on its own does not succeed).
may i ask you to check if you can mount your galaxy on the dension? not many have this configuration so your feedback would be valuable.. thank you in advance
cheers

[Q] Sideloading/accessing folders in SD

I have built an SD bootable CM7 card as described by verygreen, but when I try to create folders on that drive from my PC (filled with APK files) I can't see them on the Nook. I have no problem doing this on my rooted emmc Nook, but when I boot to an SD card (that I am setting up for my daughter's Nook) I can't access any other folders/files.
What am I doing wrong? (The box is checked allowing Unknown Sources and I am currently running 177).

Are you connecting the nook via USB or putting the SD card in your computer directly?
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

The card is placed in a usb card reader (or a usd card reader), either one sees the files on the PC, but it will not find it on the nook. Even when I create a folder on the nook and move the disk over and copy a file into the new folder I can't see it on the nook.

You need to connect through the nook
Sent from my LG Optimus V using Tapatalk

Littlewhat said:
The card is placed in a usb card reader (or a usd card reader), either one sees the files on the PC, but it will not find it on the nook. Even when I create a folder on the nook and move the disk over and copy a file into the new folder I can't see it on the nook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is because the partition the computer sees is the boot partition... to access it in the nook... either in terminal or adb shell:
1. mkdir /sdcard/boot
2. mount /dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /sdcard/boot/
the items on the boot partition of the SD (including the folders and apks you put there) will be visible as /sdcard/boot
Pretty sure you'd have found it in the VG SASD thread and a few others... since I have posted this several times.

Thanks for the response. I'm not real familiar with ADB so I tried it with terminal and was able to create a directory but mounting gave me a 'permission denied' message.
(Sorry if this is old info, I've spent the morning combing the SASD thread and haven't found it yet, just too much info, thanks for taking the time to help some of us who are slower learners!)
Edit: learning slowly, used su to get into superuser (#) and made directory, but when I try to mount it says not found.

Littlewhat said:
I have built an SD bootable CM7 card as described by verygreen, but when I try to create folders on that drive from my PC (filled with APK files) I can't see them on the Nook. I have no problem doing this on my rooted emmc Nook, but when I boot to an SD card (that I am setting up for my daughter's Nook) I can't access any other folders/files.
What am I doing wrong? (The box is checked allowing Unknown Sources and I am currently running 177).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you asked this question 2 weeks ago, I might able to give you the exact answer but since I wiped out the uSD CM7, I can't remember correctly what would happen.
However, based on my experience (+/- my memory loss), what you describe is all correct and that's what it is. Odd? Maybe, but don't panic.
Let's go slowly
when I try to create folders on that drive from my PC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you meant you created a folder in the "boot" partition on the uSD card?
a. if so, it's not recommended. Using the left over FAT32 partition instead
b. if so, try to use Root Folder app (it's a paid app) to access root folder (boot partition) directly on the NOOK. If you see the folder you created earlier, move it to the eMMC storage.
c. if not, pls tell us more

Yes, the SD card was accessed on my PC thru a USB adapter and a folder called 'APKs' was created in the boot sector. (I have also tried just adding the files into one of the other folders, but anything I add is invisible to the Nook).
So if I need to create a folder in other than the boot sector, I would need to use something like Easeus Partition Master to make that sector active and then create the folder and add appropriate files? (When I rooted my Nook directly to emmc it sure seemed a lot easier to access folders created by my PC.)
(Thanks again for all your help.)

That's much clearer, m8
Now, I think it's easier to get straighten.
1. From PC, using SD slot or usb-sd adapter, move (remove) the "APKs" folder off your NC to your PC, save it there, then eject the uSD off PC.
2. Insert the uSD into the NC and turn it on, make sure it boots into CM7 properly.
3. Wait until it completely load. Now using usb cable to connect the NC and the PC.
4. Watch the notification status bar on the NC, tap on it then turn on usb mass storage.
5. PC should recognize the NC and ready for use.
6. Move your "APKs" folder from PC into your uSD (it would probably named as CM7SDCARD)
Update: on item 6, I prefer to move the folder to the eMMC storage. I'm not 110% sure if the NC see "it" (it means the left-over FAT32 partition on the uSD card) or not, but I do believe, 99% it will.

Deleted folder on SD card (from PC) and verified reboot ok.
Connected USB cable to PC then to Nook, no notification bar comes up, but battery icon shows charging as well as the lighted n on the cable.
Tried to use Nook Tweaks to begin USB connection (both boxes checked).
Still no recognition from the PC that anything is connected.
Edit: I am using my rooted Nook to build this SD card for my daughter's new unrooted Nook and when I plug the rooted Nook into the PC I don't get any verification from the PC on it either. No change on the Nook either, just the charging light and icon indicator.

Tried to use Nook Tweaks to begin USB connection (both boxes checked).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have the NC with me now so I don't know what "both boxes" are and need to be checked or not.

The USB Settings from Nook Tweaks has a "USB Host Mode" (to enable host mode to connect peripherals) and an "External VBus" (to allow charging and hosting).
Both boxes were checked.
I've read that some of these issues can be caused by a faulty cable. If so, are there other alternatives to connecting thru the cable to open this up.
I have also tried the MiniTool partition program but I have not been successful in getting the active partition to 'stick' . (It immediately reverts back to the root being active after I apply the changes.)

You definitely have to UNCHECK the "USB Host Mode".
I'm not so sure with the "External VBus" status but suggest leave it by default.

With nothing checked in the Nook Tweaks section, USB cable connected to the Nook and then the PC, there is no recognition or acknowledgment that the Nook is there from the PC. (This is true whether I use my rooted version or try after booting to the sd card.)
If it is a cable problem, I will need to replace that, but aren't there other ways to make the sd card usable?
I've tried making the 4th partition action using Minitool and also Easeus but it didn't work. (Minitool just reverts back to boot partition active immediately after I apply the changes.)

Slow down, MiniTool and partitioning have nothing to do with this. Don't make more mess.
a. when plugging NC to PC, do you see any indication on the NC's status bar? like usb debugging?
b. when plugging NC to PC, do you see any indication on the PC (running Windows)? like removable drive?

There is no indication on the PC of any new connection.
The only indication on the Nook is the lighted n at the end of the cable and the recharging icon in the status bar.
Edit: the reason I was providing info on the MiniTools experience I was having is because my original question was how to access a folder (and files) created on my sd-bootable disk on my PC but the Nook can't see it. One way to accomplish this is to write the folder/apks directly to the Nook thru the USB cable. Other alternatives are to use windows to access it on my PC but I need to be able to access the 4th partition (if my reading of the various posts is correct). MiniTools and Easeus are two options that allow you to activate the 4th partition but it has not worked for my yet.
The USB cable connection problem appears to be there whether I boot to emmc or to sd.
Edit: I was able to find a non-nook cable (for my Blackberry) and using it my Nook recognizes when I connect to the PC and executes the USB Mass Storage Utility which allows me to turn USB storage on/off. Unfortunately the PC doesn't add any new logical drives in My Computer. The device manager shows 2 B&N Ereader Disk USB devices but with the yellow ! by them.

The 4th partition you mentioned about should be taken care during the installation, using verygreen's instructions, if you do correctly. There is ABSOLUTELY no need to mess around with MiniTool or the a-like.
Another question, have you turn on the USB Debugging feature? (I don't remember where, NC not with me now). If it not, check it box, try to plug in PC using usb cable again. I expect at least the usb debugging indicator will lit up.

I checked the debug feature (part of settings/applications/development/) and it was not checked. I checked it and now I get the robot icon (USB debugging conntected) and the USB icon to toggle storage on/off. Still nothing in My Computer and the drives shown in device manager are still yellow ! .
The device manager says "This device cannot start. (Code 10)"

I know it would be too early to say but I gonna to say anyway "congratulation".
When you see those icons on the NC status bar, it's 99% that it would work.
Now, back to the reality.
1. Connect usb cable between NC and PC running Windows
2. As you can see those icons, tap on the status bar to bring up then tap on "USB Mass Storage" (or something like "connect to computer for file/folder transfer, NOT the debugging). Read the warning then tap to enable USB connection
3. Now, pay attention on the PC, if it goes smoothly as expect, by now, you now can access both storages (eMMC and left-over of the uSD card) from PC. If so, move your "APKs" folder over.
I wish you luck

1- cable connected, icons on nook show up
2- tapping on status bar gives access to USB Mass Storage utility and option to turn on/off USB storage - with USB storage set to 'on' there is no recognition on the PC
Device manager shows two entries under disk drives for B&N Ebook Disk USB device but both are tagged with yellow ! (which a right click shows "This device cannot start. Code 10")
Is there something I need to do to download a usable driver for this?
(OBTW thank you for your help and patience)
Edit: within device manager I uninstalled the two drives (while the nook was still connected and USB active) and then had it search for new hardware. This time it loaded the drivers and NO yellow ! . At that point the PC recognized the drives and I have been able to create a folder that is accessible by the Nook and the PC. Thank you for help in this.
I have also contacted B&N and have a replacement cable on the way (which seemed to be a large part of my problems). Thanks Votinh for sticking with me while I got this resolved.

USB OTG to mount Galaxy Nexus?

I'm looking to mount my Galaxy Nexus to my Nexus 7, but when I go about it like I would a usb stick stickmount doesn't see the sd card. My USB OTG host cable works perfectly with my 64gb SanDisk Cruzer thumb drive, but it is NTFS formatted to get around the 4gb file size limit. I can read files, copy files off of it, and stream files from the stick just fine but I am unable to write to the stick. I'd like to be able to get rid of NANDROID backups, playstation games, other large files, etc without having to connect to a computer.
1. What format is the "SD card" on the Galaxy Nexus? Is it ext3/ext4 which stickmount can't read?
2. If there is a better way to make an NTFS formatted writable stick I'm all ears...
3. Maybe I should just get a smaller separate stick that's FAT32 and thus writable...

Nokia?
thirtynation said:
I'm looking to mount my Galaxy Nexus to my Nexus 7, but when I go about it like I would a usb stick stickmount doesn't see the sd card. My USB OTG host cable works perfectly with my 64gb SanDisk Cruzer thumb drive, but it is NTFS formatted to get around the 4gb file size limit. I can read files, copy files off of it, and stream files from the stick just fine but I am unable to write to the stick. I'd like to be able to get rid of NANDROID backups, playstation games, other large files, etc without having to connect to a computer.
1. What format is the "SD card" on the Galaxy Nexus? Is it ext3/ext4 which stickmount can't read?
2. If there is a better way to make an NTFS formatted writable stick I'm all ears...
3. Maybe I should just get a smaller separate stick that's FAT32 and thus writable...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen that done with Android devices just yet... maybe it's possible, but I haven't heard of it. I know that Nokia phones can hook up as external storage to the N8 (saw a video on YouTube) but that's as far as I know.
Also, to write files to an NTFS volume on Android, it seems that you need to add the "fuse.ko" to your kernel (in /system/lib/modules) I tried doing this with the Nexus 7 ToolKit, but I wasn't about to insmod it (make it run) since the fuse.ko I has was apparently for a different version of Android??? I've literally spent about 10 hours "searching" on xda and all over the internet. It seems (oddly) that everyone in the Android community is content with a measly 32GB total limit, and 4GB file size limit. *(facepalm)*

This won't work. Android, with 3.0, stopped exporting storage via SD card, because of reasons[1]. If at all, you can have a vendor modify Android as to export your plug-in SD card, but not the internal storage.
Currently, Galaxy Nexus etc. offer their files via the 'MTP' protocol when plugged in, and there's no support to act as an MTP client AFAIK (since Linux support for MTP sucks balls).
[1]: since a separate storage for /data, /system etc. was considered uncool, as it made you dependent on a predefined partition size (remember 256MB 'internal storage' phones and Android Market "uninstalled due to low disk space"?), newer phones, and especially the Nexus line, features a single storage container.
The USB mass storage interface works like plugging in a hard drive into your system: it gives you block-level access, and this is usually synonymous with "exclusive" access, as it results in destroyed or confused file systems if two independent systems try to mount the file system on a storage device.
Problem is that Android still needs to be able to actually run, so it can't give you block level access to the internal storage. The only way that would be feasible is to turn off your phone completely and have the bootloader give you USB mass storage access, which is counterproductive.
Thus the need for something like MTP (which was already around for a while) was born, which gives you the ability to make it look like a file system, but actually work on a client/server basis like FTP.
tl;dr: no usb mass storage ("usb stick mode") with galaxy nexus. ever.

Can't check at the moment, but can't you mount the SD card from CWM recovery on the Nexus in USB Mode rather than MTP?

What we need is a file manager that can use MTP. I'm also interested in hooking my Gnex up to my 7. There must be something out there that can do this.

Bluetooth file transfer.
or
Connect to the same wifi and share.