Database Users

How to: Enable OTG to work in Titanium Backup

If anyone has tried to use an OTG to back up with Titanium Backup you know that if you select a folder on your OTG drive Titanium Backup will say it's not writable even if you can write to it using other methods.
I was looking into this last night because I wanted to back up everything to my 64GB sd card using the meenova OTG adapter (http://www.meenova.com)
Anyway to be able to have TiBU write to it all you have to do is add a lne in an xml file.
YOU MUST BE ROOTED:
Go to /system/etc/permissions
open up platform.xml
look for the line
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
and add the line
Code:
<group gid="media_rw" />
So now it will look like this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
<group gid="media_rw" />
</permission>
Save the file, reboot and then fire up TiBu and navigate to the folder on your OTG drive and it will now work and the message saying it's not writable will be gone.

Anyone tried this?

I'm always a bit wary of unaccredited websites that ask for my credit card details and address... Did not purchase... If there were a PayPal option, that'd be different.

Jade Eyed Wolf said:
I'm always a bit wary of unaccredited websites that ask for my credit card details and address... Did not purchase... If there were a PayPal option, that'd be different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to buy it. This process will work with any otg. But they are reputable. They had a huge kickstarter campaign and was reported on by a few of the sites (that's how I first found out about it)
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

GoClifGo05 said:
Anyone tried this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I did and it works perfectly. But hey if you don't feel like I'm creditable and need a 2nd opinion then be my guest.. I don't really have the reputation of posting nonsense
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

I'm not calling you out at all! Lol don't get defensive. I just got my x today, DE and just reading around. Please don't take offense.
Sent from my DE Moto X

GoClifGo05 said:
I'm not calling you out at all! Lol don't get defensive. I just got my x today, DE and just reading around. Please don't take offense.
Sent from my DE Moto X
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not offended. I'm just saying.. If it didn't work I wouldn't have posted it. On Nexus devices using stick mount you don't need to do this but with the native otg with the moto x Titanium backup will say the folder on the otg drive is not writable.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Have an N7, got you. Well.... thanks for the tip.
Sent from my DE Moto X

Jade Eyed Wolf said:
I'm always a bit wary of unaccredited websites that ask for my credit card details and address... Did not purchase... If there were a PayPal option, that'd be different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't take my money. Hitting add to cart didn't do nothing.
Sent from my XT897 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

graffixnyc said:
If anyone has tried to use an OTG to back up with Titanium Backup you know that if you select a folder on your OTG drive Titanium Backup will say it's not writable even if you can write to it using other methods.
I was looking into this last night because I wanted to back up everything to my 64GB sd card using the meenova OTG adapter (http://www.meenova.com)
Anyway to be able to have TiBU write to it all you have to do is add a lne in an xml file.
YOU MUST BE ROOTED:
Go to /system/etc/permissions
open up platform.xml
look for the line
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
and add the line
Code:
<group gid="media_rw" />
So now it will look like this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
<group gid="media_rw" />
</permission>
Save the file, reboot and then fire up TiBu and navigate to the folder on your OTG drive and it will now work and the message saying it's not writable will be gone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If rooted and do like you described, then the apps like ES file manager can write file into SD card? Thanks.

Permission Denied
So I have root access and gave root permission to es file manager but whenever I try to save the file I'm unable to. What could be going on? What's going on?

Whenever I try this my whole system goes to hell. I end up having to reinstall system, not even deleting the line off the file and rebooting works.

On my Nexus 6 I have a Flash Drive connected via OTG, I am using StickMount to mount it in the file system, I can use it without any problem from TWRP, RootExplorer, Media Players, etc. The Flash drive is formatted using FAT32. When I try to configure Titanium Backup to use it as the destination folder for backup, I can get to the folder where the drive is mounted but the option "Use the current folder" is dimmed and I cannot press it to select the folder, please any help or guidance will be appreciated, thanks

<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" > <group gid="sdcard_rw" /> <group gid="media_rw" /> </permission>
this line is unavailable but i found this one :
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE" > <group gid="sdcard_rw" /> <group gid="media_rw" /> </permission>
is it the same thing ???

falciatrice10 said:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" > <group gid="sdcard_rw" /> <group gid="media_rw" /> </permission>
this line is unavailable but i found this one :
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE" > <group gid="sdcard_rw" /> <group gid="media_rw" /> </permission>
is it the same thing ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same case. WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE is in place as well as both permissions, and it doesn't solve the problem. Added WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE tag, didn't help either.

I found a correct solution on ( SURPRIIISE! ) Titanium Backup Troubleshooting FAQ
31. External SD Card problems (This Folder is NOT Writeable)
Since Android 4.4 and above, the SDCard permissions have been changed on how it is granted to an application. A quick way to fix this is by using SDFix application.
There is an elegant way of giving TitaniumBackup write access to the external sdcard, without having to forfeit security (as in method 3 below). Since the time of Android 4.3, Google uses a very clean security-solution by giving apps that request write access to external SD, permission only to their own folder – not to the entire card! In order to get TitaniumBackup to work without compromising security, you can simply create a folder on the external sdcard,using the following folder-structure: /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/
If you already have existing backups, move them with a file-explorer from their current place to: /storage/extSdCard/Android/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/ Lastly, go to the preferences of TitaniumBackup, choose “Backup folder location” and choose the above specified folder.
Finish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works!

ShurV said:
I found a correct solution on ( SURPRIIISE! ) Titanium Backup Troubleshooting FAQ
It works!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! It works for me.:good:

[SOLUTION] Titanium Backup not enough space 4.4.2 TW

Hi all!
I've updated from 4.3 to 4.4.2 Samsung Rom (tw). My case NB8.
Titanium Backup has stopped working. Shows the error "not enough space" when backing up to external sd card. Also, it shows that extsdcard is not writeable.
Here's the solution for i9505 to get it working, of course you need root to do that. It may work for other apps too and other phone models such i9500:
Edit file platform.xml in system/etc/permissions (make a backup first).
Search for this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
</permission>
Add this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
[COLOR="Green"][B]<group gid="media_rw" />[/B][/COLOR]
</permission>
Save changes and reboot.
Regards.

cybdani said:
Hi all!
I've updated from 4.3 to 4.4.2 Samsung Rom (tw). My case NB8.
Titanium Backup has stopped working. Shows the error "not enough space" when backing up to external sd card. Also, it shows that extsdcard is not writeable.
Here's the solution for i9505 to get it working, of course you need root to do that. It may work for other apps too and other phone models such i9500:
Edit file platform.xml in system/etc/permissions (make a backup first).
Search for this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
</permission>
Add this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
[COLOR="Green"][B]<group gid="media_rw" />[/B][/COLOR]
</permission>
Save changes and reboot.
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lifesaver, cheers! Now if only there was a way for TB to restore all your apps without you having to click Install and Done on each one, this will take all day!

nrps1 said:
Lifesaver, cheers! Now if only there was a way for TB to restore all your apps without you having to click Install and Done on each one, this will take all day!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The pro version does not ask to install afaik. It installs all apps automaticly
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9505 mit Tapatalk

benni2903 said:
The pro version does not ask to install afaik. It installs all apps automaticly
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9505 mit Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks to me like the ROM security itself, whenever I install anything it prompts for me to accept permissions etc, does this still apply?

If you are using the batch restore(?)(restore all backups + data) then it will not ask for every single app. TB just installs everything in the background
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9505 mit Tapatalk

benni2903 said:
If you are using the batch restore(?)(restore all backups + data) then it will not ask for every single app. TB just installs everything in the background
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9505 mit Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you are right benni2903.
I hope that this thread can help to users that are upgrading to TW 4.4.2. I've spent over half an hour to find out where the problem was.
Regards

benni2903 said:
If you are using the batch restore(?)(restore all backups + data) then it will not ask for every single app. TB just installs everything in the background
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9505 mit Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange, that is exactly what I chose and it was indeed asking for each one it needed to download (I assume). Oh well, I just flashed firmware and signed in on 1st boot and Google handled the rest instead!

nrps1 said:
Strange, that is exactly what I chose and it was indeed asking for each one it needed to download (I assume). Oh well, I just flashed firmware and signed in on 1st boot and Google handled the rest instead!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't configure my google account after a firm upgrade (if I deleted all data) until I've restored all apps using titanium. I install the free version from my external sd.

cybdani said:
Hi all!
I've updated from 4.3 to 4.4.2 Samsung Rom (tw). My case NB8.
Titanium Backup has stopped working. Shows the error "not enough space" when backing up to external sd card. Also, it shows that extsdcard is not writeable.
Here's the solution for i9505 to get it working, of course you need root to do that. It may work for other apps too and other phone models such i9500:
Edit file platform.xml in system/etc/permissions (make a backup first).
Search for this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
</permission>
Add this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
[COLOR="Green"][B]<group gid="media_rw" />[/B][/COLOR]
</permission>
Save changes and reboot.
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many many thanks for sharing this!
It really did the trick!
I was about to rip my hair off, didn't know whether to ask the kernel developer or the titanium support first.
Also TB doesn't need internet connection ob startup for license check. Now I can also use TB again offline with full functionality
You saved my day
P.S. I'll hit the thanks buttons tomorrow,i spend all my thanks today for @ktoonsez awesome kernel

thank you! this saved me from pulling my hair out when i flashed a new rom!

cybdani said:
Hi all!
I've updated from 4.3 to 4.4.2 Samsung Rom (tw). My case NB8.
Titanium Backup has stopped working. Shows the error "not enough space" when backing up to external sd card. Also, it shows that extsdcard is not writeable.
Here's the solution for i9505 to get it working, of course you need root to do that. It may work for other apps too and other phone models such i9500:
Edit file platform.xml in system/etc/permissions (make a backup first).
Search for this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
</permission>
Add this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
[COLOR="Green"][B]<group gid="media_rw" />[/B][/COLOR]
</permission>
Save changes and reboot.
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there - tried doing this fix using ES File Explorer - initially it wouldn't save so I coped the file out of original file path to internal SD to test and was able to save - tried pasting new file in and got error that the file system was read only (which was likely my original problem as suspected). How to I get around this, or change the file path location to writeable to simply save the original platform.xml?
Thanks,
~snowin
Disregard - I failed to see the little button where I could change permissions on the permissions folder Thanks for looking
---------- Post added at 06:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:22 PM ----------
OK - so after re-booting my internal SD card seems to be "lost". A bunch of apps FC including titanium. I can access my external SD card using ES @ /storage/extsdcard but the /sdcard/ & storage/emulated are all blanks. Can someone point me in the right direction? I'm running ezkat 2.0 ROM for Note ii

snowin said:
Hi there - tried doing this fix using ES File Explorer - initially it wouldn't save so I coped the file out of original file path to internal SD to test and was able to save - tried pasting new file in and got error that the file system was read only (which was likely my original problem as suspected). How to I get around this, or change the file path location to writeable to simply save the original platform.xml?
Thanks,
~snowin
Disregard - I failed to see the little button where I could change permissions on the permissions folder Thanks for looking
---------- Post added at 06:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:22 PM ----------
OK - so after re-booting my internal SD card seems to be "lost". A bunch of apps FC including titanium. I can access my external SD card using ES @ /storage/extsdcard but the /sdcard/ & storage/emulated are all blanks. Can someone point me in the right direction? I'm running ezkat 2.0 ROM for Note ii
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before to edit file, you need to mount system as RW. Then you can edit and save file. Root Explorer is better than es file explorer.

cybdani said:
Hi all!
I've updated from 4.3 to 4.4.2 Samsung Rom (tw). My case NB8.
Titanium Backup has stopped working. Shows the error "not enough space" when backing up to external sd card. Also, it shows that extsdcard is not writeable.
Here's the solution for i9505 to get it working, of course you need root to do that. It may work for other apps too and other phone models such i9500:
Edit file platform.xml in system/etc/permissions (make a backup first).
Search for this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
</permission>
Add this:
Code:
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" >
<group gid="sdcard_r" />
<group gid="sdcard_rw" />
[COLOR="Green"][B]<group gid="media_rw" />[/B][/COLOR]
</permission>
Save changes and reboot.
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks so much for the solution! Fixed my Umi Zero right up (now I can start tweaking , but I'm curious, how does this fix work? Thanks!

Root and SD Card Access

Does applying root to an AT&T S5 allow you to use apps like es file Explorer to move files from the phone storage to an SD card without write errors? Thanks.
-NVE

U need to go to /system/etc/permissions, find platform.xml and add
<group gid="media_rw" />
to WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
Then save and reboot.

Awesome! This is great news, thanks for the info.
-NVE
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

ngl_ro said:
U need to go to /system/etc/permissions, find platform.xml and add
<group gid="media_rw" />
to WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
Then save and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried to add the line you mentioned, but when I tried to save it and continue to reboot I got an error that the file couldn't be saved. I'm using ES File Explorer trying to edit the file. Any ideas?
-NVE
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

You need to mount /system as read / write ( click on Root Explorer in the navigation drawer of Es Explorer ).

ngl_ro said:
U need to go to /system/etc/permissions, find platform.xml and add
<group gid="media_rw" />
to WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
Then save and reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do I put it exactly or does it not matter? This is what I see :
<permission name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE">
<group gid="sdcard_r"/>
<group gid="sdcard_rw"/>
<group gid="media_rw"/></permission>
thanks.

[Q] KK4.4.4 External SDcard Fix. WTH?

In order to give permission to access my SDcard I followed the below instructions.
Using a root-enabled file manager navigate to, "/system/etc/permissions"
Edit "platform.xml" and find the "WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission."
Add an additional group definition for this permission: <group gid=”media_rw” />
Save the changes to the file.
Restart the phone.
It worked. The problem I'm having now is my Bluetooth will not load. It starts dark green then goes gray.
To try and fix this I simply re-edited the platform.xml and deleted,
<group gid=”media_rw” /> and did a cold restart. Bluetooth still will not working. Any ideas as to
why this happened and how to fix without re-installing.

Will rooting allow writing to external SD card?

If I root my S4 - only root, no custom ROM -, will it allow me to write to the external SD card? Or is a custom ROM required for that?

Yes.
The steps:
1. Make sure that you have root access
2. Perform a NANDROID backup to be completely safe
3. Use a root-enabled file manager and navigate to /system/etc/permissions
4. Edit platform.xml and find “WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE“
5. Add an additional group definition for this permission: <group gid=”media_rw” />
6. Save the changes and restart your device
You are now able to write on your external SD card again

Is step 5 put on a separate line? Until I root the phone, I can't see what you are saying to do. Maybe you can cut/paste the specific bit of code?

4. Edit platform.xml and find “WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE“
5. Add an additional group definition for this permission: <group gid=”media_rw” />
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to modify the file /platform.xml
Find the code "WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE".
Then add an additional "Group Definition" for this permission ("write_external_storage"):
-->> <group gid="media_rew" />
.