Database Users

[Q] How do you properly transfer files while booted into android?

Hi as title says I want to know how to transfer files propelry while booted into android kernel.
For example when you plug in your phone vai USB and use as card reader I can easily transfer files to and from but the problem is that when I unplug and go to view these files on phone the file system hasn't updated and I cant locate them on card.
Ive tried the unmount feature aswell as a hot reboot but nothing. Only way I can seem to do it is to power off and then boot back into android.
Is there any easier way or procedure that I need to follow?

TheATHEiST said:
Hi as title says I want to know how to transfer files propelry while booted into android kernel.
For example when you plug in your phone vai USB and use as card reader I can easily transfer files to and from but the problem is that when I unplug and go to view these files on phone the file system hasn't updated and I cant locate them on card.
Ive tried the unmount feature aswell as a hot reboot but nothing. Only way I can seem to do it is to power off and then boot back into android.
Is there any easier way or procedure that I need to follow?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
best bet is to load the files in winmo then boot into android

Dude that wasnt my question, obviously I can do that, thats not the point.
My question was the best way to transfer files while booted into android, if it possible then obviously booting into windows and back to android every time you want to move/access files isnt the "best" way and its inconvient.
I appreciate your reply but your answer was irelivant unless its the ONLY way which I doubt (well hope)
Does anybody have a solution?

As of now, the only good way to transfer files is indeed through WinMo (or with a MicroSD USB reader, with phone powered off or in WinMo). Most Android builds support USB Mass Storage, but I haven't heard of one that handles it perfectly (which isn't too surprising, considering Android runs -sort of- from the SD card).
So in short, no there is no other way at this moment that I know of.
Edit: There is a way: through WiFi! There are some applications available on the market that turn your phone into an FTP-server, I use Websharing (Lite) for this. They don't need an unmounted SD card, so they'll probably solve your problem.

StephanV said:
Edit: There is a way: through WiFi! There are some applications available on the market that turn your phone into an FTP-server, I use Websharing (Lite) for this. They don't need an unmounted SD card, so they'll probably solve your problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I was thinking more of teh same route, Ive been using drop box for the moment but FTP server would be much better.
I was hoping there would be a solution to been able to access teh files that have been sent via mass storage mode but this could be just as good.
thnx for suggestion.

This is not a quickfix, but I was frustrated with the same problem last night when I was trying to locate the files that I just transferred to the phone. I noticed that unmounting, and remounting doesn't refresh the folders in the system. But I managed to find the transferred files after unmounting the sd card, and then browsing to the root sd card path instead of the mounted partition.
So, instead of mnt/sdcard/ you should look for the files in /sdcard after unmounting the card. See if that works, at least it worked for me last night.

Use droid explorer

[Q] Catch-22 eLocity A7

I have installed A7Comb rom which mostly does a good job. The biggest problem is that external sdcard and usb are inaccessible. If I choose to go back to 3.01 where I had this capability, access to external sdcard is required to flash the old rom. Am I screwed or are there any other alternatives?
ooorah

im not positive, but if i remember correctly you have access to the external sd (using Root Explorer or something like it) there is /Mnt/sdcard check in there im not sure the exact directory, but im pretty sure it was in there when i was using A7comb, then you can copy and paste the update.zip to the root of the sd
Let me know if you can't find it, i will flash A7comb real quick to give you a hand

Catch-22 eLocity A7
smallba, Thanks for the reply. Can root explorer be used to do the rom flashing? I can get the 1.41 rom on the sdcard using my desktop, but the A7 can't see it. I've tried to flash using the start button routine, but it never recognizes the sdcard and sends me back to boot. Then I cant boot until I remove the sdcard. Also, even though I'm rooted and have superuser, root explorer always fc's. What a mess.
ooorah

ooorah said:
I have installed A7Comb rom which mostly does a good job. The biggest problem is that external sdcard and usb are inaccessible. If I choose to go back to 3.01 where I had this capability, access to external sdcard is required to flash the old rom. Am I screwed or are there any other alternatives?
ooorah
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try mnt/external_sd ..

ooorah said:
smallba, Thanks for the reply. Can root explorer be used to do the rom flashing? I can get the 1.41 rom on the sdcard using my desktop, but the A7 can't see it. I've tried to flash using the start button routine, but it never recognizes the sdcard and sends me back to boot. Then I cant boot until I remove the sdcard. Also, even though I'm rooted and have superuser, root explorer always fc's. What a mess.
ooorah
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have Sdhc adaptor physically plug the micro sdhc in the computer and then move the update zip to the sd?
What kind of sdcard are u using?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

Thanks for your reply. At /mnt/external_sd the sd folder is shown as empty.
ooorah

smallba I connect via usb to my desktop using a Targus adapter. The sdscard is Kingston 2gb formatted fat32. I cut/paste update.zip to the sd card.
ooorah

Do you have a cell phone to try the sd card in? I just want to make sure it is not corrupted, you have flashed before using this same sdcard?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

Yes I've used this sd card to flash on my Acer A500. I'm sure it's ok.
ooorah

What does it do when you put in and pull out the sdcard?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

When sdcard is installed I look at externai_sd and it's empty. I cannot reboot until the sdcard is removed. BTW, various mount apps I've tried fail to recognize the presence of a sdcard.
ooorah

I know I been asking many questions, but it recognized in the accer?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

Yes, sdcard was recognized in Acer 500. Content was shown under external sd.

A7
What rom are you trying to flash back to?
I had some issues reverting back from A7Comb.
I think I had to flash back to stock first.

Re: your previous post, how can I flash back to stock if I can't find external sd?
ooorah

Cant read SD
I reloaded my copy of A7Comb and will play around with it to see if I run into the same issue. If the SD can't be used, it may be possible to connect via USB/ADB and push the stock images.
However, I have never used ADB with the A7, only with other devices. I will also try and figure that out to see if that's a viable option. Will need to find the drivers and get those loaded. Been meaning to test ADB with this device anyway.

Thanks DANO, I'd appreciate the help.
ooorah

I'll do what I can, I'm no expert, but I am very comfortable with ADB and have no concerns about messing with my A7. I've been meaning to do this for a while anyway. Will probably take me a few days to get get the A7 connected to ADB as its USB port doesn't play nice, and there are some tricks to getting windows/ADB to pick up the device. I'm also gonna try and lookup Dexter to see if he can give me some tips on doing this.

I used ADB last March and rooted my CRUZ 7" tablet. Whether it will work with a usb connection to eLocity A7 will have to be tried. I'll play around to see if I can get it working. If I get that far I'll have to wait for further instructions.
ps I can use a usb keyboard with no problem. ooorah

Yeah, keyboards, thumb drives, etc. should all work as the A7’s USB slot is set to host mode by default. The trick is flipping the switch to slave/device mode so we can use ADB to communicate with it.
Dexter’s A7Comb Rom had an App “OTG” for doing this (with a reboot), but when I tried it out, my Windows 7 box only saw the device but still didn’t fully communicate with it (ADB didn’t see it at all). Most likely due to the lack of a driver, or rather telling it where the driver was.
I’ve got some info on doing this, and I plan on trying to get this up and going tonight. Once I get ADB connected to the A7, I would think we should be able to push a new recovery image or something along those lines to fix whatever happened with the SD Card.
Just curious, have you tried a factory reset, data wipe, etc. (then reboot back into recovery), and tried to run the update.zip from the SD Card. I doubt this will work, but the A7 re-writes the recovery image with each update, therefore if something got corrupted, perhaps a wipe will fix whatever is broken in recovery by way of re-writing it. I’m not sure if recovery gets replaced with just a data wipe/reset, but if you don’t mind resetting your device it might be worth a shot.

External SD card

Hey guys I am new just got the tablet yesterday. My question is how can I save things like kernels and things to my SD card? It saves yo internal storage and then from there I try n use astro file manager to move it to external from the mnt section but it lets my see the external card it just wont allow me paste it there I had to put SD in my Atrix and then do it and then have to out it back in the a500. Thank u I am rooted using the minimalist rom
Sent from my Motorola Atrix 4G MB860 using XDA Premium App

I have same issue.
i Just re-bought my Iconia last night. I rooted this unit for the first time soon after (MinimalistRom). I see the same thing your seeing. Internal memory is seen as sdcard and my added MicroSD is read as external1. External2 I have to assume would be storage connected to usb connection. Yes i cant copy files over to microsd (external1) from internal (so called SDCard). I'm going to try giving permissions to that xternal1 mnt folder using es explorer like i read in other earlier topic. Ill try to post what i find out.

make sure your tab is rooted then either use es file explorer or root explorer and it will work just fine. I don't think astro can manage it.

I couldnt figure it out. Got to the point of instaling superuser, busybox, super manager and ghost commander. Got every thing, i guess, somewhat hooked up. But in super manager's file explorer, i could get it to chmod rwe on owner --- and other r-e. Group had everything checked rwe. I guess there is something else i'm missing here to change this directories permission. So I'm stumped at the moment and re-image with another rom to see if it correct the mounting of this microsd card external1. Sure would like to figure this out to have app manager send app2sd to my microsd class 10 card on external1.

Sauyai1 said:
I couldnt figure it out. Got to the point of instaling superuser, busybox, super manager and ghost commander. Got every thing, i guess, somewhat hooked up. But in super manager's file explorer, i could get it to chmod rwe on owner --- and other r-e. Group had everything checked rwe. I guess there is something else i'm missing here to change this directories permission. So I'm stumped at the moment and re-image with another rom to see if it correct the mounting of this microsd card external1. Sure would like to figure this out to have app manager send app2sd to my microsd class 10 card on external1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"I could get it to chmod rwe on owner.." ....couldn't get it to chmod rwe...

That's why we need the DEVs to tear this script apart and make it works with custom roms
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1175342
so far, no taker
bump it to the top once in awhile if you can
~~~

[Q] First impressions & SD card issue?

Hi,
Just Got the 7.7 3g - so far so good. Screen is as good as they say
The extra resolution defn. helps with web browsing.
Not finding any lag really.
7.7 is just about the limit for my two handed use but i would say the original 7" was a wee bit easier to handle but something with time should become more intuitive.
Just a few issues - external sd card is somewhat limited. Might be deliberate by Samsung but does not make sense.
Normal user apps cant access to the external sdcard. Using connect bot, i checked permissions and it seems that it is mounted by the os with system permissions, where as the internal sdcard is mounted as sd_rw.
This can't be correct? The only way to copy stuff to it is to use the samsung system file explorer as it has system permissions So copy to internal first then to external - this sounds like a bug?
I have not rooted this yet - might then chown to sd_rw get rid of this ?? There is a lot of entries in the vold.fstab to make sense of. Not a hacker so just looking around. A bit too early to start soft-bricking
But I take these don't have protected bootloaders so thats why we can root ?
Video playback is v.good but I am not able to throw on a bluray m2ts file (obviously with the sd card issue) and play smoothly. I found Dice player can handle m2ts by renaming it to a ts file. It then can use hardware decoding. Still drops frames but still watchable to a certain degree. For all other files mx player is still best. I have lossy transcoded some "native" blurays clips and seems that it handle high profile h264 1080p at high bitrates very well. Hoping, formatting sd card ext3/ext4 will improve things.
On the whole very impressive device - plus more ics goodies to come soon hopefully.

I've noticed some issues with the external SD card as well. Only the stock file manager can copy files from the internal storage to the external storage. I was able to transfer files to the ext. SD via Dooblou's Wifi Explorer, though. Although that would crap out a few times.
I'm hoping that we see some new ROMs with a different file system at any rate. The 4GB limit is so 1998.

Fix for external sd write issue
I've already posted a fix for this in our original thread?
davp said:
There is a fix for the write to external storage in this thread:
Samsung Galaxy Tab Plus->Galaxy Tab Plus General->unable to write files to external sd card
post #7
Requires root to apply fix.
There is a new permission that older file managers aren't asking for yet. The stock file manager knows to ask for it.
Fix worked for my P6810 wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thaloneus said:
I can't post a link to the original post on another forum that worked for me so I will quote it:
Simple solution for external sdcard write access on Android 3.2...if you're rooted
I've found a simple solution for gaining write access to the external sdcard (/mnt/sdcard2) on Android 3.2. The sdcard is mounted r/w, but the owning group is media_rw which is linked to the WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE permission. Unfortunately, this permission was not required for access to the external sdcard prior to 3.2 so most file management utilities do not request it when they run...meaning they only have read access to the card.
The simple solution, if you're rooted, is as follows:
1. Using a root-enabled file manager, navigate to /system/etc/permissions and make sure you have mounted the file system r/w.
2. Edit platform.xml and find the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
3. Add an additional group definition for this permission...<group gid="media_rw" />
4. Save the changes to the file.
5. Restart your tablet.
After this change, any apps that request the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission (which includes almost anything that access either of the sdcards) will gain group membership in both sdcard_rw AND media_rw, giving them r/w access to both sdcard filesystems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Rooted and then applied this change.
Can write to ext sdcard !!!!
Cheers

Will apply as soon as i get tad, should be getting it today, cant wait
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

I think you have to format the sd card in the tab. I been able to transfer files no problem. Maybe its due to the mtp for the internal sd.
Sent from my GT-P6800 using xda premium

will6316 said:
I think you have to format the sd card in the tab. I been able to transfer files no problem. Maybe its due to the mtp for the internal sd.
Sent from my GT-P6800 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using downloaded apps or the stock File Manager app? Because I formatted the SD card in the Tab and nothing else can write to it. Now, I can drag and drop stuff from my computer via MTP, but that's not the same issue.

Ok, I'm trying to add the permission and it doesn't seem to save after a reboot. I'm rooted and made sure to mount that directory as R/W. After I edit platform.xml and reboot it simply reverts. Can anyone offer a more granular description to this n00b?
Thanks.
Edit: Nevermind. I edited the file on my computer and copied it over the original and am good to go.

burhanistan said:
Ok, I'm trying to add the permission and it doesn't seem to save after a reboot. I'm rooted and made sure to mount that directory as R/W. After I edit platform.xml and reboot it simply reverts. Can anyone offer a more granular description to this n00b?
Thanks.
Edit: Nevermind. I edited the file on my computer and copied it over the original and am good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Burhanistan. I had this problem too and did what you did to get around it. Now I can read/write to the external SD with any file explorer.

Hello,
I can access the external SD with no problem, only issue is Titanium backup showing 440Mb capacity on the external SD (32Gb card).
Anyone with the same issue? Any fix?
Thanks.

No problem for me
davp said:
I've already posted a fix for this in our original thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Things must have changed as i got my P6800 recently did the upgrade from samsung and tried to copy to external sd and no problem for me. I never tried to do it pre upgrade but maybe the upgrade fixed that. Re i can copy and paste to device from my pc when its connected - to both device and sd. I can also copy using the the stock file manager from device to sd card.

No Issues here also
I recieved the tap a week ago. Now my 32GB Sandisk SD is here.
The Tap did at the first startup and using the described 12 MB Android update via internet conn.
Until now there is no issue between writing from/to SD over PC/MTP, copying between internal and external SD. Used preinstalled Filemanager and ES File Ex.
I tried it unrooted and rooted but not before the Android update.

davp said:
Simple solution for external sdcard write access on Android 3.2...if you're rooted
I've found a simple solution for gaining write access to the external sdcard (/mnt/sdcard2) on Android 3.2. The sdcard is mounted r/w, but the owning group is media_rw which is linked to the WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE permission. Unfortunately, this permission was not required for access to the external sdcard prior to 3.2 so most file management utilities do not request it when they run...meaning they only have read access to the card.
The simple solution, if you're rooted, is as follows:
1. Using a root-enabled file manager, navigate to /system/etc/permissions and make sure you have mounted the file system r/w.
2. Edit platform.xml and find the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission.
3. Add an additional group definition for this permission...<group gid="media_rw" />
4. Save the changes to the file.
5. Restart your tablet.
After this change, any apps that request the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission (which includes almost anything that access either of the sdcards) will gain group membership in both sdcard_rw AND media_rw, giving them r/w access to both sdcard filesystems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some people are reporting the above procedure is no more needed, however, with several apps (like Titanium backup, and a SAMBA explorer), writing to the sdcard (extstorage/.../sdcard) is still impossible (GT6800 updated to latest samsung firmware).
I have used this procedure and can state that Titanium backup works now with the SD card.
Thanks to many reading within the XDA forum, I have found this simpler procedure :
- download / install the "Root Browser Lite" app from the android market
- add write access to group and other to the following directory: /system, /system/etc, /system/etc/permissions (with root browser Lite, press on the directory name during 3 seconds to get a contextual menu allowing to change the permissions)
- add write access to group and other to the file platform.xml in /system/etc/permissions
- use the editor of "Root Browser Lite" to modify the file platform.xml as described above (you should have two <group gid= ...> lines within the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE xml block.)
- save the file. Verify that a .bak file has been created and that the date of platform.xml changed.
- remove the write access.
- Turn off the GTAB, then turn it ON.
NB: Titanium backup still reports a erronous free size on the SD card (401MB), but backups on the sdcard work.

can't save the xlm doc
davp said:
I've already posted a fix for this in our original thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I edit the file but when I try to save it I fail because it says original saved as .....xlm.bak, but I can't find that file and the one I find is unchanged, any ideas?

There is an automated installer for the fix here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=21670802
Is for the plus but worked fine for me
Sent from my SCH-I815 using Tapatalk

damm, must forget something, just followed exacty all the steps
still no writing on sd card
the automatic installer failed also

IS there a way to go into the (forgive the incorrect term) "registry" or similar, and have Android re-interpret/understand that instead of looking in "/sdcard"... it should instead look/point programs to "/mnt/sdcard/extstorages/sdcard"...
i heard that it might be called something like a "simlink" or "symbolic link"... maybe this could resolve the application installation issue to the sdcard as well as backups, transfers, etc... right now, not only do i run out of space too fast, can't install apps to the sd card, but as well, if i should run a hard reset... all my data erases! (yes, the internal "SD card" is erased in a hard reset)...
so, for all practical senses, when it says it will erase data, unless you KNOW you have copied ALL you user data to your "Real" SD Card, you will kill your data without even knowing it when you do a hard reset, even if you "thought" you were protected because "I saved my info to the SD card!"
(and yes, this was my experience today, so it's a fact.)
backup programs won't point to the sd card, (app manager, titanium, app list backup, etc)...
so unless you actively move files individually to the card (and know where to look)...
Bottom line... is there a hack/workaround on this that's not just "open up for file transfers" or is someone working on a ROM that might kill the partitioning and allow the /sdcard to actually point to a real external card?

Edited: Nevermind...

acess-rights-hell
hi forum
i would like to use the EzyKernel v1 - 23/02/2012 as in post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1513413&highlight=ezykernel
one of the prerequisites is a stock ZSKL firmware.
on the tab is/was XXKL4 AUT/CH
i successfully flashed the ZSKL2 - but that's where the nightmare started: i could not write to sdcard, busybox/superuser don't work properly, as i can't get root via su - which means to me, that there are messed up accessrights also in other places, not just the SD. the funny thing is, that i finally got the overclocking EzyKernel working, but not busybox + superuser.
does that sound familiar to anyone ?
i would really appreciate any ideas about this.
thank you
with best regards from switzerland
roland

could you please explain what "make sure you have mounted the file system r/w" means. And sorry for my noob question, but does this fix allow to install apps on the external sd card or I'm missing something.

[Q] Need Help. Phone Bricked

I was following this guide to root, install a custom recovery, and then flash a ROM onto my phone. I rooted successfully and created a back up. I then copied the backup onto my external sd card. I then put the custom rom onto my sd card and entered recovery mode on CWM. I wiped my device and then realized that the custom rom was the incorrect file. I then went to restore and it gave me an error md5 mismatch. I then went to restore of external sd card and it said it could not find the directory. I then went to restart phone and CWM said I was not rooted anymore and asked if I wanted root access and I hit yes.
My phone will not start and just remains in the Samsung loading screen with an unlocked graphic with the words "custom" under it. I am able to get back into CWM recovery but nothing else seems to work. I appreciate any help I can get. Thanks

domisterwoozy said:
I was following this guide to root, install a custom recovery, and then flash a ROM onto my phone. I rooted successfully and created a back up. I then copied the backup onto my external sd card. I then put the custom rom onto my sd card and entered recovery mode on CWM. I wiped my device and then realized that the custom rom was the incorrect file. I then went to restore and it gave me an error md5 mismatch. I then went to restore of external sd card and it said it could not find the directory. I then went to restart phone and CWM said I was not rooted anymore and asked if I wanted root access and I hit yes.
My phone will not start and just remains in the Samsung loading screen with an unlocked graphic with the words "custom" under it. I am able to get back into CWM recovery but nothing else seems to work. I appreciate any help I can get. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can either use a MicroSD to SD adpater and the computer's card reader to copy a ROM over and flash it, or ODIN back to stock, and start over.

Ol' Dirty Bastard said:
You can either use a MicroSD to SD adpater and the computer's card reader to copy a ROM over and flash it, or ODIN back to stock, and start over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Much better. Was that so hard? Thank you for details.
(jab)

Any ideas why it cannot find directory when I try to restore from my external sd card.

write protected
domisterwoozy said:
Any ideas why it cannot find directory when I try to restore from my external sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Clueless here. Made a post about it.
I just discovered today more than just myself are unable to plug the handset into a computer to exchange files. I can get things off the phone onto the computer, but not vice versa.
Also the handset itself is fussy when it comes to viewing it's own external SD card. It would seem it doesn't take much for it to disappear, once in recovery.

fukenbiker said:
Clueless here. Made a post about it.
I just discovered today more than just myself are unable to plug the handset into a computer to exchange files. I can get things off the phone onto the computer, but not vice versa.
Also the handset itself is fussy when it comes to viewing it's own external SD card. It would seem it doesn't take much for it to disappear, once in recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This phone does not support mass USB storage. It uses MTP and PTP protocols. This information is available in several threads in the forum. Now, of course, even with MTP and PTP you should be able to still transfer files from a PC to the Ext. SD card considering you have the correct drivers. Perhaps your SD card isn't playing nice with your phone? Have you tried removing the card from your phone and transferring files to it dierectly from you PC via SD slot or card reader? Have you tried other brands? I find Samsung cards work best, but that is just me, This will help to see if it is the phone (possibly cable) or the card that is having issues.
Also, you can check this out. It supposedly enables Mass USB storage for this phone...though it still says it doesn't work for the Ext. SD card. I have never tried it, so if you do it is at your own risk but maybe it will help? Good luck.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mohammadag.samsungusbmassstorageenabler
The app says it is for the SIII, but people have reported it as working with the S4 as well.

thank you
scott14719 said:
This phone does not support mass USB storage. It uses MTP and PTP protocols. This information is available in several threads in the forum. Now, of course, even with MTP and PTP you should be able to still transfer files from a PC to the Ext. SD card considering you have the correct drivers. Perhaps your SD card isn't playing nice with your phone? Have you tried removing the card from your phone and transferring files to it dierectly from you PC via SD slot or card reader? Have you tried other brands? I find Samsung cards work best, but that is just me, This will help to see if it is the phone (possibly cable) or the card that is having issues.
Also, you can check this out. It supposedly enables Mass USB storage for this phone...though it still says it doesn't work for the Ext. SD card. I have never tried it, so if you do it is at your own risk but maybe it will help? Good luck.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mohammadag.samsungusbmassstorageenabler
The app says it is for the SIII, but people have reported it as working with the S4 as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am too happy to experiment like that. The AT&T S4 running GoldenEye with no add ons is the best darn handset I've ever enjoyed. I love being rid of the bloatware. I don't miss it a bit. I will fuss around with the SD interface as I do have resources like you mentioned, I can try a different chip. I didn't consider that a bad chip would cause the computer to consider the entire handset as "read only", yet you suggest it's possible?

fukenbiker said:
I am too happy to experiment like that. The AT&T S4 running GoldenEye with no add ons is the best darn handset I've ever enjoyed. I love being rid of the bloatware. I don't miss it a bit. I will fuss around with the SD interface as I do have resources like you mentioned, I can try a different chip. I didn't consider that a bad chip would cause the computer to consider the entire handset as "read only", yet you suggest it's possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anything is possible and it would be a simple way to maybe help identify where the problem lies. Better yet, take your sd card out of your phone and try a transfer. That will let you know if it has anything to do with it. If it still doesn't work, it more than likely has nothing to do with the SD card.
Can you transfer files from your External SD card to your phones internal SD memory and the other way around (via a file manager on your phone)?
If you can, I can't see how it would be a "read' only problem.

scott14719 said:
Anything is possible and it would be a simple way to maybe help identify where the problem lies. Better yet, take your sd card out of your phone and try a transfer. That will let you know if it has anything to do with it. If it still doesn't work, it more than likely has nothing to do with the SD card.
Can you transfer files from your External SD card to your phones internal SD memory and the other way around (via a file manager on your phone)?
If you can, I can't see how it would be a "read' only problem.
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I should unhook my phone from the 3.5mm jack and look into this. As I type, my S4 is piping in my playlist to provide the wife and I musical background for our activities. I remember using "Root Explorer" recently to delete a nandroid backup, and to move said playlist off the SD card into Phone memory. The "write protected" error showed up directly after building this playlist, using the computer to organize it. It's brand new, and as a good troubleshooter, we always look at the last thing you did different. I used the "windows explorer" to edit my playlist on the phone while it was plugged up together.
It's turning out to be a bigger deal than just myself, and I should pursue your recommendation for testing and reports, but it's not broken enough to fix and it's Sunday night, and the music is more important at this juncture.
Edit:
I powered down and then removed the Micro SD, and when I powered back up, it showed that cool padlock icon with the label "Custom" screen during boot up. I hadn't seen that screen on boot up since I used Casual to get a TWRP recovery.
I tethered the handset to the Desktop and opened the windows explorer. Obviously it just showed phone this time, instead of phone and card. I tested copying files and it worked fine, the "write protected" error was gone.
I unhooked, powered down, put the micro SD card back in, powered up and noted the boot up screen was back to normal. Tethered up again and voila! Files can be written to the phone and or the card and no more "write protected" error.
Funny little fluke. Problem solved. Curiosity remains.