[Q] Devices that still support UMS - General Questions and Answers

My Galaxy Victory LTE will not support UMS, barring a modified kernel, which doesn't seem to exist. I would assume this is because not many people have this phone so no one cares. So it looks like if I want to use my phone the way I want, I need a different one.
So what modern phones will I still be able to use USB Mass Storage on the external SD card either out of the box or with a root and app?

Thanks

Anything that is running Android 4.0 or lower.
They removed it in 4.1.2. Which I HATE. MTP is unstable, slow, incompatible with a zillion things and did I mention unstable?! (18 different phones, 12 different pc's.)

Related

USB Mass Storage vs MTP

Any thoughts about the advantages/disadvantages of MTP over mass storage? Some custom ICS ROMs only allow the default MTP, and it is likely the stock ICS will do the same.
For me, here are the advantages of each one:
MTP:
1. Can copy files over (like APKs) and then access on them on the device without mounting/unmounting
2. File transfer is available immediately when plugged in without having to mount
Mass storage:
1. Better security since you have to get past the lock screen to mount
2. Is actually a real drive in Windows, so you can do all operations normally
On second look, the internal storage does not show up in Windows until the phone is unlocked. So scratch out advantage #2 for mass storage.
When google finalizes config for ics in nexus s, your /sdcard partition will mount as USB mass storage just like it always has.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Noticed it is much slower than mass storage.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
galaxy nexus doesn't have UMS so it's easy to understand that ICS source now don't support UMS, still we will have UMS for nexus s in near future
Possible to repartition Nexus S like Galaxy Nexus?
For future reference, here's Google's statement on the matter, courtesy of Dan Morrill:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/21/ice-cream-sandwich-supports-usb-mass-storage-after-all-galaxy-n/
---------- Post added at 12:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:45 PM ----------
oakamil said:
Any thoughts about the advantages/disadvantages of MTP over mass storage? Some custom ICS ROMs only allow the default MTP, and it is likely the stock ICS will do the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After considering the trade-offs, I think it's clear to me that I would prefer a partition structure like the Galaxy Nexus, as I can easily deal with MTP-only PC access in exchange for more space on the data partition.
Thus, I wonder has anyone found a way to repartition their Galaxy S to be like a Galaxy Nexus, such that all 16GB of internal memory is data storage and there exists no separate USB storage partition?
Once the repartitioning has been performed, what other modifications might be necessary (to the recovery, ROM, etc)?
Thanks!
SIDE QUESTION: Where can I find the MTP drivers for my Nexus S? I run Windows 7 and I have ICS on my Nexus S.
Nothing changes for Nexus S, UMS stays as it is.
ICS supports both.
Galaxy Nexus (and newer devices) will have MTP only.
madd0g said:
Nothing changes for Nexus S, UMS stays as it is.
ICS supports both.
Galaxy Nexus (and newer devices) will have MTP only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Humm.... But Windows does not recognize the USB storage. I don't see the "mount/unmount" option in Storage params. menu in ICS... Am I doing something wrong!?!?!
SalsaForte said:
Humm.... But Windows does not recognize the USB storage. I don't see the "mount/unmount" option in Storage params. menu in ICS... Am I doing something wrong!?!?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since we are using the sources from Galaxy Nexus, UMS support is limited to a few ROMs with some hacks (like kwiboo's, it has UMS). When we get an official release, things will become simpler.
-1
formula84 said:
Noticed it is much slower than mass storage.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is what i hate the most about MTP
MTP tunnels also has limited format support, the driver determines which file formats are allowed and which are not
usually they block all DRM signed contents
you do not get an error message, the transfer bar will just get stuck at the same percentage forever ...
... well you do get an error message after like an hour waiting for it to finish, and you get the time out message
Hey guys , i know some people say that MTP is faster than usb storage. But on my own experiance things take about 3 to 4 times more time to copy over.
If someone can point me to which drivers they use to see if i can probably install them cause i find it really slow and my device Gets recognized fine.
I know people complained about MTP a lot, but I really miss having it now that I'm not using beezy's SDK port. it was really nice that it auto-mounts, and allows you to access the storage from your pc and your phone simultaneously, and it transferred about 5x faster for me than MSD does....the only complaint I had is my ps3 couldn't read it because it wasn't a true storage drive. Honestly, though, for me, the benefits FAR outweighed the drawbacks.
I agree with the guy above. It was ultra convenient. Now I use airDroid for all of the above...
Sent from my Nexus S 4G
david279 said:
I agree with the guy above. It was ultra convenient. Now I use airDroid for all of the above...
Sent from my Nexus S 4G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll check that one out, thanks!! I've been looking for an alternative until someone builds a rom with MTP again
I'm also missing MTP on my Nexus S. Any hacks or ROMs known how to get it back?
I prefer UMS over MTP
Since I theoretically have a total of 48 GB of storage on my phone, I'd benefit from the speed of UMS. I regularly transfer 1080p movies and stuff to and from my Galaxy SII. Also, I could organise files very easily and quickly.
However, after upgrading from Gingerbread 2.3.4 to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3, the UMS function has disappeared forever. I could go back to GB, but I don't want to do that.
i hate mtp... can't transfer large files :-(
oakamil said:
Any thoughts about the advantages/disadvantages of MTP over mass storage? Some custom ICS ROMs only allow the default MTP, and it is likely the stock ICS will do the same.
For me, here are the advantages of each one:
MTP:
1. Can copy files over (like APKs) and then access on them on the device without mounting/unmounting
2. File transfer is available immediately when plugged in without having to mount
Mass storage:
1. Better security since you have to get past the lock screen to mount
2. Is actually a real drive in Windows, so you can do all operations normally
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ICS allows Mass Storage Mode when possible at block level. And for both MTP and UMC you have to unlock the screen first to view it on the computer.
DA6030 said:
Thus, I wonder has anyone found a way to repartition their Galaxy S to be like a Galaxy Nexus, such that all 16GB of internal memory is data storage and there exists no separate USB storage partition?
Once the repartitioning has been performed, what other modifications might be necessary (to the recovery, ROM, etc)?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure but, I don't think that would be possible, because depends too much on hardware level. Just take a look at GT-I9100 Pit analysis.
vantt1 said:
Since I theoretically have a total of 48 GB of storage on my phone, I'd benefit from the speed of UMS. I regularly transfer 1080p movies and stuff to and from my Galaxy SII. Also, I could organise files very easily and quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the android device had UMS, surely you couldn't copy there some of your 1080p movies, because the sdcard will be formatted in FAT32 instead of EXT4, so no bigger files than 4 GB.
MTP uses the native filesystem on which the partition was formatted, so in this particular case of large files it's an advantage for you.
Anyway, if both the data and sdcard are physically the same partition, you won't ever be able to achieve USM because you just can't mount only a part of a partition at block level device, if you know what I mean. You could do it only, if possible, at recovery mode where the top level partition (root, /) is not mounted.
Read more here:
[GUIDE] MTP and PTP (Media Transfer Protocol) vs UMC (Mass Storage Class)
I'm having huge problems on a Sony device since updating to ICS. One of my paid apps is for syncing specific content and the devs said it's related to the MTP standard in ICS+, that UMS is much better for the task.
I bought my phone to replace my iPod, it's fairly well-featured for the job. But unless I fix this MTP problem, I may go back to Gingerbread.

Mounting as Mass Storage

I am unable to connect my TF700 as mass storage on Ubuntu 12.04. I tried with USB debugging enabled and disabled. PTP works but is extremely restrictive. There's an adress about the filetransfer page on android's web page, but it just provides Mac dmgs.
I wasn't expecting that since my Galaxy Note running ICS mounts as mass storage without hassle. There's even a "USB utilities" under Settings.
The apps claiming to mount Android devices seem to require root. I am using gMTP as a workaround for now. But I'd much rather have mass storage. Any tips?
sapienssapiens said:
The apps claiming to mount Android devices seem to require root. I am using gMTP as a workaround for now. But I'd much rather have mass storage. Any tips?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ICS removed support for mass storage (e.g. see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1351097), it is usually available for samsung devices because they hack it into their touchwiz UI.
i also hate MTP because it is slow as hell, mtpfs or gMTP don't work properly for me, it takes about 20-30 seconds until the device is found (same for my galaxy nexus, tried many different libmtp versions..) and then it also takes ages to go into a folder or copy files. if i want to copy pictures to the PC i boot my virtualbox windows....
enough ranting i just found "jmtpfs" this week (which still relies on libmtp) which works a little bit better than mtpfs or gMTP, see: http://research.jacquette.com/jmtpfs-exchanging-files-between-android-devices-and-linux/
I used the app "stick mount" on my samsung galaxy note with aosp ics. But I think the device has to be rooted.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app
masiegel said:
I used the app "stick mount" on my samsung galaxy note with aosp ics. But I think the device has to be rooted.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an app for mounting USB sticks n your device -- the Tf700 supports that natively, so you would not need an app like that. The OP's question is if the memory of the TF700 itself can be mounted as a native USB Mass Storage Device, if I understand correctly. The only correct answer to that is already in post #2: no, it cannot (natively), because MSD were dunked in ICS (to my dismay; thanks a bunch, Google, it stopped my SGS2 from working as a USB pen drive at work). A custom ROM could fix this, as several did for my phone (SGS2).
MartyHulskemper said:
That's an app for mounting USB sticks n your device -- the Tf700 supports that natively, so you would not need an app like that. The OP's question is if the memory of the TF700 itself can be mounted as a native USB Mass Storage Device, if I understand correctly. The only correct answer to that is already in post #2: no, it cannot (natively), because MSD were dunked in ICS (to my dismay; thanks a bunch, Google, it stopped my SGS2 from working as a USB pen drive at work). A custom ROM could fix this, as several did for my phone (SGS2).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CyanogenMod adds this feature back doesn't it? I know on my phone, CM9 has it available (and strangely, no MTP support). I know my stock ICS Blur lets me use MTP or mass storage.
But I wonder if there's an app that will let me mount as a mass storage? Or do we have to wait for some devs to do it in a ROM? I will install the custom ROM just for that, because MTP is just PAINFUL.
MartyHulskemper said:
The only correct answer to that is already in post #2: no, it cannot (natively), because MSD were dunked in ICS (to my dismay; thanks a bunch, Google
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did they provide any reason for ditching MSD? Are they too lazy to bother with partitioning issues? It's a grotesquely **** move by Google...
Depends on the device. For example, my phone supports it through cm but my Touchpad did not.
They probably switched to it so apps with SD card files in use wouldnt abruptly lose file access and panic
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app
KilerG said:
CyanogenMod adds this feature back doesn't it? I know on my phone, CM9 has it available (and strangely, no MTP support). I know my stock ICS Blur lets me use MTP or mass storage.
But I wonder if there's an app that will let me mount as a mass storage? Or do we have to wait for some devs to do it in a ROM? I will install the custom ROM just for that, because MTP is just PAINFUL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed it's a CM-specific feature, although some other ROMs have built-in tricks that they ripped off of CM. I hate MTP as well, because it won't go where I work (hospital, no admin access, no installs allowed).
EDIT: might this do the trick: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.abraxas.mountusb.donate ?? I don't know, but give it quick whirl and see. <?>
sapienssapiens said:
Did they provide any reason for ditching MSD? Are they too lazy to bother with partitioning issues? It's a grotesquely **** move by Google...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the jump to MTP was primarily because of the past: small on-board memories. Earlier versions of Android kept reserved space for system partitions, data partitions and so on to prevent the system running out of RAM because of the amount of installed apps and the volume of their data storage. Nowadays, memory is so large that that precaution is no longer needed, as any recent phone should have ample memory. And, indeed, you are right: the secondary advantage of MTP is the filesystem being accessible to the system itself while also being 'seen' by the host (Windows, for example), thus preventing running apps from being 'orphaned' from their data storages.

[Q] S-OFF on p3110 possible?

I am not sure if this post is placed right. If not I hope that Moderator can move it to the right place...
I have just rooted my Galaxy Tab 2 7" (P3110 - Android 4.0.4) as I wanted to be able to use my external memory card for apps and not for music, films and photos only. I must say that I got a little bit dissapointed when I failed to get link2sd to work and started to google for som epossible solutions.
The most reasonable one I could come up with us that my tab2 have S-ON?
Is it possible to see it that's the case?
If so that it has S-ON, is there any way to make it S-OFF?
I am kind of new to Android and don't really know what to look for or if it's even possible on the p3110 to use the external memory card for apps. The interlan memory of 8gb, shared with the system, is kind of low (only 4gb left) and I can't even install apps like TomTom, various games etc on a clean system with the amout of memory I have available.
I have Googled and didn't find much of info regarding S-ON/OFF on the Galaxy Tab 2.
S-Off/S-On is only on HTC devices and not applicable to Samsung devices. As for using external memory for app storage rather than internal, you would need a changed kernel to swap them, or a start-up script that will switch where the two devices are mounted.
imnuts said:
S-Off/S-On is only on HTC devices and not applicable to Samsung devices. As for using external memory for app storage rather than internal, you would need a changed kernel to swap them, or a start-up script that will switch where the two devices are mounted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. That explains why I couldn't find any help by googeling.
So one need either a kernel that swaps the mem card or a start-up script...? I will search for those options, unless you already know where to find suiteful info regarding this?
Is this also the only way to get link2sd to work with the p3110? ...maybe I am asking too much now but I recently bought my first Android device since an old phone with some 2.x version where I could move to mem card as I wanted, rooted it and really don't know where to go from here
a0rta said:
I am not sure if this post is placed right. If not I hope that Moderator can move it to the right place...
I have just rooted my Galaxy Tab 2 7" (P3110 - Android 4.0.4) as I wanted to be able to use my external memory card for apps and not for music, films and photos only. I must say that I got a little bit dissapointed when I failed to get link2sd to work and started to google for som epossible solutions.
The most reasonable one I could come up with us that my tab2 have S-ON?
Is it possible to see it that's the case?
If so that it has S-ON, is there any way to make it S-OFF?
I am kind of new to Android and don't really know what to look for or if it's even possible on the p3110 to use the external memory card for apps. The interlan memory of 8gb, shared with the system, is kind of low (only 4gb left) and I can't even install apps like TomTom, various games etc on a clean system with the amout of memory I have available.
I have Googled and didn't find much of info regarding S-ON/OFF on the Galaxy Tab 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this seems to be exactly what you're looking for but I don't know how to actually do it. Configuring permissions is not something I know to do. Would be great if someone comes up with app to do this.
p-3113 Swap ExternalSDCard 2 Internal
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1961097

[Q] Best file xfer to phone

So I spent several hours trying to get Wifi Direct to work only to finally read that it will killed by Asus. Sucks.
I'd like to easily, quickly transfer files between my S3 and my TF700. i have the keyboard dock but it doesn't appear there is a way to dock the phone as a mass storage device. I don't want to disassemble the phone to move the sd card around. It would be nice to have something that worked, quickly. Ideally, I'll be moving video files that can be 1GB or more.
Thanks.
Since the S3 is ICS+, USB Mass Storage protocol is not available by default (i.e., on a stock ROM). I use FilePush or DropBox. Less than ideal, but it'll have to do. A lot of people in here are fans of AirDroid.
thanks, I'll give em a try. I found an app finally last night called Software Data Cable that creates a push style network. It seems to do the job but I'll look up the others.
I use custom roms on everything, does anyone know of one that has the drivers/whatnot to allow the tf700 to host the phone in a mass storage like capacity?
Your best bet is the S3 development forum. In here, only a fraction will have this combo and they might not check in that regularly. Any modded-in USB MSP support should be mentioned in the ROM's description over there.
EDIT: typo.

[Q] I hate MTP

I hate MTP and I want UMS back. Is there anyway to do this?
God I really hate it so much
Nope, its implemented in the kernel. Under android MSC is called UMS (USB Mass Storage). It is implemented up to android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) but not thereafter.
One major change introduced by Google in Ice Cream Sandwich was the use of MTP to transfer files and a unified memory storage structure In the pre-ICS era, Android phones had their internal memory divided into two partitions. One for installing apps, and the other one for all your storage needs.
With ICS and Galaxy Nexus, the whole internal memory was unified. There were no more partitions, which meant that the whole 16GB (13.3GB actually) could be used for installing apps or for storage purposes. While all this sounds good on paper, the use of MTP to transfer files has created a big nuisance for all Android users.
Read more at http://techie-buzz.com/android/sgs3...ode-to-the-galaxy-s3.html#lhUs1f4vBApWLqiQ.99

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