How to access the sd card on Nexus 7

[ShaggyKids]

How do I get at the SD card on the N7? I want to copy over the ringtones, alarms and notifications from the N7 to my Galaxy S3. I plugged it into my PC but all I seem to get is the internal storage and in any folders that holds that kind of media it's either an empty folder or holds one ringtone. I don't see an easy way to open the case like there is on phone and I sure don't need my case wrecked.

I also want to put my photos from my Rezound (which are copied to my PC) in my N7 photo gallery but again I can't find access to the SD card for this either.

I have the Astro File Manager and can't find them using this either.

 

[dmmarck]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

Internal storage = your SDcard. Simply plug it in and start dropping. If you didn't see an "sdcard" folder that's because you were in it. The sdcard is not removable, so opening up the device would not be very fruitful .

 

[ShaggyKids]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

Whenever I plug my phones into my PC I wind up with two different windows that pop up, one holds what seems to be the "guts" of things and the other is the SD card which is why I was expecting the same thing on the N7.

Why can't I see the notifications/alarms on the N7's card then? I need to find them. I have found just 2 of them which is another reason I figured I was not accessing the SD card itself.

 

[dmmarck]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

Whenever I plug my phones into my PC I wind up with two different windows that pop up, one holds what seems to be the "guts" of things and the other is the SD card which is why I was expecting the same thing on the N7.

Why can't I see the notifications/alarms on the N7's card then? I need to find them. I have found just 2 of them which is another reason I figured I was not accessing the SD card itself.

Here, I'll post up a screenshot of what my SDcard looks like so you can approximate.

 

[zedorda]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

Whenever I plug my phones into my PC I wind up with two different windows that pop up, one holds what seems to be the "guts" of things and the other is the SD card which is why I was expecting the same thing on the N7.

Why can't I see the notifications/alarms on the N7's card then? I need to find them. I have found just 2 of them which is another reason I figured I was not accessing the SD card itself.

Download the app Zedge it has all the ringtones you just have to search then pick which ones you want. Your stock ringtones are not on the SDcard.

 

[ShaggyKids]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

Your stock ringtones are not on the SDcard.

Ugh. Well that explains why I can't find them and can now stop looking for them. Thank you

 

[dralezero]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

When you plug your Nexus 7 into a computer you should see many folders like Pictures (upload pictures here), Bluetooth, Download, etc. The media\audio folder is where I would put custom ringtones and notifications to match the organization of folders on the Android system folder (you will see below when doing the instructions). In My Computer it shows up as Nexus 7 > Internal Storage. If you have a screen lock, unlock your Nexus 7 or may have trouble accessing files, or viewing anything at all on the computer.

What you're seeing is your content as if the Nexus 7 had a SD card and not the systems content. In FileExpert this area is labeled as SD Card while the system guts are called Internal Storage. Reality is it is all one 8gb or 16gb chip.

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Multiple ways to transfer the stock audio notification files.

Wireless through computer browser with AirDroid

1. Install AirDroid on Nexus 7
2. Connect Nexus 7 to WiFi on the same network / router as computer.
3. Open AirDroid, in the Connection tab will be an IP URL address http://XX.XX.XX.XX:8888
4. Access the IP URL through computer browser and type in the passcode.
5. Click Ringtones icon and you can view, play, or download all the audios from stock.
6. Check all and click Download. It will give you a Zip file.

You can also access by Files > collapse the Sd Card > expand System > system > media > audio
Right click or select files just like on a computer folder, then download.

NFC and Bluetooth with FileExpert:
I don't have an NFC phone to try it but I tested the Bluetooth way. You can browse files on your Nexus 7 with AirDroid but it doesn't show me the system folders like FileExpert does.

1. Install FileExpert on the Nexus 7
2. Open FileExpert go to My Files > Phone Internal Storage
(yes, my stock Nexus 7 displays Phone Internal Storage for the main Android system, and SD Card for the files, even though its all on one chip.)
3. Inside of Phone Internal Storage go to "system" > "media" > "audio". You'll see folders for alarms, notifications, ringtones, and ui. Inside are .ogg audio files.
4. Individually Transfer the files you want by touch and hold, then "Send files" > Bluetooth or NFC.
To Transfer the folders, go to "system" > "media" then touch and hold on "audio" folder and send via NFC. (Bluetooth did not show for transferring whole folder)

 

[Mark_C]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

screw all that, you have a dropbox account with your S3, upload to there and then just browse to it on the N7 and download it all. Easy.

 

[NickA]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

I see more using Astro File Manager (or root explorer) then I do when I am USB connected, why?

 

[dmmarck]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

I see more using Astro File Manager (or root explorer) then I do when I am USB connected, why?

I use it because I'm rooted (and FWIW, I think RE is the best file manager money can buy). Takes about ~3 seconds to find all of those files lol.

 

[dralezero]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

I went into dropbox on the N7 and was unable to browse to system, stock audio locations. not rooted.

 

[dmmarck]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

I went into dropbox on the N7 and was unable to browse to system, stock audio locations. not rooted.

Yup, those are in the root directory. I'm not familiar with one of the file apps mentioned here, but usually you'll need root permissions to access that level.

 

[moosc]

Reason is those are system files. You need to b rooted to mess with them. Buy root explore then go to system media and your files are in there. Its the same on your phone. PCs can't access root files.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

 

[ShaggyKids]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

-----------------
NFC and Bluetooth with FileExpert:
I don't have an NFC phone to try it but I tested the Bluetooth way. You can browse files on your Nexus 7 with AirDroid but it doesn't show me the system folders like FileExpert does.

1. Install FileExpert on the Nexus 7
2. Open FileExpert go to My Files > Phone Internal Storage
(yes, my stock Nexus 7 displays Phone Internal Storage for the main Android system, and SD Card for the files, even though its all on one chip.)
3. Inside of Phone Internal Storage go to "system" > "media" > "audio". You'll see folders for alarms, notifications, ringtones, and ui. Inside are .ogg audio files.
4. Individually Transfer the files you want by touch and hold, then "Send files" > Bluetooth or NFC.
To Transfer the folders, go to "system" > "media" then touch and hold on "audio" folder and send via NFC. (Bluetooth did not show for transferring whole folder)

Oh do I ever like this FileExpert app thank you for introducing it to me!

For others trying to do this file move thing -- I did find files would not transfer a file unless both devices BT's were set to being discoverable to all. It would not work using the "only visible to paired devices" setting which I thought was kinda strange. If they're attached at the hip so to speak why the need to open things up to do this? So if you're doing more than a file or two, you'll need to be jumping back to the BT setting to be seen by all because it times out like after a minute 30 seconds or something quick like that.

I got some to transfer but it doesn't seem to give me the option to select what folder to transfer TO ... is there a way to do this? The files are going to a "main" folder so they're not visible/available to all my apps - only as system apps or something like that. Example, I'd like to use some of these in my calendar & tasks but the files I transferred are not available where I can select them from the various apps.

Why Android sees fit to not have just one folder each for things like alarms, notifications and ringtones so that these sounds are accessible by all apps is beyond me. Blackberry did the same darn thing and in both cases to me this just isn't real common-sensical or convenient.

 

[dralezero]

Put file expert on the device you transfered to and copy paste where you want them. I am assuming the Nexus 7 has other stock sounds that your phone doesn't have.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[ShaggyKids]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

screw all that, you have a dropbox account with your S3, upload to there and then just browse to it on the N7 and download it all. Easy.

Ok, so I've got my Dropbox but I cannot figure out how to get the N7 files to drop into Dropbox:

1) I can't see the files on my desktop via USB on my desktop, can only see them on my N7 using FileExpert or

2) I can see them on the N7 using FileExpert but how the heck do you get the file(s) dropped into Dropbox? I have tried the Copy function on a notification file, but it won't paste into Dropbox and there's no option to drag the files from what I can see because even though I've got the View function set on the N7 to be able to see even hidden files, I can't browse my N7 on Dropbox. Is there something I'm missing?

I was able to use Astro to get the files to Dropbox

Now that I have Dropbox set up I do see it in the FileExpert app so I'll go play with that a bit.
__________

UPDATE: Using Dropbox, every time I try to paste the copied files into the folder on my phone it fails. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I can paste them into the SD card folder but not the System folder media --> audio --> notifications.

 

[ShaggyKids]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

Put file expert on the device you transfered to and copy paste where you want them. I am assuming the Nexus 7 has other stock sounds that your phone doesn't have.

I do have FE on both of them and that's what I was trying to do.

 

[Will Valentino]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

I have a similar problem:

I can view my files on my tablet and send them by any sharing option BUT when I plug my tablet in my laptop the files that I see on my tablet are invisible for my laptop. I am no talking about system files, I have pictures and documents that I wanted to copy over to my laptop but they disappear and its like they are hidden, there is now way for me to simply copy them. I don't want to have to go thru uploading and downloading when I can directly copy them.
Any solutions for this?

 

[Eric McNamara]

Re: how to access the sd card on Nexus 7

go to setting, > USB computer connection

check MTP (media device), now plug in usb cable and all your files will be there on windows.