How can I get a drive letter in Windows

[gquiring]

I have a S3 from AT&T. I enabled the USB debugging but I still cannot get a drive letter from Windows. I see the S3 as a device in Windows but I really want a drive letter.

 

[NickLippert]

Why do you need a drive letter?

 

[BarneyC]

I have been working on this one for sometime, and there is no simple way of doing this, although I believe that over on XDA-developers, someone has produced an application that will do it, but the 'phone must be rooted for it work.

However you can do it (and this is the way I do it) if you install a webdav server on your 'phone. The webdav server delivers the data in a given storage partition on your phone to a specific TCP/IP address. On your Windows PC you can then open this IP Address and link a drive letter to it.

On my SGIII I use the webdav server called DavDrive which is available in the Play Store and it works very well (you can start and stop this at will, so it does not use 'phone resources when its not needed). I can't be too specific on the PC side of things as although I'm running Windows 7 64 bit, I don't use the standard Windows Explorer, preferring to use a replacement called Directory Opus. But there should not be a problem here as the link between the served IP address and the drive letter is made at base Windows level.

In answer to the other respondent, I would tell you that most Windows file management/synchronisation tools need to connect to the target storage partition in the 'phone via a drive letter and will not work with the MTP connection provided by the standard SGIII.

Hope this helps

Barney

 

[mischiefse7en]

go to start?
right click on my computer
?click on manage
then click on storage?
then click on disk management?
then right click on your device and select add letters and path?window will pop up
then click on add?
then select a letter and click on ok

 

[worwig]

go to start?
right click on my computer
?click on manage
then click on storage?
then click on disk management?
then right click on your device and select add letters and path?window will pop up
then click on add?
then select a letter and click on ok

The problem is, it doesn't show up as a 'device'.

 

[BarneyC]

The problem is that the SGIII (as with most Android 4 devices) does not connect as a USB Mass Storage device (Google dropped support for USBMS in Android 4). It connects as an MTP device instead and Windows does not see MTP devices as a mass storage devices, so as indicated by worwig, you don't get a device to connect to. That is why I've had to use resort to using webdav.

Barney

 

[gquiring]

My main interest in a drive letter was using Total Commander on a Windows PC. I love the left/riight window concept for moving/copying files. I have been using Total Commander for over 10 years and just feel it's the best file management tool out there. I got a work around without installing any apps on the Android or PC. Total Commander has some internal commands and I was able to setup a menu option and do a system call to "cm_OpenDrives" which will open the SG3 in either the left or right window. Then everything acts pretty much as normal except for creating sub-directories, for some reason that does not work.

For anyone interested in the setup on Total Commander I did guide on my blog:
Q's Tech Spot: Accessing your Android device from Total Commander

 

[Ricky Babalu]

My main interest in a drive letter was using Total Commander on a Windows PC. I love the left/riight window concept for moving/copying files. I have been using Total Commander for over 10 years and just feel it's the best file management tool out there. I got a work around without installing any apps on the Android or PC. Total Commander has some internal commands and I was able to setup a menu option and do a system call to "cm_OpenDrives" which will open the SG3 in either the left or right window. Then everything acts pretty much as normal except for creating sub-directories, for some reason that does not work.

For anyone interested in the setup on Total Commander I did guide on my blog:
Q's Tech Spot: Accessing your Android device from Total Commander

Solid Explorer File management has the left/right window feature for moving files built in. Not sure if this would help you as this feature in built in to use on your Android device and not on your PC. Nonetheless, if you like that feature you might want to use it as your file explorer for your Android.

 

[BarneyC]

I know Total Commander very well and fully understand what you are doing. I use the Total Commander Android app on my 'phone the whole time - its MUCH superior to the one provided with the phone, but I prefer Directory Opus on the PC because of its greater programming capability. I will look at you blog entry now...

My main use for the webdav approach is to keep an information database (actually a simple collection of files in a structured set of directories) of pdf's, spread sheets, images, and text files in sync with that on my pc. The phone's information database occupies some 8gb on an sd card in the phone, and I use SyncBack Pro on the PC to synchronise it with the master copy held there. With a database of this size, its not practicable to update it simply by copying a fresh set of files to the 'phone every time.

Barney

 

[GK3K]

Google dropped support for USBMS in Android 4

That's a great bit of info to know! Thank you for sharing!

I had no idea why I couldn't access the phone as a drive letter, either. I've found MTP transfer rates to be slower than my HTC EVO when acting as a USB Mass Storage Device.

To get around it (kind of), I use the "FTPserver" app and simply connect to my phone wirelessly using FileZilla. Believe it or not, copying stuff to and from the phone is FASTER than a wired connection when using my wireless N router.

I've always been fond of a physical wire connection, but with the awesome wireless radio in the S III combined with a wireless N network, it's fast as hell!

 

[WAWood8]

At least, on Win7, Windows DOES assign drive letters to the two "devices" when the phone is connected -- you just don't see them in the normal place in the drive tree.

You have to go all the way back up to "Computer". When you click on that, you will see the Android "device" -- and it will have two "drives", one for the "phone" and one for the "SD card".

 

[gquiring]

At least, on Win7, Windows DOES assign drive letters to the two "devices" when the phone is connected -- you just don't see them in the normal place in the drive tree.

You have to go all the way back up to "Computer". When you click on that, you will see the Android "device" -- and it will have two "drives", one for the "phone" and one for the "SD card".

Yeah but that's not a "Drive letter" like E:, F:. It makes it harder to access the device from certain utilities that way.

 

[MickvH]

Hi Barney,

An old thread, but of interest to me as I want to do exactly what you do:
"With a database of this size, its not practicable to update it simply by copying a fresh set of files to the 'phone every time. "

So thanks to this discussion I now know how to connect to my nexus in a number of ways (FTP & WEBDAV), which is brilliant.

Unfortunately all the files that I have copied to my Nexus get a new modification date (today's date) which totally messes up the syncing as the files are now not ignored as usual, but require syncing again.

Any ideas?

Mick

 

[odeneho]

mtp portable device

does that mean i van not use my tablet as mass storage device bcos it always shows up as portable storage device.someone help me i want to recover my deleted files

 

[MauriceW]

Hi Barney,

Thanks for the clear explanation. I have a similar need to have a drive mapped to my S3. Do you know how I exactly configure this IP address using a webdav server ?

Sorry if this is a dumm question, I'm just not a geek and I need to get my photo?s back which I deleted by accident ....

Thanks already
Maurice

 

[GSDer]

MauriceW,
Welcome to the forums!

What version OS are you running?

If the whole point in trying to map a drive letter on your computer to your phone is to try to recover files that you deleted, I think you're going to be disappointed - I seriously doubt that file recovery is supported through a mish-mash like that.

Are the deleted files on your SD card or internal memory? If the former, you can remove the SD card from the phone and put it in your computer and try that. If the latter, you can try https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...y%2Fandroid-data-recovery.html&token=t8a0pVLk - I haven't used it myself but it's been mentioned in the forums.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Cyberat Rodent]

Does not help when you need to synchronize file systems using a synch. program.
Dumb move by Google, I am dumping my Android phone when the contract is out.

 

[GSDer]

Welcome to the forums!

Does not help when you need to synchronize file systems using a synch. program.

Can you provide an example of why you need to sync file systems?

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk

 

[Laurie Whittaker]

I use winmerge to do the same thing and have the same 'date' problem. Winmerge (which may not be the same) has an option to file match based on size alone. This is good enough for me.

 

[Laurie Whittaker]

This may not impress you but I do small syncs by hand, followed by a big (infrequent) sync with a microsd reader. Of course this doesn't help on the main SD, but I will bet your complex file holdings are on a removable card.