Will 4.4 eventually bring a working external SD access by default?

[JoeMcJoe]

Will 4.4 eventually bring a working external SD access by default?

Do the application creators just have to implement changes on their side, so that we won't have to have root access and edit the platform.xml file?

As getting the 4.4 update from 4.3, after having the edit the platform for me, was a pain.
External SD card access should just work, obviously.

Now with 4.4, Es File Explorer can not get normal read access, where in 4.3 it had read access, and in 4.2.2 is had read and write access.
I have to go through several menus, can't just access extSdCard like before in 4.3

The gallery app and read and delete files from the SD card.

Quikpic can read the files on the SD card, but it can't delete them.

Is this as good as its going to get?

 

[sang vu hoang]

Unfortunely, there is not any confirmation for our SD card access in 4.4. I am hoping Ex file explorer developer will update their software for 4.4. That is more reasonable.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Xceptiona1]

a post on XDA on the second page is saying that it works on 4.4...so Im am wondering if the same fix (editing the XML file) still works after the update? I'm in a holding pattern until I have a way to access/write to my SD card.

 

[JoeMcJoe]

a post on XDA on the second page is saying that it works on 4.4...so Im am wondering if the same fix (editing the XML file) still works after the update? I'm in a holding pattern until I have a way to access/write to my SD card.

I'm looking through android function calls now, to see if this i even possible anymore.

I see in places like this. 'http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context.html#getExternalCacheDirs()'

"No permissions are required to read or write to the returned paths; they are always accessible to the calling app. Write access outside of these paths on secondary external storage devices is not available."

 

[Xceptiona1]

I appreciate you looking into this, it is the only frustrating part of this OS

 

[jonnyships]

You can write to secondary external devices inside the app cache dir. For FX File Explorer it's extSdCard/Android/data/nextapp.fx/. I just moved all my files (using a computer) to that directory and I can edit all the files using FX File Explorer. You won't be able to edit items with another app (because of the package restriction), but you should be able to copy stuff to that folder if you're backing up photos on a trip or copy files off a server.

 

[Xceptiona1]

I can't figure out how to keep doing the same things on my phone without sd access. I have syncme copy/sync files from my home computer to the sdcard on my phone which include pictures/videos/music. Then various apps such as winamp access those files and edit them. I appreciate the idea of using the cache directory, however that won't work in this situation I believe.

 

[jonnyships]

I can't figure out how to keep doing the same things on my phone without sd access. I have syncme copy/sync files from my home computer to the sdcard on my phone which include pictures/videos/music. Then various apps such as winamp access those files and edit them. I appreciate the idea of using the cache directory, however that won't work in this situation I believe.

You can copy pictures/music/video over the network to the SDCARD now (in the cache dir). True if you want to edit those files with another app it would need to be on the internal, but at least I can copy movies over to my phone without having to boot up the pc. And backup the DCIM folder to make room for more pics.

 

[JoeMcJoe]

With the release of the new Sony 6.4 GPe phone, it has an SD card slot and the same limited 16 GB of flash, it'll be interesting to see what happens with that SD card access.

I'm think that phone will be more popular than the s4 GPe, so maybe something will be done about it correctly, who knows.

 

[JoeMcJoe]

I contacted a few app companies.

The ES File Explorer is working now, read/write access on the SD card, it was giving errors up until the update today.
That app is great, not sure how it is free.

Does anyone have a platform.xml file that I can see, one that has been 100% untouched in the current 4.4.2 version?

 

[Gregor Smith]

I contacted a few app companies.

The ES File Explorer is working now, read/write access on the SD card, it was giving errors up until the update today.
That app is great, not sure how it is free.

Does anyone have a platform.xml file that I can see, one that has been 100% untouched in the current 4.4.2 version?

ES reads, not sure how good the write is, definitely doesn't delete (I have the 4.4 update zip on my SD card it can't get rid of), probably only deletes that which it writes

 

[JoeMcJoe]

Yep, you're right, I tried to delete a file, it said it did it ok, but it didn't delete it.
Oh well.

 

[JoeMcJoe]

Does anyone have a platform.xml file that I can see, one that has been 100% untouched in the current 4.4.2 version?

I used the touched ODIN file, with the altered platform.xml file, I'd like to see what an touched one looks like.
I don't want any issues with future OTA updates.