Any MTP experts out threre?

[greydarrah]

I've read some references to MTP not being able to transfer more than one file at a time. If this is true, it presents a problem for me as I listen to audio books all day long, so I end up transferring hundreds of files in many directories from the laptop to the phone every week. Going one file at a time would kill me.

I use an ftp app on my laptop called FileZilla. Does anyone know if I plug the Nexus into my Windows 7 laptop, will I be able to use FileZilla to transfer files and directories to the phone?

As to the cloud for storage, this is not at all a viable option for any new Verizon customer that is forced into a tiered data plan. I'm grandfathered into unlimited, but I still want my books on the phone, not in the cloud subject to reception as I travel.

 

[ajrosen]

I'm not knowledgable about MTP by any means, but in general, you'll actually transfer single files faster than multiple files (at least when a HD is involved). Now, if your original question was asking "does MTP queue up multiple files but transfer them one at a time", I would guess that this is more an interface question than a protocol question. Sure, if you have to drag 1 file over, wait for it to finish, then drag another and so on, it will take forever. But if you can drag the whole folder and have it copy them all (whether in serial or parallel), then serial copying behind the scenes would be a bit faster.

Hope that makes sense. I don't think I worded it all that well, but I'm a little drugged on cough medicine right now.

 

[ohiomoto]

How about MTP with Linux? Will it work?

 

[greydarrah]

Well, how it transfers files (serial or parallel) is no more important to me than how pistons in an engine going up and down make my truck move. In my ignorance of how MTP works, I just want to know if I tell some file explorer type window to select and copy 3 directories that might contain a few sub directories and 800+ little mp3 files, then to paste that stuff on my Nexus, does it do it? Not understanding MTP, I don't want to copy and paste 800 times.

 

[st0ic_1]

Well, how it transfers files (serial or parallel) is no more important to me than how pistons in an engine going up and down make my truck move. In my ignorance of how MTP works, I just want to know if I tell some file explorer type window to select and copy 3 directories that might contain a few sub directories and 800+ little mp3 files, then to paste that stuff on my Nexus, does it do it? Not understanding MTP, I don't want to copy and paste 800 times.

I'm just being an optimist here since I'm not too familiar with MTP, BUT I would hope in this day of age we wouldn't have to individually transfer a single file at a time. It definitely seems like a huge step backwards and likely a step that wouldn't be taken by Google/Samsung and any other vendors.

 

[rootbrain]

Well, how it transfers files (serial or parallel) is no more important to me than how pistons in an engine going up and down make my truck move. In my ignorance of how MTP works, I just want to know if I tell some file explorer type window to select and copy 3 directories that might contain a few sub directories and 800+ little mp3 files, then to paste that stuff on my Nexus, does it do it? Not understanding MTP, I don't want to copy and paste 800 times.

If the PC recognizes the Nexus as a separate drive, you can copy multiple files and/or directories and do one paste operation. Then wait for it to complete all copies.

 

[rcpa]

MTP is a low level protocol and has no implications on the user interface that you use to copy files. From my understanding it just means that it can't have multiple transfer streams for different files open at the same time. That in no way limits Explorer on your PC from selecting a list of files and copying them in a batch one at a time.

 

[nuchdog]

There is another forum post somewhere on here that I can't find, but here is the relevant article links (see below). Basically, ICS supports UMS but only for SD Cards and partitions that are separate from your OS. In HC and ICS Google is going to a single internal storage structure to make things cleaner. ICS will present a "virtual" copy of the partition to you computer when connected. This is done using MTP since it is abstracted and doesn't require block level access to the drive. This way you dont have to worry about file permissions, partition format, etc. Windows Explorer has native MTP support so the majority of users won't notice any difference at all. Plug your phone in via USB and it should look and function the same. For Mac users, same thing (Android File Transfer: Android.com). Linux has support as well, although I expect the offerings to become more well rounded. XBox, PS3, etc. also have support already. I'm not sure how good it is though. So to answer the original question, multiple transfer operations are possible. OSs and apps that support it natively vary.

Impromptu Q&A Session With Android Engineer Dan Morrill Brings To Light Reasons Behind Galaxy Nexus' Lack Of USB Mass Storage

source for the article:
Whoa, whoa. ICS doesn't support USB mass storage? : Android