Galaxy Note 2 USB Mass Storage

cafleming1987

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Soon to be ex-iPhone user here :p, buying my Note on AT&T Friday. I am asking my question on the Sprint forum since you lucky buggers already have yours :). I am on a iMac running Mountain Lion, and I was wondering if any of you guys could tell me if the USB Mass Storage is enabled on the Note 2? I have only been able to find info pertaining to the GS3. I am used to syncing with iPhoto, but that is obviously no longer an option. A friend of mine showed me how the UMS works with his Droid Bionic and it seems like the easiest was to get pics from the Mac to the SD while it is installed in the device. Thanks guys :).
 

SpookDroid

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I just ran into the same problem... When plugged in, the phone automatically goes into the usual media mode (which is not always recognizable in some PCs because of the drivers), but at least on my GSII I was able to find a USB option to activate mass storage (which is compatible with mostly anything with a USB port). Now I can't find that option anywhere and I don't want to remove the SD card just to download pictures to a PC :(
 

brentj

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On my PC at home and my PC at work, both running Windows7, I plugged my GN2 in, drivers were installed the first time, and the phone shows up in Windows Explorer as "SPH-L900" with two "drives" under that, Phone and Card, and folders under each of those. I can drag files either way between phone and computer with no problem. When I click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the tools tray, the phone does not appear, so I just unplug it with no problems. I may not have a full technical understanding of what "USB Mass Storage enabled" means, but I think the behavior I have described qualifies. Works great for me.
 

SpookDroid

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cafleming, it doesn't mean you can't connect your phone, it just means you can't connect it with generic drivers, you must use MTP which the iMac supports. But if transfering files over a network (because of what you said about DropBox) is what you might also want, try Kies Air. It lets you browse and transfer files to/from the phone via any web browser as long as the two are in the same WiFi network.

brent, MTP mode, the one these phones default to, allows the phone to still use the SD card while browsing it on your computer but requires special drivers for it to work properly. Windows 7 and I believe Vista don't have any problems with MTP drivers (media devices), but older OSs like WinXP, which many (myself included) have to use because of IT policies at work, will find that plugging the phone to USB is not as plug and play as it could/should be. Mass Storage mode, however, is a more generic data transfer standard and is recognized by mostly anything with a USB port without the need for any special drivers. This mode allows you to use your phone as if it were a pen drive, but it won't let the phone use the SD card while it is connected to your PC.
 

cafleming1987

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cafleming, it doesn't mean you can't connect your phone, it just means you can't connect it with generic drivers, you must use MTP which the iMac supports. But if transfering files over a network (because of what you said about DropBox) is what you might also want, try Kies Air. It lets you browse and transfer files to/from the phone via any web browser as long as the two are in the same WiFi network.

brent, MTP mode, the one these phones default to, allows the phone to still use the SD card while browsing it on your computer but requires special drivers for it to work properly. Windows 7 and I believe Vista don't have any problems with MTP drivers (media devices), but older OSs like WinXP, which many (myself included) have to use because of IT policies at work, will find that plugging the phone to USB is not as plug and play as it could/should be. Mass Storage mode, however, is a more generic data transfer standard and is recognized by mostly anything with a USB port without the need for any special drivers. This mode allows you to use your phone as if it were a pen drive, but it won't let the phone use the SD card while it is connected to your PC.

Thank you for the advice. I did not realize that Mac supported MTP.
 

Tony Stoyle

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Please can somebody advise - I have a new Galaxy Note 2 and want to put some music and pics on it - the bloke in the shop said its easy you just drag and drop the files from your PC - well I have plugged it in and downloaded the above drivers. Now in Windows XP in Explorer I get a folder called "Samsung Mobile MTP Device" and below that a Data folder which is empty and a Media folder which has some 0 byte files in. If I drop a .jpg file into either of these it shows up on my phone with a name of sdcard0(1) so I suspect the above is for the SD Card - am I missing something? How do I get pictures and music onto it - I'd be really grateful for any advice. Thanks.
 

DroidXcon

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Please can somebody advise - I have a new Galaxy Note 2 and want to put some music and pics on it - the bloke in the shop said its easy you just drag and drop the files from your PC - well I have plugged it in and downloaded the above drivers. Now in Windows XP in Explorer I get a folder called "Samsung Mobile MTP Device" and below that a Data folder which is empty and a Media folder which has some 0 byte files in. If I drop a .jpg file into either of these it shows up on my phone with a name of sdcard0(1) so I suspect the above is for the SD Card - am I missing something? How do I get pictures and music onto it - I'd be really grateful for any advice. Thanks.

i am not sure why that is coming up like that , sdcard0 is the internal memory card extsdcard is external card. MTP stands for Media transfer protocol. But regardless in either you should be able to make a new folder name it music and drag your music in. Try that out and let me know
 

tirith

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Your phone should give you an option when connected via.usb. mtp and something else. Try the something else.

Sent from my G-Note 2
 

Tony Stoyle

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Your phone should give you an option when connected via.usb. mtp and something else. Try the something else.

Sent from my G-Note 2

Yes the other option is to connect as a camera. This does work better in that I can see files on the device and folders but I still cannot create a new folder. Also this presumably would be no good for trying to copy music files onto?
 

tirith

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Weird... mine gives me mtp and.... Ummm... *Looks* media device. It works for me.
Edit. Sorry. You're right. Mtp works for me
Sent from my G-Note 2
 

Tony Stoyle

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Weird... mine gives me mtp and.... Ummm... *Looks* media device. It works for me.
Edit. Sorry. You're right. Mtp works for me
Sent from my G-Note 2

But when using mtp what do you see as the folder structure and how do you create a new folder. Also which folder do you copy the files to. Sorry for all the questions but it's driving me mad. Thanks.
 

SpookDroid

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Seems like it's a problem with Windows and not the phone... you SHOULD be able to create new folders without issues. If you can drag/drop files, then your phone is not write-protected... If it still fails, why don't you try Kies Air? Your phone and computer must be in the same wireless network for this to work, but it might save you from WinExplorer trouble...
 

Tony Stoyle

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Sorry I didn't understand what you meant by the phone not being write protected. I can drag files across but only into the media or data folder which seems to represent the sd card. I have no option to create folders.
 

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