In Android 3.0, the connection to the PC as a Mass Storage Controller feature was removed.
Is there a way to access the MTP-mounted phone as a drive letter? I want standard file manager programs (e.g. Total Commander) to work.
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3Related: superuser.com/questions/369959/…– NovaCommented May 13, 2012 at 20:14
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@Basj I think you're using wireless network to access the device, which comparatively causes slow performance for obvious reasons. If you switch to USB tethering the performance would be on the same lines of MTP OR USB mass storage connection. Related: Is there a viable alternative to MTP for file transfer? (works like a charm from Android 4.2.1-6.0.1)– Firelord ♦Commented May 17, 2016 at 20:26
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@Firelord : I don't understand your remark. I'm not using wireless connection. I'm using USB Media Storage on my Android 2.3 device, and now with my new Android 4.2.2 device, I would like to still have USB connection with a drive letter (to be able to run file tools such as backup tools, etc.). I'm not interested in wireless solutions for now. My question is : are there solutions available in 2016 that allow to have a drive letter when connecting an Android 4.2 device to PC via USB?– BasjCommented May 17, 2016 at 20:46
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@Basj : my solution works for Android 4.2.1 and above perfectly fine.– Firelord ♦Commented May 17, 2016 at 20:50
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Ok @Firelord but this seems to be incredibly more complex than good old Mass Storage from Android 2 etc.? Does this mean the data go through some sort of networking layer (over USB by tethering)? How does it compare with Media Storage in terms of transfer rate? Have you been able to run a backup PC <-> phone's SD card with this technique? (I use a 128 GB SD card...)– BasjCommented May 17, 2016 at 20:53
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10 Answers
In theory, there is not a way to access your phone's memory card with a drive letter, because, as you said, Android now connects it as an MTP device, and not as a Mass Storage device. But, there are two solutions:
- Root phone and get a "Mass Storage" enabler application that will work on your phone.
- Without rooting phone: as long as both the computer are on the same network, run an FTP server on the phone, and access it on the computer.
There are applications like FTPUse and NetDrive that will map that FTP address to a drive letter. I used NetDrive on Windows XP, but couldn't get it to work on Windows 7 64-bits, so now I use FTPUse, and it's working fine.
So, it's not exactly the same, and it's a bit slower, but it works, and I am able to browse folders, erase files, etc, and even use applications like WinDirStat to analyze folder sizes etc.
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Unfortunately, With 4.4, apps can no longer write to external SD cards... So uploading via FTP is no longer possible– BasicCommented Jun 23, 2014 at 12:13
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Do you have a link for how to have Mass Storage enabled with a rooted Android 4.2 phone?– BasjCommented May 17, 2016 at 20:48
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@GokulNC Will this be an "automount" as Media Storage when you plug the USB cable (I'd love that), similar to "automount as MTP" that is the current situation in Android 4?– BasjCommented May 18, 2016 at 7:44
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@Basj No, you have to connect to USB, then go into that app and enable UMS– Gokul NCCommented May 18, 2016 at 8:18
My method is based on the answer suggesting WebDAV. It could be replicated by an FTP, Samba, or other networked file server. Essentially, you start a WebDAV server on your Android device and mount it as a network drive. Your phone's IP must be visible to the computer you want to browse the files on. Generally, this means you must be on the same local network. This solution exposes your phone's filesystem to your local network and could cause some security issues. I do not recommend it for untrusted networks.
First, get and install a WebDAV server app on your Android device. I used WebDAV Server because the interface is simple, it was the first app in my search and the price is right (free!). Start your WebDAV server app and get its address. This should be something like http:\\198.162.1.101:8080.
Next, open Computer in Windows Explorer. In the toolbar, under the address bar, click "Map Network Drive." Enter the address in the box labeled folder. Click finish. If the mapping fails, make sure you can ping the IP address of your phone.
Boom! Your device should now show up in Computer as the drive letter you selected (Z: by default).
References: d0bon - How do I Map a Drive Letter to my MTP or PTP Android Device?
I cannot test it myself as I have no ICS or JB device, but it might be worth a try to check the following apps, which claim to give you back UMS (as long as the kernel permits it):
- USB Mass Storage Watcher OTG
- USB Mass Storage Watcher
- Usb Host Controller (some user claimed this did it)
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1This answer is backwards; the question is how to mount the phone with a drive letter... not how to mount a drive onto the phone. Commented May 16, 2013 at 0:35
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2Exactly that's what the answer is about: how to make UMS available again, so you can mount the phone to your computer. Read e.g. the description of USB Mass Storage Watcher and take a look at its last screenshot: Clearly the Android device mounted to the PC in UMS mode: "as an added feature now you can automatically mount your sd card. Just plug your device in and up comes the file window on your computer."– IzzyCommented May 16, 2013 at 6:52
You can try this plugin for TotalCommander: Windows Media Audio v2. Haven't actually tried it, as using FAR Manager instead, and for it there is own plugin PortaDev.
I've created a program called AndroidDrive that detects Android devices connected by USB and creates a drive containing the Android device's internal storage. It's free and open-source and does not require rooting (though it requires USB debugging to be enabled, see below). You can download a ZIP file with the program and its dependencies here. For it to work, you also need to install Dokan (I have no association with the people who made Dokan).
For it to be able to detect and interact with your Android device, you need to enable USB debugging. To do so, follow these steps:
- Open Settings on your Android device.
- Go to "About phone".
- Scroll down to the bottom and tap "Build Number" seven times until you get a message saying that you're a developer.
- Go back to the main settings screen, then go to System > Advanced > Developer Settings and enable USB debugging.
When AndroidDrive is running, it will automatically detect any Android devices that are connected by USB with USB debugging enabled, and create a drive for each of those devices. Here is a screenshot:
If you're interested in the source code, you can find it here. If you find a bug, you can report it here.
You can try to install a WebDAV server to the android device, then mount the WebDAV server as a drive on Windows 7. Here is a free WebDAV server from Google Play (Of course, there are many other WebDAV servers in Google Play). And the steps to mount the WebDAV server as a drive on Windows 7.
I have an Android device ASUS Zenfone and I can view my devices through Total Commander. Here is how I did this:
- In Explorer, I right-clicked the MTP device and then choose Create shortcut.
- From Total Commander, I open the shortcut and I can explore my device.
Hope it helps.
TotalAndDroid 4.0 - this plugin for Total Commander does not give you a drive letter, but besides this - does the job. You can see all files of your Android device on the TC panel and do all regular operations.
You can simply use TeamViewer to connect your phone and your PC. This way you can access all the features of your phone on your PC. Then, use any FTP server to send and receive files. In this way, you do not need to switch between your phone and PC while sharing files.
