How do you enable USB Mass Storage Mode?

[hook3m]

I have a Verizon GS5. I can not find where to enable USB Mass Storage Mode.

Thanks!

 

[amarie82]

Hello hook3m you just hook it up to your PC,touch and drag notification bar down, touch connected as camera, touch media device mtp, USB connection has been changed!

 

[hook3m]

Hello hook3m you just hook it up to your PC,touch and drag notification bar down, touch connected as camera, touch media device mtp, USB connection has been changed!

MTP and PTP are not the same as Mass Storage Mode. I need to enable Mass Storage Mode. Thanks for you help though.

 

[amarie82]

Are you trying to xfer files from phone to PC?

 

[smith058]

On my phone (boost-mobile S5) when I plug in the USB to both phone and PC an icon pops into my status bar, pull down the status bar, tap on the icon, and it gives the option for mass storage or camera... I hope it's the same on yours

Edit...
I should have read post 3 a bit better, I basically said the same thing.... lol sorry.

I'm not sure exactly what MTP stands for but I think it's mass transfer protocol. But when I select MPT I allows me to use my mass storage sd card as normal.

 

[Zoandroid]

MTP stands for Media Transfer Protocol. Sad to be the one to tell you this, but Google, in their infinite wisdom, has done away with USB Mass Storage in Android, for good. Well, actually for BAD, but don't get me started on my usual rant over this issue.

I have found that MTP will let me transfer all of my REAL external SD card's files to and from my Win7 PC, and it allows pretty much all folders in "Phone" (the internal storage) that do not have names beginning with a period to also be transferred to and from. BUT........

Unless you root, the (Verizon, for sure....not sure about others) S5 defaults to lock out any apps running in internal memory from writing to the real, external SD card.

Thanks Google/Verizon.

If you find you can't transfer files this way some causes can be:

Bad USB cable - try another

Bad USB port - try another

USB hub (best not to use one)

Reboot phone and PC right before attempting file transfer sometimes helps.

And of course you need the Samsung USB driver installed on your Windows PC.

 

[bhl62]

I do see the Mass storage option (VZW) but it was grayed out with a note that says USB 3.0 only. Try connecting to a USB 3.0 port on your PC with the original cable or any other microUSB 3.0 cable and see if it gets enabled. I found that MTP only lets you do one copy thread at a time but otherwise does the same thing that mass storage does.

 

[Zoandroid]

I did notice the grayed out 3rd choice at the bottom. I've ordered a USB 3.0 card for my PC, which will arrive this weekend. So along with learning if USB 3.0 (aka Superspeed USB) hype is all it is claimed to be, I'll also be able to see if I can enable that option.

The only other issue I've found with some devices is that certain apps, such as Evernote, and the Android folder in my Galaxy S3's internal storage (Phone) will create files on your phone with such an insanely long path name that it will choke the file transfer process and actually stop ANY files from transferring at all using MTP. Once I discovered this through experimentation, and started avoiding such folders on my phone, I have been able to copy files without a problem.

 

[smith058]

Didn't your phone come with a USB 3 cable? Mine did...

 

[Zoandroid]

Didn't your phone come with a USB 3 cable? Mine did...

EDIT >> I apologize for being misinformed. I have grayed the statements here which I now know are incorrect.

Well, I looked into the difference between USB 2 and USB 3 cables "just in case". As it turns out, the cable that ships with the S5 is a hybrid cable. It has a micro-USB3 connector on one end, and a USB 2 connector on the other end. I'll bet a lot of owners don't know that. A USB 3 port actually has FIVE conductors in it. USB 2.0 and older versions have FOUR.

Now, the confusing thing is that you can plug a 2 cable into a 3 port, or a 3 cable into a 2 port, and either way it will work. BUT........ you will not get the added speed provided by the USB 3 specification. To get that, you need the 5 pin { 9 pin }connector on the USB 3 port, and cable.

Here's a good source of info explaining it all:

USB 3.0 Explained

 

[smith058]

Well, I looked into the difference between USB 2 and USB 3 cables "just in case". As it turns out, the cable that ships with the S5 is a hybrid cable. It has a micro-USB3 connector on one end, and a USB 2 connector on the other end. I'll bet a lot of owners don't know that. A USB 3 port actually has FIVE conductors in it. USB 2.0 and older versions have FOUR.

Now, the confusing thing is that you can plug a 2 cable into a 3 port, or a 3 cable into a 2 port, and either way it will work. BUT........ you will not get the added speed provided by the USB 3 specification. To get that, you need the 5 pin connector on the USB 3 port, and cable.

Here's a good source of info explaining it all:

USB 3.0 Explained

I am going to bet that for many who have reported that they saw no noticeable speed increase using USB 3 to transfer files on their S5 are in fact using the stock hybrid cable, which can't do the faster data transmission. That is why I ordered actual USB 3 cables.

Wow... I had no clue... that's really jacked up!!!! I just checked mine and it's as you say, 4 pin... I would have never known

....
Wait a minute... mine has the 4 pins like the normal usb, but then also has 5 more pins in the back. so that's 9 pins all together mine has on my stock USB cable that came with the phone???

 

[Zoandroid]

Wow... I had no clue... that's really jacked up!!!! I just checked mine and it's as you say, 4 pin... I would have never known

....
Wait a minute... mine has the 4 pins like the normal usb, but then also has 5 more pins in the back. so that's 9 pins all together mine has on my stock USB cable that came with the phone???
View attachment 73330

That's not an S5 cable, but appears to be another hybrid of some sort. Where did you get it? The mini USB 3.0 end of the stock S5 cable is actually "two connectors" mounted beside each other.

EDIT >> My apologies for the above statement. I was misled while looking at some online photos of USB 3.0 connections. Please see post # 14

 

[smith058]

Yeah its the one that came in my s5 box... looks just like your pic... look deep in the back, see if there is 5 more pins in the back just past the 4 slip-over pins

 

[Zoandroid]

Yeah its the one that came in my s5 box... looks just like your pic... look deep in the back, see if there is 5 more pins in the back just past the 4 slip-over pins

I need to apologize here, because I was misled by some pictures online. I'm sorry.

I see you are completely right! I am opening the USB3 stuff that I ordered, and at first I saw (through the unopened bag) what appeared to be only 4 connections in the larger end of the cables. Thinking I got ripped off, I then opened the box for an "extension" USB 3.0 cable I bought so as to make hooking up to this new PCIe card easier than climbing behind my tower case on the floor. It has no bag, so I got a really GOOD look into it, and discovered those added 5 pins at the deep end of the port. I then noticed them in the cables I bought. So I came here immediately because I knew I was wrong. Again, sorry for my mistake.

So........that shoots down my theory of why some folks might have not seen much improvement plugging their S5 into a USB 3.0 port. The supplied cable is indeed a USB 3.0 cable.

Once I get things installed, I am going to run a file copy test between the S5 and my PC, comparing using a USB 3.0 port vs. a USB 2.0 port. And also look into whether I will now be able to select the "Media device (USB 3.0) option at the bottom of the connection list.

I am going to go back and fix the incorrect information I posted earlier.

 

[smith058]

It happens, we all do it.. at a good glance it does look like the normal usb 2, them extra 5 pins are small and hard to see, I had to use the flashlight and magnifier on the phone to see them
But Please do report your stats on the file transfer tests

 

[boatguypat]

The cable that came with my GS5 is a usb3 cable. When i plugged the PC end into a USB3 port on my laptop (which has both USB2 and USB3 ports), then the "Media Device (USB3.0)" selection was no longer greyed out and i could select it. Before purchasing another cable, make sure you are plugging into a USB3 port on the PC.

Oops, guess i was late on this one...

 

[Zoandroid]

The cable that came with my GS5 is a usb3 cable. When i plugged the PC end into a USB3 port on my laptop (which has both USB2 and USB3 ports), then the "Media Device (USB3.0)" selection was no longer greyed out and i could select it. Before purchasing another cable, make sure you are plugging into a USB3 port on the PC.

Oops, guess i was late on this one...

Thanks anyway! It's never a bad thing to have extra cables. I've seen a lot of them fail over the years.

 

[Zoandroid]

OK, here is what I have learned today, after installing a new Anker USB 3.0 PCIe card in my Windows 7x64 Home Premium PC.

Since I now have two USB 3 devices (a Western Digital Passport 500GB portable drive as well as the Galaxy S5) I wanted to test them both.

After installing the card and its driver, and rebooting, I am using one of the USB 3.0 ports from the card, through a 5 ft. Amazon Basics USB 3.0 extension cable, to make life easier for me.

This WD Passport contains some large file collections of custom satellite photorealistic scenery for Flight Simulator X. I chose a folder on it holding the state of Connecticut scenery as my test subject for the Passport. This folder holds 3.28GB.

For the S5, I am using the 4.2GB nandroid backup I made of the stock ROM with Safestrap/TWRP.

USB 3.0 Speed tests:

As a test, I have created a recipient folder on an SATA internal Hard Drive in my PC, and connected the WD Passport to the USB 3 extension cable.

This folder copied by USB 3 to my PC in 47.19 seconds.

I will now delete it, and rerun the test with the Passport Drive connected to a Cosmos PC Case top USB2 port on my PC. So far I can say that the progress bar moved obviously faster when using USB3.

I am at 47 seconds on USB2 and not even half done yet. It took a minute and 45 seconds by USB2. So more than TWICE as fast. 105/47 = 2.24 times faster (124% speed increase) by USB3. Now to try the same kind of test with the Galaxy S5.

Connected the S5 to the same USB 2 port as MTP, and copied the 4.2GB nandroid over to my test folder on the PC. This took 2:22.49 minutes to complete.

Now the same test via USB 3 as USB 3 Media Transfer Protocol. Note that when enabled, a warning pops up on the phone that this enables Airplane Mode and no calls, texts, etc. will be available, and asks for confirmation to use this mode. This took 1:51.18 minutes. 142 sec / 111 sec = 1.28 times as fast. So not quite as stellar as the WD Passport drive, but still 28% faster by USB 3.0.

When USB 3.0 is selected as MTP, the following things happen automatically:

The USB 2.0 “Installer” connection terminates, AND the “Safely Remove” option ALSO closes by itself.

Airplane Mode engages.

USB 3 MTP connection ensues, and the Phone appears as a Removable Drive, but there is NO “Safely Remove” listing for it as there would be in USB 2.

When you are finished, simply disconnect the cable, as there is no other way to disconnect “safely”, either on the PC or on the phone. Doing so turns off Airplane Mode, clears the USB Connected Notification icon which had appeared when you plugged the cable into the S5, and resumes normal phone operations.

So, it is not the speed increase I had hoped to see on the S5 (sure wish it was like that WD Passport!) but it was indeed faster. There is a possibility that my using a folder containing multiple files for the Passport test vs. a single huge file for the S5 test may not actually be apples to apples. I've read in some reviews over the years that there can be a difference in speed when copying lots of smaller files vs. one large file, so I probably should re-run the test using the same S5 nandroid backup, but on the Passport drive. If I find there is a significant difference in doing so, I'll post again with that info. But for me, even the 28% speed increase makes the purchase of the USB 3 card worthwhile. And it's nice not to have to remember the whole "safely disconnect" thing.

 

[Zoandroid]

To address the possible issue of transferring one large file vs. many smaller files:

I decided to run another test using the 3.36GB Music folder from the ExtSdCard on the S5. By USB3 copied to my PC (in minutes) it takes 3:29.64.

By USB 2 it takes 4:13.40.

So 253/209 seconds = 1.21, or 21% faster by USB 3. So maybe it really doesn't matter whether the copied selection is one large file or a bunch of smaller files. That must mean when using the S5, the reason I'm not seeing the 124% speedup I saw with the WD Passport drive, must have something to do with the S5 circuitry itself.

 

[smith058]

124% sounds reasonable! but 21% doesn't even sound worth the extra hassles such as the stupid micro USB port that we have! now if it was double the speed then that would be worth the stupidness of it, but just a quarter faster? lame!!

Thanks for the tests...

 

[Zoandroid]

124% sounds reasonable! but 21% doesn't even sound worth the extra hassles such as the stupid micro USB port that we have! now if it was double the speed then that would be worth the stupidness of it, but just a quarter faster? lame!!

Thanks for the tests...

You're welcome. Although I can agree that 21% doesn't provide much motivation to purchase something, one thing to consider is that USB 3 is the newest USB technology. So at least Samsung was trying to keep up.

On an overall viewpoint, I don't like USB at all, and never have. I like to call it the Universally Sucking Bus. I can't tell you how many computer and portable device problems it has caused here over the years. I wish "they" would come up with something to replace it that is 100% rock solid, never "fails to recognize" its accessories, actually lives up to its 'specifications' (like the insane data rates adverised, and being able to connect 127 devices to one port.....total used car salesman lingo), and has stellar data throughput.

But then, I'd also like to see world peace and cheap gasoline once again.

 

[jamitche98]

Have you enabled developer options? If not go to settings> about phone> keep tapping "build number" until it says "you are now a developer" just need to tap 6 times

 

[onz]

Found this required for Mac
https://www.android.com/filetransfer/

 

[AZgl1500]

Have you enabled developer options? If not go to settings> about phone> keep tapping "build number" until it says "you are now a developer" just need to tap 6 times

uh, it is 7 times, but who is counting? we all keep tapping until something happens
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[Richie_Rich]

This USB 3.0 is a gimmick. My Samsung S2 had USB storage mode and transferring files were several times faster than the MTP mode on my Samsung S5. I take it that Samsung disabled the fast USB storage mode for MTP so we would have to buy USB 3.0 cables and new motherboards with USB 3.0 ports.

OK, here is what I have learned today, after installing a new Anker USB 3.0 PCIe card in my Windows 7x64 Home Premium PC.

Since I now have two USB 3 devices (a Western Digital Passport 500GB portable drive as well as the Galaxy S5) I wanted to test them both.

After installing the card and its driver, and rebooting, I am using one of the USB 3.0 ports from the card, through a 5 ft. Amazon Basics USB 3.0 extension cable, to make life easier for me.

This WD Passport contains some large file collections of custom satellite photorealistic scenery for Flight Simulator X. I chose a folder on it holding the state of Connecticut scenery as my test subject for the Passport. This folder holds 3.28GB.

For the S5, I am using the 4.2GB nandroid backup I made of the stock ROM with Safestrap/TWRP.

USB 3.0 Speed tests:

As a test, I have created a recipient folder on an SATA internal Hard Drive in my PC, and connected the WD Passport to the USB 3 extension cable.

This folder copied by USB 3 to my PC in 47.19 seconds.

I will now delete it, and rerun the test with the Passport Drive connected to a Cosmos PC Case top USB2 port on my PC. So far I can say that the progress bar moved obviously faster when using USB3.

I am at 47 seconds on USB2 and not even half done yet. It took a minute and 45 seconds by USB2. So more than TWICE as fast. 105/47 = 2.24 times faster (124% speed increase) by USB3. Now to try the same kind of test with the Galaxy S5.

Connected the S5 to the same USB 2 port as MTP, and copied the 4.2GB nandroid over to my test folder on the PC. This took 2:22.49 minutes to complete.

Now the same test via USB 3 as USB 3 Media Transfer Protocol. Note that when enabled, a warning pops up on the phone that this enables Airplane Mode and no calls, texts, etc. will be available, and asks for confirmation to use this mode. This took 1:51.18 minutes. 142 sec / 111 sec = 1.28 times as fast. So not quite as stellar as the WD Passport drive, but still 28% faster by USB 3.0.

When USB 3.0 is selected as MTP, the following things happen automatically:

The USB 2.0 “Installer” connection terminates, AND the “Safely Remove” option ALSO closes by itself.

Airplane Mode engages.

USB 3 MTP connection ensues, and the Phone appears as a Removable Drive, but there is NO “Safely Remove” listing for it as there would be in USB 2.

When you are finished, simply disconnect the cable, as there is no other way to disconnect “safely”, either on the PC or on the phone. Doing so turns off Airplane Mode, clears the USB Connected Notification icon which had appeared when you plugged the cable into the S5, and resumes normal phone operations.

So, it is not the speed increase I had hoped to see on the S5 (sure wish it was like that WD Passport!) but it was indeed faster. There is a possibility that my using a folder containing multiple files for the Passport test vs. a single huge file for the S5 test may not actually be apples to apples. I've read in some reviews over the years that there can be a difference in speed when copying lots of smaller files vs. one large file, so I probably should re-run the test using the same S5 nandroid backup, but on the Passport drive. If I find there is a significant difference in doing so, I'll post again with that info. But for me, even the 28% speed increase makes the purchase of the USB 3 card worthwhile. And it's nice not to have to remember the whole "safely disconnect" thing.