OK, so the DNA has support when booted into the OS for USB OTG cables/thumb drives... is it a pipe dream getting the same feature in recovery?
I've tried with both TWRP and CWM to no avail. When in the phone's OS, the mount point is located at: /storage/USB but that doesn't appear in either recoveries.
My reason for asking is simple: Considering the DNA's weakest feature is the storage space (both the relatively small amount and lack of SD Card slot), it would be beneficial for many to enable it so that when performing nand backups, ROM/Mod/Script flashes, etc. in recovery, one could actually store all of those items on the Thumb Drive rather than the internal storage. I'm finding it very painstaking to have to perform these types of items, having to copy/paste/move/delete them on and off the phone's "SDcard" folder... it's also somewhat of a risk if your phone somehow gets hosed and you didn't move your files off of the phone prior to the hosing.
HTC may not have given us more storage options (dare I say like the iPhone, where you can get 32/64gb+ space), but with USB OTG we can use a thumb drive as our sdcard.
WorldOfJohnboy said:
OK, so the DNA has support when booted into the OS for USB OTG cables/thumb drives... is it a pipe dream getting the same feature in recovery?
I've tried with both TWRP and CWM to no avail. When in the phone's OS, the mount point is located at: /storage/USB but that doesn't appear in either recoveries.
My reason for asking is simple: Considering the DNA's weakest feature is the storage space (both the relatively small amount and lack of SD Card slot), it would be beneficial for many to enable it so that when performing nand backups, ROM/Mod/Script flashes, etc. in recovery, one could actually store all of those items on the Thumb Drive rather than the internal storage. I'm finding it very painstaking to have to perform these types of items, having to copy/paste/move/delete them on and off the phone's "SDcard" folder... it's also somewhat of a risk if your phone somehow gets hosed and you didn't move your files off of the phone prior to the hosing.
HTC may not have given us more storage options (dare I say like the iPhone, where you can get 32/64gb+ space), but with USB OTG we can use a thumb drive as our sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried poking around in /dev or similar folders for the drive?
Related
Folks,
I don't claim to be an expert on the microiSD card, but there are some things
that need to be said -- and if I don't get it all or get it right then other folks
need to jump in.
1. Care always need to be taken putting your microSD card in and out. Not
only is it small and fragile, but the slot is small as well. You sometimes may
have to use your fingernail or something else thin to ease it far enough in
against the spring to get it to "click" into place. Same thing in reverse for
removal.
2. YOU CANNOT JUST PLUG AND UNPLUG THE FULL SIZE USB STUFF IN ANDROID.
They are not "Plug and Play" like Windows. I don't know the final word, but on
the full size USB port -- when I put in a USB key -- I always shut down, plug it in,
then reboot.
The miniUSB you use to your PC is a little more flexible, but that's another
post for another time.
3. You can use the microSD for recovery, but you have to edit the recovery
command file to point to /SDCARD2. When you boot standard recovery, Android
checks the internal memory for a recovery/command and update.zip presence.
If it does not find them, the it looks for a microSD external card and if it finds it
then it checks for recovery/command and update.zip file there.
4. Different ROMS have different capabilities with regard to finding and using the
USB ports. You'll have to research that -- or maybe someone will fill in that
blank here.
I hope this helps. I know this is not all the info on /SDCARD2 -- but I hope it
get the discussion going to help those having problems.
Rev
Good Topic! May want to add mention that /SDCARD2 does not normally mount to your PC when the tablet is connected for file transfers (I've seen that question 3 or 4 times in the past few days). There are some apps that allow it but I've run into some serious issues with a couple of them up to and including corruption of the internal memory.
#2 - the large USB port... I'm not an expert on this either but I do have two flash drives that will not mount if they're inserted with the tablet off. They do work fine when inserted with it on. So there is at least some level of auto-detect and mount going on I'm just not sure to what degree. It is on the list for further study. I would definitely err on the side of caution on this one with regards to anything containing important data.
#3 could be expanded to include or link to a how to on making your own recovery/utility MicroSD (another thread?). This could really save some folks some time and anguish.
+1 placeholder
+2 placeholder.
I won't bump it again. Just want those who need this to have the opportunity to
read it.
Rev
If SDCARD2 does not mount to your PC, how do you get the PC to recognize it so that you can store media files from your PC? Thanks!
mebrat said:
If SDCARD2 does not mount to your PC, how do you get the PC to recognize it so that you can store media files from your PC? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I understand your question correctly, you must get a standard sd holder for your micro sd (usually comes with the micro, but not always), and then you need a card reader with a usb plug to go into your computer.
snarful,
Yes. In my case an adapter came with the microSD card and I have a card reader
on my PC -- so I'm good to go.
But if you are going to do much with the cards, it really helps and speeds things up.
Rev
Will we ever see a CWM recovery or any recovery for that matter that supports the external storage card?
This would be pretty convenient for transferring ROMs between devices (or even with the PC, USB cables always seem a bit flaky to me).
cmckitterick said:
This would be pretty convenient for transferring ROMs between devices (or even with the PC, USB cables always seem a bit flaky to me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely. And that would also allow me to wipe the whole device and flash a rom from scratch...
I guess I never figured out why the recovery cannot use the external storage
Before anyone says that this question has been asked, I'm coming from another angle. I've searched; I know it's only MTP because of Google. However, if in TWRP I can easily mount my internal storage as USB Mass Storage. So is there a way we can use the same approach TWRP is using to implement in the ROMs?
Would it be possible if a dev could mount the internal storage a second time to another mount point as a Mass Storage device solely for transferring files? I don't know if this is even possible but just throwing it out there. I haven't played in Linux for awhile but I'm going to get back in to see if I can contribute at all - if it's possible of course =)
Hi, I am usign custom roms for my phone. I have a external 1tb external hard drive that I want to save all my backups into through TWRP. When the phone is on either AOSP or the Standard Touchwiz Rom, I am able to access the hard drive through Root Explorer and Change things whenever. When I go into TWRP, however, I am not able to acess that Hard Drive. I am on TWRP 2.7.0.1 right now. I was not able to check mark to mount the item and when I tried switching to OTG usb cable, it wouldnt acess the Hard Drive in TWRP. How is this possible? I was able to acess flash drives in TWRP (but their size is too small and its useless). I really want to use my big hard drive so I can get some extra space back on my phone again. Thanks for the help!!
royredman said:
Hi, I am usign custom roms for my phone. I have a external 1tb external hard drive that I want to save all my backups into through TWRP. When the phone is on either AOSP or the Standard Touchwiz Rom, I am able to access the hard drive through Root Explorer and Change things whenever. When I go into TWRP, however, I am not able to acess that Hard Drive. I am on TWRP 2.7.0.1 right now. I was not able to check mark to mount the item and when I tried switching to OTG usb cable, it wouldnt acess the Hard Drive in TWRP. How is this possible? I was able to acess flash drives in TWRP (but their size is too small and its useless). I really want to use my big hard drive so I can get some extra space back on my phone again. Thanks for the help!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 1TB hard drive is almost certainly formatted NTFS (or, less likely exFAT). TWRP is evidently not recognizing it.
You could reformat the external drive as FAT32, but it won't be able to handle large backup files (more than 4Gb).
Or, you could reformat it as Linux ext4.
Deciding to perform a backup is a safe way to preserve your data whenever you flash something that might brick your device, so whenever I plan to do one, I tend use my own usb flash drive with a usb to otg host adapter. However, I've always wondered, isn't there a better and more efficient way to transfer such a large file? Upon choosing which storage to mount in the TWRP recovery, I see either two options, the phone's internal storage or a usb storage, but why can't the third option be the storage of our own computer? So today I ask the knowledgeable and obviously helpful users of the xda forums to give their own generous input on whether this action is even remotely possible or if they simply and bluntly tell me I'm full of it to end my curiosity.