Early versions of androidused to look like a disk drive when you plugged the
USB into a PC, but not any more. Why? How may I do this?

--
Vasos Panagiotopoulos panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---

vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:

> Early versions of androidused to look like a disk drive when you plugged the
> USB into a PC

But the old way (USB Mass storage in android pre v4.x) meant the internal flash
"disk" had to be unmounted from the phone to make it available to the PC, so all
apps using the disk had to be stopped.

> but not any more. Why? How may I do this?

The modern way (MTP or PTP) is like a file serving protocol, so it can remain in
use by apps on the phone at the same time as bing used by the PC.

If you insist, then I think you'll need to root the phone, how old is is, and
what are version of windows?/linux? are you connecting it to?

Andy Burns wrote:

> If you insist, then I think you'll need to root the phone, how old is is, and
> what are version of windows?/linux? are you connecting it to?

Given the lack of energy put into the original post, I am wary whether
the OP is a troll but even so, the various answers to the question
are of general use to most people who mount Android onto Windows.
<https://i.postimg.cc/BvJdKWzt/webdav06.jpg> Android mounted as drive letter

Andy Burns already answered the question of mounting the Android phone
as a drive letter using USB, where the answer below is for mounting the
entire Android phone (both internal & external storage) as a drive over Wi-Fi.

No USB necessary (as of Android 12, which has an option for this):
<https://i.postimg.cc/9M0Tqzm6/adb01.jpg> Wireless debugging option

Mount Android over Wi-Fi to a Windows drive letter using WebDav:
*How to Map or Mount Android as a Drive on Windows*
<https://www.guidingtech.com/39472/map-android-drive-windows/>

Network Android over Wi-Fi to a Windows drive letter using FTPuse:
*FtpUse - Map a FTP server as a Local Disk Drive*
<https://www.ferrobackup.com/map-ftp-as-disk.html>

*How to map any FTP server and/or folder to a Windows drive letter using FTPUSE*
<https://www.ryadel.com/en/map-ftp-server-folder-windows-drive-letter-using-ftpuse/>

Assuming the IP address of the Android server is 192.168.0.2, and assuming
you set up the Android home server username of foo and a password of bar...

*Webdav* example:
C:\> net use Z: \\192.168.0.10@8080\DavWWWRoot /USER:foo bar

*FTPuse* example:
C:\> ftpuse Z: 192.168.0.2 bar /USER:foo

There are other methods to mount the entire Android drive on Windows,
but these work well enough that they're the first two I'd suggest.
--
Posted out of the goodness of my heart to not only help the OP,
but more importantly to inform others in the future who come across
this thread when searching for the answer to the same questions.

On 7/10/2022 2:33 PM, Andy Burns wrote:
> vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:
>
>> Early versions of androidused to look like a disk drive when you plugged the
>> USB into a PC
>
>
> But the old way (USB Mass storage in android pre v4.x) meant the internal
> flash "disk" had to be unmounted from the phone to make it available to the
> PC, so all apps using the disk had to be stopped.
>
>
>> but not any more. Why? How may I do this?
>
>
> The modern way (MTP or PTP) is like a file serving protocol, so it can
> remain in use by apps on the phone at the same time as bing used by the PC.
>
>
> If you insist, then I think you'll need to root the phone, how old is is,
> and what are version of windows?/linux? are you connecting it to?
>

Not sure I understood that at all. I plug my Pixels into my computer every
time via USB (well, those are the only plugs available after all) and the
W10 PC 'notices' every time and makes the internal storage of the phone
available as a separate drive. Hard to see what difference there might be.
What was different in the old Android versions? I had them but don't
remember a bit of it at this late date.

--
Noli sinere pessimi nequissimique te tristificare!

John McGaw wrote:

> I plug my Pixels into my computer every time via USB (well, those are the only
> plugs available after all) and the W10 PC 'notices' every time and makes the
> internal storage of the phone available as a separate drive.

Yes, but that uses MTP (or PTP) which WinXP (and Win7?) O/Ses didn't support
without extra drivers, so the older (pre pixel) phones defaulted to USB Mass
storage, which as mentioned requires that the PC "owns" the storage exclusively
for the duration it is plugged in, apps on the phone can't touch the storage
until it's unplugged again.

Andy Burns wrote:

> Yes, but that uses MTP (or PTP) which WinXP (and Win7?) O/Ses didn't support
> without extra drivers, so the older (pre pixel) phones defaulted to USB Mass
> storage, which as mentioned requires that the PC "owns" the storage exclusively
> for the duration it is plugged in, apps on the phone can't touch the storage
> until it's unplugged again.

Hi Andy,
I never thought about this limitation, but as you may be aware, I eschew
the USB cable in favor of full-time Wi-Fi connection over my LAN where I
mount my entire Android phone as a set of drive letters onto Windows 10.

sdcard0 (WebDav Server - won't go on with reboot of Android!)
net use Y: \\192.168.0.2@8080\DavWWWRoot /USER:foo bar

sdcard1 (Olive Tree - has trouble with write permission!)
net use Z: \\192.168.0.2@8081\DavWWWRoot /USER:foo bar

Do you think my troubles with write permission are due to what you are
saying happens with use of the USB cable exclusive storage reservations?

Andy Burnelli wrote:

> sdcard1 (Olive Tree - has trouble with write permission!)
> net use Z: \\192.168.0.2@8081\DavWWWRoot /USER:foo bar
> Do you think my troubles with write permission are due to what you are
> saying happens with use of the USB cable exclusive storage reservations?

No, because the SDcard partition(s) will remain mounted for android apps
(including your webdav server) to use, not sure if android handles any fo of
file-locking, or just last writer wins?

On 7/10/2022 11:12 AM, vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:
> Early versions of androidused to look like a disk drive when you plugged the
> USB into a PC, but not any more. Why? How may I do this?

This indeed can be a very useful feature and it is "Android-only." You
are correct that the earlier Android versions worked differently.
However you can get back that feature.

I go into this, with illustrations, in #106a on page 46 of my document:
"34 iOS & iPhone Features Which [many] Android Users Wish they Had and
181 Android & Android Phone Features Which [many] iOS Users Wish they
Had." It is at <https://tinyurl.com/iOS-Android-Features>.

106a. Ability to Connect Android Device as a Storage Device with a Drive
Letter.
"Using the WebDav Android App WebDAV Server
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theolivetree.webdavserver>
App on Google Play you can wirelessly connect an Android device to a
Windows computer, and assign a drive letter to the device. This can be
enormously useful for file management such as moving, copying,
transferring, deleting, and renaming files."

In article <tart8u$32qdj$1@dont-email.me>, sms
<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

> > Early versions of androidused to look like a disk drive when you plugged the
> > USB into a PC, but not any more. Why? How may I do this?
>
> This indeed can be a very useful feature and it is "Android-only."

iphones can also appear as a hard drive.

nospam wrote:

> In article <tart8u$32qdj$1@dont-email.me>, sms
> <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>>> Early versions of androidused to look like a disk drive when you plugged the
>>> USB into a PC, but not any more. Why? How may I do this?
>>
>> This indeed can be a very useful feature and it is "Android-only."
>
> iphones can also appear as a hard drive.

Hi nospam,
*What iOS freeware do you suggest to do what you claim can be done?*

There is a possibility that nospam is correct for once in making claims of
iOS functionality that Android clearly has for Windows interoperability.

The question when iOS is involved is always whether the solution is a
general purpose solution, which, in my book, requires it to be freeware.

And it goes without stating, that the solution must NOT use any Apple
untested bug-filled bloatware abominations, such as Windows iTunes is.

With that rationally sensible background having been sated up front...

I find it very useful to freely connect Android to Windows over Wi-Fi (no
USB is needed!) for both mirroring and for mounting as a drive letter.
<https://i.postimg.cc/qRhkhTwV/adb21.jpg> Android Wireless-debugging tile

*Mirroring:*
<https://i.postimg.cc/k5gv0yw8/vysor34.jpg> Apple iOS & Android mirroring

*Mounting as a Drive Letter:*
<https://i.postimg.cc/k5gv0yw8/vysor34.jpg> Apple iOS & Android mirroring

When mounting, I can use FTP or WebDAV, but I find FTPUse a bit flaky:
<https://www.ferrobackup.com/map-ftp-as-disk.html>

Instead of FTP, I use WebDav where I employ _two_ free WebDav servers so
that I can separately fully mount both the internal sdcard & the external
sdcard:

sdcard0 (Set up using "WebDav Server" as the free WebDAV server on Android)
C:\> net use Y: \\192.168.0.2@8080\DavWWWRoot /USER:foo bar

sdcard1 (Set up using "Olive Tree" as the free WebDAV server on Android)
C:\> net use Z: \\192.168.0.2@8081\DavWWWRoot /USER:foo bar

Since I prove what I say with links and with my own screenshot proof, the
two software packages I used for the above that are free are the following:
*WebDAV Server - BestDAV" by ZQ Software
Free, no ads, no GSF, rated 3.4, 100+ reviews, 10K+ downloads
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zq.webdav.app_free>
Pro: Works well, no ads, no gsf, autostarts upon reboot
Con: Slightly harder to set up as it requires full paths

*WebDAV Server* by The Olive Tree
Free, has ads, requires GSF, rated 3.5, 800+ reviews, 100K+ downloads
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theolivetree.webdavserver>
Pro: Works well, slightly easier to set up
Con: ads, gsf, and won't autostart on reboot

One suggestion for Steve, which I've told him many times and he ignores it
so we KNOW Steve is not taking advice into account for his document, is for
Steve to add to his recommendation this lesser-known WebDAV serverm, which
in almost all ways is better than the one Steve currently lists in the doc.

But moving on to add functionality for iOS integration to Windows, I need
to ask nospam to act like an adult and suggest the apps he claims exist if
nospam's cryptic response is an indication that free WebDAV and/or FTP
servers are available for iOS to connect over Wi-Fi to Windows.

Given my credibility is stellar on what I claim can easily be done on
Android using freeware, what I would like to ask nospm is what freeware
does he suggest will do the same for iOS (e.g., FTP or WebDAV servers)?

For nospam:
*What iOS freeware do you suggest to do what you claim can be done?*

Andy Burnelli wrote:

> sdcard0 (Set up using "WebDav Server" as the free WebDAV server on Android)
> C:\> net use Y: \\192.168.0.2@8080\DavWWWRoot /USER:foo bar
>
> sdcard1 (Set up using "Olive Tree" as the free WebDAV server on Android)
> C:\> net use Z: \\192.168.0.2@8081\DavWWWRoot /USER:foo bar
>
> *Mirroring:*
> <https://i.postimg.cc/k5gv0yw8/vysor34.jpg> Apple iOS & Android mirroring
>
> *Mounting as a Drive Letter:*
> <https://i.postimg.cc/k5gv0yw8/vysor34.jpg> Apple iOS & Android mirroring

Ooooooops......
<https://i.postimg.cc/k5gv0yw8/vysor34.jpg> Apple iOS & Android mirroring

By accident I had posted the same image twice so below is the second image
I had meant to add as proof of what I claim, which I do because my stellar
credibility is the most important asset that I own on Usenet.
<https://i.postimg.cc/BvJdKWzt/webdav06.jpg> Android as a drive letter

Moving forward, since I'd love to have free read/write access to my iOS
devices over Wi-Fi with the iOS device mounted as a Windows drive letter...

In his rebuttal to Steve's document, I presume nospam is claiming that
there are also free iOS WebDav and/or FTP servers, which, if true, "should"
mean that he would be correct when nospam said to Steve in this thread:
"iphones can also appear as a hard drive"

The question, of course, is how much of the iPhone can appear as a hard
drive, and whether it's for read only, or also for write permission.

Bear in mind it's almost too good to be true that much of the Android root
partition is available for read permission as a drive letter on Windows for
my non-rooted Android 12 phone, as well as write permission for user areas.

So it remains to be seen whether Steve is correct or if nospam is correct.

Even so, if only a little teeny tiny bit of the iOS filesystem could appear
as a read/write drive letter onto Windows using only iOS freeware, that
would be useful.

Hence my question to either Steve or nospam is how?
Since Steve says it can't be done & nospam says it can be done, I ask:

For nospam:
*What iOS freeware do you suggest that will mount the iOS file system
*read (and hopefully write) over Wi-Fi as a Windows drive letter?*

John McGaw <Nobody@nowh.ere> wrote:
> On 7/10/2022 2:33 PM, Andy Burns wrote:
> > vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:
> >
> >> Early versions of androidused to look like a disk drive when you plugged the
> >> USB into a PC
> >
> >
> > But the old way (USB Mass storage in android pre v4.x) meant the internal
> > flash "disk" had to be unmounted from the phone to make it available to the
> > PC, so all apps using the disk had to be stopped.
> >
> >
> >> but not any more. Why? How may I do this?
> >
> >
> > The modern way (MTP or PTP) is like a file serving protocol, so it can
> > remain in use by apps on the phone at the same time as bing used by the PC.
> >
> >
> > If you insist, then I think you'll need to root the phone, how old is is,
> > and what are version of windows?/linux? are you connecting it to?
> >
>
> Not sure I understood that at all. I plug my Pixels into my computer every
> time via USB (well, those are the only plugs available after all) and the
> W10 PC 'notices' every time and makes the internal storage of the phone
> available as a separate drive. Hard to see what difference there might be.

It'ss actually not a 'drive', i.e. a thing with a drive letter, and
also not a Network Share, i.e. a thing with a \\<path> path.

It's a 'thing' which can *only* be accessed from within (Windows) File
explorer, not from any other program, not from a Command Prompt window,
etc..

If all you need is access from within (Windows) File Explorer - which
is probably sufficient for many/most people -, it's fine. But it's not a
'drive'.

There are other solutions which *do* offer a drive - i.e. drive letter
-, some of which have been mentioned already, but IMO/IME none of them
are particularly easy/elegant.

These, days I do no longer bother and either use USB (i.e. MTP/PTP)
access from within Windows File Explorer or use a Network Share in the
other direction, i.e. Android client and Windows server.

[...]