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Use your phone as a hard drive

Help & How To
By Phil Nickinson | Aug 02 2010 | 3:51 pm  | 10 Comments

Android 2.2. Froyo USB Mass Storage MountUSB storage

Want to use your phone as a flash drive? Want to pull your photos and videos off, or maybe load it up with music? You can do all of that by plugging it in, and setting it in USB storage mode.

This varies slightly from phone to phone, but the principal is the same. You plug your phone into your computer and tell it to "turn on USB storage" or "Mount as disk drive." The examples above are from stock Android 2.2 on the left, and HTC Sense on the right. Your phone might ask you which mode you want when you plug it in, or you might have to pull down the notification shade (grab the top bar and swipe down), and from there you can mount your phone as a drive. You might actually get a second drive if you have a phone like the HTC Incredible, which has extra internal storage in addition to the SD card.

If you're trying to track down your photos, look for a folder called DCIM. Another tip: When you're done, be sure to "eject" the drive from your computer before pulling the cable on the phone.

Phil Nickinson

Phil Nickinson Editor Emeritus

"Phil is a recovering print journalist, editor of Android Central, subtitles and street signs."

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Reader comments

Use your phone as a hard drive

10 Comments
storm14k

Could you please post this article about 10 more times lol. I really don't understand why people still ask about syncing except to try and smoke screen and make it look like the devices are lacking to the uninitiated. Just give me a view as a drive and let me put my files where I want. I have never saw much use in media syncing apps and I can't STAND syncing contacts and calendars to one computer.

icebike

Just go get Astro and the (SMB plug in if using windows).

I haven't had occasion to plug the phone into the computer since I got that.

queenbee808

Another tip: When you're done, be sure to "eject" the drive from your computer before pulling the cable on the phone. So how do i do this??

finanandroid

Go to your Computer Icon >open you Computer>you will see all the Drives like C: D: F: E:look for the drive as you phone> right click the phone> click eject.

queenbee808

Thanks for ur help finanandroid. Unlike the fag up top that feels he needs to make ppl feel stupid for asking a honest question... And they wonder why ppl just lurk on this site.

bodi#AC

There is a problem with Samsung Galaxy S ?
I can't access my cards in Windows 7 64 bit. After i plug in the USB cable and select my option i can see 2 new drives in windows explorer, but appear as unformatted. How can i solve this ?