[Galaxy Tab 7.7 General] ezynow:
Ext4 / NTFS MicroSd & Usb Mounting -v2.3 (fat32 UMS) MTP/UMS Switching/ CM9/10 info

Hi,

i have developed an App, EzyMount - that pretty much takes care of mounting & utilising ext4 / ntfs storage properly. So no need to be limited to 4gb file size restrictions anymore !!

Updated info for CM9 / CM10 builds

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It seems that CM9 /CM10 changes the default mount point for external sdcards

For ntfs partition only sdcard

Change the default mount point to: /storage/sdcard1

Then try mounting here it should work ok and be picked up automatically by other Apps as well.

If you have two partitions:

1st Partition would be vfat then this should get auto mounted to /storage/sdcard1

2nd Partition (ntfs) : change the mount point to: /storage/sdcard0/extStorages1

Then try mounting here it should be ok

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Version 2.3 Update

Universal Mass Storage Mode support for 7.7 tabs also most other devices.

Auto MTP/UMS Switching

When you select either MTP Mode or UMS Mode, the App will automatically switch your device into these respective USB transfer method.

It is also possible to use UMS mode for any external MicroSd card, fat32, Ext4 or NTFS formatted.

For ext4 / ntfs this is taken care of by the App

For fat32 external sd cards (these are mounted automatically by Android)

Create a new Mount Point which is the folder location of your external MicroSd card.

For example, on Galaxy 7.7 devices - this will be /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard.

For Galaxy S3 devices - this will be /mnt/extSdCard

For other devices this is typically, /mnt/sdcard/external_sd

In the partition setting put: /dev/block/mmcblk1p1

Once you have created this mount point, just select "UMS Mode".

After you have finished copying files to or from your PC, it is important to "safely eject your usb device from your PC".

Important too - Finally, disable "UMS Mode" by it pressing again.

You can switch back to MTP by selcting "MTP Mode".

(If MTP does not become active straight away (Android being slow too pick up the change)- you may need to Go to : Settings > Storage > USB PC connection & toggle between Media Device (MTP) & Camera PTP. So Android re-starts MTP. However, it should work without this step)

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Version 2.1 update

1) New Sliding UI.

2) Ability to mount up to 10 devices / partitions.

Just create a new Mount Point for each device / partition you need to mount.

To create a new Mount Point:

Just slide the UI to the "mount another drive or partition". Then just use select a mount option as per usual to create a new mount point and mount at the same time. Or you can press the "microsd info" "usb drive info" to create a new Mount Point.

3) Works with ICS update

Just ignore "ICS warning messages" - when it comes to ntfs usb devices.

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Version 1.7 update

1) Quite a few new features added:

NTFS / Ext4 MTP Modes - this allows you to easily switch between "normal mode" and MTP mode.

MTP mode is used for transferring files to PC.

Usage Example:

Personally, I have a 32 gb sd card

the First partion on it is an exFat 4 gb partition. This is picked up the tab and mounted as normal to the location of /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard

I can use this for my cwm backups etc, other files etc - system running as normal.

This 4gb partition will show up in windows via MTP.

The problem:

I also have a 28GB Ext4 second partition on the Card , this could be an NTFS partition too.

I want this too show up in windows so I can transfer (br rips etc) but it wont as the my first fat32 partiion is shown up instead.

By using NTFS MTP Mode or Ext4 MTP Mode - the App will automatically "switch" the partitions so the larger NTFS or EXT4 mode shows up in windows.

Once done then you can disable NTFS / EXT4 MTP MODE and the device will go back to normal as it were.

(the MTP folder location is set to work already for 7.7 devices and similiar. For other devices this needs to be adjusted. It is normally the default folder loaction of where the external SD card is mounted by the phone.)

UMS Mode - universal mass storage mode.

Although the 7.7 does not have ums mode (MTP is being standardised on ics devices and above) but there a lot of devices than can only use ums mode for transferring file to PC.

I have added a ums mode. Which basically makes your micro sd partitions available on pc. (suitable for non MTP devices)

You do not need to "turn on usb mass storage mode" just select "ums mode" from the APP and it will do it for you.

Also - in windows ext4 partitions are not recognised but ntfs one are off course. In linux both should be available. (one of the benefits of MTP)

Comaptibility Mode

Is for those users whose mounting of micro sd cards might fail for some reason. This mode tries a bit more thorough to mount your micro sd drives.

Better Error Messages

I have added a lot of better error messages that the de facto "error mounting " message :)

It should provide the reason why things might not be mounting.

I hope this helps some with issues and pm if you have any other issues or things you think might be useful to add.

( I will get round to updating the website with the added features soon)

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version update 1.6

1) Fixed slight issue with Auto Ext4 permission handling.

2) Also changed the default mount folders of NTFS or Ext4 microsd card to the /sdcard/extStorages/SdCard

This should mean now MTP will see the card in windows properly and you can access them as you would normally. (I think this has caused some confusion - i had left this generic for other users on different devices)

(This means for other devices you should specify the folder in the "location" settings which is normally seen by windows MTP - i.e when you use a fat32 microsd)

I hope this has resolved some issues people might have been having.

version update 1.5

1) Modified labelling on some settings to make it clearer.

2) Mounting usb devices has been slightly tweaked to care of multiple partitions.

version update 1.4

Following on from your recommendations.

1) Mounting MicroSd Ext4 or Ntfs now automatically takes care of you partitions so you do not need to specify them.

This should make it much simpler to mount your microsd cards.

2) Usb Mounting widget should be compatible for all home screen launchers. (touchwiz, adwlauncher etc.)

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please remember to unmount usb / microsd devices before ejecting - For usb devices you use the 1-click usb mount/umnount home screen widget for this or from within the App

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There have been a few issues regarding using external Usb formatted Ntfs or Ntfs microsd drives. Also I wanted to use an internal micro sd Ext4 partition for large movies (1080p hi-def/bluray etc) or just keep them on an external Ext4 usb disk. Having looked at other solutions, there didn't seem like one that just "worked" or the way I wanted it to do so.

Using Ext4 over Ntfs is native to linux/android and it consumes less cpu than using ntfs. But you cant simply mount an ext4 device and start using it like a regular file system as the file permission are not properly created by Android. I also still needed to have Ntfs read/write support on occassions.

You can use any cheap otg usb cable found on ebay etc. (The same cables as used for 10" galaxy tab devices for example).

As I used the 7.7 as one of my development device so it is pretty suited for our tabs & similiar tablets i.e 7.0+ etc, but is more than generic enough to work on other devices.

The App provides all the necessary features and customization options so you don't need to worry about file formats, file size limitations or file permissions again !!

There are more tips on how to best use the app on my website. If you have any comments good or bad please let me know so I can improve the App.

Cheers.