[General Questions and Answers] gingerlindsey:
Draft of Tutorial for FTP FIle sharing

TUTORIAL: FTP File Sharing for Macs & Androids

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

I find that for many Mac users, the instructions given within these forums for file sharing between their computers and their Android phones are quite sparse and oftentimes confusing. Mac users use different terminology and generally, are less comfortable with Terminal command line instructions than are PC users. That is not, by any means, intended to disparage Mac users. By anyone's standards, for instance, I would be considered a "power user" or even a techno-geek, yet even I found terms and phrases such as "flashing roms" and "RUU's" confusing! So, this little guide should help any Mac user who is trying to get files from his Mac computer to his Android phone, and visa versa.

What will most confound most Mac users, who are very much used to their devices being "plug and play", is why they can't just plug their Android phone into their computer and have the phone mount like any other drive on their desktop? The problem, of course, is that Mac OS X currently does not support Media Transfer Protocol, or MTP. So, when they plug their Android phones into their computers using a standard USB connection, their Macs cannot "see" the drives.

So, it has been suggested to many of us that we use a program, such as Android FIle Transfer, which uses a different protocol, AFT, to mount our Android phones onto our Macs. The problem is that Android File Transfer, a free download, is oftentimes unreliable and will fail to mount the phone as a drive on the computer. To make matters worse, HTC phones, such as the HTC One, by default will launch a program called, "HTC Sync Manager" which actually will keep the Android FIle Transfer program from mounting the drive.

So, what's a Mac user to do for reliable transfers of information from his Mac to his Android? For small files, such as documents, Dropbox and Google work really well, and their intuitive interface makes them a handy resource for Mac users. But the larger files, such as custom ROM's, firmware updating, and yes, those pesky "RUU's" that need to be installed directly on the Android's sd card pose a real problem.

THE SOLUTION

The Mac user will first need to install the proper "tools" onto his respective devices. On his Android, he will need to install (i.e. not "flash") a FIle Manager, such as ES File Explorer. On his computer, running some variant of Mac OS X, he will need to install an ftp client. I use and recommend a program called, "Transmit", but there are others that will work as well. The ES File Explorer program is available for download at the Google Play Store, and the Transmit app is available from the Mac App Store.

Once these tools have been installed on their respective devices, the Mac user will need to go to his System Preferences and open up the Sharing CP. Both "File Sharing" and "Remote Login" must be checked. Then he should got to Settings on his phone and then to the Developer Options within Settings and select "USB debugging".

Next, he will to make sure that both of his devices are connected to the same WiFi network. On the Mac, WiFi is enabled in the Network CP and on the phone it is enabled under "settings".

Then he will need to open up ES File Explorer on his Android and navigate to Tools. He must click on Tools and then scroll down to "Remote Manager". He will select "Remote Manager", and he should see a screen that says, "Network Status" followed by the name of his WiFi network. Underneath the blue symbol for WiFi will be the statement, "you can manage your device through your PC after you turn on the service." He should click on the button just below that statement. The button will say, "Turn On".

Okay, the setup is nearly complete! Now that the user has enabled WiFi access on his phone, an ftp address will appear just below the blue WiFi symbol with the instruction to, "input the address on your computer". The ftp address will look something like this:

XXX:XXX.X.XX:4038

Now the user will launch the application, Transmit, and select FTP from the drop down menus. A dialog box will appear that will ask for the server, user name, password, initial path, port and type of ftp that he wishes to use. Using our sample ftp address, he should fill out the box as follows:

Server: XXX:XXX.X.XX

User Name: Joe Smith's HTC One [name should match name that was assigned to the phone at setup]

Password: XXXXX [i.e. the password or numerical passcode that is used to unlock the phone at startup]

Initial Path - [leave blank]

Port: 4038 [the last 4 digits of phone's assigned ftp address, i.e. the ones that followed the colon]

FTP: - just select this first option for the type of ftp.

Then he will click the "Connect" button that is at the bottom of this window, and if the application has been configured correctly, he should see a list of all of the files and folders contained in the home directory on his Mac on the left side of the window. On the right will be all of the folders and files that reside on his phone. Now, with a simple drag and drop interface, he can drag files left to right to move files from his computer to his phone, and right to left to move files from his phone to his computer.

This simple, elegant solution to file transfers is perfect, and transfers over ftp are generally very quick. The user will even get a notification when each of his file transfers is complete.

I hope this tutorial helps. Please let me know if it has helped you as well as whether you need additional information.