Help HTC Thunderbolt - Can't mount as hard drive?

[Byjum]

I've been trying to figure out why I can't mount my Thunderbolt as a hard drive the way I could with my Incredible. I want to transfer my sounds back over for my contact ringtones. I put all of the pictures I had on the memory card, so no big deal, but I can't even get my computer or laptop to recognize the phone to charge it let alone mount it as a hard drive. Anyone else having this issue, or know how to fix it? Any thoughts are welcome, I'd love to get this fixed for future reference! Thanks!

Edit: I've got my ringtones on my memory card, and so far only one contact's ringtone isn't working... still coming up as default ringtone... everyone else's is working though. Just wanted to throw that in there in case it's relevant.

 

[Rob_B]

Is your USB set to debug enable? mine ended up set that way (don't know when or how) and it wouldn't allow me to select any option when I plugged in the cable. home;menu;settings;applications;development; USB debugging (unchecked)

 

[Byjum]

Looking at it right now, and Debug is not checked. None of the options in Development are checked. I was really hoping that'd be the issue, too... lol.

 

[Byjum]

I do know Windows 7 didn't find any drivers. And skimming through VZW's website I didn't find anything relevant. Maybe there will be one posted someplace for us to download manually?

 

[Slick1020]

I've been trying to figure out why I can't mount my Thunderbolt as a hard drive the way I could with my Incredible. I want to transfer my sounds back over for my contact ringtones. I put all of the pictures I had on the memory card, so no big deal, but I can't even get my computer or laptop to recognize the phone to charge it let alone mount it as a hard drive. Anyone else having this issue, or know how to fix it? Any thoughts are welcome, I'd love to get this fixed for future reference! Thanks!

Edit: I've got my ringtones on my memory card, and so far only one contact's ringtone isn't working... still coming up as default ringtone... everyone else's is working though. Just wanted to throw that in there in case it's relevant.

Are you using a bad or cheap USB cable?

 

[project.in.process]

oddly enough, i've had this problem with my Evo & my Thunderbolt--
both of the times i plugged the USB cable into an adjacent USB port and it worked within moments.
might have already tried it--if not--there ya go.

when you plug in the phone, does "installing new drivers/found new hardware" pop up? if not, try:
plug your phone to the computer via USB cable, go into your Device Manager (on computer @ start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>DeviceManager) and look under the UniversalSerialBusControllers...do you see the phone as a device connected to the computer?
if so, right click--Update Driver

try to see if it's just the Driver that is preventing it from working.

 

[Byjum]

oddly enough, i've had this problem with my Evo & my Thunderbolt--
both of the times i plugged the USB cable into an adjacent USB port and it worked within moments.
might have already tried it--if not--there ya go.

when you plug in the phone, does "installing new drivers/found new hardware" pop up? if not, try:
plug your phone to the computer via USB cable, go into your Device Manager (on computer @ start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>DeviceManager) and look under the UniversalSerialBusControllers...do you see the phone as a device connected to the computer?
if so, right click--Update Driver

try to see if it's just the Driver that is preventing it from working.

It pops up but says ABR (or something, forgot what it said) has the big red X and doesn't install properly. I'll try all my USB ports though, I didn't think that would make a difference. I hope it works!

 

[Little Green Robot]

Try HTC sync

 

[Byjum]

Oh, I shall... thank you!

 

[Tech Addiction]

HTC Sync wont do it. It adds the drivers that are missing but it still wont mount the internal storage drive, only the sd card. The OS uses like 5.5gb of the 8gb available and there is only about 2gb or so left anyway. You need this amount for apps that you run on the internal storage. It's not like the Incredible where you had over 6gb available for Music and Videos and such.

 

[Byjum]

HTC Sync wont do it. It adds the drivers that are missing but it still wont mount the internal storage drive, only the sd card. The OS uses like 5.5gb of the 8gb available and there is only about 2gb or so left anyway. You need this amount for apps that you run on the internal storage. It's not like the Incredible where you had over 6gb available for Music and Videos and such.

No wonder they gave up a 32GB memory card. That's no biggie though, but that leaves the underlying issue of why I wanted to mount my phone as a hard drive: some of my contact ringtones aren't working. They've got them listed under their names in the phone, but it'll still do the default ringtone. I'm assuming it's just part of the "new toy" bugs the phone hasn't worked out, but I'm still learning these. My Incredible was just that, Incredible, but of course I had to get the new gadget. Maybe you have some advice on that? Or is it just a waiting game?

The HTC Sync did allow me to charge using USB, which seems slow as a turtle, but I feel better that the drivers are installed at least. Now I can mount the memory card without issue.

 

[MRW1215]

I connected my Thunderbolt to my computer, and chose "Mount as hard drive", and then my computer got a blue screen error and restarted... What the heck happened? How do I fix that? I'd like to be able to put music and videos, and stuff, on there. Anybody else have this problem?

I'm on Windows 7 (32-bit), by the way.

 

[tekonus]

First time I plugged mine into my Windows 7 machine I had it pop up that it couldn't install correct drivers... but then the drive still mounted automatically and I was able to access it. Weird.

 

[JooJooFace]

I do know Windows 7 didn't find any drivers. And skimming through VZW's website I didn't find anything relevant. Maybe there will be one posted someplace for us to download manually?

I'm having the same problem, I tried installing HTC sync but it still isn't recognized. I am running 64bit Win 7. I checked the settings and set it to htc sync and then to disk drive. When I plug the tb in it only charges as if i plug it into a wall. I used every usb port on my machine and reinstalled htc sync a few times.

To check if it was the phone, I plugged it into a mac and the phone prompted me about what type of connection I want. So, the issue is specifically with the drivers on the win 7 end.

 

[slinky]

I have had a few TBs now and none of them mounted the internal hard drive. It is not accessible. No explanation as to why, whether this will be fixed, or whether this is a feature as is the 2.6GB of 8GB of internal memory being "user accessible."

 

[tekonus]

When I plug the tb in it only charges as if i plug it into a wall. I used every usb port on my machine and reinstalled htc sync a few times.

When you plug it in does your phone have anything in its Notification bar telling you so? If so, you should be able to select the mode from there.

 

[JooJooFace]

I wish that were the case, I just have apps, service data, battery, and time there. When I plugged the phone into a mac, the usb icon showed up and the phone gave me choices to mount, charge, and htc sync.

I also made sure that usb debugging was unchecked and disabled any antivirus software I had running (except MS security essentials)

 

[tekonus]

I wish that were the case, I just have apps, service data, battery, and time there. When I plugged the phone into a mac, the usb icon showed up and the phone gave me choices to mount, charge, and htc sync.

I also made sure that usb debugging was unchecked and disabled any antivirus software I had running (except MS security essentials)

Are you using the stock USB cable that came with your TB? Plugging it directly into your computer (not through a hub or something like that)? I've seen cheap USB cables not work right with certain devices, as well as certain USB hubs not working as expected with certain devices.

 

[JooJooFace]

Just changed my wires, it's still not working (I checked with 3 different micro usb's the stock, a Blackberry wire, and a Kindle wire.) I checked it on a 32bit Win Vista machine that didn't even have HTC Sense today and windows loaded up the drivers.

Has anyone found the specific drivers for the TB?

 

[tekonus]

Has anyone found the specific drivers for the TB?

Haven't needed them to mount it as a drive.

 

[aileendq]

I had the same problem last night. No drivers found and it locked up Windows. Had to restart.

So I changed the setting to "Charge only" on the TB.

This morning- determined to see my SD card, I plugged the phone back in to my PC. I waited a bit then changed the setting on the TB to "mount as disc" or whatever, and the SD showed up just fine.

I waited to do this because I've been using Dropbox successfully. I feel like I don't have to mount the phone anymore because Dropbox does it for me.

 

[slinky]

So far nobody at VZW could explain how to get around this problem

 

[CharlzO]

One thing you might be able to try (if you haven't already done so), restart your computer with the phone and USB cable still plugged in. My 64bit Win7 machine was giving me the same thing. I could plug in my USB and bluescreen my computer, all day long. I was able to get it to work though by leaving it plugged in when I restarted. I did have to go into my bios and make sure it wasn't trying to boot from USB as a primary.

However, I ended up having a bad stick of memory as well, which once fixed, has completely eliminated any issues for me.

 

[tekonus]

I had the same problem last night. No drivers found and it locked up Windows. Had to restart.

So I changed the setting to "Charge only" on the TB.

This morning- determined to see my SD card, I plugged the phone back in to my PC. I waited a bit then changed the setting on the TB to "mount as disc" or whatever, and the SD showed up just fine.

I waited to do this because I've been using Dropbox successfully. I feel like I don't have to mount the phone anymore because Dropbox does it for me.

This is how I have always done it. Maybe that is the key?

 

[slinky]

The SD card will show, not the internal memory.