Help Best way to transfer photos from S4 to computer?

[bls]

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone has found an easy way to transfer their S4 photos from phone to PC.

With my old phone I just plugged it via USB once a month, started up Picasa on the desktop, and set it to import the photos into the folder structure I already used for my real cameras (year/yyy_mm_dd).

But I noticed that this method doesn't work anymore - Picasa seems to have a hard time figuring out which files on the phone are intended for the transfer.

If there's a better approach, or better software, let me know? TIA.

 

[shmn]

I use ES File Explorer. I use the "LAN" page. You need to have your computer and phone on the same wireless network and your computer needs to be set up for home networking.

All I have to do is copy and paste files using my phone and the wireless network. No cables needed. It's fast and easy. You can browse any file on your computer from your phone using wireless.

This way I can easily transfer files between my computer, laptop and phone because they are all on the same network.

 

[bls]

Thanks, that's a possibility. What I liked about my old method was that it automatically sorted my phone photos into folders by date. Very handy.

My current solution is just to USB connect (I actually find it easier than messing around with wifi transfer) and just manually copy over photos into a single folder called "smartphone photos". But that's not how I want my photos organized.

 

[shmn]

You can always use a "sync" program like this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jrtstudio.SyncFolders&hl=en

 

[bls]

You can always use a "sync" program like this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jrtstudio.SyncFolders&hl=en

Thanks, I'll have to check that out. Hopefully it will let me specify which folders and how exactly to push them to the PC.

 

[SLEEVO]

My fav way to do this is using DropBox. It's an online storage with a free 2GB. You can set it up to automatically sync the photos you take either on 4G or wait for wireless signal. Just need to install the dropbox app on any PC and you can have access. Once my folder starts to get full, i just put it on my storage HD.

 

[bls]

Yes, I've tried DropBox too. But again, the user needs to specify the exact folder into which they want to download the photo (and it's one photo at a time, I think).

 

[Spirk]

I use Amazon Cloud Drive Photos app on the phone and Amazon Cloud Drive program on both my PC at work and at home. If I take a picture on my phone, it's automatically in the Photos folder on my PCs, under Cloud Drive, in less than a minute. The photos keep the name given to them by the phone so they're all in order. I haven't had to plug my phone into a computer for a long time.

 

[bls]

I use Amazon Cloud Drive Photos app on the phone and Amazon Cloud Drive program on both my PC at work and at home. If I take a picture on my phone, it's automatically in the Photos folder on my PCs, under Cloud Drive, in less than a minute. The photos keep the name given to them by the phone so they're all in order. I haven't had to plug my phone into a computer for a long time.

How does Amazon manage downloads to the PC? Does it sort or reorganize them? Or just download to one catch-all folder?

 

[shmn]

My fav way to do this is using DropBox. It's an online storage with a free 2GB.

And when you buy a Galaxy S4, you can increase your Dropbox storage to 50GB for free. I now have 50GB of free storage with Dropbox and another 50GB with Box. Plus Google Drive.

Samsung Galaxy S4: Top 10 tips | IT PRO

 

[Unicorn512]

When I first plug my SGS4 into my computer's USB port, the phone goes into "installer" mode. If I touch the notification in the task bar pull, down, I see 2 check boxes. One is media device (MTP) and the other is Camera (PTP).

If I don't do anything, after a minute it defaults to MTP but I can still change it to PTP.

Have you tried your PC software with it in PTP mode?

 

[rcyphermd]

I just pop the SD card out and install them directly to Picassa that way. Works great

 

[shmn]

I just pop the SD card out and install them directly to Picassa that way. Works great

A good method. But if you have a case like the Otter Defender, it's not practical since it is quite a chore to get the case off and back on.

 

[bls]

Have you tried your PC software with it in PTP mode?

I have not, actually. I'm not sure I've seen that mode selection as an option. I'll have to play around with it tonight when I get home.

I just pop the SD card out and install them directly to Picassa that way. Works great

True, but note that the phone's Burst Mode (and other rapid-capture modes) by default put your photos on the camera's internal memory, not on the SD card. If you never use Burst-style mode then your method should be fine.

Thanks all for the various comments, much appreciated!

 

[Spirk]

How does Amazon manage downloads to the PC? Does it sort or reorganize them? Or just download to one catch-all folder?

See attached picture. It creates a folder under Favorites with three folders inside. Inside "Pictures" is "SCH-I545" and inside that is "Camera". I went to the "Screenshots" folder on my phone and added it to the cloud drive. A minute later I had a "Screenshots" folder on my computer under "SCH-I545". I did the same thing with the "Downloads" folder on my phone. It doesn't change the original names or anything. I love it.

 

[4Gee]

I Blue Tooth them to my computer, it works great and teh speed is pretty good.

 

[gdiddy]

I'm using a USB connection and my tower computer will not read my photos (from the gallery) on my phone.

What am I doing wrong?
I can't even see the pictures....and there are about 20 of them.
Thanks.

 

[ocnbrze]

I'm using a USB connection and my tower computer will not read my photos (from the gallery) on my phone.

What am I doing wrong?
I can't even see the pictures....and there are about 20 of them.
Thanks.

i moved you to the s4 forum where folks who have your device can help you out.

there should be a DCIM folder on your phone where the photos are kept. i do not have your device so i can't say if it is on your internal sd card or your external one. hopefully folks here can chime in.

 

[rabidhunter]

Was there an icon in the notification menu that gives you the option to connect to computer as mass media?

Have you installed the drivers onto your computer? Without the drivers installed, it won't recognize your phone.

You have two other options, you can remove your micro SD Card and put that in your computer, or you can use the Samsung Kies service or use an app that transfers files via wifi.

 

[speedlever]

Make sure you're using the OEM USB charging cable to connect to your computer. Many generic USB cables won't pass data, but they will charge the device.

Using the OEM cable with my XP.pro.sp3 laptop, the GS4 connects and the laptop loads the driver bringing up this screen:

Then opening the top option brings up this screen:

I click on the card icon and see this:

Then click on the DCIM icon to see this:

 

[gdiddy]

Thanks for your kind reply.
It helped.
Got it working now.
Thank you.

 

[itsallgood]

You know, I'm not sure if any drivers installed on my PC the first time I hooked up my phone to transfer pictures to the Kodak Easy Share program on my computer. (This is where I upload all my pictures too.) Because my phone registered as a media device, it doesn't show up in the drop down file folders in Kodak Easy Share even if I select the Camera option from the USB selection in the notification bar. So what I did was open "My Computer" and the moved the pictures to a folder I created on the desktop. Then select that folder from within the Kodak Easy Share program to add the pictures. (There has got to be an easier and faster way of doing this.) Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[itsallgood]

Right now, I open the "My Computer" folder and locate the pictures I need to put in my camera program, "Kodak Easy Share". I move the pictures to a desktop folder, drag and drop, and then use Kodak Easy Share to import them into the program. A few more steps then I'm use to, but it works. I hope they give us the option in a future update to use the phone as USB Mass Storage. This would be very helpful. I feel like they went backwards with this method.

 

[bls]

I guess I was spoiled with my first-gen Samsung Galaxy Epic and Picasa. The entire process went like this.

1. Start up desktop.
2. Plug USB into phone and desktop, and select Mass Storage on phone.
3. Start Picasa.
4. Select Import, select the phone as the source, leave the options alone (previously set for last download) and hit Import.
5. Done.

That would flawlessly get all the photos (because that phone stored them all on the SD card, the easier for Picasa to locate), sort them into dated folders in my preferred scheme, and no drag and drop necessary.

I have tried the PhotoMove software, and that does a very good job, but you do need to hunt around to ensure the 2-3 different locations that the S4 stashes photos in do not get overlooked.

 

[Atma]

Merged moving pics to pc threads. Sorry for any confusion this may cause.