Help [SOLVED] Problem Connecting Bionic to PC - PLEASE HELP!

Reverence · Sep 10, 2011

So I have all my files from my old 2GB SD card that I had on my Incredible backed up on my computer.

I went to connect the Bionic to my computer and it defaulted to USB storage mode and 2 removal disk drives appeared in my computer. When I click one of them (H

, it brings me to my SD card. However, when I click the other one (I

, it says please insert a disc.

So, to access my internal storage, I have to choose PC mode on the phone and then it reconnects to the computer, and in my computer both removable disk drives disappear, but MTP Device under Audio devices appears. From there I can then access my DATA AND MEDIA folders, and can copy pictures over. But the issue is it won't let me copy over any of my backup files for my apps over because they aren't media files.

This isn't normal, and any suggestions on how to get everything transferred from my old SD card to my new SD card or phone would be greatly appreciated.

Not to mention that the restore features on some apps is all messed up because the SD card is listed as sdcard-ext and internal storage is listed as SD card. What a mess.

Reverence · Sep 10, 2011

The only work around that I have found so far is to copy the files from the computer to the external SD card. And then use ES File Explorer on the phone to copy the files from the external SD card to the internal SD card/phone storage.

Reverence · Sep 10, 2011

Another update. I have tried so many things, and still it won't work. I have tried a different USB port. Restarted both the computer and the phone. Tried taking the sd card out and mounting it.

I think it has something to do with the internal storage not being able to unmount, which seems like a hardware issue. Because I decided as a last resort I would try formatting the internal storage, and when I went into the settings to do that, it says unmounting internal storage, and just keeps doing that but never succeeds.

Reverence · Sep 10, 2011

Really felt like I was talking to myself here, which I was, haha. But regardless, since this thread is here and I'm sure other people will run into this issue, I will post how I resolved it.

PROBLEM SOLVED

For some reason it seemed as though the internal storage did not want to mount/unmount correctly for whatever reason. Steps to relieve this issue were to perform a battery pull. Remove the SD Card. Re-insert the battery and turn on the phone. Connect the phone to the computer, give it 30 seconds (make sure usb mass storage is selected in notification drop down bar) and it will find the internal storage and mount it so the files can be accessed. After verifying that it successfully mounted and unmounted, disconnect phone from the PC. Reinsert SD Card, phone will recognize SD card, and then from then on forward when you connect the phone to the PC, it should allow you to access both the internal storage (sdcard) and external storage (sdcard-ext). Case closed, lol.

johnlgalt · Sep 10, 2011

have you downloaded that absolute latest drivers from Motorola (the current version I have is v5.2

USB and PC Charging Drivers - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

Reverence · Sep 10, 2011

johnlgalt said:
have you downloaded that absolute latest drivers from Motorola (the current version I have is v5.2

USB and PC Charging Drivers - Motorola Mobility, Inc. USA

Yep, I had the latest drivers.

amoeller · Sep 11, 2011

I had this same issue. I seem to have solved it from what I can see. I backed up everything from both internal and external SD cards to my PC. Then I did a full format on both internal and external SD cards. The external one I used a SD card reader and formatted to FAT32 with defaults. To format the internal one you have to go into Settings and into Storage. If it hangs on Unmounting when you hit format, then reboot the phone. As soon as the phone is started try again and then you can restore your both SD card data.

tjreishus · Sep 11, 2011

So this brings up some good questions about the storage and how things are stored.

On the internal storage there is 3.5GB of "application storage," which is where apps install by default. Then you have 8GB of "Internal storage," on which you can save photos, movies, music, etc. Apps also can store data here as well, so you'll likely see it decrease over time. So this leaves us with 8GB to use, but app data needs this space. How much space are you willing to use of this 8 for your personal storage of files? Im sure it would be difficult to exceed 2 gigs of app data so your probably safe storing 6GB, but this is all just a guess.

What does everyone else think?

rebar42 · Sep 15, 2011

Reverence said:
Really felt like I was talking to myself here, which I was, haha. But regardless, since this thread is here and I'm sure other people will run into this issue, I will post how I resolved it.

PROBLEM SOLVED

For some reason it seemed as though the internal storage did not want to mount/unmount correctly for whatever reason. Steps to relieve this issue were to perform a battery pull. Remove the SD Card. Re-insert the battery and turn on the phone. Connect the phone to the computer, give it 30 seconds (make sure usb mass storage is selected in notification drop down bar) and it will find the internal storage and mount it so the files can be accessed. After verifying that it successfully mounted and unmounted, disconnect phone from the PC. Reinsert SD Card, phone will recognize SD card, and then from then on forward when you connect the phone to the PC, it should allow you to access both the internal storage (sdcard) and external storage (sdcard-ext). Case closed, lol.

OMG !! Your solution worked for me !!!! Thanks so much for your advice.

Lars · Sep 16, 2011

tjreishus said:
So this brings up some good questions about the storage and how things are stored.

On the internal storage there is 3.5GB of "application storage," which is where apps install by default. Then you have 8GB of "Internal storage," on which you can save photos, movies, music, etc. Apps also can store data here as well, so you'll likely see it decrease over time. So this leaves us with 8GB to use, but app data needs this space. How much space are you willing to use of this 8 for your personal storage of files? Im sure it would be difficult to exceed 2 gigs of app data so your probably safe storing 6GB, but this is all just a guess.

What does everyone else think?

App data is stored in a different partition /data
Webtop uses the internal flash too.
8gig /sdcard
4gig /data/app or /data
4gig webtop
16gig /sdcard-ext or whatever size you have in there.

johnlgalt · Sep 16, 2011

Ahhh, so there are 2 SDCards - the internal, split into 4.2 / 3.8 / 8 and the external.

So, the ROM and RAM are still internal NAND flash?

HotDawg · Sep 19, 2011

Reverence said:
Really felt like I was talking to myself here, which I was, haha. But regardless, since this thread is here and I'm sure other people will run into this issue, I will post how I resolved it.

PROBLEM SOLVED

For some reason it seemed as though the internal storage did not want to mount/unmount correctly for whatever reason. Steps to relieve this issue were to perform a battery pull. Remove the SD Card. Re-insert the battery and turn on the phone. Connect the phone to the computer, give it 30 seconds (make sure usb mass storage is selected in notification drop down bar) and it will find the internal storage and mount it so the files can be accessed. After verifying that it successfully mounted and unmounted, disconnect phone from the PC. Reinsert SD Card, phone will recognize SD card, and then from then on forward when you connect the phone to the PC, it should allow you to access both the internal storage (sdcard) and external storage (sdcard-ext). Case closed, lol.

Okay, finally got around to doing this. Wouldn't recognize internal SD card with or without ext SD card. Tried USB Mass mode and PC mode. Grr. So, I still have no access.

johnlgalt · Sep 19, 2011

It's not instantaneous - on my system it can take up to a minute for the internal card to be recognized by the system using USB Mass Storage selection.

On PC it lumps everything together as one device, there is no separation of hte 2 (or more) partitions.

HotDawg · Sep 20, 2011

Yeah, I worked with it for a long time - gave it plenty of time. Maybe I should try again - I have a 32GB ext card in and it might take longer.

It will see the Droid in PC mode, but shows no files and doesn't allow browsing. In USB Mass mode it only shows the external card - which is better than nothing, I can cut and paste. I don't need to do this very often anyway.

We can take the conversation over to zebrajeb's thread since this one is "solved"

daadco · Sep 22, 2011

Reverence said:
Really felt like I was talking to myself here, which I was, haha. But regardless, since this thread is here and I'm sure other people will run into this issue, I will post how I resolved it.

PROBLEM SOLVED

For some reason it seemed as though the internal storage did not want to mount/unmount correctly for whatever reason. Steps to relieve this issue were to perform a battery pull. Remove the SD Card. Re-insert the battery and turn on the phone. Connect the phone to the computer, give it 30 seconds (make sure usb mass storage is selected in notification drop down bar) and it will find the internal storage and mount it so the files can be accessed. After verifying that it successfully mounted and unmounted, disconnect phone from the PC. Reinsert SD Card, phone will recognize SD card, and then from then on forward when you connect the phone to the PC, it should allow you to access both the internal storage (sdcard) and external storage (sdcard-ext). Case closed, lol.

I tried this, it worked 1 time only & then never again. I only see the card not the internal storage??????
Any other ideas to resolve this?

Help doesn't work for my bionic

johnlgalt · Sep 23, 2011

daadco said:
I tried this, it worked 1 time only & then never again. I only see the card not the internal storage??????
Any other ideas to resolve this?

Help doesn't work for my bionic

OK, let's walk through the entire procedure to get it working. Start from the beginning and let me know what you do step by step.

Also, what operating system are you running on your computer, and do you have the latest drivers from my signature?

HotDawg · Sep 24, 2011

daadco said:
I tried this, it worked 1 time only & then never again. I only see the card not the internal storage??????
Any other ideas to resolve this?

Help doesn't work for my bionic

Mine did the same - I could see them all for about ten seconds, then nothing.

Duckster · Sep 25, 2011

I'm curious as to how many of you who are having this problem is using your previous USB charging cable or the one that came with the Bionic. I was having this same problem until someone told me that I needed to use the cable that came with the Bionic. I stopped by the Verizon store and inquired but the employee there quickly dismissed my comments. Well, I got home and tried using the old cables with no success. I then used the USB that came with the Bionic and viola...it worked! Even customer support has not heard of this! The argument was that there are NO drivers in the cables (duh). My argument is that all it takes is one more wired connection in the Bionic USB cable and it works. I still can't navigate around my screen and you need to be on a HOME page when connecting.

I hope this works for you as well.

Thom · Sep 25, 2011

I spent more time than I care to recall on this one also.

I would diddle and diddle and for no apparent reason it would start to work. It would work once. The next time I connected it wouldn't.

I just tried something that seemed to work.

I am connected with the USB cable that came with my Droid X cradle (last year). The Home screen was on my Bionic. It was only recognizing my SD card.

With it still connected I powered the Bionic off and powered it back on.

When the Home screen was displayed the SD card was displayed. After 12 seconds later another disk drive displayed phone memory.

I unplugged the USB cable and both went away. I plugged in the USB cable and only the SD card was shown. I powered off and powered on and both appeared again.

This comes pretty close to PROBLEM SOLVED

Duckster · Sep 25, 2011

FYI, I checked again and I get both drives showing by using the cord that came with my Bionic. When I tried another cord, it froze the phone and I had to unplug to get the phone to respond again. It seems that there is something like an extra connection in the Bionic cord that makes it particular. I'm just surprised (ok...not really) that Verizon/Motorola hasn't addressed this yet. My old cord charges fine...just no looking at the cards within.

Thom · Sep 25, 2011

Did you try the solution I found ... turn it off and turn it on again?

My GUESS is that the condition is sometimes raised preventing it from recognizing the memoiry and the condtion is reset with a power off/power on.

I get the same result with the cable that came with ...

Droid X (last year)
Droid X Cradle (last year)
Bionic (this month)

This reset ALWAYS works for me.

(Also ... I do not have to have the Bionic on the Home screen when conecting the USB cable. The displayed screen seems to have no effect.)

... Thom

Duckster · Sep 26, 2011

Yes, I tried your suggestions but they did not work for me. My suspicions is that the older LG cable I tried did not work because it may have been missing a connector wire within the cable itself. Over on the Motorola forum, they are having some great discussions about this and it seems that using the original cable that came with the Bionic is solving their issues.

As for being able to use it on any page other than the home page, I have not much luck there. Some of this may have to do with the computer type as well (I'm using it on a Vista Laptop). I need to try it on my desktop Windows 7 (x64 bit) later.

Thom · Sep 26, 2011

It soundes like you had a different problem than the one I was having.

Mine has stopped happening. Now that I have a solution I don't seem to need it.

My workstation is a dual quad-core Windows 7 x64 machine with all maintenance applied.

Since none of the 60 people who read this have chimed in I conclude that it might be that I was running into an internal timing problem unque to my enviropnment.

Has anyone else had the hang and tried the power off/power on solution?

... Thom

barry.holroyd · Oct 10, 2011

Yes, I'm having the same problem. I tried the pull battery approach last week and it partially helped -- it allowed me to see the internal drive if the SD card wasn't installed, but never both drives at once. I just tried it again and without the SD card both drives show up but are not accessible (either read or write). The fact that for me (and many others) it *sometimes* works and, without changing anything, then stops working, indicates that there may not be a stable solution, at least for many of us.

Barry

Thom Little said:
It soundes like you had a different problem than the one I was having.

Mine has stopped happening. Now that I have a solution I don't seem to need it.

My workstation is a dual quad-core Windows 7 x64 machine with all maintenance applied.

Since none of the 60 people who read this have chimed in I conclude that it might be that I was running into an internal timing problem unque to my enviropnment.

Has anyone else had the hang and tried the power off/power on solution?

... Thom

Thom · Oct 10, 2011

barry.holroyd said:
Yes, I'm having the same problem. I tried the pull battery approach last week and it partially helped -- it allowed me to see the internal drive if the SD card wasn't installed, but never both drives at once. I just tried it again and without the SD card both drives show up but are not accessible (either read or write). The fact that for me (and many others) it *sometimes* works and, without changing anything, then stops working, indicates that there may not be a stable solution, at least for many of us.

Barry

With the USB cable connected, pull down the notices, select USB Connection
Make sure USB Mass Storage is selected

Then do the poweroff/poweron without opening the case.

Let me know.

(It ALWAYS works for me.)

... Thom

Help [SOLVED] Problem Connecting Bionic to PC - PLEASE HELP!

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