Help File transfer from S4 to Mac

[tim1989]

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone can help me at all? My SD card appears to be on the way out and I want to replace it soon, though to avoid any data loss I want to back up all my photos onto my MacBook. I have done a back up using Kies although this just appears to back up everything on phone storage.

I downloaded Android File Transfer for Mac off the Android website. When I connect my S4 it pops up but says 'Unable to connect to device. Please reboot or reconnect device.'

I have tried everything but nothing works for me. I have rebooted my phone, rebooted my Mac, even re-installed the app on my Mac but it still persists. I am worried I am going to lose everything on my memory card soon, and so want to back up ASAP. Does anyone know of a possible solution?

Thank you all!

Tim

 

[xdrc45]

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone can help me at all? My SD card appears to be on the way out and I want to replace it soon, though to avoid any data loss I want to back up all my photos onto my MacBook. I have done a back up using Kies although this just appears to back up everything on phone storage.

I downloaded Android File Transfer for Mac off the Android website. When I connect my S4 it pops up but says 'Unable to connect to device. Please reboot or reconnect device.'

I have tried everything but nothing works for me. I have rebooted my phone, rebooted my Mac, even re-installed the app on my Mac but it still persists. I am worried I am going to lose everything on my memory card soon, and so want to back up ASAP. Does anyone know of a possible solution?

Thank you all!

Tim

Hi Tim,
First I would try the different USB connection modes on the device, switching between MTP and PTP modes, enabled and/or disable USB Debugging and see if that helps to recognize the device.

I also know that there is some sort of conflict with having Kies and Android File Transfer both installed on your Mac.
The solution to this issue... Is to use the Kies uninstaller program (do not just delete it) and remove it completely from you Mac. Reboot your Mac and try connecting your S4 through Android File Transfer. Again you may need to pull down the notification panel and switch between MTP and PTP modes to get it to recognize the device.

Hope this helps and Good Luck! :thumbup:

 

[sreum]

Easy solution......
Use Google photos. I think you get 15 GB of photo and video cloud storage with them.

That way you can access the photos no matter what you're on as long as you can get onto Google.

 

[tim1989]

Thanks for the help! That worked a treat, I have managed to save all my photos on to my laptop now, just in case. Although I suspect the SD card wont last too much longer since it now wont let me delete anything off it..

 

[xdrc45]

Thanks for the help! That worked a treat, I have managed to save all my photos on to my laptop now, just in case. Although I suspect the SD card wont last too much longer since it now wont let me delete anything off it..

Awesome Tim... Glad I could help you out! :thumbup:
Just for future reference... Which method did you have to use to get Android File Transfer to work?
Did you end up having to uninstall Kies?

Also as sreum said... Turning on something like Google+ Auto backup is a nice and easy feature to utilize as well.
I have mine to only sync/auto backup while connected to WiFi. I then always have easy access to the photos/video's, as long as you have a decent data connection or am connected to WiFi.

 

[tim1989]

Sorry for the delayed response here!

I uninstalled Kies in the end and it worked. The old SD card is now dead. While transferring data to my old windows machine it suddenly crashed, and is no longer recognised on the laptop. Luckily I just got the photos backed up in time! :five: