Transfer your data to-and-from /e/phone via USB cable

[manish]

Mission:

Learn to transfer your data including Media [Pictures, videos etc] from/to a PC or Mac via USB cable.

Prerequisites:

• A phone with /e/OS with compatible USB cable
• A PC or Mac with supported USB port.
  [For the purpose of this guide, we will use Laptop-PC running Debian GNU/Linux.]

Let’s roll.

1. Plug your phone’s cable into phone and supported port on PC or Mac.

A notification on phone appears immediately as seen in the image below.

Tap on it to enter ‘USB Preferences’ to Use USB for ‘File transfer’

Open your File Manager to access your device’s internal storage.

You can navigate to your Camera photos by entering sub-folder Camera inside DCIM directory on your PC.

Phone’s camera pictures in File Manager on PC:

Transferring data to or from your phone now is just a matter of copy/paste functions just like any other USB or Thumb drive. You can even drag and drop if you like. There is absolutely nothing special about it to panic here.

2. Transfer data to /e/ phone

For the purpose of this guide, let us select a random folder called ‘Sample pictures’ from Downloads on PC with three images.

Just select the folder on PC, copy the directory with ‘Ctrl + C’ on PC or ‘Cmd + C’ on Mac on keyboard.

Press ‘Ctrl + V’ or ‘Cmd + V’ on keyboard to paste it in Internal Storage of your smartphone in the File Manager. Simple, it is done. That’s all.

You can verify it by checking it on your /e/ phone’s File Manager.

3. Remember to Eject or Unmount your device or smartphone before unplugging the cable.

Navigate to File Manager on PC to ‘Eject or Unmount’ your smartphone before unplugging your device to prevent data loss.

Once ejected, unplug your phone.

Thanks for reading!

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online services

[Maliki]

Unfortunately, this message “A notification on phone appears immediately as seen in the image below.” does not appear on my phone when I connect it via USB.

[Anonyme]

It’s a silent notification. You have to pull (from top to bottom) the notification panel to see it.

If you don’t see it, maybe your cable is charge only and doesn’t allow data transfer. In this case, try with another cable.

[Maliki]

Thank a lot, I didn’t perceive this notification, which was not silent on my previous Android.

[damG]

Hello,
I can’t see my Galaxy S9 internal storage in the finder of my MacBookPro Os X Catalina.
What do I miss ?

Ps: Please excuse the not very good english and not very nicely written question…

[petefoth]

Short version: MacOS does not see files in Android phones without extra software. You have two choices

1. OpenMTP: a program which you run on your Mac when you need to see the files on your phone

2. MTP for Mac: a filesystem driver that lets you see an Android device on Mac as a drive.

Please see this post for details and links to OpenMTP and MTP for Mac

Connect Fairphone e/OS with Macbook (Mojave 10.14)

Hello, I want to connect my Fairphone 3+ with my MacBook to transfer data (pictures, files,…) but at my Macbook (with Mojave 10.14) the Fairphone deosn’t appear at the Finder or anywhere else… USB-Settings at the Fairphoe are at “File-Transfer” Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online services[phone]

[buzzears]

Hello. What exactly is a “compatible USB cable”? How can I tell which cable is or isn’t compatible please?

[fretje]

hi. this is helpful information (though i figured out myself, it’s really quite intuitive i find). What I would like to ask is : would it be possible to include in the next version is there a way to set standard behavior when connecting /e/OS to a computer via USB, for example: always set data transfer automatically… that would be very useful… maybe it is already possible??

[smu44]

@fretje

maybe it is already possible

Hi,

You can set it in Developer Option, after enabling the Developer Mode.
However, I’m not sure this is available for all /e/ version and/or devices …

[kisman172]

@fretje

always set data transfer automatically… that would be very useful… maybe it is already possible??

Possible yes, but a security leak would be make default. Think about it…

[EOS-Newbie]

Hi,

1. For both Windows and Linux, I’m able to see the phone’s storage using the GUI file manager, but so far I can’t get the storage to appear like a normal USB drive at the command prompt (for example in /media/ or /cygdrive/ ). Is there any way to access the phone through the command prompt, so commands like rsync would work?

2. Also, is there a way to make /e/OS remember the choice to “Use USB for File transfer” when it reconnects to the same computer? Currently I’m having to repeat the process in this post every time I connect the phone.

Thanks very much!!

[petefoth]

@EOS-Newbie

Also, is there a way to make /e/OS remember the choice to “Use USB for File transfer” when it reconnects to the same computer? Currently I’m having to repeat the process in this post every time I connect the phone.

1. Enable developer settings (Settings | About Phone, then tap 6 times on Build number)
2. Settings | System | Developer options - scroll down to DEfault USB configuratio

[EOS-Newbie]

OK, thanks for the advice