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Background: Until a few days ago, I was happy with my Android 2.3 phone, and its Media Storage via USB cable : syncing my computer's D:/MusicLibrary/ folder with my phone's 128GB external SD Card was possible in one line with xxcopy.

With my non-rooted Android 4.2.2, I don't have Media Storage anymore, but only MTP. As mentionned in many other questions, this doesn't give a drive letter anymore by default. The only solutions I see to sync my computer's music library folder with my phone's SD card are very complex now, in comparison to the good-old-Android-2.3-way :

  • use FTP server (argh!) or Samba techniques
  • root my phone to allow Media Storage via a specific plugin
  • complex solutions with adb pull, but this won't track which files have been changed, so I would need to write different script to track changes, etc. (re-argh!)

Is there a simple solution to sync: computer folder <-> Android 4 phone's SD card folder, via MTP, with Windows 7?

Remark: Funnily, the tag about MTP says The Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) is a protocol which purpose is to facilitate the transfer of media files and associated metadata to/from devices.. In such a case, it seems that it doesn't facilitate but makes things worse instead.

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Basj
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  • MTP isn't really compatible with most software, so I suggest an intermediary layer like http://www.mtpdrive.com/ so that everything that can interact with a normal drive-letter device will work. (Essentially this would allow you to reuse your old xcopy solution.) – Matthew Read May 28 '16 at 23:12
  • I'm currently testing it since half an hour, but it's buggy as hell compared to good old Media Storage which was 100% safe and robust. – Basj May 28 '16 at 23:22
  • If Matthew's comment doesn't help, the only way you can get back Media Storage back is rooting your device. – Gokul NC May 29 '16 at 05:39
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    Or you can write a batch script to do it (using ADB). You can use adb's pull command for copying a file, before that, you may need to somehow check the time differences between files in computer and device (which `xcopy' does easily). – Gokul NC May 29 '16 at 09:24
  • @GokulNC It's strange how somethink that worked easily with Android 2.3 (even my mother would have been able to set up a backup with any Windows backup soft and the phone using a drive letter with Mass Storage) now becomes a power-user task, using scripts, USB debugging, adb pull, etc. :) – Basj May 29 '16 at 13:11
  • I do not know why solutions with WebDAV or FTP you find complex? Have you tried MTP-Alternative? It is extremely easy to setup and Windows has native support for WebDAV. You would get a drive letter too. As for copying speed, I do not know why but the file transfer seems to take longer when in Windows than in my Slackware or Mint Linux systems. Give it a try. – Firelord May 30 '16 at 09:33
  • Alternatively, you can setup a script which would log the current time and then list out all the files changed or created since the last time you took the backup. Busybox's find command with -mmin and -mtime argument would help out the most IMO (I use it to make incremental backup). Afterwards, use adb pull to reflect those changes in the existing copy of your backup. – Firelord May 30 '16 at 09:35
  • @Firelord do you mean I should have a FTP server running all the time on my Windows 7 ? Something else I've been unable to solve (I'm pulling my hair out ;) !) : how to configure my computer's D:/MusicLibrary/ as WebDAV ? If we can chat just 3 minutes, maybe you can help me because I'm struggling with this since 2 weeks ;) – Basj May 30 '16 at 15:08

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MyPhoneExplorer Windows program can sync a folder between phone and PC through USB

First time

  1. Install MyPhoneExplorer program on Windows PC

  2. On Android phone

    1. Ensure that 'USB debugging' is enabled on phone (Settings - Applications - Development or Settings - Developer options). In Android 4.2.2 and newer, you have to unlock the USB Debugging option first (Settings - About phone - Build number -> tap 7 times on it)
    2. Ensure that the Debug-Interface-Drivers for your phone are installed (ADB drivers)

  3. Open the program on PC without connecting phone

    1. File> Settings > unselect "start multi-sync" and unselect "connect on start up"
    2. File> Settings > Multi-Sync > unselect sync phone book, Sync organiser, Sync notes, refresh call logs, refresh message folders (to avoid these sync as we focussed on PC-to-phone file sync)

  4. Open the program after connecting the phone > MyPhoneExplorer > files > click on customise (down black solid tringle) a side of Sync files (at the same time, give access to the phone when the pop-up appears to memory, etc.)

    • Title: e.g. Mtc
    • Direction : PC to Phone
    • Source folder: browse to PC folder e.g F:\Mtc
    • Target folder: browse to a folder on the internal memory of the phone, e.g. External memory \BackupLT\Mtc (phone to be on data or file transfer mode not just on charging mode), select include subfolders
    • Mode: reflect folder

Regular Sync

  1. Open the program after connecting the phone > MyPhoneExplorer > files > click on Sync (or customise and tap on your earlier given title).

Note:

  • If just folder name is to be changed for streamlining, etc., change the folder name manually at PC and Phone of the same folder. Otherwise, it will copy name change folder to phone and delete old folder from the phone (as Direction: PC-to-Phone, Mode: reflect folder is selected condition)
  • If 2nd device is to be synced for its own (configured similar to above already), the Windows program is to be closed and 2nd device to be connected and program is to be started, 2nd device configuration will be loaded
Andrew T.
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