How to enable SD MSC mount in Jelly Bean?

Question

Since upgrading to CyanogenMod 10, the dropdown notification when I connect my phone to the computer no longer appears. How do I mount the SD card via USB MSC in Jelly Bean? Note that the drive still appears to the computer, just empty. My phone is an Xperia Arc S.

Update: I see no mass storage mode under USB connection settings:

^{Settings screen (click image to enlarge)}

Similar questions that may have relevant answers: phone mounts as media device not usb storage, How can I use my Galaxy Nexus as an external USB storage drive? — eldarerathis, May 30 '13 at 14:15
@eldarerathis this is not a CM-specific problem, while this is an attempt of imposing DRM by Google (see here). — kinokijuf, Jul 13 '13 at 12:09
First, I read that comment, and I've already gone to great pains to explain that other devices (literally, the ones on my desk) do not experience the behavior you're describing, so I'm not really sure why you would point me to that comment again (or how that proves your point). Regardless, the question is not directly related to DRM or interacting with DRM'd content. So even if we assume you're correct (and I don't) the tag would be describing the content of your answer, not the question, which is incorrect use of the tagging system. You're basically using tags as a soapbox. — eldarerathis, Jul 13 '13 at 17:17

kinokijuf · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-30T12:21:48.090

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Seems as if Google is evil¹ and removed that option from Jelly Bean to enforce their DRM schemes². I found however a tool which restores it: Automated Framework Kit

¹Like we didn’t already know that.

²I have no idea what was the rationale behind it, but remember it’s the company which has a mail service that’s immensely popular despite not properly working with any major mail client.

edited May 30 '13 at 12:21

answered May 30 '13 at 12:14

kinokijuf

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What does this have to do with DRM, though? The intention behind the switch was that you would have one partition for all of your data rather than having to fiddle about with moving apps and such between the internal storage and the SD card. Here's Dan Morril's explanation on Reddit as to why they've been moving in that direction. – eldarerathis May 30 '13 at 14:05
@eldarerathis They’ve made it impossible to access the SD card from computer. – kinokijuf May 31 '13 at 19:18
Well...no, they haven't. MTP provides access to the SD card, just not at the block-level; if you can't access the storage at all then that's a bug, possibly even in CM rather than upstream Android. If it's a physically separate card then you can always remove it and put it in a reader as well. They've moved from one access method to a different one, not made it "impossible to access". – eldarerathis May 31 '13 at 19:24
@eldarerathis MTP requires drivers,while MSC is part of the USB standard. I access my phone often from different computers. – kinokijuf Jun 01 '13 at 11:26
“What does this have to do with DRM, though?” Preventing user from accesing the .android_secure folder, which contains app files (of course, that doesn’t matter anyway when your device is rooted). – kinokijuf Jun 01 '13 at 11:34
Well, I guess I'll just say that your argument RE: DRM is unconvincing and fairly hyperbolic. I can perfectly well access .android_secure (or any folder on external storage) on my phone via MTP. The fact that it's not as widely supported is certainly an issue depending on your environment - in particular, Linux/Mac do not support MTP out-of-the-box in most cases - but your claim that it's "impossible to access the SD card from computer" is just plain wrong. Again, if you can't access the storage at all, that's a bug. – eldarerathis Jun 01 '13 at 16:50
@eldarerathis the .android_secure folder is impossible to access without root. Google want to prevent people from illegally redistributing the apk files. – kinokijuf Jun 02 '13 at 07:44

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered May 30 '13 at 13:30

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I don't know whether it will work for your device, but the XDAs have a tool supposed to work with several LG devices at least. You can find it in here, and it looks like this:

USB Mass Storage

You might want to browse through the linked thread at XDAs. As far as I remember, there were some people trying it on other devices, and had success. No guarantees, however :)

answered May 30 '13 at 13:30

Izzy

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Your screenshot shows the built-in interface. – kinokijuf Jul 15 '13 at 11:59
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Tell the guys at XDA: if you follow the link I posted, you see where the screenshot comes from. I didn't test that tool yet. And even if it's the built-in interface: on many devices (including my Optimus 4X), manufacturers simply removed the links to several configuration screens -- so other tools sometimes do nothing but invoking the corresponding activity directly. Of course, in such cases the "built-in" interface is shown. – Izzy Jul 15 '13 at 14:15

How to enable SD MSC mount in Jelly Bean?

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