Device doesn't mount in Ubuntu 12.04

Question

I have an Android device (ICS) and it is visible and perfectly usable via ADB in Ubuntu 12.04. However Ubuntu can't mount it.

I can't find it on /mnt or /media. How is that possible?

I know there are tools for mounting in Ubuntu like Go-mtpfs but I don't understand how the device is connected perfectly with ADB and not mounted in Ubuntu.

Any ideas?

What device is it? My Galaxy Nexus won't mount either - Go-mtpfs doesn't work neither. — schlingel, Dec 11 '13 at 11:01
Maybe adbfs is a solution for you? That's what I use with 12.04. For details, please see may answer here. — Izzy, Dec 11 '13 at 11:52
Related (maybe even duplicate): Linux fails to mount Android device in USB MSC mode. Further related: File Transfer: How to transfer files betwen my Xperia Neo (Android 2.3) and Kubuntu Linux? / How do I make my Linux PC mount my Android 4.2.2 phone using MTP? / mounting google nexus s on linux at fastboot mode screen — Izzy, Dec 11 '13 at 11:56
I'd recommend upgrading to 13.04 or 13.10, which have much better MTP support out of the box. — Dan Hulme, Dec 11 '13 at 12:00

apricot · Answer 1 · 2014-02-04T00:09:06.777

Android allows mounting of removable media over USB. Before the storage media is mounted on the host computer, the Android device unmounts it to ensure that only a single system has the storage media mounted at a time. That works fine for removable media.

When an Android device has only internal memory without any removable media (like the Galaxy Nexus and newer Nexus devices), the device cannot unmount its internal memory to let the host computer mount it. The Android OS requires use of the internal memory. Hence, mounting over USB does not work.

Some devies with internal memory only (like the Nexus S) worked around this problem by providing a separate storage partition not required by the Android OS. That separate partition could be unmounted by Android and allowed to be mounted on the host computer. Multiple storage partitions make it harder for users to manage their storage space. That is, one partition may fill up first while there is plenty of space in the other partition. So recent Nexus devices come only with a single partition in their internal memory which cannot be directly mounted on the host computer.

With such devices, mounting the internal memory on the host computer can be achieved with go-mtpfs using MTP and FUSE. I have tested the following on Ubuntu 12.04.1.

Setup:

$ sudo apt-get install golang fuse git-core libmtp-dev libfuse-dev
$ mkdir /tmp/go-mtpfs
$ export GOPATH=/tmp/go-mtpfs
$ go get github.com/hanwen/go-mtpfs
$ sudo mv /tmp/go-mtpfs/bin/go-mtpfs /usr/bin/
$ sudo adduser $USER fuse

Mount an Android device:

$ mkdir /tmp/AndroidDevice
$ go-mtpfs /tmp/AndroidDevice &

Use the mounted filesystem:

$ ls /tmp/AndroidDevice
Internal storage
$ ls /tmp/AndroidDevice/Internal\ storage/
...

Unmount:

$ fusermount -u /tmp/AndroidDevice

References:

You can [edit] your post with the added information in your comment. And please also include a summary of the instructions in your answer - an answer should stand on its own without a link (EG, should have instructions), and links are best used to back up what you've said. — dotVezz, Feb 03 '14 at 19:22
@dotVezz, My reputation does not allow me to include more than 2 links in my answer. The questioner said that he is aware of go-mtpfs. Hence I did not give detailed instructions for using go-mtpfs as an answer. He is asking why mounting does not work. He is not asking how to mount. — apricot, Feb 03 '14 at 19:30
I didn't realize that low-rep users had a link limit. Still, if you feel that linking to instructions for go-mtpfs is pertinent, then I feel that writing them is pertinent. — dotVezz, Feb 03 '14 at 20:56

Device doesn't mount in Ubuntu 12.04

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