Galaxy S4 downloading pictures-UPDATE

[BarneyS]

I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 with an added mini SD card for storage. How do I get the pictures out of the phone without taking the back off and removing the SD card?

I have tried hooking the phone to my computer using the supplied USB cord and I have downloaded the drivers from the internet but the only thing my computer sees is the phone as a modem. It does not see the phone as another drive or allow me to see the contents of the phone for downloading. All of my previous phones have been able to be seen by the computer as another drive when hooked up via USB. Any suggestions?
Barney

[wa8yxm]

BarneyS wrote:
Thank you to all that attempted to help. I think wa8yxm came closest to the reason and the solution to the problem

Thank you.. I have an S-III and had the same problem


I also posted a simpler work around.. This works best if the phone is hooked to the park Wi-FI for the first part

Samsung android phones come with Dropbox already installed if I'm not mistaken, if not you can get it from the play store (Google)

Drop box is a photo sharing/file storage site.. They have a PUBLIC folder set up where you can post photos then post links to them (One below) but they also have private folders.. one of which as I recall is called camera uploads, another is called Photos.

By default the S-Line will upload to Camera uploads when you take a picture (I had to disable that feature)

Set up your drop box. Upload the photos to DB,, Then put the dropbox program or app on your computer and haul em down to the hard drive.

Here is the photo link Shows you how it works, you may download I suspect.. But I know I can.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/110692047/South%20Cove%2012-20-2013%20AM.jpg

[NinerBikes]

BarneyS wrote:
I went to Best Buy today and the Samsung representative there took about 20 minutes to find out why a computer will not see my S4 as a drive. It always came up as a modem, just as it did on my two computers.

It seems that a program I have on the phone, PdaNet includes a program called FoxFi, which loads itself whether I want it to or not. I use that program to get online when we are camping out in the woods, which we do frequently, and do not have any WiFi. The program lets me use my phone as a hotspot without paying the exorbitant fee that Verizon charges to do so. I only use it for my own computer and only when we are away from home and no WiFi is available.

Since I do not want to get rid of the program it looks like I am destined to use the work around that I mentioned earlier. That is ok with me as the only time I will download pictures from the phone is when I am at home with my own WiFi going.

Thank you to all that attempted to help. I think wa8yxm came closest to the reason and the solution to the problem. The reason his solution did not work was because FoxFi kept turning itself back on automatically as long as a USB cord was plugged in. Even after turning it off, it came right back on. Weird!

Thanks again to everybody for attempting to help. 🙂
Barney

Go root your phone, and install SuperSu and Titanium Backup Pro, and you can go into Titanium Backup Pro and "Freeze" your FoxFi app or your PDANet app temporarily to allow your computer to recognize your phone while downloading photos. After you are finished downloading photos, go back in to Titanium Backup Pro, and "Unfreeze" the Foxfi app, and it will work again as usual.

[BarneyS]

I went to Best Buy today and the Samsung representative there took about 20 minutes to find out why a computer will not see my S4 as a drive. It always came up as a modem, just as it did on my two computers.

It seems that a program I have on the phone, PdaNet includes a program called FoxFi, which loads itself whether I want it to or not. I use that program to get online when we are camping out in the woods, which we do frequently, and do not have any WiFi. The program lets me use my phone as a hotspot without paying the exorbitant fee that Verizon charges to do so. I only use it for my own computer and only when we are away from home and no WiFi is available.

Since I do not want to get rid of the program it looks like I am destined to use the work around that I mentioned earlier. That is ok with me as the only time I will download pictures from the phone is when I am at home with my own WiFi going.

Thank you to all that attempted to help. I think wa8yxm came closest to the reason and the solution to the problem. The reason his solution did not work was because FoxFi kept turning itself back on automatically as long as a USB cord was plugged in. Even after turning it off, it came right back on. Weird!

Thanks again to everybody for attempting to help. 🙂
Barney

[bwanshoom]

MrWizard wrote:
yes..
but Bill might be right
airdroid speaks of using the web and web browser
transferring even when device is NOT nearby
in that case airdroid is using cellular data

If the phone & computer are on the same WiFi network it won't. I believe that remote connection mode (using AirDroid servers on the Internet as an intermediary) is only supported in the paid version and entails a monthly charge.

The free version shouldn't have any issue with data usage.

[MrWizard]

yes..
but Bill might be right
airdroid speaks of using the web and web browser
transferring even when device is NOT nearby
in that case airdroid is using cellular data

[1492]

There are a number of Android apps that allow you to transfer files between your smartphone and PC using WiFi. It doesn't require transfer over the internet, just over the local network.

[Bill_Satellite]

Watch out! It's very likely that you are still doing the transfer via the internet and that's going to eat up all of your data allowance.

[BarneyS]

wa8yxm wrote:
The problem is the S-Whatever can connect as a Media device or as a modem.

IF you have the modem drivers loaded on your computer, it may put you in "Modem" mode first, then getting back to Media mode is .. a pita.. It can be done but its a pita

Deleting the modem drivers fixes it,,, Device manager,, Hardware, Find it in Ports I think (May be network connections) and delete it.

Then unplug and plug back in, Computer will want to re-install modem drivers, Stop it from doing that.

Yes, I did that. Still no dice. Thank you for your efforts though!

1492,
I have a feeling my USB cable is ok as the phone charges fine and my computer sees the phone as a modem device.

I have found a temporary workaround however. On the Android forums they mentioned a neat program called Airdroid. I installed it on both my laptop and phone and can now see all the files and pictures and do with them as I please. It allows me to do things on the phone via the computer. It acts as though the two are connected via a USB but without the cord. It really works well. Still going to see the guy at Best Buy though. 🙂
Barney

[wa8yxm]

The problem is the S-Whatever can connect as a Media device or as a modem.

IF you have the modem drivers loaded on your computer, it may put you in "Modem" mode first, then getting back to Media mode is .. a pita.. It can be done but its a pita

Deleting the modem drivers fixes it,,, Device manager,, Hardware, Find it in Ports I think (May be network connections) and delete it.

Then unplug and plug back in, Computer will want to re-install modem drivers, Stop it from doing that.

[1492]

That's not a good sign? Could be an issue with the Samsung Galaxy micro USB port or the cable. Hopefully, just the cable? Let us know what you find?

[BarneyS]

Update:
I have downloaded Keis 3 again and it still does not see my phone. I have tried every suggestion given in this thread but so far no luck other than Dropbox. I would still prefer to be able to hook up via USB.

I am not seeing some of the things on my phone that have been suggested such as "USB computer connection" when going to "storage" and I cannot find anything on the phone that even mentions MPT. When I open "Storage" I get a visual and list of the various memory areas of the phone and the SD card. There is nothing on that page or in the menu to let me connect or transfer anything.

I have Googled "downloading pictures from Samsung Galaxy S4" and tried most of the suggested solutions with no effect. Nothing I have done will let my computer see the phone other than list it as a modem. I even deleted that modem as suggested but no luck.

Looks I may have to resort to going to Best Buy and asking their Samsung desk for some help. I appreciate everybody's attempts to help. Thank you very much.

I will update this thread if/when I get the problem resolved. By the way, this is a problem with my laptop running Windows 7 and/or Ubuntu, and also on my desktop running Windows 7. Neither one will see the phone. I have never had a problem with any of my previous phones.
Barney

[Caseyontheroad]

1492 wrote:
Samsung Kies is not needed just to transfer photos. Is there a version even available for Linux?

No, only for Windows and Mac. There are some reports that it works if you're running XP in a VM.

Your handy tip for being sure my Samsung Tablet is awake before plugging it into my Ubuntu desktop works for me. I can read and write to both the intenal memory and an SD card. Thanks! Otherwise Ubuntu just sees my Tab as a music player.

Ubuntu 12.04 on Desktop
Jelly Bean on Galaxy Tab 2.

[1492]

Samsung Kies is not needed just to transfer photos. Is there a version even available for Linux?

[camperforlife]

Are you using Kies 3? Some have had issues using the older version.