Samsung Galaxy S synchronization
N.B. This is bit out of date, since these instructions apply to Android 2.1. More recent information that applies to 2.2 and 2.3 can be found on these pages
Galaxy S w. Android 2.2
Galaxy S w. Android 2.3
Mounting and file transfer works basically in the same way in all versions. It is just that menus have changed between versions, and sometimes also the order of steps in this procedure have changed also. Check always what Android version you have in your phone, and then apply appropriate instructions. You find the version information through Settings and About phone.
To use Galaxy S with Linux and especially Ubuntu, you do NOT need to install anything, except if you want to use Bluetooth, then I suggest that you swap KBluetooth to Blueman, since it is easier to use. But it is also possible that you already have it installed.
sudo apt-get install blueman
In Windows you have to hassle with drivers and Windows Kies which has lots of problems. Forums are full of complaints, that it is impossible to connect Galaxy with Kies. Some people have managed it, though. But in Linux, using Galaxy is a smooth ride.
File transfer
On Ubuntu you can transfer files between PC and Galaxy with USB and Bluetooth. USB option is easiest. First open Settings in Galaxy, open About phone and there USB settings. Activate option Mass storage. This will stay in effect until you activate one of the other options. Now connect Galaxy to PC with USB cable. You will see in Notifications a message that USB is connected. Press it, and a pop-up dialogue open. Press Mount button on pop-up window. After a couple of seconds Ubuntu should mount phone memory automatically as external drives (removable memory card) and open them in file browser.
WARNING! On certain web-page I have seen totally misleading instructions on how to use Galaxy as a mass storage device. There they explain that you have to activate USB Debugging. Do NOT activate USB debugging, unless you are developing and debuging Android software. Person who wrote has quite obviously not read the manual of Galaxy S.
You should now see two drives, one about 6 Gb and another, that should correspond with the size of the removable sd card. At least in my case, the removable sd card is attached first (/dev/sdb) and internal memory last (/dev/sdc).
If they are not automatically mounted you can mount them manually (assuming that that you have only one hard drive, which is /dev/sda). Remember that Galaxy’s memory is FAT32-formatted.
mount -t vfat /dev/sdc /media/Galaxy1
mount -t vfat /dev/sdd /media/Galaxy2
Now you can move and copy files as usual. Before removing the USB cable, remember to sync and unmount (remove safely) these drives.
Bluetooth File Transfer
You can also transfer files with Bluetooth. This is a good choice if you have only one or two, fairly small files to be transferred either from or to Galaxy S. Remember to pair the two devices before, and preferably set as trusted devices. That way, you do not have confirm every file.
Check that both devices have Bluetooth on. If you want to transfer a file from Galaxy S to other computer, you do it with Share option. Share option is available either through Menu button or by pressing and waiting for on-screen menu to appear. Then choose Share, and in subsequent menu choose option Bluetooth. Then you have a list of available recipients (devices with bluetooth on). Press the target, and file transfer begins. Where they are stored in target machine depends on your settings and operating system. On Ubuntu they are usually saved in directory named Public.
If you are receiving files via Bluetooth with Galaxy S, the process is quite similar. Galaxy S stored received files in folder bluetooth in Home folder.
If devices are not marked as trusted devices, then there will additional confirmation pop-ups before the files are transmitted. Sometimes you have to be very quick to confirm them, or otherwise application sending the files thinks that they are rejected and cancels the sending.
Mail
I found the standard email application lacking some features, and installed K-9 Mail from Android Market. It handles several accounts smoothly. You can set different check intervals for each account separately. With standard email application all accounts have same interval. Email has Exchange support in addition to normal IMAP and POP protocols.
Calendar
Standard calendar is ok but too basic. As a replacement I am using Jorte, which is better looking, has more features and includes also tasks and memo. You can synchronize your calendar with e.g. Google calendar.
Contacts
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Exchange
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Hi, it seems to me, that my samsung s is not going to mount 😦
I use ubuntu 10.04, on the screen ‘Computer” can see those two ‘Samsung GT-I9000’ devices but can’t open them
any advise?
If you have got that far, then I assume you have done the following:
0) Checked that you do NOT have USB debugging activated (in Settings -> Development)
1) Changed Galaxy to Mass Storage mode in About Phone -> USB Settings (this should be done before connecting)
2) After connecting Galaxy to computer with USB cable, clicked (on Galaxy) the notification about USB connection, clicked that and then clicked Mount on new window (on Galaxy).
3) After this stock Ubuntu should automount both removable sd card and internal memory.
With dmesg you should see something like:
And command df -h (on terminal) should show attached filesystems:
But in your case this did not happen. If you are using normal out-of-the-box Ubuntu, it really should. If you have tweaked you kernel and system configuration (e.g changed udev settings etc), then it is quite hard to give exact advise. I advise you to look dmesg and see what happened after you plugged USB cable. Look for something like above. Also check whether the disks are mounted or not with df -h.
One thing that you could try is to check if you formated the removable sd card with Galaxy S itself and not on some other device. I think (if my memory serves me correct) that I had first some trouble with mounting when I used a sd card formatted on other device. After putting a fresh sd card and formatting it with Galaxy S everything worked OK. You could first try removing the sd card, and then try to connect Galaxy S to Ubuntu. If this works, then the problem is in removable sd card. For some reason, the removable sd card is mounted first, so if there is some problem, Ubuntu may not be able to access neither filesystem.
You could also check if some other computer with Ubuntu can (or cannot) mount Galaxy S disks using the standard procedure above. That helps to decide whether the problem is in your computer or in Android.
I am glad to give more assistance, but without some further info, it is quite difficult. If removing the sd card does not help, then please come back and attach the appropriate section of dmesg output, and check whether the filesystems are mounted or not (with df -h on terminal).
BTW. If you are using some non-official firmware on Galaxy, then that may be the cause for these troubles.
I’m also using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, the 64bit version on a Intel Core2 DUO E8500 cpu.
I have:
0a) Checked that USB debugging is NOT activated (in Settings -> Development)
0b) Checked that Stay Awake is activated (in Settings -> Development)
1) Changed Galaxy to Mass Storage mode in About Phone -> USB Settings (I’ve done this before connecting)
After connecting Galaxy to computer with USB cable I get two new devices in Places->Computer (my CD/DVD Drive, File System list):
– Samsung GT-I9000
– Samsung GT-I9000 Card
Every other mass storage device I’ve used so far automatically mounts without any problems…. I’ve got Ubuntu out of the box and haven’t tweaked a thing.
I’m using the official firmware on the Galaxy (2.1 update 1)
dmesg looks like this:
[25611.791276] usb 2-6: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6
[25612.086113] usb 2-6: configuration #2 chosen from 1 choice
[25612.150483] scsi9 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[25612.150598] usb-storage: device found at 6
[25612.150600] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[25617.151162] usb-storage: device scan complete
[25617.158398] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access SAMSUNG GT-I9000 Card 0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[25617.166643] scsi 9:0:0:1: Direct-Access SAMSUNG GT-I9000 0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[25617.168729] sd 9:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[25617.168910] sd 9:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[25617.176278] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[25617.177006] sd 9:0:0:1: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[25759.654438] usb 2-6: USB disconnect, address 6
[26025.380026] usb 2-6: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
[26025.675992] usb 2-6: configuration #2 chosen from 1 choice
[26025.740474] scsi10 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[26025.740595] usb-storage: device found at 7
[26025.740597] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[26030.741180] usb-storage: device scan complete
[26030.748408] scsi 10:0:0:0: Direct-Access SAMSUNG GT-I9000 Card 0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[26030.756775] scsi 10:0:0:1: Direct-Access SAMSUNG GT-I9000 0000 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[26030.757234] sd 10:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[26030.757396] sd 10:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[26030.764412] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[26030.768890] sd 10:0:0:1: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
When I try to mount the device manually with “sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdc /media/Galaxy2”, then I get the following error:
mount: no medium found on /dev/sdc
The output of df -h is:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 225G 70G 144G 33% /
none 1.9G 280K 1.9G 1% /dev
none 1.9G 3.9M 1.9G 1% /dev/shm
none 1.9G 92K 1.9G 1% /var/run
none 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /var/lock
none 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /lib/init/rw
So the disks aren’t mounted…. 😦
I’ve tried it on another Ubuntu 10.04 LTS 64bit machine. There I’ve got the same problem.
I also got a friend who can not mount the Samsung Galaxy S on a 64 bit Windows machine. …maybe the Samsung Galaxy S isn’t 64bit compatible?
If you know the cause. Or even better: If you know a possible solution, then please let me know!
First of all, 64 bit Linux operating system should not be the problem in here. I can connect Samsung Galaxy S (updated to Android 2.2) with 64 bit Ubuntu 10.10. Both drives are automatically mounted. But I think I never connected Galaxy S with 64 bit machine while I had the original 2.1 Android in it. There could be some difference between 2.2 and 2.1. On Windows side, I think there were some problems with 64 bit connection, but right now I am not sure.
According to dmesg output the device and “disks” are recognized correctly. But the dmesg and error message “no medium found on /dev/sdc” gives me the hint that the problem might be the removable sd card.
I had similar troubles in the beginning, because I was using a sd card which had been formatted on another machine. I could not mount neither internal memory nor removable card. When I formatted the card with Galaxy S (you can do this from Settings -> SD card…) everything worked smoothly afterwards.
You could try this by removing the sd card, and then try to connect the phone with Ubuntu. If you can then mount the phone’s internal memory then you know the problem lies with removable sd card. However, if the problem persists, then you know the problem is elsewhere.
I also suggest that (if possible) you upgrade the firmware (to Android 2.2), since I know that at least that works with 64-bit Ubuntu.
I do not know if it is just Galaxy S or is it a “feature” of Android, but Galaxy S seemed to be quite picky on sd cards. It just seems not to like cards which have been used on other machines. Once my Android 2.2 Galaxy S turned almost catatonic, and the reason was sd card which had been used on N900 and a phone with Android 2.1. However, the same card worked afterwards on N900.
Thanks for your fast reply!
While I was testing connecting the Samsung Galaxy S without a sd-card, I found out the problem:
When I connect the Samsung Galaxy S, it asks if I want to connect it as: Kies, mass storage or mediaplayer. Then I selected “mass storage” …and it didn’t work. Until I found out that the Samsung Galaxy S asks a follow up question after you told it to be a mass storage usb device. …it asks if I want to connect. If you press the connect usb (USB aansluiten in Dutch), then everything works fine.
It isn’t very intuitive to also ask if I want to connect after I’ve selected that I want to use my Samsung Galaxy S as a mass storage device. I mean: who doesn’t want to connect if you tell the Samsung Galaxy S to be a mass storage device?!?
Anyways: My apologies that I wasted your time and effort Technomagus by not looking carefully enough that the Samsung Galaxy S asks a second question.
No problem. I like little puzzles, they keep brain cells stimulated 😀
But you are quite right, It is not very intuitive. And there are differences depending whether you have Android 2.1 or 2.2 regarding the USB connection.
In 2.1 USB tethering was one of the options between Kies or Mass Storage modes. However, in 2.2 it is separated into its own subsection. This means that since I have usually Galaxy S set in Mass Storage mode, it always ask whether I want to mount or not. If I want to use Tethering, then I have to first decline mount, then press Back, then go to Settings. then Wireless subsection and then Tethering sub-subsection to activate Internet connection sharing. Once you know this, it is moderately simple, of course, but it is quite awkward way in the end.
I was trying to help out a friend who has this phone only there was no USB Settings under About Phone or under Her Network and Wireless and still no USB Settings she had the 2.2 Froyo i believe and she has another cause she has to send the first back and it has stock settings and it still didn’t Have the USB Settings under either one of those options? So I have read a few different forums they all still tell me the same thing that they will be under either About Phone or Wireless and Network. I don’t have an Andriod myself and was running 10.10 ubuntu. not that it matters if the computer wont see the phones filesystem. could mount and read the sd card on the phone. Any Ideas????
USB Settings were under Settings -> About Phone in Android 2.1. With Android 2.2 update they were moved under Settings -> Wireless and Network menu. There should be the USB settings submenu. Another difference is that tethering is separated from other options under its own submenu. Actually tethering in 2.1 was and Samsung Galaxy S specific, since stock Android 2.1 did not have tethering.
It sounds strange, that you do not find USB options are under neither of these menus. Galaxy S will have 2.3 update quite soon, but it sounds a bit far fetched to think that this brand new phone would have 2.3 already installed (where USB settings could be under some other menu). All I can think of is that this is some country or operator specific version, where USB is set permanently on KIES mode which sound quite awful.
Thanks for sharing such good knowledgeable stuff
I have samsung glaxy note mobile in which my important file is deleted by mistake so what can i do for back that file hlep me
hi
Nice post. Samsung Galaxy is the best technology for all peoples but nokia also good mobile………….
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