Samsung Phone isnt detected by Mac Book Pro !

I have a friend with 13" MBP with Lion (10.7.5) and a Samsung Galaxy touchscreen phone.

He plugs his phone into a USB socket and his MBP does absolutely nothing !!!, i have made sure that the sidebar in Finder has ALL the boxes ticked for displaying ALL devices in the sidebar.

I have also plugged my iPhone into his LapTop, using the same USB socket and that opens up "Image Capture" straightaway which is what he would like to happen with his Samsung Phone, he simply has some Photos he wants to Download to his Lap Top !.

Although i did notice that my iPhone isnt shown in the Finder Sidebar either ????, but then perhaps my iPhone doesnt show up in Finder on my MBP either LOL BUT It does show up in iTunes though.

I would very much like an answer to my question above, but in the interim period i am going to lend him my Micro SD card Adapter, i have shown him how to remove his Samsung phone Micro SD memory card so he should then be able to see his pictures when plugging my Adaptor into his MBP's SD Card socket !. I HOPE !

PS:- i have to own up and admit, i have posted this question on THE main Apple Support Forum, but one of there most respected members posted such a stupid answer to this question, that in despair i have posted it here as well, to hopefully get a second opinion.

But please dont answer with :- "Make sure the Samsung is turned on and if necessary, enter the passcode on the device". !!!

Tim

I have two Samsung phones, one with a memory card, one without. The Samsung phone with the memory card will appear on my desktop when attached via USB. That allows music, ringtones, photos, etc, to be transferred back and forth.

The phone without the memory card will not show up at all. The phone's internal memory is not recognized whereas the memory card (if inserted) is picked up. There is software available from Samsung which can mitigate that: Samsung Kies Free download from Samsung for both Windows and Mac OS X.

chscag said:

I have two Samsung phones, one with a memory card, one without. The Samsung phone with the memory card will appear on my desktop when attached via USB. That allows music, ringtones, photos, etc, to be transferred back and forth.

The phone without the memory card will not show up at all. The phone's internal memory is not recognized whereas the memory card (if inserted) is picked up. There is software available from Samsung which can mitigate that: Samsung Kies Free download from Samsung for both Windows and Mac OS X.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that advice buddy, i do believe to make it easier for the fella it WILL be easier for him to simply remove his SD Card and put it in his MBP. thanks, i have also given him the link above just in case he wants to give it a try

over in the forum i have had a reply :-
1) your mobile should not be connected to your mac first
2) go to phone settings > storage > USB Utilities
3) try clicking the connect usb (at this point the phone would prompt you to connect your usb to the com)
4) Do exactly as it says and VIOLA you phone is connected!!

My mate tells me he hasnt got "USB Utilities" on his phone. So it couldn't be done !

tim

chscag said:

The phone without the memory card will not show up at all. The phone's internal memory is not recognized whereas the memory card (if inserted) is picked up.

Click to expand...

For anyone interested, the cause of this can be blamed on the filesystems. The SD card uses vfat and Android uses yaffs2 for the primary built in filesystem. The former is supported by OS X, the latter is not.

Try the Android File Transfer program if Kies doesn't work. Quite a few people report issues with Kies (for whatever reason) so if it doesn't work, give AFT a try.

vansmith said:

For anyone interested, the cause of this can be blamed on the filesystems. The SD card uses vfat and Android uses yaffs2 for the primary built in filesystem. The former is supported by OS X, the latter is not.

Try the Android File Transfer program if Kies doesn't work. Quite a few people report issues with Kies (for whatever reason) so if it doesn't work, give AFT a try.

Click to expand...

Thankyou vansmith I shall tell the fella about AFT TA,

But otherwise I all along I have been asking, why doesnt his MBP detect when his Samsung phone is plugged in to his MBP ???

Tim

timmy_toad said:

But otherwise I all along I have been asking, why doesnt his MBP detect when his Samsung phone is plugged in to his MBP ???

Click to expand...

vansmith said:

For anyone interested, the cause of this can be blamed on the filesystems. The SD card uses vfat and Android uses yaffs2 for the primary built in filesystem. The former is supported by OS X, the latter is not.

Click to expand...

Already answered that one.

vansmith said:

Already answered that one.

Click to expand...

As it turned out, he took the SD Card out of his phone and put it directly into his MBP and it had nothing on it !, so my guess is, he is soon to find out for himself, that all his photos are stored on his Phones memory (not the SD card), so i guess in the phone settings somewhere that you can choose to NOT use the SD Card at all for storage.

Thanks for your help. I do believe he has also tried the Android App and the Samsung App

Tim

so i guess in the phone settings somewhere that you can choose to NOT use the SD Card at all for storage.

Click to expand...

That's correct, which is why it's best to use a SD card in the Samsung.

Absolutely. Android is pretty flexible when it comes to where things are stored. You can move just about anything to external storage including apps.

I can't test this because I use a Nexus 4 but apparently the Samsung camera app has an option to set where pictures are stored.

thank you lads, that just about clears it up, my mate will be well pleased THANKS

TIM