How do I access the files in a Samsung Galaxy S II?

Question

I have a Samsung Galaxy S II but my Ubuntu 10.04 laptop, although it recognizes the phone when I connect it with a USB. won't allow me to get into the phone. Do I need special drivers?

Answer 1

No you don't need drivers! Firstly, you need to enable using phone as mass storage.

1. Connect phone by USB to your PC.

2. On your Galaxy S2 phone, a message will appear with the ability to select mass storage as a connection option. Make sure you use this one, opposed to "Media Transfer Protocol" for example.

You now can now use your phone like you can use any USB flash drive. Mount and explore your files in any file manager (e.g. Nautilus, Thunar, Dolphin, etc.).

Answer 2

On your android phone, go to Application->Settings

In there, go to Wirelessand Network and select USB Utilities

Click on Connect Storage to PC

A message should pop up: Connect USB cable to use mass storage

Now connect the USB cable to computer

A green android robot should be on display with an option of “Connect USB storage“, click on it

The green robot turns orange now and now you can access the files on the SD card of your phone

Source: http://www.computerandyou.net/2012/01/how-to-fix-android-samsung-galaxy-s2-not-recognized-on-linux/

Answer 3

You do not need any drivers at all; it's all automatic. How you access the phone, however, completely depends on the version of Android and whether or not you are using a custom rom.

Stock (factory) Samsung

If you have never run system updates on the phone before, do the following:
1) Plug the phone into the PC
2) Drag down the notification bar
3) Click on 'USB connected'
4) Click on 'Connect USB storage'

Samsung Android 4.0.4

If you are running Android 4, the phone will by default switch to MTP or PTP mode. From personal experience I've learned that MTP does not work very well at times, as it can make the device appear empty or report connection problems. To use USB storage mode, do the following:
1) Make the sure the phone is NOT plugged into the computer
2) Go to Settings->More Settings->USB Utilities->Mass storage mode
3) Connect the USB cable
4) Click on 'Connect USB storage'

Custom roms

Custom Android roms generally have their own way of doing things. It is important to note that some custom roms don't have mass storage mode at all; I have had cases where resurrection remix roms only had MTP and PTP mode, but no mass storage mode (which is a major reason that I stopped using it and switched to WanamLite instead).
Generally, you'll want to look for the mass storage option in the following places:
* Inside the notification bar->USB Connected / USB Mass Storage
* Inside the notification bar->Disk Mode
* Setting->Wireless and networks
* Settings->More
* Settings->Storage
If you still can't find it, ensure that your rom supports mass storage mode.

Hope this helps