How to access microSD card in the phone on a Mac?

[mrbofus]

I have a Lumia 822 with a microSD card in it. I can sync my photos over using the Windows Phone app on my iMac. However, I want to transfer some documents and non-iTunes videos to the phone but it doesn't show up in Finder, and there doesn't seem to be a way to browse the device to transfer files TO the phone, only to transfer files FROM the phone.

Am I missing something obvious? How do we access the microSD card without having to take it out of the phone each and every time? My understanding was that on a PC, plugging the phone in would show the phone's internal storage and microSD card as separate devices in Windows Explorer. Why does that not happen in OS X?

 

[Gergolos]

I have a Lumia 822 with a microSD card in it. I can sync my photos over using the Windows Phone app on my iMac. However, I want to transfer some documents and non-iTunes videos to the phone but it doesn't show up in Finder, and there doesn't seem to be a way to browse the device to transfer files TO the phone, only to transfer files FROM the phone.

Am I missing something obvious? How do we access the microSD card without having to take it out of the phone each and every time? My understanding was that on a PC, plugging the phone in would show the phone's internal storage and microSD card as separate devices in Windows Explorer. Why does that not happen in OS X?

I use WP7, but am quite sure that you can not do that with WP... There was never an option to see the storage by using Windows Explorer... At least it is not intended by Microsoft and there is no "official" way for doint that...It's possible on Android, but not on Windows Phone... Anyways: on WP7 it is possible to enable the "storage device" mode by using some tools. Don't know if they apply to WP8.

 

[mrbofus]

According to Paul Thurrott, you can: http://winsupersite.com/windows-phone/windows-phone-8-tip-manage-media-microsd

The part about accessing the storage via Windows Explorer is at the end of the article.

 

[Gergolos]

According to Paul Thurrott, you can: http://winsupersite.com/windows-phone/windows-phone-8-tip-manage-media-microsd

The part about accessing the storage via Windows Explorer is at the end of the article.

Ah, ok! My bad then

 

[AngryNil]

Windows Phone 8, much like Android 4, uses the Media Transfer Protocol. The major advantage of this over USB mass storage is that it doesn't require partitioning of storage and mounting of partitions when connecting to another device. While Windows has native support for MTP, OS X does not. Kindly ask your local Genius why :]

 

[mrbofus]

Ah, ok! My bad then

No worries! I got really excited when I saw that article, but I guess it won't work that way on OS X. At least I can take the microSD card out to transfer files. But it's kind of annoying to have to go through all the steps to do so:

1. Turn off the phone
2. Remove the battery cover
3. Take out the battery
4. Take out the microSD card (not that easy unless you have nails!)
5. Put card in SD card adapter
6. Put SD card adapter in computer
7. Transfer files
8. Take SD card adapter out of computer
9. Take microSD card out of adapter
10. Put microSD card back in
11. Put battery back in
12. Put cover back on
13. Turn on phone

It would be much nicer if I could do it in 3 steps instead of 13:
1. Plug phone in via USB
2. Transfer files
3. Unplug phone

 

[mrbofus]

Windows Phone 8, much like Android 4, uses the Media Transfer Protocol. The major advantage of this over USB mass storage is that it doesn't require partitioning of storage and mounting of partitions when connecting to another device. While Windows has native support for MTP, OS X does not. Kindly ask your local Genius why :]

Ah, thank you for that information. In that case, I guess I'm confused as to why Microsoft didn't bundle MTP drivers with the Windows Phone software for OS X. Native support for MTP may not exist in OS X, but it can be added via drivers.

 

[sheharyarali]

You can always install a virtual machine on Mac and use that to drag/drop files.

 

[sheharyarali]

I'm using Parallel with windows 8 and have my media folders shared between the 2. No issues with MTP using this. Apart from the cost of windows and parallel

 

[mrbofus]

I'm using Parallel with windows 8 and have my media folders shared between the 2. No issues with MTP using this. Apart from the cost of windows and parallel

Yeah, I'd rather not have to spend $150 to copy files to the microSD card. ;-) Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[AngryNil]

Ah, thank you for that information. In that case, I guess I'm confused as to why Microsoft didn't bundle MTP drivers with the Windows Phone software for OS X. Native support for MTP may not exist in OS X, but it can be added via drivers.

Yep, found this out when I was looking into what Android does for the Mac. Disappointing to say the least.

 

[mrbofus]

Indeed. Hopefully Microsoft will update their software to add MTP drivers soon. *fingers crossed, but not holding my breath*

 

[arjavlad]

Actually, you can do this.
I'm using Win10 on Lumia 540. and Osx 10.11.4
Do the following:
1. Connect your Lumia with Mac (Make sure "Windows Phone" app is installed on your mac).
2. Open Commander One Pro app (third party app alternative for Finder).
3. You can see your Lumia device there.