up1nw

Q: When does MAC OS X finally allow to identify iPhone as USB-stick resp. as external hard-drive??? Would make life much easier!!!

After changing from Microsoft PC and Android phone to iMAC and iPhone I am missing soooo very much that my MAC does not recognize my iPhone as USB-drive resp. external hard drive which did/would make it so easy to switch documents, photos, videos and musik both ways between mobile-phone and computer, to create new foulders and even subordinate folders.

In comparison with this iTunes is an antediluvian junk. Sorry!!! Or is there any hope that Apple may change mind???

Regards

Uwe

Posted on Feb 20, 2015 1:20 PM

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Q: When does MAC OS X finally allow to identify iPhone as USB-stick resp. as external hard-drive??? Would make life much easier!!!

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  • by deggie,Helpful

    deggie deggie Feb 20, 2015 1:24 PM in response to up1nw
    Level 9 (54,773 points)
    iPhone
    Feb 20, 2015 1:24 PM in response to up1nw

    There is no accessible file management in iOS as part of the security design of the system. I would say the chance of a change is nil.

  • by ChitlinsCC,Helpful

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Feb 20, 2015 3:14 PM in response to up1nw
    Level 6 (8,141 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 20, 2015 3:14 PM in response to up1nw

    With IOS in general, I am as ignorant as I am naive, but isn't this kind of what "AirDrop" is for - file transfers? - ÇÇÇ <

  • by rccharles,Solvedanswer

    rccharles rccharles Feb 20, 2015 4:05 PM in response to up1nw
    Level 6 (8,521 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Feb 20, 2015 4:05 PM in response to up1nw

    There are lots of ways of moving files.

     

    iPad to your computer via USB

    -- "iExplorer's disk mounting features allow you to use your iPhone, iPod or iPad like a USB flash drive."

    http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/

     

    A simple and popular way to copy files and share files among your devices.

    https://www.dropbox.com/

     

    "Box lets you store all of your content online, so you can access, manage and share it from anywhere. Integrate Box with Google Apps and Salesforce and access Box on mobile devices" Rated the most secure cloud storage by SkyHigh Networks.  You can buy a license to run box one of your servers.

    https://www.box.com/

     

    Using iTunes to transfer files:

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4094?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

     

    Files Connect -- "Cloud Storage services like Dropbox, MobileMe iDisk, Google Docs/Picasa, Facebook photos, FTP, SFTP, WebDAV ... AFS (Apple File Shares) SMB (Windows shares)  protocols"

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/files-connect/id404324302?mt=8

     

    Windows File server

    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/filebrowser-access-files-on/id364738545?mt=8

     

    "The kiteworks mobile file sharing solution provides secure creation, viewing, and sharing of enterprise content on smartphones and tablets while providing IT and security teams the administrative controls to manage user privileges and access rights necessary to ensure enterprise security and compliance."  " Includes choice of private cloud on-premise."

    http://www.accellion.com/solutions/mobile-enablement/mobile-file-sharing

     

    "Dukto is a simple application that allows you to share files between devices connected to the same (wireless) LAN network."

    http://www.tidal.it/?page_id=309&lang=en

    http://www.msec.it/blog/?page_id=11

     

    You could look into Apple's airdrop. 
    "To share content with AirDrop, both people need one of these devices using iOS 7 or later, or a Mac with OS X Yosemite"
    Use AirDrop to wirelessly share content - Apple Support

  • by up1nw,

    up1nw up1nw Feb 21, 2015 9:01 AM in response to rccharles
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 21, 2015 9:01 AM in response to rccharles

    Thank you very much for these comprehensive recommendations of which I already tried some but didn't find even one comparable to the simple way to recognize iPhone as USB-stick.

    I will try, though, the other ways you recommend for file transfer and maybe .....

    Kind regards

    Uwe from Germany

    (and a little slow because of

    his age of almost 80 ys. )

  • by rccharles,

    rccharles rccharles Feb 21, 2015 12:37 PM in response to up1nw
    Level 6 (8,521 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Feb 21, 2015 12:37 PM in response to up1nw

    I think apple wants to move in the direction of auto syncing across all of your devices.  Flash drives are so yesterday. Look into iCloud.  I do not use iCloud so don't know the details.


    Suggestions on transferring...

    documents -- what documents types and app type are we talking about transferring?  Use apps that integrate with dropbox or google cloud.

     

    photos, videos -- I think apples intent is to you iPhote to sync these.  Dropbox works well for syncing these.  Photo are shared read only to all apps.

     

    and musik -- Apple intends for you to use iTunes and more recently iClould to share all you music.  Music will be shared to all your devices.

     

     

    There are many more apps like iExplorer.  Find them will be left to the reader.

     

    I think apple choose to make the iPad act like a camera when connected to a computer by default.  At least that is the way it works when connected to windows .

     

    Have you looked into iCloud?

     

    Robert

    PS. I use dropbox and email.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Feb 21, 2015 1:39 PM in response to rccharles
    Level 7 (32,249 points)
    iPad
    Feb 21, 2015 1:39 PM in response to rccharles

    photos, videos -- I think apples intent is to you iPhote to sync these.  Dropbox works well for syncing these.  Photo are shared read only to all apps.

     

    Everyone will need to rethink and relearn their photos/videos methods when this is released:

     

    http://www.apple.com/osx/photos-preview/

     

    Fortunately for me, I don't use iPhoto or the cloud, and I won't be using the new Photos. I like being able to quickly find mine and not have to worry about updating/incompatible libraries or losing them.

  • by up1nw,

    up1nw up1nw Feb 24, 2015 1:17 PM in response to rccharles
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 24, 2015 1:17 PM in response to rccharles

    Hello dear Charles,

     

    once more me.

     

    I tried all your suggestions AND resolved my problem by using a combination of box (!!!), dropbox and OpenOfficeReader on my phone and my Mac.

     

    I can now sync documents, musik, videos and pictures from my Mac to my iPhone very easily without using that disease of iTunes and have rather exactly what I wanted.

     

    Thank you so much again. I start to love my iPhone ....

     

    Cordially from 78 ys. old Uwe in Germany

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Feb 24, 2015 1:25 PM in response to up1nw
    Level 8 (38,286 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 24, 2015 1:25 PM in response to up1nw

    up1nw wrote:

     

    Thank you very much for these comprehensive recommendations of which I already tried some but didn't find even one comparable to the simple way to recognize iPhone as USB-stick.

    I will try, though, the other ways you recommend for file transfer and maybe .....

    Kind regards

    Uwe from Germany

    (and a little slow because of

    his age of almost 80 ys. )

    There are a couple of good reasons that Apple doesn't allow access to the file system on iOS. The most important one is security. Each application on iOS is given its own memory area, and cannot access the memory of the operating system or of any other applications. This has worked amazingly well, because in the 7 years that iPhones have been around there have not been any viruses that have infected non-jailbroken iPhones.

     

    USB sticks are also a primary way of spreading viruses and trojans (collectively malware). For example, the Stuxnet virus that got into Iran's computer control systems and destroyed 1,000 centrifuges originally arrived on a USB stick. For this reason most large companies (and many small companies) no longer permit the use of USB sticks with company computers. If the iPhone could be used as a USB stick those companies would ban the use of iPhones on premises.

     

    This is something to consider when you use a USB stick. Apparently millions of them contain malware from before they leave the factory, because the manufacturer's systems have been hacked. So they aren't really safe for anyone to use for anything.