How To Copy Exactly An Android Phone Internal Memory To Pc Using Linux

Android file transfer: How to move data between your telephone and figurer

Moving files between your Android device and a Windows PC, Mac, or Chromebook doesn't take to be difficult — or dependent on whatsoever cloud services.

JR Raphael By

Contributing Editor, Computerworld |

Table of Contents

Android file transfers for Windows computers
Android file transfers for Mac computers
Android file transfers for Chrome Os computers
Don't like cables?

Your smartphone is a powerful computer in your pocket — and with Android, part of that PC-like musculus means being able to plug your phone into any Windows, Mac, or Chrome OS system and so elevate and drop files either way.

Dissimilar iPhones, Android devices allow you to admission their file systems direct from a desktop, without the need for any cumbersome interfaces or complicated procedures. In fact, transferring files to or from an Android device is basically no unlike than plugging an external hard drive into your computer and moving data to or from it.

All you need is your phone, your reckoner, and a cablevision to connect 'em — with micro-USB or USB-C on the phone side and USB-A or USB-C on the computer side, depending on the specifics of your devices. (Most current Android phones utilise USB-C, whereas most pre-2016 devices have the older micro-USB standard. USB-A, meanwhile, is the traditional connector port you lot're used to seeing on computers, though more and more models now too offer USB-C.) At that place'southward a decent chance that the same cablevision that connects your telephone to its wall charger volition work.

Got it? Practiced. Here'due south what you need to do next, depending on whether you accept a Windows, macOS, or Chrome Bone organization:

Android file transfers for Windows computers

With Windows, things are as unproblematic as can be. Just plug your phone into whatsoever open USB port on the figurer, then turn on your phone's screen and unlock the device.

Swipe your finger downward from the top of the screen, and you should see a notification nigh the current USB connectedness. At this indicate, it'll probably tell y'all your telephone is connected simply for charging.

android file transfer usb notification — Subsequently you lot connect your phone to your computer, a notification will let you prepare it for transferring files.

Tap the notification and select "Transfer files" or "File transfer" in the menu that appears. If media files are all you're planning to motility, you lot could besides use the "Transfer photos" (sometimes listed equally "PTP") option, which'll treat your telephone like a digital camera. Once yous've fabricated your option, go to your desktop and open up a File Explorer window using the method that makes the well-nigh sense for your Windows configuration:

Click the File Explorer icon in your taskbar
Open up the Start bill of fare and click This PC or Figurer
Click the This PC, Computer, or My Computer icon on your desktop

Then look for an icon representing your phone alongside other portable devices and drives. Click or double-click that icon, and ta-da! Y'all're staring at your Android phone'due south internal storage. You can now click around and browse folders, elevate and drop files between your phone and PC, or manipulate the information in any way yous want.

android file transfer windows — Your Android phone'south storage looks similar any regular hard drive when viewed from a computer.

Android file transfers for Mac computers

Got a Mac? The Android file transfer process is a bit more complicated for you — but fear not, for it's even so pretty darn easy.

The main departure is that before things will work, you'll need to download and install an official Google program called Android File Transfer. To employ the programme, your Mac must be running macOS 10.7 or later, and your Android device must have Android iii.0 or later — something that should pretty much be a given with whatever reasonably recent Android product.

In one case the program's in identify on your Mac, just plug your phone into your computer, plow on your phone's screen and unlock the device, and so wait for the same USB status notification described above.

Tap the notification and select "Transfer files" or "File transfer." The Android File Transfer program should and so automatically open on your Mac, and yous should be able to browse your telephone'south storage and transfer files to your eye's content.

If the official Android File Transfer program doesn't work well for y'all — a vexingly common complaint among Mac users these days — consider the favorably reviewed third-party Commander Ane Pro as an alternative. It costs $thirty for a single license, $100 for a 5-user team license, or $150 for a 50-user company license.

Or — well, skip down to the concluding section of this story for one other option.

Android file transfers for Chrome OS computers

You'd look file transfers between Android phones and Chromebooks to be equally uncomplicated as tin be, considering that Google'south the driving forcefulness behind both of those operating systems — and by golly, you'd be absolutely right.

Merely like on a Windows system, all you've gotta practice to connect your Android phone to a Chromebook is plug it into any open USB port, then tap the USB charging notification on the phone and select either "Transfer files" or "File transfer" from the prompt that appears — or select "Transfer photos" or "PTP" if you want your phone to be treated like a camera, with a focus exclusively on multimedia files.

Once you lot do that, the Chrome OS Files app should automatically announced on your Chromebook with your phone present as one of the storage options. The arrangement will probably even prompt you lot to back up all of your phone's media files to Google Drive; y'all can let that, if you'd like, or dismiss information technology and but drag and drop files in either direction as needed.

android file transfer chrome os — Pulling up your Android telephone's storage on a Chromebook is piece of cake as can be — and typically includes a one-click option to copy all your device's media files as well.

There'south actually not much to it — nor should there be.

And if you desire an even simpler manner to take care of business...

Don't like cables?

Hey, wait a minute — aren't there apps and deject services for this sort of thing? Certain in that location are, and we've got you covered there, likewise. Bank check out "Transferring files wirelessly between devices" in our in-depth guide to file management on Android for everything there is to know.

This commodity was initially published in August 2017 and updated in October 2019.

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Contributing Editor JR Raphael serves upwardly tasty morsels about the human side of engineering. Hungry for more? Join him on Twitter or sign up for his weekly newsletter to get fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Friday.