mtp usage: how to mount and transfer files to and from a Samsung: Galaxy model Android phone

how do I use mtpfs to read/write to a USB connected Android phone, connected as a mass storage device:

thufir@dur:~$
thufir@dur:~$ mkdir phone
thufir@dur:~$
thufir@dur:~$ sudo mtpfs -o allow_other phone
[sudo] password for thufir:
Unable to open ~/.mtpz-data for reading, MTPZ disabled.Listing raw device(s)
Device 0 (VID=04e8 and PID=6860) is a Samsung Galaxy models (MTP). Found 1 device(s): Samsung: Galaxy models (MTP) (04e8:6860) @ bus 1, dev 6
Attempting to connect device
ignoring libusb_claim_interface() = -6PTP_ERROR_IO: failed to open session, trying again after resetting USB interface
LIBMTP libusb: Attempt to reset device
LIBMTP PANIC: Could not open session! (Return code 8195) Try to reset the device.
Unable to open raw device 0
thufir@dur:~$ 

and:

thufir@dur:~$
thufir@dur:~$ mount
/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /run/user type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=104857600,mode=0755)
none on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext2 (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
systemd on /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd type cgroup (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,none,name=systemd)
gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/1000/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=thufir)
thufir@dur:~$ 

and lsusb shows:

thufir@dur:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 04e8:6860 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd GT-I9100 Phone [Galaxy S II], GT-I9300 Phone [Galaxy S III], GT-P7500 [Galaxy Tab 10.1]
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 045e:00cb Microsoft Corp. Basic Optical Mouse v2.0
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0461:0010 Primax Electronics, Ltd HP Keyboard
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
thufir@dur:~$ 

Toggling the phone between MTP and PTP allows:

thufir@dur:~$
thufir@dur:~$ sudo mtpfs -o allow_other phone
[sudo] password for thufir:
Unable to open ~/.mtpz-data for reading, MTPZ disabled.Listing raw device(s) No raw devices found.
thufir@dur:~$ sudo mtpfs -o allow_other phone
Unable to open ~/.mtpz-data for reading, MTPZ disabled.Listing raw device(s)
Device 0 (VID=04e8 and PID=6860) is a Samsung Galaxy models (MTP). Found 1 device(s): Samsung: Galaxy models (MTP) (04e8:6860) @ bus 1, dev 8
Attempting to connect device
Listing File Information on Device with name: GT-S7560M
thufir@dur:~$
thufir@dur:~$ ls phone
ls: cannot access phone: Transport endpoint is not connected
thufir@dur:~$ 

although I don't know what that accomplishes.

see also:

4 Answers

I'm on Debian derived Bunsen Labs Linux 8.6 bunsen-hydrogen
So,you can try this:

$ sudo apt-get install mtp-tools
$ man mtp-tools

This is kinda clunky, but I've used it to get files off my ultra low-end Alcatel (KitKat) phone.
There's got to be a better way...

#!/bin/bash
# copies all the pictures out of my Android phone
echo "Creating list of .jpg files..."
mtp-files | \
egrep '^File ID|Filename' | \
perl -pe 'm/^File/ && s/\n//' | \
perl -lane 'print "$F[2] $F[4]" if m/\.jpg/' > camera_files.lst
while read field1 field2; do echo "Copying $field2..." mtp-getfile $field1 $field2
done < camera_files.lst

I was unable to get mtp-tools to work. I installed jmtpfs and it is functional, though directory operations are very slow, especially for huge directories like photos.

(For a single file I it is faster to use bluetooth or email; for many files, I pop the sdcard out of my phone and mount it on the computer.)

See How to connect Android 7.1 to Ubuntu Linux with USB?

Install gmtp and use it to connect to the phone or tablet:

sudo apt-get install gmtp

magically, works now:

It's mounted?

thufir@tleilax:~$
thufir@tleilax:~$ mount
/dev/sda5 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nodev,noexec,nosuid)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nodev,noexec,nosuid)
none on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (rw,uid=0,gid=0,mode=0755,size=1024)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,nodev,noexec,nosuid,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /run/user type tmpfs (rw,nodev,noexec,nosuid,size=104857600,mode=0755)
none on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw)
systemd on /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd type cgroup (rw,nosuid,noexec,nodev,none,name=systemd)
/home/.ecryptfs/thufir/.Private on /home/thufir type ecryptfs (ecryptfs_check_dev_ruid,ecryptfs_cipher=aes,ecryptfs_key_bytes=16,ecryptfs_unlink_sigs,ecryptfs_sig=c36b5937afc3da6c,ecryptfs_fnek_sig=bd3e015ffef0ebaf)
gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/1000/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=thufir)
/dev/sr0 on /media/thufir/Ubuntu 14.10 amd64 type iso9660 (ro,nodev,nosuid,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,mode=0400,dmode=0500,uhelper=udisks2)
thufir@tleilax:~$