Fast (but Loose) FastStone

[ameerat42]

A question has come up in another thread:

How do you/Can you make FastStone Image Viewer SEE your USB-connected phone
for transfer of files?

Note that I can use Windows or Irfanview to see and transfer them, but I can't get
FastStone to even see the drive See image below...

T

Screen grabs from Win 10 FIle Expl, FastStone IV, Irfanview...
SeePhone.jpg

[GorgeWalker]

I haven't tried - however, perhaps because it is a device, not a drive it isn't showing.

Have you tried mapping the Camera folder as a Drive, assigning it a drive letter. Might help it appear then? Just a thought.

Edit - here's a link, not sure how handy you are with command line etc. I would opt to try "net use" - https://www.itworld.com/article/2694...n-windows.html. Again - not sure it would work. I will try later on with the kids tablets as it's a lucky dip with an Apple device (I tend to just use iCloud to transfer files now...)

[ameerat42]

Ta. I'm OK with it all, but here's what they come up as - all phones, though only two types shown
below. I'm not sure "what" I'd assign a drive letter to. Device Mgr is just as vague about 'em.

I mean, they act and work just like drives, all but for FastStone. - But I'll keep searching.

Properties of phone, etc...
SeeDrv2.jpg

[GorgeWalker]

So. I quickly played around with this with the kids Android tablets.

It's not as seemless as using a local folder, but you can use the following to retrieve images from a mobile device:

File --> Import Photos and Videos

Set your device in Location and Check "Show file picker"

Not sure this ticks all the boxes you were after but seemed to allow me to pull/preview the images from an Android device. A little clunky tho.

Brendan.

[ameerat42]

Ta, I will have a look at that feature. I saw it "on the way through" but disregarded it
in favour of the more straightforward file manipulation methods.

[ameerat42]

Yep, I remember now... - Definitely a primitive aspect of FS. I won't bovver using FS for phones
and the like that don't show in normal file structure...
SeeDrv3.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

^PS: Wrong color profile used iin saving, but no matter

[arthurking83]

Cables! .. who uses cables?

I'm sure I've told 'ya before .. use MyPhoneExplorer, and update to the latest version v1.8.14(as of April 20).
Prior to this version it never showed thumbnails of images on the phone, but now does.
I'm assuming that you occasionally manage the phone, by clearing out flotsam off it, or backing it up and what not.

I only use MPE to explore and transfer images(eg. quick snaps of stuff I'm fixering upping, used to refer back to a good known state and stuff like that).
I don't use the phone for photography tho, as some folks seem too.
Almost all images will come off the phone tho and onto the PC, so my use is viewing but more so management.

If you want QnE access to phone images, and you have Android 7 on the SGS5(which can only be done unofficially) I also recommend using M$s My Phone softwares(needed on both phone and PC).
Works quite well for images, but no help to you Am.

[ameerat42]

^I do - not a vow
I use it routinely to transfer phone-type data, like back up messages, contacts...

This is about transferring images from a phone (cam) internal memory/card to computer and being able to see the
folder/files/etc... That's what FS can't do as elegantly as (even Windows) and other FS-like programs. Maybe a
few versions from now... [insert "live in hope"].

[arthurking83]

BTW, in 'ye olde days long gone, when we were using Android 4.0 and earlier(it may have been as late as Andy 5??) back in the day you needed USB drivers for the PC to recognise the phone at all.
So in the rush to simplify it all, the made Windows view these devices now as smart devices, so the driver is now built into windows, but it's a generic driver.
The way I'm understanding it, is that there is some recomputationalising going on by windows to read the non Win file system as a windows recognisable file system .. noting that Android is basically a rehash of linux.

Note how Windows Explorer doesnt' see the phone as a drive, like F:\ or G:\ .. that means it's not translated into a windows native file system.
FSV is obviously not (yet??) coded to read non windows file systems, and Windows itself isn't doing any translation for all apps to be made aware of what's going on.

Could be just too dang much work for the FSV devs to muck around with, or could be licensing issues or whatever.
XnView doesn't have the ability too either, so I wouldn't be too hard in FSV.
Technically IrfanView doesn't have the ability to browse to the phone(or device) as well, as you need to use whatever file browser to see the device.

Difference between IrfanView and FSV. Irfan view needs Windows file browser to see the file it opens, whereas FSV itself is a file browser(only on Windows file systems tho).

eg. I have my NAS way over there in the living room. On the NAS I have the SAMBA service running, so that windows assigns the files on it like it does on the PC itself.
The reality is tho that the files on the NAS(unless it's a Windows Server) is that all those files are not in a natively recognisable format for Windows to see, they are formatted in a Unix/Linux environment.
Without SAMBA(running on the NAS), Windows can't see them, so what it does see looks for all the world to be windows recognisable files.
Once it does that, then FSV sees them too, in it's file explorer windows.

I like software to have native file explorers built into them .. like FSV and XnView.

So in effect, all you've done by using IrfanView is to automagically open Windows Explorer via IrfanView.
For the same overall effect, you'd want to open Windows Explorer, navigate to the phone, and open the file with .... -> FSV.
First time you try this, you may see that the rightclick and Open option will be simply that .. Open, but not 'Open with..'
Hit Open, it may/may not/whatever pop open the new dialogue box that gives you more options to open with ... it may simply open the image file directly with some software associated with opening jpg images.
Note the status of the default option when doign this., If the default is set to use the chosen software, next time you hit Open it goes straight to that initially chosen software.
Irrespective of this part, if you open Windows Explorer first(instead of doing the IrfanView way) and you navigate to the phone(or other device) and see your images, if you're in the Home tab in Windows Explorer up in the toolbar you will see the Open options button, and if you have many other jpg capable software( I think I have about 20 software capable of opening jpgs), then you can open with whatever you choose. Default software to use can also be set in that dropdown button.
If you open with FSV, it opens fine and dandy in the fullscreen image viewer window(not main viewer), hover mouse up the top and you see that the process is that the file has temporarily been loaded into a temp area in your user area in Windows.

For me that ended up being C:\Users\Arthur\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE\44PUWKPN\ .. where the last cryptic name is the file name for the temp file I'm viewing.
If you use the IrfanView method, it should do the same thing .. Windows Explorer will open the phones image file into a temp area for the program to physically access.

Remember the issues you're referring too is simply physical access, which windows doesn't really have off the phone. it can see the files, but remember their formatting is not a Windows native format. Windows has a service runnign to view Linux files off the phone(or iPhone or whatever).
if you want Windows to have hard proper physical access, they need to be transferred to the PC, say for example to edit intricate data within. I think about the only edit that Windows(Explorer .. ie. windows!) can do to the files whilst still on the device is to rename them.
If you rightclick and hit properties, it can't edit any of the minimal properties it lists. Again, because the file itself is not a native Windows format(its Linux formatted).

I think you can get a SAMBA service for Android smartphones, but not even worth the thought to worry about.

Apologies for the long winded reply, but it needed mentioning that this isn't really a fault in FSV so much.
I have no idea on the level of complexity in coding FSV's file browser to allow viewing Windows Devices, but I guess it it were easy, they'd have done it already.

And I hope it helps to clear up any confusions too..

[ameerat42]

^It's a comprehensive description of what's going, AK, so Ta.

OK, I rather thought that my dismay with that aspect of FS was perhaps hard, given its many other
positive aspects. Just BTW, this has become a slight issue since I (also) have a phone that sports
64 GB on internal memory (although it can also take a mem card). So I need to hook it up via USB
(or perhaps even WiFi).

I will look into the C:\Users... location.

Ta.

[ameerat42]

^Can't actually see it with File Expl, even in "hidden files" view. - No matter.

[arthurking83]

^Can't actually see it with File Expl, even in "hidden files" view. - No matter.

So:

if you just navigate to the image file(s) on your phone via Win Explorer directly, right click and open with Fastone, do the files open up in the FS full screen view?
If they do this, which they should, Windows places a temp version in some directory in your Username area(like I explained above). Yours may be differently cryptic, and the location should be displayed on the top 'bar' when you hover your mouse up near the top of the fullscreen window when the toolbar pops up.

So the thing to note here, the issue is more so with the Windows <-> device link .. in that Windows won't just store a copy of the file off your phone onto itself. It just shows you whats on the device, and if you want to do stuff on that file, it needs to create a temporary copy of that file ... 'somewhere' .. ie. the temp area of your Username.

I'm not sure how the system actually works, but like I said earlier, on the NAS(which is Unix) I need to have the SAMBA service running on it to allow Windows to see the files on it.
I remember some years back Windows (or more accurately M$) did a lot of work to get Windows working nicer with Unix/Linux systems, so maybe Windows has some native interopability with those OSes now.
(I haven't kept up with much of this side of PCing for a while now tho).
So noting that many Windows users have Android phones, the recent death of Windows Mobile, they seemed to have put a lot of effort into connecting Windows PCs to smartphones(or at least Android).
But there are still limits as to how much interoperability can(or should) be allowed for security purposes, and file integrity.

Part 2:
Conversely the opposite happens too.

Dunno what file browser you use on your Samsung, but I've tried a few.
I used to use ES Explorer for many years as it had a relatively easy-ish method to browse files on PCs via the phone over the LAN(wirelessly).
ES became clunky and bloated and over commercial, so dumped it and went to X-plore some time ago. Weird interface when you're not used to it, but once used too, it makes a lot of sense.
it uses a twin screen design, but not at the same time. The 'two' screens are side by side, but only one can be seen at a time(no experience with twinscreens phones) when you use it in portrait orientation. If you rotate the phone to landscape orientation, you then see both side by side screens(depending on phone size and resolution) at the same time, and it's dead easy to transfer files between phone and PC.
On a tablet device X-plore is the most intuitive way to manage files and stuff on the actual device. On the PC tho, I still prefer using MPE.

I know I don't have a SAMBA service running on my phone or tablet, and I'm fairly sure that it's not a native service on Andorid(not sure about this, as said haven't kept up with recent news) .. but SAMBA can be a resource hog on the 'device'.
So I think(again not sure) M$ have put some work into getting Windows to cooperate to a limited degree with Unix instead .. which makes more sense.

The point with this bit is:
you don't necessarily need cables and wires and suff if you don't need. USB3 on older gen USB3 phones(like the SGS5) isn't that much faster than 5G Wifi. USB-C isn't that much faster either.
So, depending on your home LAN setup you could just transfer the photos on your phone, via your phone to the PC over wifi.
You obviously need to have a directory setup on the PC so that it's accessible to the phone. That is, the phone doesn't just see the entire contents of the PC, it only sees accessible shares, as any file sharing PC should be set up to allow.

The crux of it:
the alternative to trying to access the phone from the PC via FS, could be to transfer any image files on the phone via the phone to the PC, into a folder that has LAN access.
The files need to be on the PC no matter, anyhow.
Then just to the normal thing on the PC in FS.

I don't use this method much(if at all) on the phone(remember I use MPE for that), but on the tablet I prefer using the device to PC method, using X-plore.
X-plore on a tablet makes a lot of sense, other than the usual grubby fingers on clean screens issue!

Part 3: and if you upgrade to an Android 7 phone, forget everything relayed above and just use My/Your Phone app.
You'll wonder why you ever stuck with earlier droid versions.
The texting(from PC) isn't as good as MPE, so I don't use that as much, and MPE is much better, but for the odd quick reply just to say OK, or thnx or whatever the My Phone(or Your Phone, or whatever it's called.
Even taking the access ease now built into Windows(but you still need to download/install the Your Phone apps!) still note that any file work on the device for major editing type work needs to have a temp version of the file placed on the PC.

[ameerat42]

Ta, AK.
Re the first bit. Yes/Routinely/It doesn't show the folder in File Expl or in
FS (see pics below).

Re the second bit. I don't mind the speed via USB3, but I will try using WiFi.
When at the desk, the computer is connected to the router by LAN cable.

The invisible folder in FS
Ta.INetcache.jpg

Same in File Explorer
INetcache2.jpg

[arthurking83]

Ta, AK.
Re the first bit. Yes/Routinely/It doesn't show the folder in File Expl or in
FS (see pics below).

....

Ah! dumb dumb(me!! )
I forget to answer this bit .. too cold and early in the morning for a lazy bottomed lay-about like me .. ie brain fade.

In FS, go into settings -> settings -> Viewer(tab, which should be the initial displayed) and about half way down, tick the 'show hidden files and folder' tick mark.
Obviously apply or OK or whatever and it'll show them for 'ya.
Fairly obvious, the hidden files/folders will be a darkish colour so you know them when you see them as such too.

[ameerat42]

^Done! Sold to the-man-in-the-hat.

The views shown are already with Hidden Files/Folders on
in both programs.

Maybe you were warmer than you felt this morning

[arthurking83]

Nope! definitely freezing(frozen) and delusional.

I think I may have found an easier method for 'ya for your SGS5 too.
Lucky for you I have one to play with, and made it slightly better.

Actually, I did get quite hot, even tho I was frozen solid, from the earlier weather conditions, but I promise you I got very hot under the collar by the end of the night too.

I've installed LineageOS on my Galaxy5, and after a bit of mucking about, I now know the proper steps to get it up and running on one.
The instructions to install LineageOS, AND make it usable are quite generic, but with perseverance and a bit of reading up most of last night, got it working nicely.
Reason I say all this is that with straight Android(ie. Samsungs version of it), you're stuck with Android 6(point whatever) and that's it.
The Your Phone system is an easier way for most folks to manage their phone on a Windows environment. Use cables, wifi, bluetooth .. makes no difference but it's a far easier way to do it, if you use the phone for stuff like photography and stuff like that.
Even as a phone!
Problem with Lineage is that you can't just use Google Play apps, so if you install it, you also need to install an additional addon that allows you to use Google Play apps.
Only issue is that the instructions I'd found on how to get it working properly aren't so clear, I'd downloaded a ton(literally about 20+ gigabytes) of stuff to get it working, and it works.

noting that this SGS5 I have is just one of the spares I've collected over the years(I think I still have 4 or 5 usable phones), so easy for me to play with and check stuff out.
So before, with Android 6, had to do it the not so hard way.
Now with LineageOS, using the PC makes it a more fluent operation .. for those that do want this kind of thing.

as an example: say you're at home, and you have decent wifi access to your yard(for the phone) and you're out there taking pics with the phone.
Before LOS, you had to go to PC, open this check that .. etc.
With Your Phone app running(and connected to the network), as you take photos they just auto sync onto the PC in the Your Phone app. So once your done outside, when you get back in all your pics are there in the app, waiting for 'ya.
Obviously you can also do sms-ing, phone calls and whatever other stuff you like on the PC -> to the phone too. Only thing it doesn't do tho (like MPE does) is manage flotsam on the phone, ie. system files that don't need to be there.

So for smoother workflow, I do recommend to consider it if you like to work that way.

The instructions are a bit convoluted, sound hard, but quite easy, and you need to download maybe 1-2 Gigs of stuff to convert from old Android to newer Android.
I think the current LineageOS(technically 16, but there's a more beta-ish 17 version) equates to Android 9 in terms of functionality.
It's not full functionality tho.
That's where the problem arose. That particular file you need to install .... to get it to install! ... is very specific for each phone model. This is the file needed to make LineageOS play with Googles app environment(actually the other way around).
Google's app environment doesn't like thirdparty OSes to link into it, and this is the (specific)file needed to allow this.
That's what took me so long to figure out. I downloaded about 10 of those files(called Open_Gapps) finally working out which one worked properly on the SGS5.

Anyhow, if interested(and I do recommend it on an old phone) and if you want some instructions and links, holler, I can help with it.

Oh! almost forgetted this quite important bit. Remember that with older OSes you get less security, for most of us, not important .... unless you use and try every app knonw to mankind.
The reason I recommend LineageOS, is that it's basically a current version of the same OS. Icons obviously change with the OS switch, but a trivial matter.
Underlying basics is that it's just Android, just an undressing of Samsung's silly bloated flotsam, and a more secure later version, and allows more recent app installations(ie. why I checked it out).

[ameerat42]

Ta, AK. I had read about Lineage a while back, and considered it for my older phones.
To me, the SGS5 is quite a modern millie, and I'm happy enough with this limitation of
Android that I need use [a] Windows [client] to see the files to be copied. The reason I
did not proceed with Lineage on the older (Android 4.x) phones is that they're so slow
anyway.

I've got the abovementioned beast, and a RedMi Note 4, so I'm set for a while until 4G
is stopped. They both are very snappy systems (even downloading from the RedMi over
USB-only-2) This RedMi has 64GB internal memory, and I have nevva bovverd to put
in an ancillary SD card, as that would also take up its 2nd-SIM slot.
(Of course, I have not even put in a 2nd SIM yet )

I'll just wait until FastStone implement it like IrfanView has

[arthurking83]

Just to note:
1. LineageOS isn't as fast as regular Andorid, or manufacturers Android installs.
It could be fast if you just want a plain jane phone only and no 'features'.
That's the issue with LinOS. It's a totally stripped down OS, so hardly any feature rich apps to slow it down even more.
But if you want any apps, you need to install the go between Gapps types addon, and then it slows down just like regular Android, and every other OS known to mankind, Win, Linux .. etc.

I tried both flavours, bare LinOS, no apps. other than email, phone/txt and internet, it's got nothing and apps for it aren't of the ease of use over bloated apps that most folks want.

2. as for waiting for FS to implement a file browser that you really want, don't be holding your breath! .. unless M$ make it happen natively in Windows, not going to happen either.
Even via the Windows native software like File Explorer and Your Phone app, it browses exactly the same(as in Irfanview).
The files you see(as described above) are all still only on the device(in this case the phone).
So if you want to edit, they still need to be downloaded into that messily complicated temporary hidden folder, just as you found out with FS too.

remember the issue there is that this SAMBA service needs to run for Windows to have direct access .. like on the NAS.
On the NAS, I can directly edit the stored photos on the location that they exist on(ie. the hard drives on the NAS).
On the 'Device' like a smartphone .. it needs to be locally saved(to the temp area) and then edited and resent back to the device if edited from Win.

So while Your Phone makes it a more smooth and easy to use experience, the overall inner workings is the same as Irfanview/FS/every other software that can access the 'device'.

I don't imagine that Apple would have direct access to a Unix file system like Android, and it'd make no sense for Apple to do so, considering they're the competition!
But my guess is that a Linux desktop OS could easily implement this direct access ability(if they haven't yet already) as it's the same file system type.

But, so far I don't mind the LinOS install. I may wipe it all again and try just the bare stripped down version on it.
Sometimes the annoyance of all those silly apps on the phone make me wish for a totally stripped out bare bones phone, like the old days.

[ameerat42]

Ta, AK. No, I don't ever edit on the device. It just takes and shunts the pics off (well, copies, but you know).

[arthurking83]

Ta, AK. No, I don't ever edit on the device. It just takes and shunts the pics off (well, copies, but you know).

Ah, yeah. Then the best workflow method would be open ----- Windows Explorer, find files, download to PC, then open with ... <insert choice of image viewer/editor here>