USB Mass Storage not working

RobertRehnmark-RawViking over 6 years ago

I just got the Fenix 5X Plus (titanium) and it refuses to mount as Mass Storage Device.
I have tried with two Macs and two cables.
The 5X that I still have is working with both Macs and both cables.

Garmin Express will recognise the 5X Plus and transfer updates, music, CIQ stuff, etc. just fine with good speed.
But no drive mounted on the computer for manual transfer of beta, maps, etc.
Both computers can see the device "composite" in the System Information app but none of them will see it in Disk Manager (or whatever it's called on English systems.

Any clues, solutions?

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0 RobertRehnmark-RawViking over 6 years ago

UPDATE!

On my main Mac I'm running a Virtual Machine with Windows Server 2016 on it.
There I could mount the 5X Plus without problems.
-BUT- it did not show up as a removable drive, it looked more like a regular folder in "This PC" and I could not "eject" it like a normal removable drive.

0 jim_m_58 over 6 years ago

The plus devices are not mass store devices. They are "MTP" devices (media). With Windows you can get to them, as you see. On a mac, you use something like ATP https://www.android.com/filetransfer/

There are threads with more details in the f5x plus and f5/f5s plus forums.

0 RobertRehnmark-RawViking over 6 years ago

Thanks, that app seems to be working great.

I'm absolutely BAFFLED that there isn't more info on this from Garmin... :eek:

0 jim_m_58 over 6 years ago

It's the same with the 645m and va3m - they are also MTP devices (the garmin music devices). I'm windows myself.

0 RobertRehnmark-RawViking over 6 years ago

Ok.
It's only a problem if people are unaware.. and this will happen as long as they don't mention it anywhere obvious and clear.

0 Labbyrun over 2 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

@jim_m_58 - Thank You for the hint. This software really helps accessing files on MTP devices, not only from Garmin. It does, however, not solve the issue for BaseCamp.

0 bluefish over 2 years ago in reply to RobertRehnmark-RawViking

RobertRehnmark-RawViking said:
I'm absolutely BAFFLED that there isn't more info on this from Garmin.

My Mac Computer Is Not Recognizing My Garmin Outdoor Watch

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=3inkaPl7Bl0DwqpDC5Kme8

0 bluefish over 2 years ago in reply to Labbyrun

Labbyrun said:
It does, however, not solve the issue for BaseCamp.

Basecamp is an old software, which is no longer developed by Garmin. The online alternatives are the Explore Portal and the Connect Portal.

0 Labbyrun over 2 years ago in reply to bluefish

@bluefish - According to a recent response from Garmin, BaseCamp is still meant to serve their handheld devices. Thus, it is not deprecated... yet.

However, mass storage mode is definitely gone on all newer watches that have music support and/or Garmin Pay built in.

So You are basically right, but the correct wording would be that the watches are "no longer designed" to work with BaseCamp and vice versa, and Garmin does not support this combination. The Garmin connect web portal and the Garmin Explore App are recommended to be used instead. This is not satisfying as both of them need an online connection, which BaseCamp does not.

Workarounds are possible by using either Windows (reports say that BC on Windows has no issues) or, on macOS, using special drivers that emulate a mass storage device with MTP. I have seen such drivers on the web but refrained from penetrating my system with them. Garmin recommends Android File Transfer for accessing files and folders via macOS Finder. So this could help uploading custom maps at least, but does not emulate mass storage mode which is a requirement for BaseCamp.

The real solution would be if Garmin would decide to either make mass storage mode again available with a future firmware update (unlikely) or, alternatively, upgrade BaseCamp for macOS so that it supports MTP mode in the same way Garmin Express does.

0 bluefish over 2 years ago in reply to Labbyrun

Thank you for the correction. Correct as far as it goes.

Here also from my side a small correction :

Labbyrun said:
The Garmin connect web portal and the Garmin Explore App are recommended to be used instead. It is not satisfying as both of them need an online connection

The Explore app also works OFFLINE. You can download the maps you need at home via wifi, and then work completely without internet or mobile network. The only thing that is needed is a Bluetooth connection between the watch and the phone / tablet.

Explore is the only app that can work completely offline.