Droid 4 - How to copy video/pics from phone onto PC?

[cs3]

I did a search but none of the topics provided an answer that solved my problem.

All I want to do is get the pictures that are on my phone in my "My Gallery => My Library" folder onto my PC.
It should be so simple, yet nothing I do works.

My camera is set to Storage Location: SD Card

I plug in my USB cable and my phone pops up with 4 options:
1) PC Mode
2) Windows Media Sync
3) USB Mass Storage
4) Charge Only


I obviously tried USB Mass Storage first.
When I open "My Computer" on the PC i have 3 choices:
-Removable Disk (M)
-MOT (L)
-MotoCast (I wont use this, its horribly designed and a huge pain to use)

None of those choices will show me my entire Library. No matter what i do, I only get the pictures that I had previously copied from my old phone onto this one.

Then i tried PC Mode. This time i get a pop-up with a bunch of options tht look useless.
I open My Computer and get the smae thing as before.

Now What?

Why in the world did Motorola make this so ridiculously complicated? When i plug in the USB cable I should get a simple pop-up with one of the options asking me if i want to see my SD card.

 

[cs3]

edit - I tried again. somehow I got an icon of the Droid to show up in My Computer on the PC.
No idea how. Anyone know?
Couldnt reproduce that menu/icon. It never showed up before. When i click on it it takes me to My Computer\DROID4\Removable Storage\DCIM\Camera.
I dont know why Removable Storage is not an option on any menu on its own.

anyway I *think* this is the folder I want, but I cant be sure becasue only about 1/5th of the pics show up as thumbnails. I go back then reopen the folder several times and the thumbs just wont show up. So i guess ill just have to transfer all 500+ files and hope they are the right ones, then if they are, manually delete each one i didnt want one by one from my PC.

Im really beginning to HATE this phone.
With the keyboard back lighting issue, the random text-disappearing-in-the-middle-of-a-message problem, the phones inability to differentiate between an ear against it during a conversation and a person using a finger to prompt an automateed menu with the touchscreen, and now the complete lack of user friendliness managing/transferring my own files, Im thinking I made a mistake in buying another Droid.

 

[rjeatkrconley]

Can you se the pics using my files? They are located in the dcim folder on the SD card. If so, they should show up on your computer. Make sue you have the latest drivers for the phone.

 

[cs3]

unbelievable. the files wouldnt even copy.
i got maybe 25% of the pictures to transfer over, then it just froze. I tried again. same thing.

 

[rjeatkrconley]

When you plug in the phone to the computer, the widows explorer window that opens has an option for importing pics. Have you tried that route?

 

[cs3]

Can you se the pics using my files? They are located in the dcim folder on the SD card. If so, they should show up on your computer. Make sue you have the latest drivers for the phone.

thanks for the response
where do i find my files? i dont see that as an option on either the phone or my pc (windows XP).
also how do i update the phone drivers? (and why would i need to? shouldnt they update automatically?)

When you plug in the phone to the computer, the widows explorer window that opens has an option for importing pics. Have you tried that route?

i dont have any windows open up. no pop-ups unless i select PC mode, in which case importing pics is not one of the options

 

[rjeatkrconley]

My files in an app. Its similar to windows explorer. I am not sure if the DROID 4 has it. If not there are several free versions in the market. I use file manager HD on my zooom.

 

[rjeatkrconley]

As for the drivers, no they won't update automatically. Only the original drivers that were loaded to the phone from the factory.

 

[cs3]

how do i update the phone drivers? via PC or is there a shortcut on one the menus on the phone itself?

looks like only 98MB of the ~1.2GB i was trying to copy actually transferred before it just crashed. appears to be the right folder though.
But now that I figured out how to get to the folder that has all my pics... i cant get the PC to even open it now. It just keeps searching and searching and searching with the little roving flashlight icon as if theres nothing there. really bizzare.
could it be a problem with the phone "shutting down" when the screen shuts off

thanks again for taking the time to help me.



edit - just thought of something else. this wouldnt really make any sense either, but is it possible that the USB cable i use must be the one supplied with the Droid 4? Ive been the using the cable for the charger that goes to my wifes Android Evo Shift (Sprint) simply becasue its always plugged in next my computer and since the charger itself is the same and works just fine to charge the phone. Is it even possible for a USB cable to cause erratic behavior like this?

 

[rjeatkrconley]

Go to Motorola's website and find the drivers there. I don't have a computer or I would drop you a link. Make sure they are compatible with xp. They should be but you never know...
Always happy to help fellow droiders..there are many very knowledgeable peeps here. I have learned so much just by following different threads.

Edit: moto website via PC.