MTP -- mounting MTP devices (smartphones) on Debian GNU/Linux

Short Explanation

MTP is a protocol used for transfering files / other meta information between the smartphone and the computer. Not all today's smartphones support the usage of a mass storage device anymore, so MTP has to be used.

Graphical User Interface

GVFS, the GNOME virtual file system is capable of mounting MTP volumes, when the package gvfs-backends is installed. Then it is enough to double-click the device in the list of devices (Nautilus -> computer).

Note: For the version of gvfs-backends in Debian Wheezy (7.0), it seems that not all devices are recognized or mountable. It should work from GVFS >= 1.15.3.

Command Line

There are various ways to use MTP on the command line:

<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;"> <li><p>With the MTP tools:</p> <p><code>sudo apt-get install mtp-tools</code></p> To Do: to be documented</li> <li><p>MTPFS or JMPTFS:<br /> Both programs are very similar: both use ?Debianpkg:fuse to to mount the device in a POSIX file system. Please install either mtpfs or jmtpfs and use:</p> <p><code>$ jmtpfs <directory></code></p> <p>or</p> <p><code>$ mtpfs <directory></code></p> <p>to mount your device. Using</p> <p><code>fusermount -u <directory></code></p> <p>you can unmount your device again.</p></li></ol>