iPhone Mass Storage
I’ve seen this question, or request many of times among iPhone users- Especially those that have used the older iPods. “Where is the mass storage function?” or “Why doesn’t the iPhone offer access to the hard drive?”
I get sick and tired of these questions, especially since the answer is pretty simple. The reason why we lack this feature is because we don’t have Mac users AND Windows users using the device. “How does that have anything to do with this”, one might ask. The answer is simple, as it has been noted time and time again, the iPhone runs a variant of OS X, though much slimmed down and limited, it still makes use of the HFS/HFS+ file system.
Due to this, any mass storage functions would be limited only to computers running OS X, or another OS that has a method to access the HFS/HFS+ filesystem. By default, this is not Windows. Since the iPhone runs a slimmed down version of OS X, it must use the HFS/HFS+ filesystem, so reformatting it for Windows like older iPods won’t have a positive effect.
Why don’t they make it accessible to only Macs then? It’s only fair, and to avoid possible anti-competitive trade issues.
Eiji Tai replied:
I see what you are getting at, but then why would the DCIM (Apple100) photo folder show up as a read only drive when connected to a windows based pc? If the entire drive was formatted to HFS+ then you would have to use iTunes/TransMac/MacDrive to see anything on a pc, but I can connect it to any pc and see at least the photos folder. If apple really wanted they could partition part of the flash memory for such a function because apparently it is already supported. Perhaps adding it in the Settings pane/app to set aside disk space.
August 19, 2009 at 4:31 am. Permalink.
Han Vanholder replied:
Eiji,
The DCIM folder (Photo folder) shows up as a read only folder in Windows through the Windows Explorer PTP extension, which may superficially look the same as a mass storage disk but it is a different beast altogether (The camera icon is already a hint). PTP (Picture Transport Protocol) is a communication protocol that does not specify the storage technology devices should use, which allows usage of the HFS/HFS+ file system on the iPhone, while making the objects (pictures) available to your Windows USB PTP Host.
Also, the method you suggest will require dynamic re-partitioning support in the device, if you want to change the setting without data loss.
November 12, 2009 at 6:12 am. Permalink.
Thanh Nguyen replied:
Eiji Tai:
While that is a possibility, that opens room for exploits, as well as adding more to support.
August 23, 2009 at 11:13 am. Permalink.