I posted about my difficulties connecting my Samsung Moment to my Mac laptop. If you want to, you can read those trials and tribulations.

If you just want the solution...

After looking for drivers, doing various experiments, and getting feedback from others with the same problem, I just hunted for any and all settings having to do with USB and one finally worked. It may not be perfect, but this seems to help.

Go into Settings -> Applications -> Development on your phone's main menu.

Turn on USB debugging ("Debug mode when USB is connected"). It will recognize that a USB connection now exists.

A widget will pop up on your Mac saying it's recognized a network device and will want to install the phone as a modem. Don't worry about it. It's a red herring. I never configured that, never connected that.

Go into "Notifications" from the phone's main menu and you'll see a notification under "Ongoing" that says "USB Connected (select to copy files to/from your computer)". Touch it.

You'll get a dialogue with the title "USB Connected" and the text "You have connected your phone to your computer via USB. Select 'Mount' if you want to copy files between your computer and your phone's SD card." It offers options of "Mount" and "Don't Mount". Touch "Mount".

A removeable drive will appear in Finder called "No Name". That's your Micro SD card and you can begin copying files. You'll need to unmount the card for applications on the phone to have access to it. I created a folder called "Music" in the DCIM folder, put a couple of MP3s in there and I'm listening to them now.

Don't know if this will work with Snow Leopard's built-in sync program or third party sync programs, but I'm happily able to move media back and forth which is HUGE for me.

UPDATE WITH SOME IMAGES

This is what the "main menu" looks like. When you're on the home screen and press your menu button/key, you'll get these options... Add, Wallpaper, Search, Notifications, Settings.

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98 Responses to “Samsung Moment to MacBook USB Connection Problem Solved”
  1. Tania says:

    Thank You!!!!! This helped a bunch.

  2. Sarah says:

    when i do this i can see some of my data recognized in the finder of my macbook, but no galllery. i have over 250 photos on my Moment, and i would really love to transfer them.
    Thoughts? Thanks

  3. Nalini M says:

    It worked for my Mac at work (version 10.4.11). Thanks!

  4. lana says:

    Thank you so so much!

  5. Jason says:

    Great job man!
    I've been poking around trying to figure this one out for a couple months--ever since the new Android update. & You nailed it!
    Thank you!

  6. Rob says:

    Hi,

    I have a Droid X and none of what you describe above works. I don't see "notifications" in what you call the main menu. When I connect the cable, I get nothing on the mac screen. I did turn on usb debugging.

    Rob

    • Greg Bulmash says:

      Rob,

      I posted a screenshot of an Android 2.1 screen, reference version from the SDK's Android emulator. If you're not seeing "notifications" in that menu, then Verizon or Motorola has seriously messed with the Droid X software or your Droid is broken.

      Beyond that, I never said something would necessarily come up on your Mac. It might, but you could ignore it. Once your phone notifies you that USB is connected, you can click that notification to go to the option to mount your card. When you mount your card, your Mac will see it as a removeable storage drive and you'll be able to access it through Finder like you connected the card via a card reader.

  7. Fallon says:

    Greg,
    I tried what you described. Sadly it did not work. I have a Samsung Moment and a Macbook Pro version 10.6.4 if that helps.
    Do you have any extra advice for it?

  8. matt says:

    Hey guys!

    Any one know how to link ical with the calendar on the Samsung Galaxy?

    Thanks so much!

  9. Gabe Marino says:

    Brilliant. Thanks. Worked on the first try.

  10. Whitney says:

    Thanks so much for your help!! This worked and was very easy to understand! You are awesome!

  11. Shauna says:

    Thank you so much! You're awesome!

  12. Pachame55 says:

    Thank you! You solved the problem.. :)

  13. Brian says:

    YOU ROCK!!! YES!!!!

  14. Trixie says:

    Yay!! Thanks, you're awesome!

  15. Excellent! I hit [Cancel] when the Mac "recognized a network device" and followed your instructions. Piece of cake! Thanks.
    BTW -- I use this method to drag iTunes music to an mp3 folder I created on my Moment for band practice. It's really a great way to move files around without burning a bunch of CDs or emailing mega-files around. Android's Music App lets me create a playlist from the recently added files (Add to playlist...New). At rehearsal, I just plug in my phone to the board and we can listen to the songs in the newly created playlist without a bunch of duplication of files, etc. Nice.

  16. chris says:

    this worked for me the first time, but the second time, i foolishly tried to configure the samsung when prompted, and hit it has not worked since. I deleted the profile in network settings but no go.

    • chris says:

      works again, i rebooted several times, deleted the phone configuration, changed usb ports, etc, etc. some combination did the trick.

      • chris says:

        actually, i found the reason...the task relating to the SD Card was killed prior in my Task Killer. That's a crucial process since the files shuttled across the mac to the sammy get dropped on the sd card.

  17. marie says:

    thanks so much been trying to connect to my mac for months worked on the first try

  18. natasha says:

    I'm sorry it did not work for me help!!! I have a mbp and samsung moment. can u plzzz help?

  19. matt says:

    I get the computer recognize the sd card, but it loads up image capture every time and doesn't show it mounted in the finder!

  20. Chels says:

    Amazing... The sprint store couldn't even explain how to do this, they said I would need to download some software for Samsung Moments.. Thanks so much!!

  21. Casey says:

    Thank you so much! Worked on the 2nd try, and only because I didn't read your directions as closely as I could've. After getting and completing the Mount pop-up on my phone, I had to manually open Finder to see it (No Name under Devices), rather than use the download pop-up my Mac auto-opened once I completed the USB debugging step. Trying to use the auto pop-up only transferred a quarter of my files, to get everything I have to manually copy what I want from the Device in Finder, which is preferable anyways. I have had a MacBook Version 10.5.2 since October, and a Samsung Moment for about 6 months prior to that, and finally having both devices recognize and work with each other (and a more educated user -me!) has made my world a much easier, more convenient place!! Thanks again for posting your trouble-shooting adventures!

  22. Rachel says:

    Chris or anyone who understands the task killer strategy: Can you explain how to do this? Thanks!

    chris says:
    October 17, 2010 at 1:48 pm
    actually, i found the reason...the task relating to the SD Card was killed prior in my Task Killer. That's a crucial process since the files shuttled across the mac to the sammy get dropped on the sd card.

  23. Steve says:

    Thanks so much! It worked!

  24. dee mac says:

    thanks so much, Saved me endless hours of research. Got my tunes and pics on in minutes on my samsung galaxy 11. Been on the nokia n97 for 2 years. 2years too long. Thanks again, Dee

  25. Guilherme says:

    amigo, obrigado!
    Ajudou muito!!!

  26. Leesa says:

    Thank you very much! Is there any way I can download my texts from the Moment?

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