4 mo. ago • 96%

Best way to transfer local files to my Android device.

I have a Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G. It comes with the painfully slow USB 2.0. I wish to transfer local music files to it, but it's taking a long time to get copied over USB connection as well as it fails in-between sometimes. Is there any way to transfer the files in a quick and reliable manner?

44 comments

Localsend works really well for me

32
- Alternatively, https://pairdrop.net/ is the same idea (I assume) but runs entirely in your browser which is kinda cool.
  
  8
  
  Pairdrop is probably a miracle tool for me. Just open the website and send files or text, no configuration, no fuss and it even works outside of the local network.
  
  One day I'll finally set up my own server, but that's just for the fun of it. One hosted at https://pairdrop.net is super solid and I can't remember it failing me.
  
  6
- Very simple, "just works." Great if you want to make a one-time transfer and don't care about syncing files over time.
  
  I love Syncthing, KDE Connect (why is it not Konnect?) and others, but they might be a bit "extra" for this case.
  
  4
- I tried using it but for some unknown reason, it crashes on my PC right when I choose my music folder. Syncthing seems to be working great for me, though.
  
  2
  
  That's a shame! Be good if someone could look into that later. Glad you found something that works, though.
  
  2
- Thanks just installed this on Linux and my phone and it works.
  But it's a bit slow, I only get 3.1 MB/s. USB transfer is way faster.
  
  2
Syncthing. Period.

24
- I love syncthing, its basically like a personal P2P cloud thats beginner friendly. It automatically syncs selected folders between any number of devices, but you need to have it installed on both devices. I have this set up to always sync my pictures, music and password vaults between my devices. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.nutomic.syncthingandroid/
  
  If you want to just transfer files and not keep them synchronized then i would recommend the file manager "Material Files" instead. It comes with a built in FTP server that you can use to access your phone over the local network from your PC. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/me.zhanghai.android.files/
  
  Both are available on F-Droid and Google Play, but i recommend getting F-Droid if you dont have it yet. Its a great alternative store for open source apps. https://f-droid.org/en/
  
  What OS do you have installed on your desktop/laptop?
  
  10
  
  Windows 11 on my PC.
  
  2
- Agreed.
  
  A great alternative that has selective Sync is Resilio. I find it to be heavy on my phone (because I have a massive media library and it keeps the database/index in ram).
  
  But it lets me browse my media share anywhere, anytime (from the phone), and have it sync files to the phone as needed.
  
  For everything else I use Syncthing-Fork on the phone, and SyncTrayzor on Windows.
  
  1
Why do people sleep on KDE connect? It does a lot of things really well and is OS agnostic.

23
- I personally don't like it because (on android) it insists on auto-starting and continuously running in the background with no options to change that behaviour. Every time I use it and after every reboot I have to force quit the app. It would be a great tool otherwise but I find that annoying af.
  
  8
- My reason is that it’s extremely buggy. I find it looses the plot if you are moving more than 1 file at a time, and it often can’t find paired devices even if they are on the same network. Plus it’s over bloated with no default configuration. I.e. I just want to send files. I don’t want it to act as a mouse pointer. And disabling it for each and every device is tedious.
  
  Granted it’s better than any other alternative apps I’ve found. Which is why it’s installed, even on my iPad.
  
  8
  
  Have you tried LocalSend? Works great for me cross-platform
  
  3
  
  Have you tried Warpinator? It only does files and has none of the issues you mentioned.
  
  2
KDE Connect :)

15
- Just actually looked into this app thanks to this thread. I always thought it was only for KDE, and I’m more of a GNOME kinda guy. It’s great, and now I have it on all my devices!
  
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  Permanently Deleted
  
  4
I've been using KDE connect's file transfer feature because I sometimes use my phone to control my PC, works well and fast.

14
Local Send.

10
Syncthing

10
Syncthing if you have a bunch of files in a folder.

Localsend if you just have 1 or 2 files.

8
Why not just use SFTP?

5
If you have a SD card you are installing them on, copy them directly to the SD and then put that in the phone. Also, disconnects I feel have to do with the quality of the USB cable.

4
That model of phone seems to have an SD card slot; if you have an adapter to use a micro SD card on your PC, just throw the MP3s onto one of those.

4
Warpinator

4
I just went through this trying to transfer 23GB of music samples - tens of thousands of files in nested folders - to an Android phone to use with Koala Sampler. Tried USB, KDE Connect, Onedrive, all failed at some point, couldn't handle merging, or some other problem. Syncthing was the answer and it was pretty quick too.

3
- Yup. It's working fine right now (61% of 24GB has already transferred).
  
  4
if its just one or two files, simplex is good as a copy paste buffer.

If its alot of files, syncthing can't be beat.

3
Do you have a wifi network? If yes then use a file explorer on Android that can do FTP. Use any FTP client on your computer and transfer. I recommend FileZilla.

3
Only buy phones with a MicroSD, all Android transfer nonsense will waste your time.

3
Do you mean an occasional one-off transfer or to keep synced constantly?

For one-off stuff, I've used Olive Tree FTP server for more than a decade on my android devices. It's not always on, or a target for malicious stuff like a typical FTP server, you only run it when needed. I'm sending from a Win10 box, you didn't mention how you are sending, but if it's a desktop, nothing is easier than a quick FTP server instance.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theolivetree.ftpserver

3
SMBsync2

Auto sync even while I sleep 😁

3
I myself use Google's Quick Share for this. Falling that, the Send Anywhere app can also work - it's not the fastest compared to Quick Share, but pretty reliable long as you have decent internet.

2
For one-off file transfers between any two devices, I like to use justbeamit.com

For a long term link, use syncthing

2
Android transfers are really fucking stupid. I refuse to use Google drive or complicated sync that barely works and I refuse to pay money for an ftp transfer or samba share app that actually works, so I made a php file upload server. Yes, I see the irony. But I can upload files from my pc or from my phone and download them from my phone or my pc. It's so much faster than any other method I can think of. Even using Windows where the android USB drivers are allowed to work is slower. Runs into issues less often. Php is such a piece of shit but in my case it's a less shitty piece of shit than any possible alternative.

2
@hunt4peas
LocalSend

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- Tried it, but it crashes when I choose the music folder.
  
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