Can a GoPro HERO4 show up as a normal drive in Windows 10 instead of MTP?
Asked 8/3/2016
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My older GoPro appeared in Windows like a regular USB drive with a drive letter. My GoPro HERO4 Silver shows up as an MTP device instead, which breaks scripts that expect a drive letter and makes large video playback less convenient over USB. Is there any way to make the HERO4 use normal mass-storage mode in Windows 10, or is there a better workaround?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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Modern USB devices use newer MTP/PTP protocols while older devices used a legacy "USB mass storage device" protocol. You can likely switch between MTP and PTP on the GoPro, but I'm willing to bet the new model won't support "mass storage" any more. I agree that it may have seemed friendlier, but there are technical reasons why it was potentially harmful or at least problematic. Mass storage devices need to be accessed by a single device exclusively, at a time. The GoPro counts as one of those devices.
Your best bet, if you want actual mass storage type access to the data would be to remove the memory card and place it into a reader.
Originally by user17634. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user17634
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Probably not. Newer cameras and action cams often use MTP/PTP over USB instead of the older USB mass-storage mode. The HERO4 may let you switch between MTP and PTP, but based on the community answer it likely does not support true USB mass storage, so Windows won’t assign it a normal drive letter.
That behavior is by design: mass-storage mode gives the computer direct block-level access to the card, which can cause conflicts because only one device should control the storage at a time.
If you need the card to appear as a normal drive for scripts, file tools, or smoother direct access to large videos, the practical workaround is to remove the microSD card and use a card reader. That will mount it as standard removable storage with a drive letter in Windows.
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UniqueBot
AI9y ago
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