Pixel 6: USB C to USB Data Cable does not work reliably?

malatoi

I have a Pixel 6 with GOS and im really happy with this. Thanks for your really important work.

My problem is, when I connect the device to my computer with a usb c to usb data cable and want to transfer data (music etc) to the smartphone, the file manager (gnome's nautilus) of my computer (Debian 11) freezes after some transferred files.
I tried every single cable and every single usb port. With my Pixel 3 xl there were never such problems.
The original Google usb c to usb c cable wich came with the pixel 6 is not usable for me, because my computer does not have a usb c port.

What do you think: Is this a hardware/cable problem or a software problem? Should I invest in an adapter or a Google original usb c to usb data cable? Is there a limitation of file sizes which can be transferred at a stretch to the smartphone? Vice versa (tranferring pictures) there is no freeze.

malatoi

MetropleX

malatoi it's likely the cable you are using not being a current USB standard maybe 2.0 along with a similar port on your computer.

Having done some basic searching it would appear Debian/Ubuntu can struggle and freeze up using older USB standards and data transfer.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/397249/system-freezes-unresponsive-unusable-when-copying-large-file-to-usb

As even a cursory web search will reveal, this has been an ongoing complaint for over a decade, primarily impacting desktop responsiveness during large writes to block devices on slow (e.g. USB or NFS) links.

https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=151501

https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/issues/3330

malatoi

Good morning MetropleX,

thanks for your reply.

Ok, never had these freezings in Debian before (I have read about it), even with the Pixel 3 xl.

So, the problem would not really be solved by buying an original cable, but by using a computer with a current USB port? USB 4? Why is the Pixel 6 not compatible downwards with older ports? I have not one single device which isn't. The tranferring is slower but it works.

malatoi

MetropleX

malatoi malatoi how many files, how big are they? I will test on a Windows machine to rule out the desktop OS and see if it is GOS or a Pixel 6 issue as I have a 4a at the minute.

malatoi

Hey MetropleX,

thanks for your input.

Just experimented with sevreral file sizes and numbers of files/folders:

When I transferred single files or folders (with many files/songs) there where no problems, just a short interruption/freeze when transferring a 2,9 gb movie.
But when I started to transfer more folders at once, the freeze came quickly: Up to five folders it was ok, but with six folders at once the file manager freezed. Just "nautilus -q" helped to shutdown the file manager.
And this time the file manager even didn't start again, even with the terminal it was impossible.

malatoi

malatoi The six folders are alltogether about 1,3 gb big.

To restart the file manager I had to restart the computer. Crazy.

And then I tried to transfer one single folder (82 mb) and the file manager freezed at once.

So, I can't see any pattern ore rule. It seems to me a random behaviour.

abcZ

I've always had trouble with MTP, all phones I've ever had with all OS's.
I generally prefer to transfer things using the network (nextcloud), or using ADB. Both work properly.

malatoi

Hey abcZ,

thanks for your suggestions. I already transferred some files to my pixel 6 over our local network: We have a kind of nas for data which we want to share.
But nextcloud is a good idea: I have one, so I'll try it.
But both ways are much slower than transferring directly with a data cable. And you have to pack the folders to upload them and to unpack after downloading to your smartphone.

malatoi

After some weeks I finally bought an adapter USB-A Plug - USB-C Socket from Hama and with this little helper together with the original USB-C cable from Google the data transfer works really fine: I could tranfer over 13 gb at once.

MetropleX, did you find some time to rule out as you mentioned in your post from 31 july?

malatoi

MetropleX

malatoi not yet my Pixel 6a is due on or around the end of this week beginning of next. I haven't forgotten.