FoneBackup
Use iPhone as USB Drive Without iTunes: 4 Free Ways
Can you use iPhone as a USB drive without iTunes and how? This post will give you answer, and you can select a suitable way to transfer your data between iPhone and Windows PC.
By Kathy / Updated on September 14, 2024
Can I use my iPhone as a USB flash drive?
I sometimes need to carry files with me and transfer them from one computer to another. To do that I need to copy them to a flash drive. But then I leave that drive behind or lose it. Are there some ways that I can use my iPhone for that kind of storage?
And I don’t like to use iTunes, it’s not a good way to access my files such as slow transfer speed and some run-time errors. So I need to use iPhone as USB drive without iTunes. Thanks for your help!
- Question from iPhone users
Can you mount an iPhone as a drive?
The answer is Yes! Even though Apple doesn’t bring users any file management feature on iPhone, it’s tough to access your iPhone data directly. There also exists some third-party applications that allow you to transfer files between iPhone and your Windows PC. So it is feasible to convert your iPhone to a USB drive.
With some frequent iTunes issues, such as “error 37 Windows”, some people prefer to find another way to finish the process without iTunes. From this article, you can get some useful ways to complete the data move such as AOMEI FoneBackup, Google Drive and more.
Option 1. The best free way to use iPhone as USB drive without iTunes
In this method, allow me to introduce AOMEI FoneBackup, a professional iPhone data transfer tool to you. With its powerful feature, transferring files between your iPhone and PC becomes so simple, then you can easily use your iPhone as a storage device.
- Highlights:
- Fast transfer speed allows you to easily transfer 1000 + full resolution photos from iPhone to PC and vice versa within minutes.
- Safe USB connections ensure all your files are safe and your data will not be overwritten.
- You can easily preview and choose photos, videos, music, contacts, etc. to transfer.
- Various file formats can be recognized including jpg, jpeg, png, gif, heic, raw, mp3, m4a, wav, aac, mp4, mov, m4v, csv, vcf, etc.
- Wide compatibility makes all iPhone models and iOS versions even the latest ones can be supported.
Now you can click the download button below to get the tool, and here we will take transferring from iPhone to PC as an example to give you detailed instructions about how to use iPhone as USB drive on Windows 10 or other Windows PCs.
Step 1. Connect your iPhone to the computer with a USB cable > Install and launch AOMEI FoneBackup > Choose Phone Transfer > Click iPhone to PC and tap Get Started. (Or you can choose PC to iPhone to move data from your computer to your iPhone.)
Step 2. Click each icon to preview and select the files you’d like to move to the computer > Click OK to continue.
Step 3. Choose a storage path and check other settings from the Transfer Settings option > Tap on Start Transfer to begin the task.
Option 2. Use iPhone as USB drive on Windows 11/10/8/7 with Google Drive
With Google Drive, you can upload data including documents, images, audio files and videos on the iPhone and download them on the computer easily. Of course, you can also transfer files from computer to your iPhone with this app. It is noted that Google Drive only provides 15 GB of storage for free users.
Now you can download and install Google Drive to start the data move.
Step 1. Open the Google Drive app, and sign in with your Google account. Click the “+” icon and tap Upload to select the files you want to upload.
Step 2. After uploading, you can go to the Google Drive website on your computer to download the files.
Option 3. Convert iPhone as USB drive with iCloud
With iCloud's sync feature, you can also access your iPhone data on the computer. And iCloud offers 5 GB of storage space for free users to sync their data. So if you don’t need to move large photos/videos, iCloud is available for the transfer process. And here’s how:
Turn on the iCloud Photos option from your iPhone: Settings > Photos > iCloud Photos. This operation will import all your photos and videos to iCloud. Then you can download your iCloud data to your PC to view and access them.
To download data from iCloud to your PC, the powerful iCloud manager - AOMEI FoneBackup can also help you a lot!
· Fast transfer speed allows you to download 1000 photos in 20 minutes.
· You can also upload or delete iCloud data from your Windows PC.
· Compared to the often unstable iCloud web, AOMEI FoneBackup's stable operation saves lots of time.
· It uses two-factor authentication which is the same as the encryption used by Apple to protect your iCloud data.
· For people who need to move iCloud data from one Apple ID to another, its iCloud Sync feature can help you easily make it.
Now you can download it on your Windows PC and learn from detailed steps below to know how to download data from iCloud efficiently.
Step 1. Launch AOMEI FoneBackup > Go to My iCloud > Log in with your Apple ID > Choose Manage iCloud to continue.
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If you need to transfer notes, photos, contacts, iCloud Drive data, etc. from one account to another, you can choose iCloud Sync to make it.
Step 2. Click each icon to choose the data you need to download > Click the Download button to continue.
Step 3. Change the download settings as you like > Tap on Download to begin the task.
Option 4. How to access iPhone file system from Windows using File Explorer
To effortlessly access and transfer your iPhone photos and videos to a Windows PC, use Windows File Explorer and follow these simple steps to learn how to use iPhone as a USB drive:
Step 1. Connect your iPhone to the PC using a USB cable. Then Windows Explorer should automatically open, but if not, access it through the Start Menu or Taskbar.
Step 2. Find your iPhone listed as a Portable Device under This PC and click on it to access its contents.
Step 3. Enter the Internal Storage folder within the Portable Device and select the photos and videos you wish to transfer.
Conclusion
That’s all about how to use iPhone as USB drive without iTunes, and according to the 4 ways, you can choose to transfer documents/videos/photos/contacts/music between iPhone and Windows PC.
Besides, it’s had to say that AOMEI FoneBackup would be the best transfer app. You can use it to easily transfer media from iPhone to PC or PC to iPhone. If need, you can also use its iPhone-to-iPhone transfer feature to transfer all old iPhone data to your new iPhone.
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