Can You Use An External Hard Drive With A Chromebook

Chromebooks include only a small corporeality of internal storage. However, they back up external storage devices like USB wink drives, external hard drives, and microSD cards. Apply an external storage device to expand your Chromebook'due south storage or transfer files between Chromebooks and other computers, including Windows PCs and Macs.

Google includes support for a diversity of file systems, and any you connect should but work–mostly. You can fifty-fifty connect an external disc drive via USB to access files stored on DVDs and CDs. Check your Chromebook to see what external storage ports it offers.

Supported File Systems

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Chrome OS supports a variety of file systems on removable devices. It supports the cantankerous-platform FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT file systems. Information technology also supports the Windows NTFS file organization with full read and write back up.

It can besides read the Mac HFS+ file system, but it tin can't write to information technology. Chromebooks support the MTP protocol for digital cameras and music players, and for external disc drives that connect via USB, Chromebooks can read the ISO9660 and UDF file systems on discs.

You're probably best off formatting your external bulldoze as exFAT. In fact, if you format a USB drive or SD menu from within Chrome OS, it will automatically format the drive every bit exFAT without even asking which file organization yous want to employ.

How to Access a Drive and Work With Files

To use an external storage device on Chrome Os, only connect it to your Chromebook and open the Files app. The drive will announced in the left pane of the files app, below Google Drive and the Downloads binder, which contains all the files stored locally on your Chromebook.

To motion files to the drive, you tin can either elevate and drib them from the Downloads folder or Google Drive, or correct-click them, select "Copy" and and so right click in the drive and select "Paste". When you apply the "Save Every bit" dialog to download a file in Chrome Os, you can cull to download it directly to an external bulldoze.

Common keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+A to select all files, Ctrl+C to re-create files, Ctrl+X to cut files, and Ctrl+Five to paste files likewise work hither. Right-click within the drive and select "New Folder"–or press Ctrl+E–to create a new folder on the drive.

The options at the top right corner of the window permit you to change the view, so you can view a grid of thumbnail previews instead of a list of files and sort the files by file name, size, blazon, or date modified. In that location's also a search button for quickly finding files.

Many files, including videos, music files, images, PDFs, and other documents can exist opened directly from the external drive. Only store them on the drive and double-click them.

How to Encounter How Much Storage Space is Available

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To meet how much storage infinite is bachelor on your external drive, select it in the left pane and then click the menu push at the top correct corner of the Files window. You'll see an indication of how much infinite is left. Delete files from the bulldoze to make more room. Yous tin can also use this trick to run across how much space is bachelor on your Chromebook. But select the "Downloads" folder commencement and and then click the card button. (Though this experimental feature will give y'all more data.)

There'due south also an option to view normally hidden files here.

How to Format a Drive

To erase and format the drive, right-click the proper name of the drive and select "Format Device". Chrome OS will format the drive with the exFAT file organisation. In that location's no way to choose a different file system, alter the drive'southward partition layout, or proper name the drive.

Alert: Formatting a drive will erase the current file system and whatsoever files on the drive at the moment.

How to Eject a Bulldoze

RELATED: When Should Yous Properly "Eject" Your Thumb Drive?

When you lot're washed with the drive, be sure to squirt it before removing it from your Chromebook. This protects against information loss past ensuring your Chromebook is done writing to the bulldoze before you remove it. It'due south the same reason you should "safely remove" drives on Windows

To exercise and so, either click the "Eject" icon to the right of the drive'south name in the Files app or correct-click the drive and select "Squirt Device".

External storage devices piece of work alright on Chrome OS, but you won't detect a lot of actress features. For instance, there's no way to partition your device or rename it without heading to a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. And, while you tin connect a DVD bulldoze to your Chromebook via a USB cable, you can only access the files on information technology. There's no way to play copy-protected DVD movies without ripping them first. Just if all y'all need is some extra space, an external drive will do the fox.