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There’s no way to play copy-protected DVD movies without ripping them first. And, while you can connect a DVD drive to your Chromebook via a USB cable, you can only access the files on it. For example, there’s no way to partition your device or rename it without heading to a Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. To do so, either click the “Eject” icon to the right of the drive’s name in the Files app or right-click the drive and select “Eject Device”.Įxternal storage devices work alright on Chrome OS, but you won’t find a lot of extra features. It’s the same reason you should “safely remove” drives on Windows This protects against data loss by ensuring your Chromebook is done writing to the drive before you remove it. When you’re done with the drive, be sure to eject it before removing it from your Chromebook. RELATED: When Should You Properly "Eject" Your Thumb Drive? Warning: Formatting a drive will erase the current file system and any files on the drive at the moment. There’s no way to choose a different file system, change the drive’s partition layout, or name the drive. Chrome OS will format the drive with the exFAT file system. To erase and format the drive, right-click the name of the drive and select “Format Device”. There’s also an option to view normally hidden files here. (Though this experimental feature will give you more information.) Just select the “Downloads” folder first and then click the menu button. Delete files from the drive to make more room. You can also use this trick to see how much space is available on your Chromebook. You’ll see an indication of how much space is left.
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To see how much storage space is available on your external drive, select it in the left pane and then click the menu button at the top right corner of the Files window. RELATED: How to See What's Taking Up Space on Your Chromebook How to See How Much Storage Space is Available Just store them on the drive and double-click them. Many files, including videos, music files, images, PDFs, and other documents can be opened directly from the external drive.
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There’s also a search button for quickly finding files. The options at the top right corner of the window allow 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, type, or date modified.
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