Acer's Chromebook hard drive

[7vn11vn]

Hey, everybody. I'm new here. I'm getting my Acer C7 Chromebook delivered today from the Play Store. Couldn't resist it for the price. I haven't studied up all that much on them up to now, but I'm getting that they're pretty much just a web browser. The only thing I don't understand is why this has the 320GB hard drive. This might be a stupid question, but what are we supposed to put on it? Can we transfer music and photos and stuff like that on the Chrome OS? I guess I'm just a little confused about why this one has a hard drive and none of the other Chromebooks do.

Thanks!

Update: Well, I guess nobody else knows why either. I tried uploading some music, but the only way to play them was to go to Files and click on each song. A little audio player box comes up with no real basic controls, plays the song and that's it. There's no real music player, no real photo viewer for stored photos or anything else that I can find.

Unless they come out with something, the only use I can see for the hard drive is to install Linux on it as some people already have. I'm going to wait for a better dual boot system than they have right now, though.

 

[Bob61]

Only reason I can think it has the 320gb drive is Acer repurposed an existing model to work with chrome and move out old inventory. I really like my c7 but the hard drive just seems like a waste of battery life vs if they had a smaller ssd instead.

 

[MERCDROID]

Only reason I can think it has the 320gb drive is Acer repurposed an existing model to work with chrome and move out old inventory. I really like my c7 but the hard drive just seems like a waste of battery life vs if they had a smaller ssd instead.

When you think about it, it is a win-win for Acer: clear out old inventory of netbooks that would never sell using Windows, and sell a chromebook $50 cheaper than the Samsung model. I love my C7; just got it today, actually. It is totally worth the money. And, I don't mind the 320GB hard drive; it can still be used for storage, despite the fact that video or music players offer basic controls. It's the smallest computer I've ever used, and there's no bloatware!!

 

[Roosterman]

Just picked one up a week ago. Used to have a netbook for 4+ years. I always had a problem with the keyboard being a bit narrow. This is much better. I don't get the hard drive either. But the repurpose idea sounds like a good bet.

 

[shade001]

Hi. I just bought the Chromebook today. How do you access the built-in harddrive to store files? I've searched everywhere.

 

[Roosterman]

Click on the little grid like icon on the program bar. You can then choose the files app. It will open, and one choice should be downloads. I believe that is what you can see of the hard drive.

- - - Updated - - -

Click on the little grid like icon on the program bar. You can then choose the files app. It will open, and one choice should be downloads. I believe that is what you can see of the hard drive.

 

[jm345]

Click the Files icon and you should see a folder named Downloads - that is the hard disk. You can create new folders and add files via USB, Google Drive, etc. Type this in a new Chrome browser tab and you can see how much HD space is left: chrome://quota-internals/

I temporarily download jpegs from my camera's SD card onto the HD. Then plug in a USB hard drive and make a backup that I will transfer to my home computer when I get back. When in Files the jpegs on the CB hard drive are displayed fine. You can view the files by name or thumbnail. Clicking on a jpeg opens a viewer that lets you quickly run through each photo and even will play a slide show.

 

[wanderingwinters]

I'm new to my chromebook. I have pics on a usb that I can't download to my hd.
they show up on the screen and I can view them , but they stay on the usb. I hit download and nothing happens. I would also like to view my pics thru hdmi on my tv. How do I do that? I have the HDMI hooked up and all i get is the chrome insignia when it originally loads, then blank

Thanks

- - - Updated - - -

I'm new to my chromebook. I have pics on a usb that I can't download to my hd.
they show up on the screen and I can view them , but they stay on the usb. I hit download and nothing happens. I would also like to view my pics thru hdmi on my tv. How do I do that? I have the HDMI hooked up and all i get is the chrome insignia when it originally loads, then blank

Thanks

 

[jm345]

When you insert the USB drive a window should pop up. Select view files and next. You can then select the files or folders you want to copy to the hard drive (which is named "Downloads"). You can then copy and paste or drag and drop from the USB drive to the hard drive (Downloads).

When you connect HDMI to TV try Control-F4 to display the screen on the TV.

Also, when you are using Files to review jpegs a viewer will popup when you click on a photo that allows you to scroll through the photos in the folder. At the bottom are options to delete and one that will play the photos as a slide show.

 

[Jacobsc17]

So is downloads the hard drive? nevermind Q answered thanks! i dont like Everything online!

 

[dmpatel07]

actually "repurposed" is one reason and another reason is it can also run any linux os. or with BIOS setting figuring out it also runs win7. but mostly linux os such as "ubuntu"(free/good/high in demand) are easy to use and works well on this acer c7.only cons using linux is that it gives abt 2 hrs of battery life (Chrome OS is abt 4 hrs)

 

[Theresa Tracy]

I'd like to know how to preview my movies that I've taken on my camera (they show up on the SD card in the camera) but once I insert the SD card into the Chromebook, I can't seem to find the movie. Does it not have the capability of previewing my home movies on it?

 

[joey m]

"m345
Click the Files icon and you should see a folder named Downloads - that is the hard disk. You can create new folders and add files via USB, Google Drive, etc. Type this in a new Chrome browser tab and you can see how much HD space is left: chrome://quota-internals/"

Oh my god, you have no idea how long I've been trying to do this *THANK YOU*

 

[Myhrddin]

I believe the other reply is right. To save anything to your local drive, you have to select Downloads instead of My Drive. So, my downloads looks more like the root of a Document folder than it does a download folder. Just be sure to back-up anything in Downloads before you do anything in developer mode. Otherwise you'll lose anything you've saved locally.