External disc drive: Has anyone tried to use one with the Chromebook yet?
463417
It works fine. I just hooked up a USB hard drive to my Acer Chromebook and it can navigate all the files and folders. I played an MP4 video file and an MP3 video file which both opened in the Media Player app. I've read it will play anything that Flash / Chrome will play. I don't think it will play offline avi's but I'm not sure.
635371
All I know to say is try it. It works with USB to hook to my computer. And I can put a DVD or CD into the computer and play it. I don't have an external drive.
294986
No. I picked up an external pretty cheap. It's a little inconvenient, but it makes it lighter and more portable.
1300617
I formatted a thumb-drive as Linux EXT4 format and copied a 500MB Mpeg-4 video to the drive. I unmounted it from my Linux system and plugged the drive into my Chromebook 14-Q USB3 port (on the left edge). When I did that a "file browser" opened up and it showed the file listing of my video. When I double-clicked on the MP4 file the video played with audio. I was very pleasantly surprised. Depending on your storage media format and your video recording format, your mileage may vary. Good luck!
1198649
No. Like most other 11.6" notebooks this does not have a built-in optical disc drive. If you require an ODD, purchase an external USB 2.0 ODD and take it with you.
2180491
I have never used a chromebook but can see no reasona why this wouldn't work with a Chromebook. I have used them with mAC and windows computers without problems.
15559
Sorry, I have not tried that. I got this unit to use with my phone but it should be able to handle reading the external drive
425242
No. None of these small laptops have a cd drive. You can add an external usb cd drive for approximately $30 - $40 dollars. I have only needed it once in over a year. In addition to getting a c drive, I recommend that you get a small wireless mouse as the touchpad with Win 8 can drive one crazy as points on the screen are so small especially along the edges. Touching the edges of the touchpad active all kinds of actions.
784714
Honestly, I have not tried doing so. But, it would work if Chrome has some kind of built-in driver for the drive. Generally, it seems that Chrome has limitations and, while easy to use, is not as robust as MS Windows when it comes to settings and possibly to attaching devices. My impression has been that this is more of a cloud (internet-connected) type of setup. Though, you're welcome to try attaching an external drive. I'd be curious to know if the attached drive would work.
784712
I don't know about a DVD drive, but I have attached my external hard drive with no fuss at all. It treats it like a memory card. I would worry about a DVD drive, though, needing an extra driver or two.
926778
I can't say I have, but I has worked with anything i've tried so far. Laptop, note 3, sata drives ect. I love this device and it works wonderfully! Also extremely durable
1079180
I'm not an expert here, but i do have my Dell Chromebook (CB) and use it for specialized purposes. My primary uses are (1) travel, where I often bring multiple .pdf files to read during a flight. I also often use the CB for bedtime reading, where I can read my own files and also read files of interest on the internet via our home WiFi network. To get to your question about some storage, my approach is to use a 64GB USB flashdrive inserted into one of the CB side ports. There are several apps available "FILES" and "FILEBRICK" which help access the flashdrive, both to store data there and later bring the files to the screen for reading. I'm sure there are others, more expert than I, who can do more than this - - but it satisfies my need. I would caution that the first time or two using this technique, requires some pre-briefing as it doesn't appear to me to be highly intuitive. But, bottom line, my current experience is pretty good.
2127840
I have a small Windows 8 laptop and successfully watch DVD movies using the free VLC media program. Not sure about a chromebook.
46711
I have two of them that I use with CD/DVD drives. Your external drive is already in a case so you would have to first remove the drive mechanism from the original case. One complaint I have about the Sabrent drives is that the fans go bad fairly quickly, making noise and not cooling well.
891838
I don't have a MacBook (but I have used macs in the past and like the ability to just plug something in and have it work - but would encourage you to look elsewhere for a good external USB drive - the one I got was a POS!
1292588
Netbooks don't have disc drives for CDs. I bought an external drive but never use it. I usually find an ISO for anything I want to install or I make an ISO on my other computer and share it.
1483575
I don't know whether the unit will work with acer chrome. Mine didn't work at all at first. When I finally got the drawer to open it became clear why it was so cheap: the drawer doesn't open fully so the disc has to be slid in and it is built in an unusual way. Even when I got it to take a disc, it wouldn't play it. I got no response from the seller about returning it. I do not recommend it (or the seller).