Launch your browser and visit the PortableApps.com Web page that offers Google Chrome Portable (see the link in Resources). Click the 'Download' button and then click the 'Save' button to save the. Fortunately, most Chromebooks include support for external SD cards. This means you can snag as large a card as you can afford, slip it into the device, and expand the size of your internal storage. I’m trying to download google drive files directly to a portable hard drive instead of my computer (I don’t have enough space on my computer). All of the advice online tells me to click download and then when prompted, click save to flash drive. In Windows 10, there’s a simple setting that allows you to install all new programs to an external device or secondary internal drive. As long as that drive is plugged in, it’ll run as it.

  1. Chrome Download To External Hard Drive Recovery Software
  2. Chrome Download To External Hard Drives

I’ve often written about the benefits of Chromebooks: affordability, portability, and usability. Today, we’re going to discuss one of the drawbacks: limited storage space. Chromebooks come out of the box with only a little storage space because the entire Chromebook concept is built around storing things in the cloud. To fix this, use a Chromebook compatible external drive.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.

Chromebook Compatible External Drives

These are my top three picks. You can read a lot more detail about each type of external disk drive below.

  • USB Thumb Drive: SanDisk Extreme CZ80 64GB
  • HDD External Drive: Seagate Backup Plus 4TB
  • SDD External Drive: Samsung 2TB

What is an External Drive? Are there Different Types?

An external drive is simply a hard drive that exists outside of your computer. Typically, they come in one of three forms:

Thumb Drive

Sometimes called a “flash drive” or a “USB stick,” these drives became widely used in the last decade. They are the most portable option, since they fit on a keyring or in a pocket.

Continuing advances in storage space make thumb drives attractive, as well. You can easily find affordable thumb drives up to 500GB.

However, they have generally fallen out of favor due to security concerns. In fact, some businesses (and the entire US military) forbid their employees from even having one in the building, much less plugging one into a computer. Since it’s pretty unlikely that you will be working with classified info, you’ll find one reviewed below.

“Spinning” Hard Drive (HDD)

Originally, computers stored data on spinning “platters” with “read arms” that moved inside the device. It was a tremendously bulky way to store data. In fact, one of the first office computers held just enough data for one MP3 song–but it took the equivalent of two refrigerators’ worth of space to store all the platters!

Thank goodness, we’ve gotten more efficient over time. They are now quite portable, but the moving parts inside make them vulnerable to accidents. These Chromebook compatible external drives will be designated HDD below, for Hard Disk Drive.

Solid State Drive (SSD)

Eventually, we figured out how to store data on a series of interconnected flash chips, rather than on a spinning drive. These SSD drives are more efficient than HDDs in both power consumption and physical space.

There are SSD drives now that will hold multiple terabytes of data, which makes those refrigerators in the previous paragraph look ridiculous. Additionally, SSD drives boot much faster and are well on their way to being the standard in most laptops and desktops.

Why do I Need a Chromebook Compatible External Hard Drive?

Chrome Download To External Hard Drive Recovery Software

Well, you might not. For many users, the storage on the Chromebook itself, plus the 100GB of free cloud storage, proves sufficient. However, you may have files you simply don’t want floating around the internet.

If your Chromebook and Google account were acquired through your employer, then all the information on the Chromebook and account may revert to the them if you ever leave the job. In that case, it may be helpful to keep all your personal files or information you might need long-term on your own backup location.

Or you may need an efficient way to get information back and forth from your Chromebook to other devices, and email isn’t always a good option–particularly for larger graphics or media files.

How to Choose an External Drive for a Chromebook

Pretty much any external drive will work with Chrome OS. Just make sure it connects using USB.

Some drives come with software that adds features. That software will not work on Chrome OS. Any drive you get will just be a blank storage area for you to save files.

Which Chromebook Compatible External Drive Should I Buy?

Here are my favorite choices for each type of drive:

USB Thumb Drive

The SanDisk Extreme CZ80 is the best intersection of price, speed, and capacity. At under 30 bucks for 64GB of storage, it will easily hold plenty of information. 64 GB is enough to hold about 13,000 photos or 5 hours of video, so if you need a Chromebook compatible external drive for work-related media files, you’re not going to run out of space.

I also love both the design and the capacity of this 128GB Sandisk drive, but it’s actually so small I found myself worrying constantly about losing it. I switched to a less “micro” solution. If you’re just looking to boost the capacity of your Chromebook, and you don’t plan to move the drive around between computers, this would be a great option.

HDD External Drive

I like the Seagate Backup Plus 4TB model. Seagate has long been a go-to name in external drives. The first external drive I ever bought for work was an old Seagate 32GB for my dinosaur desktop. It costs about twice as much as the 64GB USB drive above, but 4 TB is enough space to store basically anything you’ve ever created in your lifetime.

You may encounter faster “hybrid” models, which divide the read / write process across two drives working in tandem. However, the faster HDDs with two drives are twice as likely to fail, since there are twice as many drives enclosed. In my opinion, it’s worth sacrificing some speed to pick up more reliability and affordability.

SSD External Drive

SSDs in the terabyte range are still (for me) prohibitively expensive. In my theoretical dream backpack, I have this 2TB Samsung model, which costs…a lot.

But in the real world, I’m not going to spend that much. Instead, this 500GB Samsung T3 Portable SSD costs a fraction as much. It’s still a bit spendy. The increased efficiency, speed, and reliability of an SSD drive makes it worth losing some capacity.

Since SSDs don’t have moving parts (like HDDs), this drive could still be working when your grandkids find it in the attic one day. And 500 GB is still more than enough space for most users. Unless you’re editing feature-length films, you should be fine with this option.

How do I Use My External Drive with My Chromebook?

Step 1: Plug it in to the USB port.

Step 2: Open the Files program through the Launcher to see the files.

Step 3: Eject the drive when you are finished.

Thanks to the wonderful people at Google, this part has exactly one step: plug it in. There are no drivers to install. The drive is powered via the USB slot, so there are no extra cords to worry about. And your Chromebook will format the drive properly the first time you plug it in.

You can access the files through the “Files” tab under the Launcher. The external drive functions just like a hard drive on any other computer. You can break it down into folders, subfolders, and individual files using whatever system works best for you.

Just remember to “eject” the drive before you unplug it. The “eject” button should be next to the device name in the Files window. This makes sure you don’t unplug the drive while the Chromebook is still writing data to it. That could damage both the Chromebook and the external drive.

The Best External Drive for Chromebooks

There you have it: five separate options. My preference is for the Seagate Backup Plus 4TB model. I love the truly massive capacity of 4TB of data for a reasonable price.

I only need a Chromebook compatible external drive to safeguard crucial files I keep from past jobs, family photos, and other things that I rarely move around. For that reason, my preferred choice right now is the Seagate. It’s got low cost and huge capacity going for it. It’s not as portable as the other options, but that’s not as important to me.

If portability is your primary goal, perhaps one of the other options would work best for you.

Tracy King updated on Dec 11, 2020 to PC TransferHow-to Articles

How do I transfer my chrome bookmarks to another computer? Here, you'll find two recommended methods for transferring Chrome bookmarks between two PCs:

Workable SolutionsStep-by-step Troubleshooting
Fix 1. (Automatic) Transfer Chrome with Bookmarks to New Computer

Open EaseUS Todo PCTrans > Choose 'PC to PC' mode > Transfer Chrome bookmarks...Full steps

Fix 2. (Manual) Transfer Chrome Bookmarks to a New ComputerPrepare external device > Export Chrome Bookmarks > Import Chrome...Full steps
Fix 3. Transfer Chrome Bookmarks to Another Browser (Firefox/Safari/Edge/Opera) Open Firefox/Safari/Edge/Opera browser...Full steps

If you need to transfer Chrome bookmarks to your new PC in a fast and effective way, follow Method 1, and apply automated PC transfer software for help.

If you prefer the manual way to move Chrome bookmarks to a new computer, Method 2 will guide you to manually finish the task.

How Do I Transfer My Chrome Bookmarks to Another Computer

'Hi guys, do you know how to share Chrome bookmarks to a new computer? I recently bought a new computer with Windows 10 installed. And everything works so great on the new computer.
And I'm thinking to transfer the saved Chrome bookmarks from my current computer to the new PC. Do you have a similar experience about transferring saved bookmarks on Chrome, IE Edge or even Firefox to a new Windows PC? If anyone of you knows the solution, please help me. Thank you.'

To migrate and transfer browser bookmarks, history, and even downloads files to a new PC is no longer a new need among worldwide users. Some ordinary people still don't know how to make this possible to share their own saved Chrome bookmarks on two computers.

If you are one of these people who are looking for a solution for migrating Chrome bookmarks to a new PC, stay calm. And you can follow either one of the provided methods on this page to resolve this issue with ease.

Method 1. Transfer Chrome with Bookmarks to a New PC (Automated)

No need to redownload and reinstall Chrome on the new PC. EaseUS Todo PCTrans enables you to transfer Chrome with bookmarks, history, and even personal settings from your old PC to your new laptop within only a few simple steps. You can also check how to transfer firefox bookmarks to another computer.

# 1. Preparations

To directly transfer Chrome bookmarks to your new PC, follow tips here to get things prepared:

  • Connect two PCs under the same LAN
  • Download automated PC transfer software

# 2. Transferring Chrome with Bookmarks

EaseUS Todo PCTrans will transfer the Chrome application with bookmarks to the default location (C: drive by default) on your target PC. Follow the process to transfer your Chrome bookmarks to a new computer with just a few simple clicks.

Step 1. Select the transfer mode.

  • Download and install EaseUS Todo PCTrans on both PCs.
  • Launch EaseUS Todo PCTrans on the PCs and click 'PC to PC' on one of them.

Step 2. Connect the two PCs.

  • Connect to the target PC, then input the account password or verification code of the target PC.
  • Check the verification code on the right top of the 'PC to PC' main screen on the target PC.
  • Choose the transfer direction and click 'Connect' to continue.

Step 3. Select Google Chrome to transfer.

Chrome Download To External Hard Drives

  • Hover on 'Applications' and choose 'Edit'.
  • In the list, choose browser such as Google Chrome and click 'Finish'.

Step 4. Transfer Google Chrome to another PC.

  • Click 'Transfer' to start transferring Google Chrome to another PC.
  • Wait for the transfer process to finish and then click 'OK'.

PLUS: Remember that you need to install this program on both of your PCs for a smooth transferring experience. If the file is bigger than 500MB, you need to activate this software to a smooth transferring process.

After this, by restarting Chrome, you will be able to use Chrome with the original bookmarks on your new computer again.

If you use Chrome with Google account, you can try another automated method. All your browser settings will store in the Google account. What you need is to install Chrome on the new computer and sign in with your account. The browser on the new PC will remind you of import settings and bookmarks.

Method 2. Transfer/Copy Chrome Bookmarks to a New Computer (Manually)

If you don't want to use third-party software to transfer Chrome bookmarks to a new computer, you can directly follow the manual guidelines below to export/import Chrome bookmarks:

# 1. Preparations

  • An empty USB or external hard drive
  • Download and install a Chrome browser on the new PC

# 2. Moving Chrome Bookmarks

By following through the two stages, you'll be able to move Chrome bookmarks from the old PC to the new PC:

Phrase 1 - Export Chrome Bookmarks

For the latest Chrome users:

1. Launch Google Chrome and click the 3-dots in the right top corner of Chrome browser.

2. Select 'Bookmarks' and click on 'Bookmark Manager'.

3. You will find the 3-dots next to the Bookmarks search bar, under the Chrome address bar. Next, click 'Export Bookmarks'. Clicking this will open the File Explorer on a Windows 10 computer or the Finder on a Mac computer.

4. Finally, choose a name and destination and click Save. Navigate and save the Bookmarks to your external USB and save the HTML file.

Download chrome to external hard drive

For the old Chrome users:

1. Connect a USB or external hard drive to your PC.

2. Open Google Chrome on Windows PC and Click the 'Customize and Control Google Chrome' menu.

3. Click 'Bookmarks' and select 'Bookmarks Manager.'

4. Go to the Organize tab, and click 'Export bookmarks to HTML file'.

5. Select a location - external USB or SD card to save the file and click 'Save'.

Phrase 2 - Import Chrome Bookmarks

For the latest Chrome users:

1. Connect the USB to your new computer and open Chrome

2. Click the 3 dots and move the mouse to point Bookmarks.

3. Then select Import bookmarks and settings, select 'HTML bookmarks' and click 'Import' to continue.

4. Click'Choose File'and then select the HTML bookmark file to import to your Chrome.

For old Chrome users:

1. Connect the USB or SD card to your new PC.

2. Open Google Chrome and clicktheCustomize and Control Google Chrome menu.

3. Click 'Bookmarks', then select 'Bookmarks Manager'.

4. Go to the Organize tab and click 'Import bookmarks to HTML file'.

5. Choose the HTML document and click'Open' to finish the process.

After this, relaunch Chrome and you should be able to use Chrome bookmarks on your new PC again.

Besides exporting and importing, you can also choose a backup method, which is also a workable one.

How to Transfer Bookmarks from Chrome (Firefox/Safari/Edge/Opera)

All methods we talked about are transfer bookmarks from Chrome to Chrome. If you want to switch to another browser and import the bookmarks you saved, the following ways let you easily import bookmarks to other hot browsers.

1. How to Transfer Bookmarks from Chrome to Firefox

Step 1. Open Firefox and click the Open menu on the top left side.

Step 2. Click Library >Bookmarks >Show All Bookmarks

Step 3. In the Library window, choose Import and Backup >Import Data from Another Browser

Step 4. Choose Chrome as your targeted browser, click Next.

Step 5. Click Bookmarks or other info you want to import. Select Next.

Click Finish to ensure your bookmarks existing in Firefox.

2. How to Transfer Google Chrome Bookmarks to Safari (Mac)

Step 1. Export the Chrome bookmarks as an HTML file. (Check steps on the former part.)

Step 2. Open Safari on Mac. Click File on the toolbar > Choose Import From >Bookmarks HTML File...

Step 3. Select the Chrome HTML file and click import.

3. How to Move Bookmarks from Chrome to Microsoft Edge

Step 1. Click the 3-dots on the top right corner. Choose Favorites.

Step 2. In the Favorites window, choose Import Favorites.

Step 3. Choose Chrome and click Import to finish the import process.

4. How to Transfer Chrome Bookmarks to Opera

Step 1. Input Opera://settings/importData on the Opera search bar.

Step 2. On the pop-up window, choose Chrome and click Import.

P.S. If you have exported Chrome bookmarks as HTML file, you can select the Import option as Bookmarks HTML file.