External H/drive.

[codswallop]

I have a chrome on loan for a while and I want to access the folders etc.on the ext h/drive that were"recorded" from my old Windows Vista but I,ve had only one successful opening of a folder,but none of the many that I know are on there.Thanks.

[Gizmonster]

What's happening when you try and open the folders on your hard drive??
Are you getting an error message??

[CrapAtCryptics]

Does the Chrome have necessary programs to open those files

[codswallop]

Thank you both ,first I can only see 2 folders of wedding photos,I had dozens of them on the h/drive,but there's no sign of them.Secondly I just don't know whether Chrome has the progs.to open the files.I was hoping that someone would suggest a route to take one way or another.

[Calibax]

Have you tried a directory listing to see if your files are there? Run CMD and type dir H:\

[codswallop]

Please excuse my ignorance but what is CMD?

[Calibax]

Command Prompt. hit the windows key and type cmd.
You should get a window pop up that allows you to enter simple commands

[codswallop]

Sorry Calibax I should have realised,but I'm not on Windows but chrome and new to it as well. As far as I can see there is no command prompt.

[Calibax]

I thought Chrome was just a web browser not an operating system. You need someone more technical than me. Maybe Buenchico can help.

[Buenchico]

>>> Maybe Buenchico can help

Buenchico would like to but Buenchico is getting lost!

First, to clear up some confusion that seems to have arisen here, Codswallop is using a Chromebook, which uses the Chrome operating system instead of Windows. (I only know that because of his previous posts). Chrome OS is based upon Linux and, somewhat confusingly, uses the Chrome browser as the main route to access data and apps.

I'm familiar with the problem of data on hard drives (whether internal or external) not being fully visible when those drives are moved between different Windows computers. The solution there is for the user of the recipient computer to 'take ownership' of the hard drive. (It's fairly easy to do and just requires a few clicks of a mouse).

However I can't find anything online about 'taking ownership' of a drive within Chrome OS (or anything else that relates to Codswallop's problem), so I'm left stumped.

All I can suggest is borrowing a Windows machine, connecting both the external drive and a USB memory stick to it, then transferring the contents of the hard drive to the memory stick to see if the Chromebook will then be able to see them on that drive. (I suspect that it will. 'Ownership' problems only seem to occur with hard drives, not with memory sticks).

If the borrowed Windows machine also can't see everything that's on the external hard drive then these instructions should solve that problem. (They're written for Windows 7 but they will hopefully still work with other versions of Windows):
http://preyerplanning.com/take-ownership-of-entire-hard-drive-in-windows-7.pdf

[codswallop]

WOW!! BC That was some reply,I'll have to let that sink in,as you know me of old I'm not the brightest of silver surfers.Thanks.