Can I do this with a Chromebook?

[TheGirlOnTheLanding]

We've been thinking of replacing our elderly laptop for a while and it's now died on us. Everything is backed up to an external hard drive, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but I'm now wishing we'd used Google docs and Google photos instead, as I don't think we really need a new laptop for what we use it for - a cheaper Chromebook would be fine. I've been googling to see if it's possible to transfer the (mainly photos) we have on the external drive to Google cloud storage using a Chromebook but I'm getting nowhere fast. Is it possible? If I did it folder by folder (deleting them off the Chromebook after I transferred them) could it be done? Or is there a better way? It seems crazy to spend an extra £150 on a device just to do this.

I think if you plugged the drive into the Chromebook it would automatically offer to back all the photos up for you, without you having to drag the folders on to the Chromebook itself.

You would need to have compatible connectors - I would guess your external drive has a USB-A lead and likely whichever Chromebook you buy will have a USB-C port but this can be rectified with an adapter like this.

I'm about to charge up my Chromebook so I will run a test using a USB stick with a couple of photos on and will report back!

Okay, I ran a quick test.

When I plugged the USB stick in to the hub, it was not detected by the Chromebook. However, when I plugged it directly into the Chromebook using a USB-A to USB-C adapter it was detected as an external drive.

The Chromebook didn't offer to back up the pictures automatically, but when I went to Google Photos in the browser and selected the 'Upload' option, I could upload directly from the folders on the external drive.

So my conclusion is that yes, you can do this with a Chromebook and it would actually be easier than you thought (laboriously copying files on to the Chromebook's very limited hard drive).

I ran the test on an ASUS C302CA.

@tribpot I love you! Thank you so much for trying this, really appreciate it! And even happier that it seems to work - we could really do without spending on a new laptop at the minute so the smaller outlay will make a difference. and all that.

No probs - just a word of warning that Google will resize your photos in order for you to benefit from the unlimited storage Google offers.