Chromebook 101. Please help! [RESOLVED]

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Post Reply
Topic Author
Faith20879
Posts: 1242
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:16 am

Chromebook 101. Please help! [RESOLVED]

Post by Faith20879 »

I am trying to copy a file from a Chromebook (CB)'s Downloads folder to a thumb drive. CB recognized the thumb drive but when I hit paste, a "An error has occurred" message popped up. Tried one more time, same result. Removed the thumb drive and tested it on a Windows 10, no problem. What am I doing wrong?

Thank you for your help in advance!
Last edited by Faith20879 on Wed May 12, 2021 11:04 am, edited 2 times in total.
Ramjet
Posts: 1464
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2020 10:45 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by Ramjet »

Transfer it from downloads to google drive

Then you should be able to move it to the thumb drive
acegolfer
Posts: 3029
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:40 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by acegolfer »

Something is not right on your chromebook. I am at my chromebook right now. Just plugged in my USB drive, open Files app, copy a file from "downloads" and successfully pasted to USB drive.

Is it a managed/enrolled device?
Topic Author
Faith20879
Posts: 1242
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:16 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by Faith20879 »

acegolfer wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 1:26 pm Something is not right on your chromebook. I am at my chromebook right now. Just plugged in my USB drive, open Files app, copy a file from "downloads" and successfully pasted to USB drive.
That's what everybody is saying on the howto websites - except me. :confused
acegolfer wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 1:26 pm Is it a managed/enrolled device?
It is a brand new Chromebook that I just purchased from Costco. Set up an account and am practicing the usual things that I will be doing. Some random thoughts out of desperation:
1. Do I need to set up my account with special rights, like on a Windows pc as an administrator?
2. The thumb drive has been used between Wins PCs to transfer data. Is it compatible with a Chromebook?

Thank you very much for your help!
acegolfer
Posts: 3029
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:40 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by acegolfer »

Faith20879 wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 2:18 pm
It is a brand new Chromebook that I just purchased from Costco. Set up an account and am practicing the usual things that I will be doing. Some random thoughts out of desperation:
1. Do I need to set up my account with special rights, like on a Windows pc as an administrator?
2. The thumb drive has been used between Wins PCs to transfer data. Is it compatible with a Chromebook?

Thank you very much for your help!
Good. It's not managed. You own the chromebook. Your gmail account is the primary user, which has all the special rights. No need to set up manually.

Most thumb drives (FAT32, NTFS formats) are compatible with chromebooks.
Topic Author
Faith20879
Posts: 1242
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:16 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by Faith20879 »

A correction to my original post. The actual error message is:
Copy Operation Failed. File could not be modified
Nebraska_Drought
Posts: 377
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:19 am
Location: Lincoln, NE

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by Nebraska_Drought »

Did you try another thumb drive? I have had them go bad, even though it worked in your PC.
Nebraska_Drought
Posts: 377
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:19 am
Location: Lincoln, NE

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by Nebraska_Drought »

If you save the file to "Google drive" and then log on to the PC your mentioned, go to your Google drive and save it to the PC and/or the thumb drive from there.
acegolfer
Posts: 3029
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:40 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by acegolfer »

As others suggested, use Google drive. You can even set it as the default storage instead of local storage. You can change this in settings.

Why? The chrome OS treats local storage as temporary storage. Without any warnings, it can delete files. If you must use local storage, then always backup important files.
Topic Author
Faith20879
Posts: 1242
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:16 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by Faith20879 »

Nebraska_Drought wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 2:46 pm If you save the file to "Google drive" and then log on to the PC your mentioned, go to your Google drive and save it to the PC and/or the thumb drive from there.
I am logged into my CB from beginning.
Using the File app, I was able to copy/paste the file from the CB's My files/Downloads to Google Drive/My Drive.

But still not able to get it to the thumb drive with either of these methods:
1 Using the File app, I tried to copy/paste the file from Google Drive/My Drive to my thumb drive, error.
2 Using browser/Google Drive/download, it did not give an option to download to thumb drive. Instead it went straight to CB's My files/Downloads and created an identical copy.

Thank you for your help!
urban
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:36 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by urban »

1) Try another thumb drive.
2) See if the third-party cookies of your Chrome browser are blocked, and unblock them for this operation (normally they should be blocked). This is a known workaround when downloading a file from a Google Drive to a local machine running Windows 10.
User avatar
JoMoney
Posts: 16260
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:31 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by JoMoney »

Are you able to browse the the thumbdrive ? Like... if you click on the thumbdrive in the files app does it open up like the 'Downloads' folder does for browsing? Can you right-click "New Folder" and create a blank folder on the thumbdrive?

Are you getting any error messages saying the media needs to be formatted ? If it's an otherwise blank thumbdrive, you might try formatting it on the Chromebook first.
"To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks." - Benjamin Graham
wmvink
Posts: 101
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2013 12:44 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by wmvink »

Faith20879 wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 2:32 pm A correction to my original post. The actual error message is:
Copy Operation Failed. File could not be modified
Sounds like the thumb drive is read-only. Is there a physical switch on the device? Some of my USB drives have it.
Topic Author
Faith20879
Posts: 1242
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:16 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by Faith20879 »

wmvink wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 10:23 pm Sounds like the thumb drive is read-only. Is there a physical switch on the device? Some of my USB drives have it.
Good questions.
It has been used to transfer files between Wins PCs so I know it is not read-only. I also have a couple of those that have a lock so I know what you mean. This one does not.
User avatar
JoMoney
Posts: 16260
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:31 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help!

Post by JoMoney »

I vaguely remember possibly having an issue that sounded similar when trying to copy a very large folder filled with hundreds of music files.
If I remember correctly, what I wound up doing, was ejecting and re-insert the drive after getting the error - once the error popped up I couldn't do anything without getting the error - but after reinserting the thumb drive I was able to copy the files a couple at a time just not all of them together, it might have been that a couple of the files were somehow corrupted.
"To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks." - Benjamin Graham
Topic Author
Faith20879
Posts: 1242
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:16 am

Re: Chromebook 101. Please help! [RESOLVED]

Post by Faith20879 »

urban wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 9:33 pm 1) Try another thumb drive.
This did it. The funny thing is, the second thumb drive also failed. This prompted me to dig out all the thumb drives in the house to test. Of the dozen that I tried, 4 of them gave the same error - even though they all still work perfectly on my Windows 10 pc. Perhaps my Chromebook is more sensitive to minor blemishes on these devices?

Thank you everyone who have contributed. Thanks for taking the time!
Post Reply