USB Tests- iPhone and Flash Drive

I had a few minutes today to test some USB media on the Chromebook.

As I was fishing for my keys in the dish on my mantle, I happened across an old 2 GB Kingston flash drive that I hadn't seen in years.  I brought it to work to see what was on it.

I could have easily plugged it into my regular work devices, but I took this as an opportunity to test the Chromebook.

• Discovered some two-year-old files that were easily read on the Chromebook (using Files app)
• Easy to move files around to different locations on Google Drive
• Right clicking on the flash drive in the files menu gave me two options: Eject or Format
• I formatted the disk which emptied the contents, restored it to a 2 GB capacity.  I discovered that you cannot rename newly formatted flash media on a Chromebook, but it was easy enough to do it on a Windows machine and the name persisted.  
• I was able to read documents on both Windows and Mac that were created on the Chromebook and transferred by flash drive.
• I would say that this was a positive test with the exception of not being able to change the name of the drive.

Having seen everything work so well, I tried another test, with my iPhone.  I plugged the iPhone into the Chromebook with the Lightning/USB cord, it was immediately recognized and began charging as if I had plugged it into my Mac, or a USB power socket.

• After a few moments, the iPhone appeared in the Files app, but I was not able to see files of images on the Chromebook.  
• I opened my iPhone and had to "Allow" files to be seen on the Chromebook, then the files appeared with their thumbnail pic on the Chromebook.
• I could move image files to folders on my Google Drive.  I was not able to move images to the iPhone (which is fine with me).
• I quickly created a new video on the iPhone and uploaded it to Google Drive.  I was able to manipulate and edit with no problems in the WeVideo app.
• I would say this was another successful test.  Being able to move images and videos to the Chromebook is a great finding.  I have an audio recording app on the iPhone that saves clips to Dropbox, and those are easily read on the Chromebook too.

The takeaway- USB media seems to work almost seamlessly between the Chromebook and other devices.