I found this while doing a search for this exact issue. My use is case is that I'm using the Chromebook as a replacement tablet/computer for my young son. In the past with our previous Android tablet, I used the SD card slot for holding movies and a movie player Android app to play them.

I tried doing this on my Acer R11 and the player (MX Player) cannot access the SD card for playing the movies. This makes the Chromebook much less useful for my needs.

Will the change also grant access to usb-mounted storage or will it be for the sd card slot only?

I bought the Chromebook to act as a field laptop for my photography, primarily relying on Lightroom Mobile and Photoshop Express. To do so, however, will require access to both the SD card and USB slot.

#8: I haven't tried, but if you choose the file in files app and choose open with MX player, it should work.

#9: USB storage and SD card are equivalent from our perspective.

If it can be implemented by mounting those devices as part of the filesystem, that would be great. I've noticed in particular the Office Android apps have their own filesystem browser that shows the directory structure vs the Chrome OS file picker. 

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Hi (specifically  hashimoto@chromium.org)

Curious about any progress on USB/SD card access for Android Apps? I'm on 56 beta on the Pixel (2015) and haven't noticed any changes yet. Not sure how the team is planning to implement, but the ultimate goal would be for Android Apps to access all files via the same "Files" app system so we could access USB/SD devices along with mounted file shares like Dropbox or Windows network shares. It would make Chromebooks just about perfect for corporate environments and for home networks with large media shares on a NAS.

Sorry, at this moment we are not working on this feature as we have other items more prioritized.
Currently we are planning to work on this feature in M-59 or M-60.
I'll keep you updated here.

As my app (photo editing) hardly relies on this feature, I just wanted to vote it up here and I think it's really important to give all android apps real productivity! Please keep us updated on any progress, thanks!

We need this very very bad. It's almost as bad as disabling SD CARD write support for 3rd party apps back on Android 4.4 and I'm sure you guys don't want to relive that fiasco !!

I would just like to mirror others thoughts on this issue. I'm using 56 stable on the Samsung Chromebook Plus, and the Android functionality is great, but is hamstrung by the inability for Android apps to access the SD card. I can launch media files in VLC using the file browser, but apps like Poweramp can't be used at all unless files are copied to the internal storage. As more devices are released with ARC and Google Play Store access out of the box, this will become more of an issue with users looking for similar functionality as their Android devices.
Just my $.02. Thanks for your hard work, and am looking forward to future updates.

I too feel that Android for Chrome is hampered with out access to the SD Card.  I have a lot of music, and to be able to play it with some of the amazing apps on Android would be the bees knees. I spend a large amount of time in a disconnected environment and well there are not any comparable music players that work off line in Chrome.

So is this still being planned for release in M-59 or will it be pushed to M-60?

Sorry, this feature was postponed to M-60.

#CBC-RS/TC-watchlist

Just pitching in my straw onto this pile. I have a the Asus Flip. I was very disheartened when I discovered my sd storage was essentially useless because Android apps is one of the main features I use.

With Android apps able to use the SD card that would open an incredible amount of usefulness to the device. I really hope the priority of this ticket is increased.

Yes - this would really make my Chromebook useful. Please add this functionality soon.

"me too" comments in the bug are not too useful, please "star" the bug instead.

So has this feature been pushed back again from M-60 to M-61?

One of my big uses of sd cards on my android tablet is the ability to SYNC online content for offline viewing, namely Google Play Music, Youtube, Plex, Netflix. With games and apps using most of my internal device storage, I really rely on my sd card to be the place for that sync'd content to save to.

Additionally, to be able to pop in a usb drive from a friend or colleague, that contains a pdf, xlsx or docx, or any file really, and just quickly open it up from the flash drive (and also make changes to that file directly on the drive) is critically important for me. This is a typical expectation from any computer by any user, so it definitely needs to be a gap that is closed.

Once this is implemented, I can use my chromebook as a full android device, where any APPS on my chromebook will always be ANDROID APPS, and I can even replace the Chrome OS file manager with an android file manager from the play store. Android file manager much more functional

Is there any workaround for this on devices with developer mode switched on? I really need to be able to access USB storage to run Android video editing apps on my chromebook pixel LS. I have dev mode enabled and crouton installed. I've tried symlinking the USB storage folder to ~/Downloads, however it seems chromeos cannot follow symlinks? 

I've no chromeOS-Device arount but probably mounting from crosh (not from chroot/crouton) with -o bind to a folder inside ~/Downloads/ could work. If there isn't some container-securitysetting for the Android Runtime preventing access to 'outside' folders.

See https://serverfault.com/a/440431 for a example and more Information regarding Symlinks inside Containers.

Ok, thanks. I've just found:
https://nolirium.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/making-sd-card-content-accessible-to.html
which looks like it should do the job. Although seems to only work with
FAT32 not EXT4 and only seems to work with arc runtime not the new
container runtime.

Is this still planned for ChromeOS 60?  I just got a Chromebook Plus and was considering returning it for this reason (I want to store movies on SD card for offline use on airplanes etc), but if the fix is coming soon I might wait it out.

I also recently got the Samsung Chromebook Plus and am hoping to have this feature to store additional games, movies, and etc but it looks like this feature might come out on Chrome OS 61.

I also just got a chromebook plus, and for anyone not reading the updates it appears the feature was moved to target m-61 now.  (which is in developer channel right now).  It also says that it was moved from priority 2 to prioirty 1, so perhaps we will see this soon.

This would greatly assist my android app usage, as saving movies for offline watching would be great with an SD card.

I'm using ChromeOS 60 on the beta channel and some Android apps like Polaar phot editor are able to read/write files on my SD card (native ChromeOS file explorer is called when I open a file in Polaar)
But most apps won't see it. BUT for movies it's already possible to use file explorer and open a file from SD card using MX Player for example. Problem is MX Player won't see associated subtitle in this case which is annoying.

According to hashimoto@chromium.org, this bug is being actively worked on you can check his recent comment on this link: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/monorail/issues/detail?id=2792

This feature should be available in M61, just fyi.

Fantastic! What is M61? When will it be on the dev / beta channel? 

M61 is the current dev channel.


Please hold off from posting general questions or requests on this bug and please keep this bug for technical discussions related to the feature.

M61 is now in the dev channel. If I move to this channel, will I get the
usb/sd card feature in android?

@uekawa@chromium.org
You mean strictly technical questions, or can we discuss working/non working common apps and their Manifest files/way to request permissions, etc?

If so, my experience on 61.0.3159.8 on cyan is:

Working: 
'Total Commander' - it requests additional permission on first access to external SD, and can then read and write to it.

Not working:
'Amazon Prime Video' App don't see any external card, 'Spotify' too.
'DiskUsage' ( https://github.com/IvanVolosyuk/diskusage ) don't see the card, too.

Working partially:
'ZArchiver' sees it but it gets displayed empty (no read/no write permissions).

Thank you for reporting your experience!
When doing that, it'd be appreciated if you could test the same app with an Android phone using an OTG cable and a USB SD card reader.

If the app fails both on a Chromebook (M-61 or later) and on an Android phone with an OTG cable, then that's expected behavior (i.e. Chrome OS is working correctly, but the app is failing to handle the SD card reader appropriately).
If it works with an Android phone with an OTG cable, but not on a Chromebook, it can be a bug.

Just tested running 61.0.3163.13 on Chromebook pixel LS 2015. SD card does not show up in Android. Tested with VLC, ES and FX file managers. See screenshot attached. 

Is there another step required? Android root? Appologies if this is my fault. It's great your working on this feature. S

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#44, please refer to my comment #43, and let us know if the same app can handle an external SD card reader connected with an OTG cable on an Android phone. Otherwise, it's an issue of the app.

#45 yes, when the same SD card is plugged into an Android phone via OTG the SD card appears in ES File explorer. See screengrab: 

As you can see in #44 the Chromebook file manager is able to read the SD but it does not appear in Android apps on the Chromebook pixel (Samus)

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I can confirm that this same issue occurs on 61.0.3163.30 on the Samsung Chromebook Pro.  The SD card appears, and can be browsed, within the Android storage settings.  However, the card does not appear in Solid Explorer.  Using USB-OTG on an Android phone makes the card appear.

It looks like standard Android devices mount removable media directly to the /storage directory, whereas ARC seems to mount it to /var/run/arc/media/removable, which is likely why third party apps aren't able to access the storage as they are expecting storage devices to appear within /storage.

i confirm I can also access SD card via Android storage settings but
not via file manager (ES file explorer) / photo viewer (QuickPic) /
Video editor (PowerDirector) Android apps (when it would be really
useful).

It possible for Android apps e.g file managers to access
/var/run/arc/media/removable. I guess this would require root?

Can we now access files on the SD Card using GNU Root then?    That would be a HUGE help with using GNU/Linux on a Chromebook.

if i understand correctly, this issue is not yet resolved?

I am new Asus CB Plus C302CA using currently evaluating Official Beta Chan 61.0.3163.90

The Android Asus (ZenUI) File Manager App v2.0.0.389_170803 works really well, Recognises and Reads/Writes/Transfers data between Local , SDCard & USB Drive

Office Word v16.0.8528.2074 will Open & Save to Local Drive ONLY on 'This Device' option.
My Samsung S8 Phone running same Android App version allows access to the SDCard only - but NOT a recognised attached OTG USB Drive 

The biggest problem for my prospective end-user(elderly parents) with Beta M61 is the Search/Launch Menu will randomly switch to the (new) Black scrolling launcher. Rebooting whilst on a Google Homepage appears to RESET the launch back to the original Gray Launcher? Will this be fixed in the STABLE release?

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I wish to QUALIFY my previous comment ..
The Android Asus (ZenUI) File Manager App v2.0.0.389_17080 will READ from USB OTG drives & SDCard and transfer/write to internal memory ONLY - it won't even write to Cloud Google Drives). Transfer from the SDCard to Google Drives is achievable with the native Chrome app 'Files' though.  
(It appears that  this Android App simply opens the native chrome app 'files' as a shell operation - so not sure why some functionality appears LOST).
I cannot obtain WRITE access to any of the connected external  SDCard or USB devices from either the 'files' or android 'File Manage' apps.

If I use the android 'file manager' or the native chrome app 'files' to navigate to a .docx file on the SDCard or USB drive, I can open the Word document in the WORD app as'Read-Only' mode. I cannot use the 'Save' command (to 'Save' back to the original location). 
This functionality is available on my Samsung SM-P600 Tablet (Android 5.1.1) , including 'Save' back to SDCard and USB devices. However, opening a 'Blank' document, editing and saving is only available to local, one-drive and SDCard storage - NOT USB storage on the Samsung SM-P600. This is fine. I trust similar functionality will (eventually) be available on the Chromebook?

Can I assume, that the next STABLE issue of chromebook software will resolve the READ-ONLY issues to at least the SDCard (i.e. allow WRITE operations) - or is this further down the track?

P.S. Is there any way to 'lock' the Search/Launcher app to the original (Grey sideways scroll) OR the (new) Dark Vertical Slide version? Currently, my Asus CB Flip C302CA  (on Beta 61) will change that operation randomly? Any help greatly appreciated.

I'm currently developing an android app that will be used on chromebooks c100p to be precise.  Is there a link to some official docs pertaining to the SD card mount location that is accessible to the android app?  I know above posts mentioned /var/run/arc/media/removable.  If the app has permission to use the sd card and the preference "AndroidExtraFilesystems" and has the value "sdcard", what is the mount - path the app should look for?

#53 like this:
https://developer.android.com/training/articles/scoped-directory-access.html#removable

This is a complete and total show-stopper for me.  No sdcard or usb stick access outside the lame file manager is a complete and total feature failure.  

Gonna have to sell my new C100P and go back to Windows.  

Thanks, google.

Issue 653664 has been merged into this issue.

To avoid confusion, could details about the requirements for this feature bedisclosed. I assume that the android application has to be compiled against a specific API version or higher to access SD cards. Es File Explorer seems to use an old API (can't resize it freely) thus can't access SD cards. Total Commander can. 

This is an interessant information, now I understand why some apps like Total Commander access SD card on my Chromebook Flip and others like MX Player don't.
Thank you ! :)

Re #58 API version is not the reason, those apps have different individual reasons for not working.

Netflix doesn't work, Google play music doesn't work, YouTube doesn't work.
I have yet to see an app that does work

Chrome OS 62 (beta) was released, but this issue has not been fixed yet. :(
I still can not import SD card contents from MX Player installed on my Asus Flip.

I'm trying to connect my Yamaha keybord with my CB, but it will not work. I want to connecting them to be able to play music with the android app pianist HD. Is this the same issue or is it another one. I´m able to use my androidphone to do this with the same OTG-cable.

It's still not working in the 63 developer build. No Android apps I've tried are able to see or write to the SD card.

And still not working as of version 63.0.3239.26 (which my Samsung Chromebook Plus got updated to today in the developer channel).

this is a critically needed feature for a lot of us

Just throwing my hat in the ring as well. Running Canary which is on 64 at this moment and no changes

This is absurd that apps cant access the sd card and that this is not considered a priority. I bought this chromebook yesterday and am probably going to return it today.

yep.  whole situation is terrible. still waiting!!!

Google always looking to the future, missing out on the needs of right now.
I thought that they changed this view with android coming to Chrome OS, but
seems they are still falling short on key computing features

Could we please get this feature up the stack? It is ridiculous that I have to move the files I need work with to the Downloads folder to work with them.... Apps should have access to the SD card.

dont hold your breath.  im back to using my windows laptop.  the chromebook
is just a toy, not a serious tool.

Please read my comment #43.
If you try the same application on an Android phone with an OTG cable and it doesn't work, it's the app's problem.
Probably it's better to report the problem to the app's developer so that they can start working to support removable storage devices on their app.

It'd be helpful to improve the product if you could report the exact app name which works with an Android phone w/ OTG, but not on a Chromebook.
We are already aware of examples like ES File Explorer (in this case, we recommend you to use the standard Chrome OS file manager).

Can't sync Netflix to SD card or usb, can't sync Google play music to SD
card or usb, can't access usb in es file manager nor file manager hd.

Did Google implement a different way of android apps accessing sd card and
usb drives on chrome os compared to how it works on Android devices? This
requires every android app developer to rewrite their access methods for
chrome os? This may be a way too big a ask.

I would have expected that Google would have emulated chrome os level sd
card and usb access in to android in a mapping that makes the android apps
access these storage types in the same way it does on android devices

Thank you for the feedback. Regarding the not-working apps, they fall into two categories:
1. Apps that tries to access USB Host API (https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/usb/host.html) that are still not supported in ARC++ (e.g., ES Explorer). We are considering several options to fix this.
2. Media apps that access MediaStore API  (https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/MediaStore.html). As hashimoto mentioned in comment #75, this is due to Android Framework does not support media access in removable device (i.e., non-adoptable: https://source.android.com/devices/storage/adoptable) through MediaStore. This is out of the scope of this bug since apps that are not working because of this also wouldn't work on Android phone through OTG (e.g., inserting SD Card through OTG instead of having it as an adoptable storage). This should be fixable by the app developers to use the removable storage API as mentioned in comment #54.
I filed a separate bug ( crbug.com/789045 ) to track this and to consider possibilities to access removable device through MediaStore.

I will close this bug since the rest of the cases working as intended. If you have non-working media apps, please check/comment on  crbug.com/789045  instead.

Risan, how about you give others a bit more time to respond to your questions about test results. Don't just unilaterally mark this issue as fixed if it isn't. Wait for others to respond with test results before declaring something fixed. After months of no response at all, suddenly you appear out of nowhere, ask a couple of questions, then overnight decide to close this out and replace by some other new ticket that only addresses part of the problem? Give us time to respond! 

Risan,

I am not sure I got that. For example from my Android Phone and TV I can access the SD card mounted in those devices and applications have access to these files. From my Chromebook I can not do that... Do we have a bug / feature requested filed for this?  Thanks. 

same traffic.  works on phone, not so much on chromebook.

Regarding last three comments: what Chrome OS version are you on? 

My CB is on  63.0.3239.50, and apps ARE able to access the SD card; see the attached screenshot.  So, as Risan stated, the issue is fixed, but is now up to developers to implement the requirements that will allow their apps to access the SD card.

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Austin, could you write to SD card with your Solid Explorer?

I could use my SD card with Total Commander even in 61.0.3163.120 stable channel, but only as read only device. Strangely, now in 62.0.3202.97 stable channel it doesn't work anymore.

I wouldn't consider this "fixed" until Googles own apps could natively access the files in the SD card. Right now, play books, music, nor movies have access to the SD card.

One thing to blame the developers for not setting up the access correctly. It's another thing to be the offending developer. 

Elaborating more on SD Card: In Android phone (with pure Android), SD Card is often mounted as adoptable storage - an external storage that can be adopted as internal storage (https://source.android.com/devices/storage/adoptable). From that page:
"Only external storage media in stable locations, such as a slot inside a battery compartment or behind a protective cover, should be considered for adoption to help avoid accidental data loss or corruption."
SD Card slot in Chromebook is not an adoptable storage since it is easily removable. Android actually has a separate API to access removable device, as mentioned in comment #54, which probably is not used by app developers since the main use case in Android phone is to use SD Card as adoptable storage. That's why in this bug we only try to compare Chromebook with SD Card inserted on Android phone with OTG (as mentioned in comment #43) - since inserting SD Card on Android phone with OTG is a direct comparison to removable SD Card slot in Chromebook. The bug that tracks adoptable vs non-adoptable SD Card different behavior is  crbug.com/789045 , which as mentioned in the point 2 of comment #77, we are also looking for alternatives.

comment #79: Other than ES Explorer, apps reported in this bug seem to be media apps that fall to  crbug.com/789045  category. Hence, it will be less confusing to track it in a more specific bug. Please feel free to add comments in this bug if you find another apps that works on Android phone with OTG but doesn't work in Chromebook.

comment #80: The bug that tracks adoptable vs non-adoptable SD Card different behavior is  crbug.com/789045 .

comment #85: Those cases belong to  crbug.com/789045  since it concerns adoptable vs non-adoptable.

Surely there is a 3rd way of doing this? My Samsung phone won't allow me to
sync to otg connected devices, and I can appreciate that, but my sd card in
my Samsung phone isn't used as adoptable storage either, yet I can sync
YouTube, plex, Netflix to the sd card. How is Samsung doing this? Are app
developers developing specifically to meet Samsung's approach or has
Samsung adjusted the os appropriately to help developers?

OTG support-

All my android file managers pick up my otg usb on phone, but almost none
of them work on chrome os. This is definitely a bug that needs fixing on
chrome os, or if it is not a bug, it is a feature that needs adding.

SD Card as portable (non adoptable) storage-

I don't think that all sd cards should be required to be adoptable in order
to be accessed by android file managers and android media apps as syncing
locations. If this is how pure android works, then it is not a bug, but it
is a feature request. Pure android needs to work with sdcards the same way
that Samsung handles it.

Also ... Netflix, plex, YouTube all do allow for syncing to my otg on my
phone, but not on chrome os.

Or is it that Samsung treats their SD cards as OTG ports? If that is the
case, then that makes sense to me. Then fixing the OTG bug in chrome OS,
and treating the sd card slot as an OTG slot, will certainly make
everything work just as us consumers would intuitively expect it to work

*Zain Ajam*
zain.ajam.za@gmail.com
0845819728

I feel like there's a disconnect between what Chrome OS considers removable/adoptable and what users and hardware manufacturers intend as the primary use for the SD card slot on Chromebooks. I assume most of us use the SD card to compensate for the fact that all of our Chromebooks are made with bafflingly and uselessly tiny hard drives. So, there's a lot of cross-talk here, and, now it comes to expectations like Netflix should be able to use an OTG USB drive dangling from my phone for video cache, which is ridiculous. 

Yes, instead of dumping the problem onto 50 bajillion developers and leaving an equal number of Chromebook users hanging, perhaps Google should take it upon itself to take the two OSes it both created and stuck on the same device to function together without relying on third-parties to update their apps.

Given that Google wrote the code for both OSes, surely there is some way for Android on Chrome OS to identify the SD Card as ALL forms of removable storage rather than the current case where it identifies it solely as non-adoptable at which Google washes its hands of the problem and blames everyone else.

Comment 86: Risan, Sorry, I'm confused by your explanation. 
I have a Samsung phone and tablet both with SD cards mounted as portable (non-adaptable). With both of those, Google Play Music/Movies, Youtube, Netflix, file managers, etc. can use SD card. On my Chromebook Pro, the SD is labeled as "Portable" also, but none of these apps (Google Play Music, etc.) can use the SD card. That suggests to me a bug in Chrome OS handling of portable storage. 

Are you saying this functionality on my Samsung phones and tablets is beyond the functionality of pure Android and therefore not supported in Android apps in Chrome OS?

This is completely ridiculous.  Its simple.  My laptops all have hard
disks.  I can put stuff on those hard disks.  Then, I can access that stuff
with programs on those laptops.

I don't care about my phone.  Its a phone.

My Chromebook won't let me do anything with a 64gb SD card I have
inserted.  I can't copy movies there from my NAS to watch later, I can't
save files there that I am working on, etc.

I can't make it any more simple than this: how do we make the SD card on a
Chromebook work exactly like a hard disk or USB disk on a win/apple/*nix
laptop?

Wow. This is still a problem? So the reason I got a chrome book was because it had an SD port and now I discover the apps cannot effectively use it. This includes netflix and plex for local syncs while travelling so I can watch videos, dropbox for working on documents, etc.

So now after messing with this for a couple of days trying to justify this purchase, I'm considering abandoning this project and returning the chrome book and going for a windows PC that will do what I need. 

Even in linux you can mount other drives into the file system so they can be used. I'm really disappointed this has not been addressed.

I tried total commander for sd card access, and that works. But other apps like MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint can open file from that as read-only. I also tried with slides, created a new file in slides and it could save to my sd card. But when I opened it in Powerpoint, again, only read-only access. 
This, I think,is a basic requirement, that apps on chromebook should have read-write access to the complete storage, be it the hard disk (which is so very inadequate), or sd card or otg mounted flash drive.
I'm on version 63.0.3239.70, beta, on a newly purchased Samsung Chromebook Plus.
Please solve this as soon as possible.
thanks

Just brought my Samsung Chromebook Plus to the Beta channel, and disappointed to find out that this feature is still not available. Even basic features such as putting large files on the SD card for apps to access, or media that can be read by media apps are still not working.

Seriously?

Yep, seriously.  Even on latest version, virtually none of my apps can
access the SD card. Back to a laptop I go.

Please keep this bug specific to the original technical implementation and file individual bugs on issues that remain.

The fundamental plumbing exists, the apps / APIs have some room for improvement.

Out of curiosity, why not consider the sd card slot on a chromebook adoptable? While easily removable, the slot is also quite stable (unlike a usb cable) and many people I know use the sd card slot as a permanent storage upgrade for their chromebooks. It sounds like making it adoptable would make this use case much better. In particular they even say it's common to even make an exception for USB attached devices on a TV box as it is stable.

 Issue 658696  has been merged into this issue.

#102, tracked in  crbug.com/789045 

 Issue 829341  has been merged into this issue.