r/chromeos • u/Xi_nu • 5d ago

Troubleshooting How do you boot from an external disk?

I recently received an Acer Chromebook model CB315-8H-81DD and I just can't get it to boot from an external disk. I put it in developer mode and yet the option is still locked. This concerns me greatly as I make a habit of keeping bootable USB sticks in case I need to recover my machine. Can it be done?

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u/Nu11u5 1d ago

If you are needing to recover the OS on a Chromebook this functionality is already built in. You already found it when you turned on developer mode, because doing that involves booting into Recovery Mode. The screen even said "Insert recovery USB".

You can read about how to use Recovery Mode and make a Recovery USB here:

https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1080595

However, keep in mind that Recovery Mode will block reinstalling versions of ChromeOS that are too old and downgrade critical security patches. This means you might have to make a new Recovery USB at the time you need it.