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How to use a Seagate external drive with Windows RT (Microsoft Surface)

Windows RT, on the Microsoft Surface tablet, can support a Seagate external drive in certain ways. This article explains.

Microsoft’s surface tablet includes a USB port, which allows users to plug in an external drive for additional storage. There are a few things to keep in mind.

  • Windows RT does not support any software included with the drive, like Seagate Dashboard. This is because Windows RT does not run standard Windows applications. Attempting to install the included software will result in a prompt of “This app can’t run on your PC”.
    Simply press the close button to exit this prompt.
  • The drive must be formatted in NTFS. Seagate’s NTFS driver will not install in Windows RT because Windows RT does not support this kind of Windows installation.

Here is how to use the drive in Windows RT:

  1. You can drag and drop data to the drive. See Document ID: 206419 for instructions.
  2. Windows File History is software built into Windows RT (and Windows 8) which will allow the user to backup multiple versions of data files. To use this software, follow these steps:
    1. Connect a Seagate external drive to the USB port.
      (If you have a keyboard, you can skip steps b and c.)
    2. Go to the main Start screen on the tablet.
    3. Swipe from the right to the left to open the charms menu.
    4. Touch Search.
    5. Type the following: history
    6. Touch Settings.
    7. Touch the File History item.
    8. Touch Select Drive on the left of the File History window.
    9. Choose the external drive.
    10. Touch OK.
    11. Touch Run Now to complete a backup.

    You can return to this screen and touch Run Now to complete additional backups.
    You can also touch the question mark icon in the upper right corner of the File History window for additional help.