Le disque dur externe contient de nouvelles photos.

French adjective placement is different from English.

• disque dur is the standard French term for hard drive
• externe is an adjective meaning external
• In French, many adjectives come after the noun, so externe follows disque dur

So:

• un disque dur externe = an external hard drive
• literally: a hard drive external

Also, disque dur works almost like a fixed expression, so you keep those two words together.

Literally, disque dur means hard disk.

Word by word:

• disque = disk
• dur = hard

In modern usage, French often uses disque dur for both hard disk and hard drive, depending on context.

So in this sentence, le disque dur externe is the natural way to say the external hard drive.

Le means the, while un means a/an.

So:

• Le disque dur externe = the external hard drive
• Un disque dur externe = an external hard drive

French uses the definite article le/la/les just like English uses the when talking about a specific thing.

contient means contains.

It comes from the verb contenir, which means to contain.

This is the 3rd person singular present tense form:

• je contiens = I contain
• tu contiens
• il/elle contient = he/she/it contains

So:

• Le disque dur externe contient... = The external hard drive contains...

This is one of the most common questions learners ask.

Normally, des means some or is the plural indefinite article:

• des photos = some photos

But when a plural adjective comes before the noun, standard French often changes des to de:

• des photos
• de nouvelles photos

So here:

• de nouvelles photos = new photos / some new photos

This happens because nouvelles comes before photos.

A useful rule:

• des + plural noun → de + adjective + plural noun

Examples:

• des livres = some books
• de bons livres = some good books
• des photos = some photos
• de nouvelles photos = some new photos

In everyday speech, you may sometimes hear des nouvelles photos, but de nouvelles photos is the standard form.

Because nouvelles agrees with photos.

photos is:

• feminine
• plural

So the adjective must also be feminine plural:

• masculine singular: nouveau
• feminine singular: nouvelle
• masculine plural: nouveaux
• feminine plural: nouvelles

Since photos is feminine plural, French uses nouvelles.

Some French adjectives usually come before the noun, and nouveau/nouvelle is one of them.

So:

• de nouvelles photos = new photos

This is normal French word order.

A lot of common adjectives that go before the noun are short, frequent ones, such as:

• grand
• petit
• bon
• jeune
• nouveau

So nouvelles photos is expected and natural.

It can suggest either, depending on context.

In this sentence, de nouvelles photos means:

• new photos
• or some new photos

French often does not force the distinction as clearly as English sometimes does.

So:

• Le disque dur externe contient de nouvelles photos.

can naturally be understood as:

• The external hard drive contains new photos.
• The external hard drive contains some new photos.

The exact nuance depends on the situation.

There actually is an article idea there, but it appears as de because of the grammar rule with plural adjectives before the noun.

Without the adjective:

• Le disque dur externe contient des photos. = The external hard drive contains photos / some photos.

With the adjective before the noun:

• Le disque dur externe contient de nouvelles photos.

So de is doing the job that des would normally do.

The final -t in contient is not normally pronounced.

A rough pronunciation is:

• contient ≈ kon-tyen

More accurately, the ending has a nasal vowel, so it is not exactly like an English n sound.

A rough pronunciation of the whole sentence is:

• Le disque dur externe contient de nouvelles photos
• ≈ luh deesk dur ex-tern kon-tyen duh noo-vel fo-to

A few useful notes:

• disque: the s is pronounced like sk
• dur: the French u is not the English oo
• photos: the final s is silent
• contient: final t is silent

Yes, several.

Common silent letters here include:

• Le: the e is very light
• contient: the final t is silent
• nouvelles: the final s is silent
• photos: the final s is silent

Also, in French, many final consonants are often not pronounced unless there is a liaison.

It is much more natural to say contient here.

• contenir = to contain
• avoir = to have

French can use avoir in many contexts, but for the contents of an object such as a file, folder, box, drive, or document, contenir is often more precise and natural.

So:

• Le disque dur externe contient de nouvelles photos. = natural
• Le disque dur externe a de nouvelles photos. = less natural in this context

Yes.

• une photo is short for une photographie

In everyday French, photo is the normal word people use, just like in English.

Plural:

• des photos = photos

So de nouvelles photos is completely standard, natural French.