Author:
John Stephens
Date Of Creation:
26 January 2021
Update Date:
1 July 2024
Content
In this article, wikiHow teaches you how to copy files on a computer to a removable hard drive, USB flash drive, or memory card.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: On Windows
. Click the Windows logo in the lower left corner of the screen, or press a key ⊞ Win.
File Explorer is on the left side of the Start menu.
- If you don't see the File Explorer icon in the Start menu, go ahead right click to enter Start icon and choose File Explorer.
Go to the directory where the files are located. Open the folder where the files you want to copy are stored to the external hard drive.- For example, if the files are in the Documents folder, click Documents on the left to open the Documents folder.
Highlight files to copy. Click and drag your mouse over the contents of the folder.- You can also hold down the key Ctrl and click each file if you want to select it one at a time.
- To highlight all in the current folder, press Ctrl+A.
Click the card Home at the top left of the File Explorer window.
Click Copy to (Copy to) or Move to (Move to). Both options are located in the "Organize" section of the Home toolbar at the top of the File Explorer window.
- Copy to will make copies of files, copy them to where you choose, and keep the originals in the current location.
- Move to will move the files from the current location to the place you choose. The data will no longer be in its current location.
Click Choose location (Select location) at the bottom of the drop-down menu, below Copy to or Move to.
Scroll down and click on the name of the external hard drive. Your external hard drive will be under the "My Computer" or "This PC" menu in the pop-up window.
Click Copy (Copy) or Move (Move). Files will begin to be copied or moved from the computer to the external hard drive.
Wait for the process to complete. The time of the process depends on the size of the files.
Disconnect the hard drive. After copying files to the hard drive, disconnect the hard drive in a safe way to ensure that data is not lost or damaged. advertisement
Method 2 of 2: On a Mac
Plug the hard drive into the computer. Plug the end of the hard drive's USB cable into one of the computer's USB ports.
- USB ports are flat rectangular slots located on the computer chassis.
- If you use a memory card, insert the memory card into the memory card reader of your computer. You may need to purchase an SD card to USB converter.
- Some Mac computers do not have USB ports, however, you can purchase an adapter.
Open Finder. The application has a blue human face, located in the dock of the computer.
Highlight the files you want to copy. Open the folder where the files are located, then click and drag the mouse pointer to over the contents of the folder.
- You can also hold down the key ⌘ Command and click each file if you want to select them one by one.
- If you can't find your file, click All My Files (All files) on the left side of the Finder window to browse all the folders on your Mac.
Click the item Edit (Edit) in the upper left corner of the computer screen.
Click an option Copy (Copy) in the menu Edit just drop down.
Click the name of your external hard drive, located below the "Devices" heading, on the left side of the Finder window. A hard drive window will open in the Finder.
Click the item Edit again, then select Paste Items (Paste the items). The selected files will be copied to the external hard drive.
- If you select only one file, the action will be Paste Item (Paste item).
Wait for the copying process to complete. The time of the process depends on the file size.
Click the eject button. This option is an up arrow, to the right of the hard drive's name in Finder. That way, you can disconnect the hard drive without damaging or losing data. advertisement
Advice
- If you don't have an external hard drive, you can use Google Drive or another cloud service (such as iCloud or Dropbox) to back up your files.
Warning
- Unsecurely disconnecting a hard drive could result in data loss or damage.
