Using a USB Stick to Transfer Files

USB sticks are very useful for transferring files from one computer to another. They have many other uses but for now I am going to stick to file transfers.

The first step is to plug your USB drive into ANY USB port on your computer or laptop. If autorun is enabled a small window should pop up asking what you would like to do. There could be different options here but lets just look at the “open folder to view files” option. Click it and it will take you to the content on your USB drive (which if new is probably blank/empty.)

If you did not get a pop up window, don’t worry, simply click on the Start menu then click on “My Computer.” Look for a new drive letter. (Pictured below) Double click it and you should now have a window open showing the files (if any) on the drive.

In my setup it shows as M: but it could be any letter.

Now you know how to access the USB drive to paste your files onto it.

Next we need to copy those files to the drive.

Do exactly as we did above but now instead of selecting the USB drive, select the place where you files are located. For example, if you wanted to move some pictures you would click on the my pictures folder and select the photos you want transfer. Copy or cut those files and choose the USB drive again. Paste those files and you are done!