Can I tranfser what is on my old flash drives onto my general files on my desktop computer?

[CTyankee]

How do i do that?

[Ocelot II]

1. Open up the files from the flash drive and save them to your computer.

If you have a Mac you can just open the flash drive and drag the files to whatever folder you want on your computer.

[CTyankee]

5. OK, thanks...I'll have to look at them again...been a while and I didn't label them. They are in a ziplock bag...

My next big project!

[claudette]

2. Yes

Insert flash drive. Copy the files and paste them on to your desktop - preferably in a folder you’ve created so they are easier to handle.

[Voltaire2]

3. sure, as long as they are still working

You should just be able to plug the flash drive into an available usb port on your desktop computer. If the flash drive is working then it will show up in 'explorer', (assuming you are using a windows pc.) Then just use explorer to copy what you want from the flash drive, to anywhere you want on the computer. For example make a new folder in 'Documents' and name it something like 'OldFlashDrive' and just copy everything there.

[Jim__]

4. Are you on windows? Do your old flash drives plug into a USB port?

If yes and yes, plug your flash drive into a USB port. Then open up the file explorer. It should show your USB drive and the files on that drive. You can drag and drop the files onto your hard disk. I would copy them rather than move them, so if something goes wrong you still have the file on your flash dirve.

[CTyankee]

6. They are pretty old. Do they "go bad" after a period of time?

[Jim__]

7. They should be good. I usually just copy as a precaution.

[canetoad]

8. Yes you can

And it's a good idea because those little flash drives can become corrupt quite easily.

Do a little preparation first; create folder/s on your computer to store the contents of the flash drives. Name/label them according to any system that makes sense to you.

A suggestion: after you have created the folders, open up the receiving folder. Resize the window and plonk it on half of your screen. Open the flash drive and do the same, so that you have both folders open side by side on your screen.

Then select and drag the files from one to the other. Keep an eye on the 'copying' dialogue window that appears. If the flash drives are really old they may be slow to copy to the computer. It will be painstaking but certainly worth it.

[usonian]

9. With my best and most supportive wishes, please give more information to the computer crazies here.

Different computers have different ways of copying files, though I understand that macs have lately adopted the windows copy and paste for files.

Years of computer support, official and unofficial.

On a mac, dragging files to a different disk will only copy.
You have to hold down a (redacted) key to move them.

On windows, explorer will do the job.
Or copy and paste.

[CTyankee]

10. My book producer will be here this pm. He created them but I don't remember which are which. I did a number of essays on

art and put them on DU. Some of them eventually became a book, which I do have in my files, but the others I have no idea. He's coming here in a couple of hours and we'll see...

[usonian]

11. Here is what I do.

Here's my simplified disk strategy.

If you can get a computer friend to help, this might work for you:

I got a 4 terabyte disk. One terabyte backs up the computer.
The other three terabytes collect all the loose files. In my case, going back to the beginning of time (8 inch floppies that are long gone)

(since this might involve partitioning, that's where the helper comes in)
They can recommend backup software or whatever MS or Apple provide (the latter is time machine)

If you can time things, do a backup when the computer is working well, in case it is hacked or breaks, so you can recover.

Have two copies of critical files like your essays (or my digital photos). (i.e. don't erase the thumb drives)

[CTyankee]

12. Thank you.