How to put download files on a hard drive

Did this summary help you? Yes No. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue. No account yet? Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings.

Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article parts. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Part 1. Determine the connection type for the hard drive and your computer. Virtually all external hard drives use a USB cable to connect to your computer, but you may find that your computer doesn't have a traditional rectangular USB port. Buy an adapter if necessary. You can find these online or in some tech stores e. Plug one end of the external hard drive's cable into your computer.

This will usually be the USB end of the cable. The USB connector should only fit one way, so don't force it if it doesn't fit; instead, rotate it degrees and try connecting it again. If you're using an adapter, first connect the end of the adapter that fits in your computer to your computer, then plug the end of the external hard drive's cable into the free end of the adapter. Attach the other end of the cable to the external hard drive.

Depending on the external hard drive, the cable may already be attached; if not, attach the free end of the cable to the port into which it fits on the external hard drive. Format your hard drive if necessary. Depending on both the external hard drive and your computer's operating system, you may not be able to use your drive until you change its format to work with your computer.

This is ideal if you want to use your hard drive with both Windows and Mac computers. Formatting an external hard drive will erase everything on it. Part 2. This icon is used on wikiHow as fair use because it is being used to provide how-to instructions. Go to the folder where your files are. Using the left-hand panel of options, go to the folder where you have the files you want to copy to the external hard drive. For example, if your files are in the Documents folder, you would click Documents on the left to open the Documents folder.

Highlight the files you want to copy. To do so, click and drag your mouse cursor across the contents of the folder. You can also hold down Ctrl and click each file you want to copy to select them individually. Copy the files. It's on the left side of the File Explorer window. Double-click your external hard drive's name. You'll see it below the "Devices and drives" heading in the middle of the page.

If you don't see anything below the "Devices and drives" heading, click once the heading to expand it. If you can't find your external hard drive here, try using a different USB slot for your hard drive. Paste in your files. Wait for your files to finish copying onto the drive.

Depending on your files' sizes, this process time will vary. Remove your hard drive. Part 3. Step 6. Confirm the operation and click Start Sync to begin the syncing process.

Copy the folders in the shared folder and paste them to the corresponding location on your new computer. You have learned how to transfer files to a new computer using an external hard drive in this article. Transfer files to a new computer using an external hard drive Transfer files to another computer with a free transfer tool Transfer files to a new computer using an external hard drive To transfer files using an external hard drive, you should first choose an appropriate external drive.

You may take the following factors into consideration: Storage capacity : the drive should be large enough to hold all your data. After getting a right external hard drive, you can follow the steps below to transfer files from your old computer to a new computer: 1. Copy files from your current PC to the external drive 1. On the taskbar, select File Explorer. Verify your files are correct and safely remove the external drive. Transfer files from external hard drive to your new computer 3.

Select File Explorer from your taskbar. Locate the files or folders on the external drive and select them. Safely remove the external drive. Do you need any more help? Have you solved your problem? Otherwise, enter the query in the search box below. Filling up C drive limits the number of applications you can install and might even show low disk space warning. Not to mention, when you re-install Windows or when you cannot boot into it, you might lose all the files in the Downloads folder. To avoid that, you can move the downloads folder to another drive in Windows This makes sure that you are not filling up the C drive with random downloads.

Personally, moving the downloads folder to another drive is one of the first things I do after installing Windows. Before you can move downloads folder, you first have to create a new downloads folder in the new location.

The new location will be added to the properties window. You will be prompted whether you would like to move all the files from the old to new location. I recommend you to move the files so that you can access all the files in the new location.

As soon as you click on the button, Windows will move all the files to the new location. Windows will also change the folder icon automatically. This is your new default Downloads folder in another drive. From now on, anything you download will be automatically stored in the new downloads location. You can use this exact method to move any folder in Windows to another drive or location. Comment below to share your thoughts or any problems you face when moving the downloads folder in Windows.