To Backup and/or Transfer Data Using a USB Flash Drive or External Hard Drive (Windows XP to Windows 7)

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1 **There are multiple ways to backup and/or transfer data from one computer to another. In this guide, I will outline the two most popular ways to do so in our District.** To Backup and/or Transfer Data Using a USB Flash Drive or External Hard Drive (Windows XP to Windows 7) 1.) First, you will need to purchase, if you haven t done so already, a USB Flash Drive or External Hard Drive. The difference between the two are portability and amount of storage space (measured in GBs) available. In most cases, a USB Flash Drive (around 2 4GB) is sufficient for data transfer needs. Please refer to the pictures for reference as to what they look like. Various USB Flash Drives External USB Hard Drive

2 2.) After purchasing a USB Flash Drive or External Hard Drive, on your existing computer/laptop, plug it into one of your computer s USB ports. The connection can only be plugged in one way so don t fear that you may be plugging it in upside down. If you try plugging it in one way and it doesn t go in, turn it around and try again. Once you plug it in, give the computer/laptop a few seconds and the AutoPlay window should appear. Click on Open Folder to View Files. **NOTE** If the AutoPlay Window does NOT show up, please read Steps 2a 2c; otherwise, please proceed to Step 3.

3 2a.) If the AutoPlay window doesn t show up, or in the future you re ever on a computer/laptop in which the AutoPlay window doesn t show up, click on My Computer located on the desktop. This will open Windows Explorer.

4 2b.) Once Windows Explorer is open, double click on your cooresponding USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive. **NOTE**: The name and drive letter of your USB Flash Drive will, more than likely, be different than that shown in the picture. While the picture I m showing you says Lexar (E:), depending on how your computer is configured and the USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive you buy, yours can say something along the lines of Maxtor (I:).

5 3.) You should now see a Windows Explorer window showing you the contents of your USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive. In most cases, there should be nothing in this window unless you are using an existing USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive, in which case, you may have existing files and folders you already put on there. 4.) Next, you can start doing Copy and Paste into your USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive of the data you want to save. Each case may be different as to where your files reside; however, the concept is the same. For demonstration purposes, you may have files or folders on your desktop that you would like to backup/transfer. To do so, right click on the file or folder and select Copy.

6 5.) Next, right click anywhere in the empty space of your USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive, and click Paste. Depending on what you re copying over and the size of the files and folders, this may take a few seconds to a few minutes. 6.) After waiting for the transfer to complete, you should see the contents of what you transfered in your USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive. Repeat Steps 4 & 5 for all the other files and folders you would like to backup/transfer.

7 7.) Once you re finished transfering/backing up your data, click the X in the upper right corner of the window to close it. 8.) Finally, it s best practice to Safely Remove the Hardware From Your Computer. In order to do so, click on the Remove Hardware icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen, next to where the time is located.

8 9.) After clicking the icon, the following pop up should appear. Click on Safely remove USB Mass Storage Device Drive(E:). **NOTE: While the drive in this guide is labeled as E:, each computer and case may be different and could say (I:) or something along the lines of that instead.** 10.) The following message should appear to let you know that you can now safely unplug your USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive from the computer. Congratulations! You re files and folders have now been successfully transferred/backed up to a USB Flash Drive or External Hard Drive. This can now be plugged into another computer so that you can access your files and folders!

9 To Backup and/or Transfer Data Using Your District H: Drive **NOTE: If the files you wish to backup consist of music and/or videos, please do NOT use the H: drive to back it up. Instead, please use the USB Flash Drive/External Hard Drive method to perform the backup.** 1.) Open a Windows Explorer window by clicking on My Computer on your desktop.

10 2.) With My Computer open, you will see something similar to this denoting your respective H: drive. PLEASE NOTE THAT IT S NOTED AS H: AT THE END OF THE LABEL. Double click it to open it.

11 3.) You should now see the contents of your H: drive. For some, this may be empty while others may already have files and folders in here already.

12 4.) Next, you can start doing Copy and Paste into your H: drive of the data you want to save. Each case may be different as to where your files reside; however, the concept is the same. For demonstration purposes, you may have files or folders on your desktop that you would like to backup/transfer. To do so, right click on the file or folder and select Copy.

13 5.) Next, right click anywhere in the empty space of your H: Drive, and click Paste. Depending on what you re copying over and the size of the files and folders, this may take a few seconds to a few minutes.

14 6.) After waiting for the transfer to complete, you should see the contents of what you transfered in your H: Drive. Repeat Steps 4 & 5 for all the other files and folders you would like to backup/transfer. 7.) Once you re finished transfering/backing up your data, click the X in the upper right corner of the window to close it. 8.) Now that your files and folders are in your H: drive, log into your new computer, access your H: drive the same way, and all your files and folders will be there. It s not neccessary to move the contents back onto your new computer and can stay in your H: drive so that you can have your files available to you no matter what District computer you log into on our network. Congratulations! You re files and folders have now been successfully transferred to your H: drive!