Using USB Flash Drives

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1 Using USB Flash Drives What is a USB flash drive? Since it was first released in 2000, the USB drive has come to become one of the most essential tools for storing and transporting data in an easily portable form. Today, these small devices are capable of storing vast amounts of data. In addition to their portability and storage space, USB drives are also reliable and fairly easy to use. Connecting the USB Drive to your computer All modern USB drives connect to computers through the USB 2.0 port. These ports are an almost universal feature on modern computers and are usually found on the sides of computers. To connect the USB flash drive into the computer, go through the following steps: 1) Find the USB 2.0 port. This is usually found on the side of the computer and looks like this. This is what a typical USB port looks like. The red arrows point to the slot ends of the USB port that must be aligned opposite the slot end on the USB drive to connect it 2) After you have located the USB 2.0 port, connect the USB drive to the computer by aligning the slot in the USB drive and the slot in the USB 2.0 port opposite each other. 3) If the USB drive does not slide into the port easily, then the USB drive is not being put in correctly and this can be solved by flipping the USB drive over so that the side that was facing down is now facing up.

2 Using the USB Drive After the USB drive is connected into the computer, the computer should recognize the device and a window similar to that shown below will automatically appear on the screen. This screen will give you options for what you want to do with the thumb drive. A window similar to this appears when the USB drive is connected into the computer. The red arrow points to the option which allows you to view everything in the USB drive. NOTE: If the computer does not recognize the USB drive automatically and the AutoPlay window does not show up, then you can still open up and use the USB drive by clicking on the Start button. In the window that opens, click on the Computer icon on the right side of the screen. A new window will appear and the USB drive should be listed. Clicking this will allow the USB drive to be opened. To view the files that are already on the flash drive scroll down until you see an icon of a folder that says Open folder to view files next to it. Click on this and a new window should open up giving you a view of everything that is on the thumb drive.

3 New folders can also be created on the USB drive. This is done in the same way that new folders are created on the desktop. Right click where you want to place a new folder. A toolbar similar to that below should appear. Select New in the window that appears and finally select Folder and a new folder should appear. The new folder name should be open. This allows you to change the name to whatever you wish. After right clicking to create a new folder, a toolbar similar to the one circled in the picture above should appear. Of these options, select new to create a folder. Then select folder. To copy files from the USB drive to the computer, select the file or highlight the files you wish to copy over to the computer. Then right click the mouse. In the window that shows up, select copy. Then go to wherever you wish to put the files (i.e. Documents, the desktop, another USB drive, etc.) and right click again. In the window that appears, select paste and the files should transfer over. There are multiple ways to save files from the computer to the USB drive. One way this can be done is by going through the following steps:

4 1) First right click the Start button in the lower-left corner of the screen. A box similar to that below will appear right above the Start button. In this box that appears, select the option explore. This box appears after right clicking on the Start button. 2) After selecting Explore, a new window will appear. On the left side of this window, will be a bar similar to that shown below showing the organizational structure of the computer. Navigate through this bar until you find the location of whatever files you wish to transfer to the USB drive.

5 This window is similar to what should appear when you select explore after right clicking on the Start Button. Notice the bar on the left with the red arrow pointing to it is what shows the organizational structure of the computer. 3) Once you have found the files you wish to transfer to the USB drive highlight them and right click on them. Select copy in the window that appears 4) Finally use the bar on the left to locate and select the USB drive under the folder labeled Computer. Then right click in the location that you wish to place the file(s) in the USB drive and select paste. Properly Disconnecting the Thumb Drive Do NOT pull out the USB drive without properly disconnecting it first. To prevent possibly damaging or destroying the thumb drive. To properly disconnect the thumb drive, go through the following steps: 1) First make sure all programs and files on the USB drive have been closed unless they have been saved on the computer. 2) At the bottom-right corner of the screen, find the icon that looks like a USB port plug-in with a checkmark inside a green circle next to it.

6 NOTE: If you cannot see the icon, click the leftward pointing arrow at the far left edge of that toolbar and the icon should appear when the toolbar expands. In this picture, the abovementioned icon used to disconnect the USB drive has red arrows pointing to it. If the icon is not initially present on the toolbar, the arrow to expand the toolbar has been circled in red. 3) Click on the icon mentioned in the previous step. A box should appear giving you a list of items that can be disconnected. 4) Click the item labeled USB Mass Storage device like it is shown in the picture below. The item listed as USB Mass Storage is the item you click on to remove the USB drive. NOTE: If you have multiple USB drives plugged into the computer, then you will have to know which drive (port) each USB drive is plugged into because that is the only thing differentiating the separate USB drives in the list. 5) A new window should appear saying that it is now safe to remove the USB drive. NOTE: If another window appears saying that the USB drive cannot be disconnected, then go back and make sure all programs and files on the USB drive are no longer running or being used.