[PTSUPERD]

Ok. I have quite a bit of pics stored on my old desktop. These are irreplaceable family pics that I can not lose.

What is the easiest way? Can I just go buy a 8 GB usb flash drive and move the files onto it .... and then copy to the new computer?

 

[crowz]

Well if your machine has a dvd burner you can burn the pics to a disc or you can move them with the 8gb stick. Most people pics are about 1/2 a gig so the 8 gb is fine for moving or copying them. But Id burn a disc of them for long term storage.

 

[91blackshortbus]

I'd just buy an external hard drive, you can get one for 50-100 bucks. That way you can have all of your stuff with you wherever you go. But I would also burn a dvd of them as well, as that can never crash.

 

[TXstroker01]

Either that or buy a pallet of floppy disks...

If you have all of your pics/vids under one main folder (if they're not, you can put them into one), you can right-click -> properties to determine how much disk space they're taking up. That'll tell help you determine what your needs are. You can use any storage media you choose to transfer them.

CDs hold about 750MB, DVDs about 4GB, and you can find flash drives of all sizes. The first two options are the cheapest, and the third can vary depending on the size, but in the ~$20 and under range for most. A fourth option is the external hard drive, which are pretty cheap these days (~$50 and under for a USB-powered 320GB) which can be used for large file transfers, extra storage, and/or long-term back-up.

 

[Arisley]

Or you can hook up a home network. Share the drives where the pics are at and move them directly over the network.

Probably easier to use a jump drive. And for sure back them up to DVD. I learned the hard way about losing pics off a hard drive.

 

[Goose]

Network sharing FTW! but I would also back them up on a disc.

 

[Arisley]

My wife is convinced it is magic when something new just appears on her desktop.

 

[TERRCO]

Most people pics are about 1/2 a gig

Those are some dam big pics.

 

[PTSUPERD]

Well....I bought a sandisk 8gb flash. I plugged in and it lights up, but the computer is not showing it. any suggestions?

XP minimum was a requirement which this pc has.

I do plan on backing them up to cd once they are transferred to the other machine.

 

[02BigD]

Unplug and open up "My Computer" Plug it back in, something should change and that drive should be added on the listed plug ins.

 

[91blackshortbus]

not even under my computer? Plug it into the new computer and see if it works.

 

[PTSUPERD]

Still nothing. I have a 32g Itouch that it does recognize. Would it mess anything up copying to that?

 

[02BigD]

You won't mess anything up as long as you just copy the pics over and not "cut & paste". Then if something bad happens durring the transfer you still have originals on the computer.

Really strange that it's not seeing the flash drive. Is the computer hooked to the net? Sometimes windows goes out on the net to find out what a device is that was just plugged into it, all behind the scenes so to speak.

 

[Arisley]

Sometimes if you have some other remote drives hooked up and using a certain drive letter, you have to go into disk management and reassign the drive letter so that it will see it and display it in explorer.

 

[crowz]

Not all flash drives work with all machines/version of windows. Most people dont run into that but Ive bought so many of the things I see it quite often.

First try another usb port. Then try another machine. If it shows up fine on one machine but not the other after trying all usb ports on the problem machine then your going to need another drive. For pictures the smallest usb thumb drive you can get will work fine. Even if you have tons of pics its not likely to even be enough to fill up a 1 gig flash drive.

As for those mentioning him going with an external hard drive Im not a fan of those compared to a flash drive for pics and stuff. Its to big to justify for starters and they are fragile. Drop a flash drive and its fine, drop an external drive and you lose everything.

 

[crowz]

Sometimes if you have some other remote drives hooked up and using a certain drive letter, you have to go into disk management and reassign the drive letter so that it will see it and display it in explorer.

Ive seen that too. Usually you check the safely remove hardware icon down by the clock to see if the machine see's the drive. If it does and there isnt a drive letter then right click on the my computer icon and choose manage then choose disk management from the tree side of the box that appears. Now find the sansdisk or whatever your usb drive is called in the list. Right click on it and change or set the drive letter to a non used letter and it will appear in the my computer window.

But if nothings happening when you plug the usb drive in thats not likely to be the problem.

 

[Arisley]

True. I have had to go in and remove the USB ports in hardware manager, reboot and let them reinstall.

You can just pull your old HD out. Stick it in your new machine. Move pics and all other documents over. Then remove the old HD.

 

[PTSUPERD]

Ya...No dice. I think the computer doesnt like sandisk. I just realized I have a nice little sandisk mp3 player that also plugs into the usb player (like a jump drive) that I thought was junk. Probably is just fine.

I'm just gonna go buy some CD/Rw discs after work and burn them to disc.

 

[crowz]

Thats probably the best solution.

 

[PTSUPERD]

Thats probably the best solution.

I might end up sending the computer to you bud. If you have time to fool with it. (clean it up like you did my little notebook)