Digital Photo Storage, Picture Storage, Photo Backup | PhotoStorageGuide.com | How to Backup Your Photos to a USB Flash Drive

What you need

Your computer with an open USB port
A USB flash drive with a capacity large enough to hold your files 

Before you begin

Make sure all of your photos are stored in the “My Pictures”  or "Pictures" folder on your computer. You may want to organize them into subfolders by year or person. 

    1.   Insert the flash drive into an open USB port of your computer. You should get a dialog box in the lower right of your screen "New Hardware Found", and a new drive letter should open. (You will get the dialog box the first time you use the drive. Upon subsequent insertions, only the new drive letter will appear.) 
 

    2.   With the drive window still open, search and find the "My Pictures" or "Pictures" folder on your hard drive.

    3.   Drag and drop the "My Pictures" or "Pictures" folder to the USB drive letter and the copy process will begin.

     4.   Verify the files on the drive by viewing them, or take the drive to another computer. Stop - Learn how to safely remove your flash drive!

    5.   Label the USB drive and store it in a safe place. Or, since USB flash drives are the most portable storage devices available, burn multiple drives and share your photos with family and friends.

    6.   Put a monthly reminder on your calendar to perform regular backups.

    7.   To reuse the drive, simply perform this process again. You will get a dialog box warning you that the folders already exist. Just click "Yes to All" to copy over the old files.