The Flash Drives shown are BACKUP and TDK Trans-It
PREPARED BY
RICHARD NELSON
Revised 10.24.06
Note: In the instructions below when it says click it means left click
Electronic file folders contained on a computer Hard Drive (C:) or USB Flash Drive (F: G: H:) or a CD (D or E) are similar to cardboard folders contained in a physical file cabinet. Both cardboard folders and hard drive folders have a name and provide space for you to file your text or graphics documents. Windows software allows users to create new folders on a USB Flash drive just like on a hard drive (C:)
NOTE: USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. Also Hard Drives are frequently called a Local Disk.
USB FLASH DRIVE DESCRIPTION
USB Flash drives, also called USB Quick drives or thumb drives, or removable are a unique storage devise that has only been on the market since 2002. They come in various capacities from 32 MB to 16 GB. There cost is very reasonable from $10 for the smaller ones to $50 for the larger ones. They are an excellent way to back up your files and folders from your hard drive(C:) because they are used the same procedure as hard drives. They do not require any new software like burning CDs.
Physically they are small, about the size of a human thumb, that’s why they are sometimes called thumb drives. They are easily portable. Because they are small, they are easily lost so it is a good practice to use the necklace that comes in the package with many of them
HARD DRIVE FOLDERS
First a few words about hard drive folders, and then we will talk about Flash drive folders. When Windows software was installed on your computer it created at least one permanent folder called “My Documents”. The My Documents folder is the default folder when you do a “Save As” command for text documents. On the “Save As” dialog screen, you will see the My Documents folder in the “Save In” box. The purpose is to keep you from losing your documents, or crashing your computer if you don’t know what you are doing. You should be aware that the My Documents folder can be found under the C drive, on your Start Menu, on the Desktop or many other places. On my Windows XP computer, the My Documents folder is in the folder Documents and Settings, sub-subfolder Richard R Nelson. Notice that the icon for the My Documents is different from all the other folders. It has some files sticking out of the top. With Windows XP there are also default sub-sub-subfolders titled My Pictures, and My Music in the My Documents folder
THE HIERATICAL STRUCTURE
(Please see diagram attached)
The DESKTOP is considered to be at the top of a hieratical structure, and the My Computer folder is under the Desktop. Under the My Computer folder are all the storage folders like the hard drive (C:) (also called local drive (C:), and the removable storage devices like the CDs, Flash drives and/or Floppy drives.
The hard drive is called by several names like: C: or C:\ , Local Disk(C:), or Drive(C:).
Remember we said that the floppy disk drive is designated as A: In a similar manner the hard disk drive is designated as C: The B: drive at one time was another floppy drive, but became obsolete when the hard drive C: came into common usage. As you add storage devices they will become the (D:), (E:), or (F:), (G:), (H:), etc drives.
Normally you will create folders in the My Documents folder. These are actually subfolders because My Documents is a folder.
The C: can be found on your computer by left clicking on the MY COMPUTER icon on your desktop and then pecking the Enter key. (Other ways is to right click on the MY COMPUTER ICON, and then left click on Open, or double click on the MY COMPUTER ICON if you are good at double clicking) The contents of the C: drive can then be displayed by then clicking on the C: drive icon on the My Computer screen, and then pecking the Enter key. (Or again to right click on the MY COMPUTER ICON, and then left click on Open)
FINDING YOUR FLASH DRIVE
Flash drives usually get identified as Removable Disk (F:) or (G:) or (H:)., but they can have other names, You will be able to identify it by going into My Computer and you will see it on the displayed screen. For the purposes of this instruction we will call the Flash drive F.
They may also be titled Removable disk (F:) or other names like Travel drive, BACKUP, or TDK Transit. The My Computer icon can be found on your Desktop, or by clicking on the Master Start button in the lower left of your screen. Please see the My Computer Screen Display above
ADDING NEW FOLDERS ON YOUR FLASH DRIVE
Go to your Desktop, and Open the My Computer screen. Now open the Removable Disk by right clicking on it and then left clicking on Open. Go to the button that is titled “Make New Folder” and click, you will see the icon for a new folder. Without doing anything, type in a name for your new folder. Now click on the clear part of the screen. You have now made the new folder on the Flash Drive storage. To access the folder, right click on the folder icon and left click on Open
ADDING A NEW FOLDER TO YOUR FLASH DRIVE (Alternative way)
First you must be on your desktop. Now left click on the “My Computer” icon and then peck the Enter key. Then click on (F:) and peck the Enter key.
Now RIGHT click in the blank area and you will get a menu. On this menu click on “New” then click on “Folder’ on the next screen. You will now see an icon that says “new folder”. Without doing ANYTHING, type in a new name for the folder, and click in the blank area. You have created a new folder under the F: drive. There are other ways of creating folders by going into Windows Explorer and clicking on File>New>Folder. That will create a new folder. If you mess up on the folder name, right click on the folder and left click on “Rename”, then type in a new name.
ADDING A NEW FOLDER WHEN USING AN APPLICATIONS PROGRAM
This is called “On the fly”
Start MS Word, and create your document. Now click on File on the Menu bar, and then click Save As.
On the “Save As” screen, you will see a line that says “Save In”. If F: is not in the Save In box, click on the little down arrow at the end of the box and select Drive (F:), or Remote disk (F:), or (F) something.
You will see a little icon that looks like a folder with a light in the upper right corner on the same line with “Save In”. Put you mouse arrow on the middle of this icon and a banner will drop down and it will say “Create New Folder”. Click on that icon and you will get a dialog box titled CREATE NEW FOLDER
Type a name in the space provided and click the OK button.
A new folder will appear ready for you to save a document in it.
WARNING!
It is possible to create a new folder under other folders. They are called subfolders. Be careful that when you go into the “Save As” dialog screen that it says E: in the “Save In” box before you create a new folder. You could have another folder there, and if you add a new folder it will create a subfolder and that may not be desirable. It is best to stick to just one level of subfolders.
RENAMING FOLDERS
If you messed up on the folder name, RIGHT click on the new folder and left click on “Rename”, and type in a new name
In order to locate folders and/or files on your Flash drive, click on the Master Start button on the Task Bar on the lower left of your screen. It is always there.
Now click on Find or Search
Type in the folder or file you are trying to locate.
Then click the appropriate button to start the process. This may take several minutes.
When you see the one you want click on it and peck the Enter key.
It is extremely easy to delete folders, so be very sure that the folder is empty before you delete or that everything in the folder is no longer wanted.
Here is a way to delete a folder directly on the E: drive without starting an application like Word..
First you must be on your desktop. Now click on the “My Computer” icon and then peck the Enter key. Then click on (F:) and peck the Enter key.
Find the folder you want to delete and RIGHT click on it. You will get a menu. Left click on “Delete” it will ask you if you really want to delete the folder. Click on Yes.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you are deleting folders from the C: drive it puts the deleted folder in the “Recycle bin” and removes it from the location were it appeared. If you deleted it by accident, you can find it in the Recycle bin and can restore it, by right clicking on it and then left click on “Restore”
BUT! THAT IS NOT TRUE FOR A FOLDER DELETED FROM A FLASH DRIVE. IT IS GONE FOREVER!
COPYING FOLDERS FROM YOUR HARD DRIVE (C ) TO YOUR FLASH DRIVE (F )
One of the most valuable ways to use your Flash drive is to use it to back up folders on your hard drive. And it is very easy to do this if you know how. In this exercise the Flash drive is the F drive.
We are going to use the drag and drop technique to do this.
DRAG AND DROPPING FROM THE LOCAL DISK C TO THE FLASH DRIVE F
First open your My Computer screen by right clicking on the Icon, then left clicking on Open.. You will see the icons for both your Local Disk C: drive and F: drives on the screen. . Open the C drive by right clicking and left clicking on Open. Drag it to the right side of you monitor screen by putting your mouse on the Title Bar and holding down the left button and moving the frame to the right of the screen. Now go back to your Desktop and open the My Computer screen again and open your Flash drive F. And drag it to the left side of you monitor screen, again dragging it from the Title Bar. You should now have both the C: drive frame and the Flash drive F frame on your monitor screen.
TILE WINDOWS VERTICAL
Now we are going to tile the two frames vertically which will put the two frames next to each other on the screen for easy access. Find a spot on your Task Tray that is open. Right click on it. You will get a menu. Left click on “Tile Window Vertically”. That will put the two frames one on one side and the other on the other side of your monitor screen. .
DRAGGING AND DROPPING OPERATION
On the C: drive frame scroll the screen up and down with your mouse wheel until you find the folder you want to drag over to the Flash drive on the other frame. Once you have located the folder put you mouse arrow on it and hold down the left mouse button and drag the folder over to the other frame and drop it in an empty place on the Flash drive F.. That will put a copy of that folder on your Flash drive. You will see the computer doing this operation.
DRAGGING AND DROPPING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION
It may be obvious but I have to tell you that you can also drag and drop in the opposite direction that is from the flash drive to the local drive and of course from a flash drive to a CD. Try it!
DETERMINING HOW MUCH OF YOUR FLASH DRIVE YOU HAVE USED
Since Flash drives have a limited capacity it is necessary once in awhile to look at how much is being used compared to how much is spare.
Open you My Computer Icon. On the screen RIGHT click on the F drive icon. On the next screen, click on Properties. Under the “General” tab, you should see a display showing how much is used and how much is spare.
CHECKING WHAT IS ON YOUR FLASH DRIVE
If you want to see what is on your Flash drive right click on the identifier when you are in My Computer and then left click on Open.
PLUGGING AND UNPLUGGING FLASH DRIVES
IT IS BEST TO PLUG AND UNPLUG FLASH DRIVES WHEN YOUR COMPUTER IS TURNED OFF. However with Windows XP you can plug and unplug them when the computer is on if you follow the correct procedure, particularly when unplugging. Look for an icon in the right tray of the Task bar (System Tray) and click on it and then follow instructions.
DRAG AND DROPPING FROM THE LOCAL DRIVE or FLASH DRIVE TO THE CD DRIVE
You can do the same operation dragging and dropping a file or folder from either the local disk C to the CD drive, or the Flash drive to the CD. In the instructions below, we will open the local drive C: and the CD drive D: But the procedure for dragging and dropping from the Flash drive to the CD drive is exactly the same. Instead of opening the C drive you would open the Flash drive. Note: the word drive and disk are frequently interchanged in these and other instructions.
DRAG AND DROPPING FROM THE LOCAL DISK C TO THE CD drive (E:)
Put a blank CD-R in the CD drawer (drive E) it is the drawer that says DVD on the front.
Then open your My Computer screen by right clicking on the Icon, then left clicking on Open.. You will see the icons for your Local Disk C: drive and the D: drives and the on the screen. . Open the C drive by right clicking and left clicking on Open. Reduce its size and then drag it to the right side of you monitor screen. Now go back to your Desktop and open the My Computer screen again and open your CD drive D: Again reduce it if necessary and drag it to the left side of you monitor screen. You should now have both the C: drive frame and the CD drive frames on your monitor screen.
TILE WINDOWS VERTICAL
Now we are going to tile the two frames vertically which will put the two frames next to each other on the screen for easy access. Find a spot on your Task Tray that is open. Right click on it. You will get a menu. Left click on “Tile Window Vertically”. That will put the two frames one on one side and the other on the other side of your monitor screen. .
THE DRAGGING AND DROPPING OPERATION
On the C: drive frame scroll the screen up and down with your mouse wheel until you find the folder you want to drag over to the CD drive on the other frame. Once you have located the folder put you mouse arrow on it and hold down the left mouse button and drag the folder over to the other frame and drop it in an empty place on the CD drive D.. That will put a copy of that folder on your Flash drive. You will see the computer doing this operation. Now you will have to burn it to the CD
BURNING (WRITING) TO THE CD
On the CD Drive(C:) frame you will see in the upper part it says “Files Ready to be Written to the CD”. Just below those words you will see and icon of the file or folder you just dragged and dropped.
On the left of this frame there is another frame titled “CD Writing Tasks” on the header, and below are some actions you can take. You want to click on the action that says “Write the Files to the CD. So click on that.
The CD Writing Wizard software will now show up on the screen.. You will be requested to type in a name for the file of folder you are going to burn. So do it type in a name it probably shoud be the same name as the file or folder you just dragged over . leave the check in the box that says “Close the Wizard after the files have been written”.
Click on the Next button. You will see the progress bar and a time estimate of how long it will take to write the files or folder to the CD. When the writing (burning) is done the CD drawer will usually pop out with the CD in it. Close all the frames on the monitor display.
CHECKING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED
Close the CD drawer and wait a few seconds. Usually the results will be displayed on the screen automatically. If not, open the CD by opening the My Computer icon. You should now see the file or folder you dragged and dropped to the CD. If you dragged a folder with file in it, open the folder and then open one of the files. You will see that it is a read only file. That means you cannot change it in its current read only format. But you can “save as” this file to some other storage device and then make changes.
SAVING A READ ONLY FILE
With the read only file open on your screen, go up to the Menu bar and click on File and then on Save As. now you will have to save it to a different storage device. So choose a different device and save it. Now you can make changes to the document because it is no longer a read only file.
WARNING
THE PROCEDURE FOR BURNING ON COMPUTERS RUNNING WINDOWS XP HOME IS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM COMPUTERS RUNNING WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL. PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS! THE INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE ARE FOR COMPUTERS RUNNING THE HOME VERSION.
