Q&A for How to Use a USB Flash Drive

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What should I do if the USB doesn't show up on the computer?

Chiara Corsaro
Phone & Computer Repair Technician
Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. macVolks, Inc. was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN).

Chiara Corsaro

Phone & Computer Repair Technician

Expert Answer

It never hurts to try multiple ports. Ports get damaged all the time and your computer almost certainly has multiple USB ports, so I'd give that a shot first.

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Question

How do I get my flash drive to work?

Chiara Corsaro
Phone & Computer Repair Technician
Chiara Corsaro is the General Manager and Apple Certified Mac & iOS Technician for macVolks, Inc., an Apple Authorized Service Provider located in the San Francisco Bay Area. macVolks, Inc. was founded in 1990, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with an A+ rating, and is part of the Apple Consultants Network (ACN).

Chiara Corsaro

Phone & Computer Repair Technician

Expert Answer

If you can't access your flash drive and it's plugged in, it's possible that it's not compatible with your system. This often happens with Apple devices, there's an adapter that you'll often to need to connect certain kinds of drives to your computer.

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Question

If my usb flash drive has content on it already, when I plug it in to re use it, will it copy over whats there already?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Not automatically. If you want to copy files from your USB flash drive, just right-click the files in your file manager (File Explorer or Finder) and select "Copy". Next, go to the folder you want to paste them to. Right-click an empty space and select "Paste." If you have 2 windows of your file manager open, you can drag and drop the files to move them off your USB flash drive and to your computer.

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Question

Can I delete files on a flash drive?

Community Answer

Yes. Start by right clicking the drive, and then clicking on "format" or "open" the drive. Right click on the file you wish to delete, and click on "delete."

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Can I erase a flash drive?

Community Answer

Yes, quite easily. Sometimes you can right click on the drive or you can right click on the contents of the drive and an option to delete should appear.

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How can I copy email files onto a flash drive?

Community Answer

Download the file onto the desktop or storage place of your choice. Then, locate the folder where the flash drive is. Once you have found these things, just drag and drop to the drive.

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Question

After data is input into a flash drive, how do you input the flash drive data into another computer?

Community Answer

After the data is transferred to the drive, eject and remove the drive from the port. After that, plug it into the other computer, open the drive, and drag and drop to the desired location.

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Can I move pictures from my iphone6 to my computer?

Community Answer

Yes. Connect your phone to your computer with a USB cord, and you should be able to view and save the pictures to your computer.

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Will a USB 3 drive work on a USB 2 port?

Community Answer

Yes, but it will not transfer files at high speed.

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Question

How can I delete everything on my USB drive?

Community Answer

Press Control and hold it down as you click each item you would like to delete. This selects them all. Next, let go of control and right click. The option to delete can be clicked and will erase all the files you selected.

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Question

Can you reuse a flash drive?

Community Answer

Yes, the flash drive is a reusable device. You can disconnect and connect it to the same or different devices as many times as you like. You can also copy files to it and delete files from it as many times as you want.

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Question

Can I download short videos on a flash drive to show on a different laptop?

Community Answer

Yes. You simply open the flash drive and copy or cut and paste wait for the conversations if you copy. When you disconnect, make sure that your computer says it is safe to remove.

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Question

How can it be used on an Apple Air iPad?

Community Answer

It can't because iPads don't have the right places to connect it to, otherwise they'd be too big. If you need to, you can buy a USB converter that you can plug into the charger.

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Question

Can I transfer all the data on D drive to a USB?

Community Answer

There are two ways and if one doesn't work, then choose the other. 1. Put your mouse over D drive click and drag it over to the icon that has the USB you are trying to get it on. 2. Open drive D, copy all media and documents (ctrl+a) and open the USB and go to the desired folder and paste (left click + click on paste).

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Question

Can I add or edit what is on a flash drive?

Community Answer

Yes. Just move and remove your files on your flash drive as if it were a normal folder. Once you are done, just unplug the flash drive.

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Question

How long does a USB flash drive usually last?

Community Answer

It can last years unless the drivers are not updated anymore and you don't drop it a lot.

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Question

How do I view the information and pictures on the flash drive?

Community Answer

Connect the flash drive to a computer and open the flash drive file on the computer. Then, you can access your files like you can any other files on the device.

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Question

My flash drive won't automatically add new documents when I put the flash drive into the port. What can I do?

Community Answer

It depends on the OS (Operating System) you are running. Sometimes, they will require you to manually boot your flash drive. When you are doing it manually, an option should pop up. Click on it, and it should say something along the line of "installing the proper requirements for the flash drive." Hit "Okay" and it should install the flash drive materials. Your flash drive should work just fine after that.

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Question

How do I charge my iPad with a USB?

Community Answer

You cannot charge an iPad with a USB flash drive. You also cannot plug a USB flash drive into your iPad because it doesn't have the right ports.

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Question

Can I install or remove flash drive when the computer is on?

Community Answer

Yes, right click the flash drive's icon and click eject. Your computer will tell you when it's safe to remove the flash drive.

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What should I do before removing the flash drive from a Mac?

Community Answer

Go into your flash drive and press the left button on your mouse. It will say eject. Click it, and then remove the flash drive.

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Question

How do I use a flash drive on Linux?

Community Answer

Using a flash drive on Linux is pretty much the same as it is on Windows. Just follow the steps outlined above.

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Question

How can I connect a USB into any Android phone?

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Community Answer

You would need to buy a female USB to micro USB adapter at any store that sells electronics or accessories for electronics.

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Question

Can I free space on my computer with a partial amount of space on my flash drive?

Community Answer

Sure. You could keep your flash drive plugged in, move some of your files there (documents, pictures, etc.), and set that as the associated programs' default file location.

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Question

Whatever I download onto my flash drive from my old laptop, can I just plug it into the new laptop and load all my files?

Community Answer

Yes, you will always be able to do so, but installation or app files probably won't work if you're trying to transfer them between a Mac and PC (or vice versa).

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Question

To reset a password on the computer, it says I need to plug it into the flash drive?

Community Answer

It sounds like you're trying to make a password reset disk, which makes a USB drive like a key that you can use to reset the password if you forgot it.

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Question

Is a flash drive wiped clean by a battery?

Community Answer

No, a flash drive doesn't use magnetic storage, like the HDD of a PC does (which, by the way, is not erased by a battery either, only by a strong magnet). A flash drive uses flash memory (which is why it is called a flash drive), and is immune to magnetism and, to an extent, to kinetic energy (i.e., being dropped).

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How do I put photos from I phone onto a flash drive?

Community Answer

Phones don't usually have USB drives so you will have to buy an adapter or copy images to a computer and then use the flash drive.

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Question

Where do I find out how much space I have left on the flash drive?

Community Answer

Connect the flash drive to your PC or laptop. Open the file explorer and choose "This PC." All the connected drives, including your USB stick, are shown with their total capacity and free storage space.

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Question

Can I use a USB flash drive to move documents & pictures between computers? The old computer is Windows 7, the new one is Windows 10.

Community Answer

Yes, you can. Just copy the files that you want onto the flash drive using the steps above, then plug the device into the new computer. After that, select and copy the files to whatever folder you want to.

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