Setting up and using Seagate 1T ext hard drive

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I have a new Seagate 1T that I got to save space on my HP Laptop (Win10 last update 7/28/22). Are the directions for file transferring I found at LifeWire good? It sounds pretty simple which is great for this granny If you have other tips, etc. please let me know.

Thanks!

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No the directions are not good.

Do NOT use File History.

Get a 3rd party backup app (free or paid) and make an image backup to the external disk.
Then make regular data backups to the external disk of your documents and pictures, using the File backup option in the backup app.
See this Backup thread

cheers, Paul

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Thanks, PaulT! I have Macrium Free but found it a bit confusing. Is Paragon still a good option?

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Macrium is not for ordinary folk IMO – too techy.
Give Paragon a whirl and see if it works for you. Let us know.

cheers, Paul

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Yes, Macrium has too many bells and whistles for this grannie. I’ll try out Paragon. Also, hooray, files and folders are now on my Seagate. It was really pretty simple. But a full system backup would be good to have on it too. So as written I’ll try out Paragon. Thanks again!

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Based on the way you describe it, what you seek to do is to off-load files from the laptop (erasing them from there once you’re done) rather than to make backup copies of what you have on the laptop.

If moving files is what you wish to do, then the instructions on the LifeWire page you gave won’t work for you. Those instructions will work well if you want to back up stuff on the laptop onto the Seagate external drive, but they will leave on the laptop everything that you copied over.

If you simply want to make more room on the laptop but without losing any files, then your best bet is to manually copy the files that you want to off-load over to the Seagate. One way to do this is to open two File Explorer Windows, shift them around the monitor screen so that you can see both of them at the same time, and then navigate one of them to show you the contents of the Seagate drive. (Since you just bought it, there shouldn’t be much of anything there, possibly a backup program of some sort that you can ignore for your purposes.)

Then, in the other File Explorer window, go in turn to each of the files or folders that you want to copy over to the Seagate. As you find each file/folder, right-click on it with your mouse and then select “Copy” from the context menu that pops up. Next, go back to the Explorer window showing the Seagate, right-click on a blank area in the big panel on the right, and then select “Paste” (but not “Paste shortcut”!!) from the context menu. The name of the file or folder that you copied should soon appear on the Seagate.

Do this with every file or folder that you want to move off the laptop.

There are other ways to copy files over, but if you’re not experienced with computers this is the easiest method.

At some point, you’ll want to delete the files/folders from the laptop to actually free up the space on its internal drive. This could get tedious depending on how many different files you wish to copy over. So if you feel comfortable using the mouse, a quicker way to move files to the Seagate, while at the same time deleting them from the laptop, is to right-click on each file/folder you want to move, then while keeping the button pressed, drag the file (move the mouse pointer) to the Explorer window showing the Seagate and then, in the context menu that appears, selecting the second option, “Move here”.

Don’t hesitate to ask if anything is unclear. Good luck!

 

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Thanks Cybertooth! Your directions were clear as a bell. Sorry that I was unclear with my original post. I just want to make copies of my files onto the ext hard drive, not delete them.

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Cybertooth

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Run TreeSize free to find the files that take up the most space. You may find files that can be deleted without moving files off the laptop.

cheers, Paul

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grams

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If you delete files from the laptop which have been copied to the Seagate, they are no longer backed up. If they’re important, you need to back up the Seagate drive. It all depends how important these files are to you.

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grams

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