When I plug my portable hard drive into my computer it flashes

The need to transfer files from one hard drive to another is common when restoring from backup, to make more room on a drive by archiving files or to copy or move files to a portable hard drive. Whether the destination drive is an installed second or third hard drive or is a portable hard drive, the procedure to transfer files from one hard drive to another remains the same.

Plug the destination hard drive into the computer if the drive is portable, and confirm that the computer has recognized the hard drive with a pop-up acknowledgment message. Click the "Start" button then click "Computer" or "My Computer," and then double-click on the icon of the hard drive that contains the files to be copied. When a window appears displaying the contents of the hard drive, navigate to the location of the files to be transferred. Click on each file to be transferred while holding down the "CTL" key to select all files to be copied. Right-click on one of the files that has been selected and click "Copy" in the menu that appears if you wish to leave a copy of the files on the hard drive, or click "Cut" in the menu that appears if you wish to move the files instead. Double-click on the icon of the destination hard drive in the "Computer" or "My Computer" window to display the contents of the hard drive in a new window. Navigate to the location on the hard drive where the files are to be saved. Double-click on the destination directory to open the directory and then right-click on blank space inside the directory window and click "Paste" on the menu that appears. A window will appear and display the status of the file transfer and disappear when the file transfer is completed. Hope this helps.

Cleaning a Flash Drive

Put the flash drive into your computer's USB port (assuming you have the proper driver loaded onto the computer). Go to "My Computer" and highlight the drive that shows up, right-click and select "Format." That'll wipe it completely clean.

Or, if you just want to remove the files, do the same thing but instead of formatting, just highlight the files and right-click to delete the file, pix, or whatever.

simply connect usb to the pc computer then click properties >> tools >> check now
and your usb will automatically reformated.

Please confirm that the drive is indeed plugged into the computer via a USB slot. If so, the installation process should be automatic via Plug n' Play.

When you plug in a removable drive, it generally appears as a new drive in My Computer. For instance, your system drive is C:\ while CD/DVD drives will generally be D:\. In that case, your portable hard-drive will probably be E:\ or a letter further down the alphabet. It doesn't hurt to try opening each drive listed in My Computer. Since you haven't used the portable hard-drive, it should be completely empty (no files or folders inside).

If you can't find it, perhaps security software is interfering. Try disabling any security software you might have installed then plugging in the drive. Afterward go to My Computer and follow the same method outlined above of opening each drive looking for one that is empty or has a few files in it that you've never seen before.

Let me know if I can help you further. However, as mentioned, Windows Vista should install the drive automatically. Afterward you simply have to find it in, "My Computer."

if it is working then why need to reformat?

try to back up your files first before you reformat it, just copy paste all the imporatnt data to a folder on your computer, after that you can now reformat your flash drive

It's a device known as a USB Flash Drive.

They are portable storage devices you can use to take files with you from place to place.

If you copy your documents to the flash drive, when you plug the flash drive in of a different computer, the files will be available to you on that system.

For example, I could take pictures of my trip to the Grand Canyon, copy them to a flash drive, then mail the flash drive to you and you would be able to see all of my pictures after you've inserted the flash drive into your pc.

To access the flash drive, insert it into you pc then double click on the my computer icon and you will see a drive letter assigned to the flash drive. The drive letter is "usually" F.

If your portable hard drive was set up as the "H" drive, go to My Computer (in Windows XP), or Computer (in VISTA), select your "H" drive and view your files (if there).

The mac computer should be able to read your Windows partition, but be warned that it will not work the other way around. There are many ways of moving the file, such as copying to a flash drive and plugging the flash drive into the Mac computer, or e-mailing the file to yourself.

When you will connect your PortAble Harddrive......

it will be shown as a new Drive in My Computer...

just open it and copy paste your required files...


regards,

run device manager and remove auknown device file..then restart the computer....