How to transfer pictures from android phone to flash drive

You can use your Google Account or a USB cable to move photos, music, and other files between your computer and phone.

Option 1: Move files with your Google Account

Option 2: Move files with a USB cable

Windows computer

1. Unlock your phone.
2. With a USB cable, connect your phone to your computer.
3. On your phone, tap the "Charging this device via USB" notification.
4. Under "Use USB for," select File Transfer.
5. A file transfer window will open on your computer. Use it to drag files.
6. When you're done, eject your phone from Windows.
7. Unplug the USB cable.

Mac computer

Your computer must be using Mac OS X 10.5 and up.

1. Download and install Android File Transfer on your computer.
2. Open Android File Transfer. The next time that you connect your phone, it opens automatically.
3. Unlock your phone.
4. With a USB cable, connect your phone to your computer.
5. On your phone, tap the "Charging this device via USB" notification.
6. Under "Use USB for," select File Transfer.
7. An Android File Transfer window will open on your computer. Use it to drag files.
8. When you’re done, unplug the USB cable.

Chromebook

1. Unlock your phone.
2. With a USB cable, connect your phone to your Chromebook.
3. Unlock your phone.
4. On your phone, tap the "Charging this device via USB" notification.
5. Under "Use USB for," select File Transfer.
6. On your Chromebook, the Files app opens. Use it to drag files. Learn what file types work on Chromebooks.
7. When you're done, unplug the USB cable.

Troubleshoot moving files by USB

Windows computer

• Troubleshoot your computer
  • Check your computer’s settings to make sure that Windows automatically detects new hardware.
  • Restart your computer.
• Troubleshoot your phone
  • Update your Android version. Learn how to check and update your Android version.
  • Restart your phone. On most phones, press and hold the Power button for about 30 seconds, until your phone restarts.
• Troubleshoot your USB connections
  • Try a different USB cable. Not all USB cables can transfer files.
  • To test the USB port on your phone, connect your device to a different computer.
  • To test the USB port on your computer, connect a different device to your computer.

Mac computer

• Troubleshoot your computer
  • Check that your computer is using Mac OS X 10.5 and up.
  • Check that your computer has Android File Transfer installed and open.
  • Restart your computer.
• Troubleshoot your phone
  • Update your Android version. Learn how to check and update your Android version.
  • Restart your phone. On most phones, press and hold the Power button for about 30 seconds, until your phone restarts.
• Troubleshoot your USB connections
  • Try a different USB cable. Not all USB cables can transfer files.
  • To test the USB port on your phone, connect your phone to a different computer.
  • To test the USB port on your computer, connect a different device to your computer.

Related resources

• Find downloads on your phone
• Import contacts to your phone

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Storing your pictures in a USB flash drive is a viable idea to secure and share your pieces of precious memories and to free up some space on your phone. Most of us use a laptop or a desktop as a platform to connect a flash drive and a mobile phone. But you may not have access to your computer all the time or you may find it annoying to open up the computer each time. So, there’s a shortcut way to get rid of this antediluvian method. Let’s go ahead and we will walk you through the steps of how to transfer pictures from phone to flash drive directly.

Types of USB Flash drive connectors

Before going to put pictures inside the flash drive, you have to first figure out which type of USB port the flash drive can adapt. There are different types of USB flash drives commonly seen depending on the USB connector offered with it.

Most flash drives are designed with a single USB connector on one end and some of the flash-drives offer dual USB connector.  These dual connector models are commonly known as On-The-Go or OTG Flash drives. One end of a flash drive is always designed with a standard Type-A USB connector. If it is an OTG flash drive, the other end can be either a USB Type-C or a Micro-USB connector.

We will describe the method using Galaxy S10 or S10+ Phone. To back up the photos of this mobile to a usual USB thumb drive, we need to use a USB OTG Adapter or an OTG cable. In this case, the adapter is C type, you need to choose the type depending on the USB charging port of your phone. Let’s see how you can transfer the pictures to a flash drive using this method in four steps.

Step-1: Connect the USB Flash Drive

First, connect the OTG Adapter or an OTG cable into the USB port of your phone and you need to insert the USB flash drive into the OTG adapter as shown in the picture below. If the flash drive is of OTG type, you can connect it directly and no OTG adapter or cable will be needed. After it is connected to some devices you need to select “Transfer Files” from the notification bar to enable file transfer.

Step-2: Copy the Pictures

Next, you have to go to the mobile’s “File Manager” folder and go to a particular folder where the pictures you want to transfer are stored. For this instance, we will transfer photos from the “Camera” folder. There select the items you want to copy by tapping on them or select all if you want all the files to transfer. After that tap on the copy, the button below to copy them.

Step-3: Paste the Pictured Inside USB Flash Drive

Now you have to find the USB Flash drive storage folder in the file manager. Inside there if you don’t have made a folder for these pictures previously then you can make one by tapping on “Create folder” from the top-left three dots. After naming the new folder, the folder will be created and you just have to go inside it. Now to paste all the pictures copied tap on “Copy here” and all the files will be copied inside the new folder.

Step-4: Eject the Flash Drive

To safely remove the flash drive, it is wise to eject it from the phone. To do that, first, go to settings and find out “Device Maintenance” there. Next, go to the “Storage” and tap on the three dots on the top-left corner.

There, from the menu, select “Storage settings” and there you will see the connected external portable storage list. Tap on the arrow point on the right of “USB Drive” and it will be unmounted. Now when the phone notifies that the drive is safe to remove, you can remove it safely.

Wrap Up

It is not assured that your phone may not fail sometime and your precious photos can be lost forever. So, keeping the pictures inside a USB flash drive is always an apposite idea for making a backup. Also, this helps to share the pictures with others. In this article, we have discussed a compendious and alternative method of how to copy photos from the phone to flash drive without the help of a computer. If your flash drive is not OTG, all you will need is an OTG adapter or OTG cable to connect it with your phone.