How to Copy a Program to Another Hard Drive

It is very easy to copy or transfer a program stored on your main computer to another hard drive. Once you've copied the program to an external hard drive, you can then copy it from the hard drive to another computer. You can also copy a program from one external hard drive to another using a main computer as a go-between.

Things You'll Need

• External hard drive(s) with USB cable(s)

Instructions

1. Connect the extra hard drive to your main computer using a USB cable; the hard drive should come with its own cable. You'll need an open USB port on the computer for each hard drive you are connecting.

2. Locate the hard drive you connected to the computer. On a Mac, it will appear as a hard drive icon on the desktop. On a Windows PC, go to "Computer" or "My Computer" and look for the icon with the hard drive's name.

3. Find the program that you want to transfer to the hard drive. If it's on the main computer, look for it on the desktop or whichever folder it's stored in. If it's on another hard drive you connected, open a window for that drive and search for the program there.

4. Click on the program's icon once, hold down on the mouse button and drag the icon onto the hard drive's icon to copy it.

5. Disconnect the hard drive after copying the program and connect it to a second computer to copy the program to that computer. Open the hard drive window and drag the program onto that computer's desktop.

Tips & Warnings

• If the program is stored in its own folder, copy the entire folder to the hard drive as it likely contains other files the program needs.

• If you have a Windows PC and don't want the program on the original hard drive, right-click the program, drag it to the other drive and select the "Move" option in the dialog box that appears. On a Mac, drag the original copy to the Trash after copying it.

• Always drag a Mac's extra hard drive to the Trash before you disconnect it from the machine.

References

• Microsoft: Back up your files