How to Copy a C Drive to a Portable Hard Drive

You need a portable hard drive that will store all of the information on the main hard drive.

Copying the C drive, known as "Local Disk (C:)," which is the main hard drive in your computer, is a great way to protect all of the information on the hard drive in case it fails or you accidentally delete some of the information on it. Copying an entire hard drive to another storage device is also known as "backing up." There are many different ways to back up the data on a hard drive.

Instructions

1. Connect the portable hard drive to the computer. Click on the "My Computer" shortcut on the desktop and then open "Local Disk (C:)."

2. Highlight all of the data in the hard drive by pressing the Ctrl and A keys simultaneously. Right-click the data and select "Copy."

3. Revert to "My Computer" and access the portable hard drive. Press the Ctrl and V keys to transfer all of the data from the main hard drive to the portable hard drive. Do not access any of the files or programs on the main hard drive while they are copying as that will disrupt the process.

References

• University of Wisconsin: Cut, Copy, and Paste