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Steps to Backup, Copy or Move Data Between Drives on Windows or macOS

Learn how to backup, copy and move data between drives on a Windows or macOS computer.*END

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Copy & Paste can be used to backup files to another drive. Keeping multiple copies of data on different drives will help to stop data loss and keep data safe. It can also be used to move files from one drive to another. Moving files from a computer to an external drive is not a backup unless there is a duplicate files stored on another device or location.


STOP Critical:

Using Cut & Paste or Move to transfer data to another drive is NOT RECOMMENDED! Any pause during this action can result in data loss. Use Copy to ensure the source data remains in place until the transfer completes. Make a backup of the data that was copied to the drive before deleting the source files.

Windows
 

Copy & Paste does a data copy, leaving the source data in place.
Drag & Drop does a data copy and leaves the source data in place. 
Cut & Paste does data move.
 

  1. Ensure the computer has access to both the source and target drive.
    Ensure the target drive has enough available free space to hold the amount of data to be copied.


     
  2. Type File Explorer in the Windows search box.
    Click the File Explorer Desktop App to open Windows File Explorer.



     
  3. Open the source drive in a File Explorer window.


     
  4. Go to the files and folders that will be transferred.
    Open the target drive in a different File Explorer window.
    Place the two windows side-by-side.


     
  5. Go to the location on the target drive the data will be transferred to.
    Copy & Paste or Drag & Drop the source data to the target drive.


     
  6. Allow the data transfer to complete successfully.


     

Need more help?  
 

macOS

 

Copy & Paste does a data copy, leaving the source data in place.
Drag & Drop does data move. 
Cut & Paste does data move.
 

  1. Ensure the computer has access to both the source and target drive.


     
  2. Ensure the target drive has enough available free space to hold the amount of data to be copied.
    Control-click on the drive.
    Click on Get Info to view Capacity and Available free space.


     
  3. Click Finder.
    Open the source drive in a Finder window.


     
  4. Go to the files and folders that will be transferred.


     
  5. Open the target drive in a different Finder window.
    Place the two windows side-by-side.
    Go to the location on the target drive the data will be transferred to.
    Copy & Paste the source data to the target drive.


     
  6. Allow the data transfer to complete successfully.


     
Need more help?
 

Backup Software Options
 

Windows File History Backup
 

File History is a backup tool of Windows 10 and 11. It will back up files and folders and such as documents, music, pictures.
 
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macOS Timemachine Backup
 

Time Machine can be used to backup files such as music, photos, documents.
 

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Third-Party Software


View the Use of Third-Party Software or Websites disclaimer.
Western Digital Support cannot help with third-party software or hardware.
 
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Details
Answer ID 18911
Published 08/20/2018 02:40 AM
Updated 12/07/2023 06:18 AM

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