From the course: Working with Computers and Devices

Add external storage to a computer

From the course: Working with Computers and Devices

Add external storage to a computer

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- Another common device you'll most likely use at some point or another is an external hard drive or storage device. An external drive can be a simple flash or thumb drive like this one. These typically plug into your computer's USB port, and you can get them in a variety of capacities depending on how much storage space you need. But for significantly more storage space, you'll have to go with an external hard drive like this one. These can also connect to your computer via USB. You'll do need to be aware of the type of USB connector that the drive uses though. Many drives still use the older standard USB connector while newer drives use what's known as USB-C. You'll have to make sure that drives connector is compatible with the USB ports on your computer. If they're not compatible, you'll need an adapter or a different drive. Larger external drives often require that you plug them into their own power outlet as well. Although you will find some models that are powered through the USB port. But using an external hard drive or a thumb drive is simply a matter of plugging it into your computer. After a moment, you should see an alert appear to determine what to do with the external drive. I'll click that alert. And basically windows is asking what you want to do with this storage device as detected. To view the contents of the drive, choose Open folder to view files. And now we're seeing the contents of the drive I plugged into my PC. Now, if the AutoPlay window didn't show up, your preferences might have been changed. To check your preferences, go to the Start menu, Settings, select Devices, and select AutoPlay. And here makes sure Use AutoPlay for all media and devices is switched on.

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