How to copy hard drive with video to another empty hard drive ?

Question

Hello,

I would like to copy all videos from my hard drive to another

empty hard drive for safety.

This person may lose this hard drive and so I have a copy to help.

Please lt me know how to proceed.

Thank you

Answer 1

Hi Josiane Hird-Moorhouse,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand you would like to safely copy all video files from one hard drive to another empty hard drive and you are concerned about missing any files.

Please make sure you already tried the Q&A Assist steps. In addition, to help narrow this down before proceeding, could you please confirm:

1. Are the videos spread across multiple folders or drives, or stored in a single location?
2. Is the destination hard drive an external USB drive or a second internal drive?

In the meantime, you can try these steps:

1. Connect the destination hard drive and confirm it appears under This PC in File Explorer.
2. Open File Explorer and select This PC to search across the entire source drive.
3. Use the search box and type kind:video, then press Enter to list all video files on that drive.
4. Press Ctrl + A to select all listed videos, then right-click and choose Copy.
5. Open the destination hard drive, right-click in an empty area, and select Paste.
6. After the copy completes, sort the destination folder by file size or date to verify all videos are present.

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Answer 2

Hello, let me confirm, do you have any additional requirements?

If you simply need to copy files to the target disk, you just need to right-click on your files, select "Copy," and then right-click on the new disk and select "Paste."

Answer 3

To copy all videos from one hard drive to another empty hard drive in Windows, you can follow these general steps:

1. Connect the New Hard Drive: Make sure the new hard drive is properly connected to your computer. If it's an external drive, plug it into a USB port. If it's an internal drive, ensure it is installed correctly and recognized by the system.
2. Open File Explorer: Press Windows + E to open File Explorer.
3. Locate Your Videos: Navigate to the folder on your original hard drive where your videos are stored. This is typically in the Videos folder or wherever you have saved them.
4. Select the Videos: Click to select the videos you want to copy. You can hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple files or use Ctrl + A to select all files in the folder.
5. Copy the Videos: Right-click on the selected files and choose Copy from the context menu, or press Ctrl + C on your keyboard.
6. Navigate to the New Hard Drive: In File Explorer, find your new hard drive listed under "This PC". Click on it to open.
7. Paste the Videos: Right-click in the new hard drive's window and select Paste, or press Ctrl + V on your keyboard. This will start copying the videos to the new hard drive.
8. Verify the Copy: Once the copying process is complete, check the new hard drive to ensure all videos have been copied successfully.

By following these steps, you can create a backup of your videos on another hard drive for safety.