Tag: copy photos

How to Move Photos to Hard Drive

Frequently people ask me how to move their photos from the SD card to their hard drive. Variations include “how to copy photos from memory stick to computer”, “how to move photos from CF card to hard drive”, etc. The basic idea is taking the photos off the camera’s card and putting them on the computer’s hard drive.

Step 1: Plug your card into the computer using a card reader or the slot in your computer. SUGGESTION: Buy a card reader that plugs into your computer. Different cameras use different cards. A card reader might have five slots for different types of cards. These gadgets are always handy to have.

Step 2: Once your card is plugged into your computer you’ll get an icon that looks like this on your desktop.

Open a Finder window. Click on the Hard Drive destination for the photos. I have a folder called “My Picture” on my Hard Drive. That’s where I put all my pictures.
Open a second Finder window. (Right click on Finder and select “New Finder Window”.) Double click on the EOS_Digital and you’ll see a DCIM folder. Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Olympus will call the card something else but everyone has a DCIM folder.
Double click on the DCIM folder to open it. Double click on the folder containing your photos. In the example above, Canon calls the folder 100EOSR6.
You’ll see your photos. The example above is in List view. Notice the date I took the photo is under Date Modified. A correct date and time in your camera will give the correct information here. Select the photos you’d like to move or copy. They will be highlighted in blue. (Note shown here)
Click on your first Finder window. (Click up by the words My Pictures to do this.) Click the icon show above and select New Folder. We’re going to make a new folder for your photos. Name the folder something that makes sense to you. Use the date, location, subject, etc.
Once you’ve made the folder, double click to open it.
Click on the folder you made for the photos. With the folder open, click on the second Finder window. The photos you selected earlier will turn blue. Click and drag the photos into the new folder. If click and drag is hard for you, use copy and paste. Those are found in the Edit menu at the top left.

I hope this helps. Post any questions below. Yes, I know there are other ways to do this. This blog illustrates my method.