If you'd like to re-create files to a USB wink drive on a Mac so you can transfer them to another machine or back them up, it's easy to practice using Finder in macOS. Hither'south how.

Copy Files on a Mac Using Finder

First, plug your USB wink drive into an bachelor USB port on your Mac. Give your Mac a moment to recognize it and brand it available in Finder. (We're going to assume that the bulldoze has already been properly formatted to work with a Mac.)

RELATED: How to Erase and Format a USB Drive on Your Mac

Adjacent, click the Finder icon in your dock to bring Finder to the foreground. Finder is your Mac's congenital-in application for treatment files, and it's always running.

In a Finder window, wait in the sidebar on the left side of the window. (If you tin can't see the sidebar, select View > Evidence Sidebar from Finder's carte bar at the tiptop of the screen.)

If your USB drive has been recognized, it will be listed in that location in the "Location" section. In our example, the drive is named "Mac Transfer," merely it could be named anything. You lot'll know that it'south a removable bulldoze because it will have a tiny "eject" icon beside it.

Locating the USB Flash drive in your Finder sidebar.

Tip: You lot can also bank check whether your computer has recognized your USB bulldoze in Finder by choosing Go > Calculator from the menu bar. If it'southward connected properly, you'll see an icon for the drive at that place.

Next, using a Finder window, scan to the location of the files that you lot'd like to copy to the USB flash drive. When you locate them, drag them to the USB wink bulldoze proper noun in your sidebar.

Drag files onto the USB flash drive's name in your Finder sidebar.

After dragging the item or items to the drive in the sidebar, you'll see a copy progress indicator window. This window gives yous an estimate of how long it volition take to finish the copy process.

If you need to cancel the copy functioning earlier it completes, click the tiny "X" in a circumvolve. Otherwise, merely let the procedure finish.

The macOS copy progress indicator.

After that, click the proper noun of the USB flash bulldoze in your sidebar, and yous'll run across the contents of the USB flash drive. If the copy procedure finished properly, the items that you just copied volition be listed at that place.

Click the USB flash drive in the sidebar and you'll see the files you copied.

With this window open up, you lot tin also open up a 2nd Finder window (by clicking File > New Finder Window or pressing Command+Northward) and drag files from it into your USB flash bulldoze window. They will be copied just like with the method above.

RELATED: How to Open Finder with a Keyboard Shortcut on Mac

Other Ways to Copy Files on a Mac

At that place are many unlike ways to re-create files to a USB drive on your Mac—nosotros just showed you one of the easiest. Here are a few other methods that you might want to effort.

  • Re-create and Paste: Select a file, folder, or group of files, and so right-click. In the menu that pops up, select "Re-create." So navigate to the USB bulldoze in Finder, right-click in an open area and select "Paste Particular." The items will copy to the bulldoze. You lot can also use the "Copy" and "Paste" commands in Finder's Edit menu to do this instead of right-clicking.
  • Drag to Desktop Shortcut: It'southward disabled by default, but you tin make your USB flash drive visible on your Desktop every bit an icon and elevate files onto it. To see the icon there, focus on Finder, then select File > Preferences in the menu bar. In the General tab, place a check mark abreast "External disks" in the "Evidence these items on the desktop" area. Whatsoever y'all drag onto the drive icon will be copied in that location automatically.
  • Drag to Dock: If you lot'd similar, you can also drag the icon of a USB wink drive from your desktop or a Finder window into the shortcuts area of your dock. If you lot desire to copy files to it, y'all tin can elevate them directly to the USB drive's icon in your dock. When you eject the drive later on, the shortcut volition stay on your dock and will piece of work the next fourth dimension you plug in the drive.

Right-click a file and select "Copy."

Equally y'all explore your Mac more, you may discover even more ways to copy files to a USB drive. Once you become the hang of how information technology works, yous'll be able to exercise it naturally without giving it much thought.

Remember to Eject before Unplugging

When you're all done copying data to your USB drive, remember to eject the drive within macOS earlier physically unplugging the drive so that you don't lose whatsoever data. To do so, select your USB flash drive in Finder and select File > Eject from the menu bar. Alternately, you tin click the tiny eject push button beside the flash drive'south proper name in the Finder sidebar.

Open the "File" menu and select "Eject."

Have fun copying!

RELATED: five Ways to Eject a Disk on a Mac

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