How to Remove Pictures From a Flash Drive

By C. Taylor

Use Windows Explorer to remove pictures from a USB flash drive.
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USB flash drives are great for transporting your pictures, but you may eventually wish to move them to your hard drive, or delete them entirely. Once attached to your computer, you can manipulate files on a USB flash drive almost identically to file on your hard drives. Two main differences pop up with flash drives. The first is dragging the pictures to your hard drive does not remove them from the flash drive, unless you specifically select to "move" the files. The second difference is flash drives lack a Recycle Bin.

Step 1

Insert the USB flash drive into an available USB port on your computer.

Step 2

Click "Open folder to view files" in the "AutoPlay" window that pops up.

Step 3

Hold the "Ctrl" key and click multiple picture files to select them. Alternatively, hold the "Ctrl" key and press "A" to select all files in a given folder.

Step 4

Hold the "Ctrl" key and press "X" to mark the files for moving.

If you only wish to delete them, press the "Delete" key and click "Yes" in the confirmation window. Because there is no Recycle Bin on a flash drive, the files are deleted, rather than "recycled."

Step 5

Navigate into the destination folder on your hard drive, hold the "Ctrl" key, and press "V" to move pictures and remove the originals from your USB flash drive. Alternatively, right-click the files, drag them into the hard drive folder, release the right mouse button and select "Move here" to move them.

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