Drag and drop

[vipers]

Quick question men, my other half has got me a SEAGATE 320GB external hard drive to back up my files, pics on etc.

Its advertised as "Drag and drop", if I drag and drop, does it actually move the file, or copy it?.

I assume if it does, I could just copy instead if I wanted to?.

[ThePassenger]

vipers said:

Quick question men, my other half has got me a SEAGATE 320GB external hard drive to back up my files, pics on etc.

Its advertised as "Drag and drop", if I drag and drop, does it actually move the file, or copy it?.

I assume if it does, I could just copy instead if I wanted to?.

Default between drives is copy in Windows.
If you want to move, drag with the right buton and a context menu will appear.

[TheExcession]

Best way is to select the files you want to put onto the external drive.

Right-Click and select copy.

Then in the folder on the remote drive, Right-click and select Paste.

Once the operation has completed you can go back to the original source files and delete them.

This way, if the copy process f88ks up in any way you still have your originals in perfct order.

best
Ex

[Furyous]

Was thinking about doing this with an internal drive, presumably the same procedures apply ?


F

[timbob]

Furyous said:

Was thinking about doing this with an internal drive, presumably the same procedures apply ?


F

Yep. The computer doesn't really distinguish like that between internal and external drives.

[Zad]

As you drag it, if a little + sign appears then you are copying the file, otherwise you are moving it. Holding down the Shift key toggles this (between copy and move). Holding Alt down makes a link to the file instead.

[zumbruk]

Zad said:

As you drag it, if a little + sign appears then you are copying the file, otherwise you are moving it. Holding down the Shift key toggles this (between copy and move). Holding Alt down makes a link to the file instead.

One of the principal things that drives me bonkers about Winblows. You never know if you're going to get a copy or a move when you drag and drop a file. It should always do the same thing, no matter what the destination.

[GreenV8S]

zumbruk said:

One of the principal things that drives me bonkers about Winblows. You never know if you're going to get a copy or a move when you drag and drop a file. It should always do the same thing, no matter what the destination.

It shows you which it is doing - if it is a copy, it shows a '+'.

(My preference is to use copy/paste or cut/paste to move files rather than drag-n-drop, because it makes it easier to navigate to the destination.)

[chrisjl]

zumbruk said:

You never know if you're going to get a copy or a move when you drag and drop a file. It should always do the same thing, no matter what the destination.

There is an argument for that, but the logic that's applied does make sense though. If the source and destination are on the same disk, you're probably doing a spot of rearranging, so a move makes sense. If two drives are involved, it's more likely that a copy is what you want. (And there's always a visual indication as to which it's going to do)