flash drive

I want to have more room on my pc so I did the following; 1-insert flash drive = removabe drive E 2-right click my pictures and click on send to - move down to removable device E and left click. 3-all the pix should be in the removable device. 4-to verify the pix are in the E drive, I open my computer and double click on E-removable device and the pix should open as they were in the my pix folder. 5-if they are in the removable device I can then empty the my pix folder by opening it and deleting the contents. Any corrections appreciated. P.S. when I first "send to" I mistakenly clicked on the top choice = compressed files. I then did it right the second time. Could you please explain what this means in terms of what I wanted to do?

When I do a "Send to", the top entry for me is "Compress to ZIP", is that what you have as well or is the wording different? In general, compressed means exactly that. The file or files will be reduced in size by applying a mathematical compression algorithm that eliminates repetitive data inside the file. In some cases when you go to look at the file it will be automatically compressed for you, but in other cases, like on a flash drive, where you then take the drive to another computer, you will not be able to read the data, so compression is generally not a good thing to do. If you compress to a standard format like ZIP then it's not a problem as you can UNZIP the file on just about any computer/OS you like.

I agree with Rich and his explanation of compression and will add one thing - image files do not compress well so little space is saved. Personally, I would advise against using a flash drive for archiving. They are not very robust devices. A tiny ESD (static shock) can destroy all the data, not to mention USB is not a rock solid technology either. You would do better to burn CDs or DVDs.

Two issues if I may;1-I tried a search with my name and it said there are 12 results but only 5 appeared.I was curious as to why?Sometimes you forget the topic but I thought using your name all subjects you have entered would appear for you to pick from.2-More importantly, back to the flash drive issue.Everthing is working out except for one thing -I cannot locate the compressed file. I renacted it on my machine and a folder with a zipper appeared on the same page as where I clicked to compress.However, I am trying to help someone over the phone -I have asked her if she sees a folder with a little zipper on it and she says no.Here is where it occured> start,my documents = folders with My docs, My pix , my videos.Here is where she right clicked on My pictures and instead of slowly going down the list to "send to", she quickly hit the compress choice.SO, if the compressed folder cannot be seen on the page where she pressed compress, where else could it have gone?Is there any way to ?trace it?Thanx again.

I believe she needs to go into Folder Options, View tab and Select Show hidden files and folders Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types Uncheck Hide protected operating system files [Recommended] That should allow the compressed folder to show up but it will be colored blue. To uncompress a folder or all folders/files (best idea by far), follow directions here: http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009…icle.asp?ID=648

Perhaps she double clicked on the zipped folder, opened it and when she closed it, it looks like the other folder she was working from;Anyway, thank you for this information which I will apply here and file with my 'learning' notes.