What to Do With Your Files Once They’re on a USB Drive

You’ve just had your photos or tapes digitized. You’re holding a flash drive with hundreds or thousands of files. It’s a little overwhelming. Where do you start?

The good news: you don’t have to do everything at once, and most of the options are simpler than they look. Here’s a practical guide.

First: make a backup copy

Before you do anything else, copy everything from the flash drive to your computer’s hard drive. Just drag the folder over. This gives you two copies — one on the drive, one on your computer — which is the minimum you want for anything irreplaceable.

If you want to be really safe, copy it to a second USB drive as well, and keep that one somewhere other than your home. A safe deposit box works. So does a trusted family member’s house.

Viewing your photos on a TV

Most modern TVs have a USB port on the side or back. Plug your flash drive in, navigate to the USB input in your TV’s menu, and you can browse and display photos as a slideshow directly on the big screen. No streaming service required, no internet connection needed.

The steps vary by TV brand, but they’re generally: plug in the drive, press the “Source” or “Input” button on your remote, select USB, and navigate to your photos.

Sharing individual photos

Once your photos are on your computer, sharing is as simple as attaching a file to an email. Open the photo, right-click, choose “Share” or “Send,” and email it directly to family members.

For sharing larger collections, a few easy options:

• Google Photos — free, easy to share albums with a link, works on any device
• iCloud Photos — built into iPhones and Macs, easy if your family is already in the Apple ecosystem
• Shutterfly or Snapfish — also let you order prints and photo books directly from uploaded photos

Putting your photos on your phone

If you want your favorite photos accessible on your phone, you have a few options depending on your phone:

• iPhone: Use iCloud — upload from your computer and they’ll appear on your phone automatically
• Android: Use Google Photos — similar process
• Either: Use a USB adapter (Lightning to USB or USB-C to USB, depending on your phone) and plug the drive directly into your phone to copy files over

Making prints

Digital files make ordering new prints easy. Walgreens, Walmart, and CVS all have photo printing services that accept digital files from a flash drive or online upload. Shutterfly, Nations Photo Lab, and Bay Photo are good options for higher quality prints.

Your digitized photos can also be used for photo books, calendars, canvas prints, and other personalized gifts — all available through the same services.

Setting up a digital photo frame

A digital photo frame displaying a rotating slideshow of family photos is one of the most satisfying ways to enjoy your digitized collection day-to-day. Most frames accept a USB drive directly — plug it in, set the slideshow speed, and leave it running.

Preserving for the long term

JPEG files — the format your digitized photos will be in — are widely supported and will remain accessible for the foreseeable future. The main risk is not the file format becoming obsolete; it’s the storage media failing.

Flash drives can fail, and hard drives can fail. The reliable approach is the 3-2-1 rule: three copies, on two different types of media, with one copy off-site. In practice for most people that means: files on your computer, files on a backup drive, and files in cloud storage (Google Photos or iCloud).

You don’t have to do all of this at once. Start with getting the files onto your computer. Then add one more copy somewhere. That alone is a huge improvement over a shoebox of originals with no backup at all.