What happens when I connect my external drive for the first time?

1. The drive will appear as a drive letter in (My) Computer / This PC (ie: E:, F:, or some other letter) within approximately 30 seconds of connecting and turning on the drive.

2. Often the AutoPlay window will appear within 30 seconds.

3. You can click on "Open Folder to View Files Using Windows Explorer" to open the drive, or click on the drive letter in Computer.

4. Then you can simply  copy-and-paste data , or drag-and-drop data, into the drive for starters.

5. The drive is now functioning normally. Use it manually and/or launch/install the software bundled with your drive.

To copy and paste a file/folder on Windows:

1. Navigate to the file you want to copy. (My) Documents, for example.

2. Find the file or folder you would like to copy and right-click on it.

3. A drop-down menu will appear.  Choose Copy.   

Note: The file or folder is now copied and held in the computer's short-term memory.    

4. Open the location where you want to store the copy. Your Seagate external drive, for example.

5. The window will change to a display of the contents of the external drive.

6. Right-click on blank space within the window and a drop-down menu will appear.

7. Choose Paste.    

8. The file or folder will appear inside the window.  It is copied.

9. The task is complete!  This is known as a "copy-and-paste" action.

Note: To copy and paste files you may also use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+C (Copy) and Ctrl+V (Paste). This function is available for files and/or folders.

To Drag and drop files/folders on Windows:
 

1. First, open the source of where you want to drag the file from and leave the window open.

2. Now open the destination where you want to drop the file and leave the window open.

Note: opening the two windows side by side will help you to drag and drop from one to the other.

3. Now that you have two windows.  One is the source, one is the destination.

4. Click and hold down the mouse button, on the document you want to move.  It will illuminate and a "ghost" image will move with your mouse button.

5. Drag the mouse so that the "ghost" image hovers over to the destination.

6. Let go of the mouse button and the file will copy automatically.

7. The task is complete!  This is known as a "drag-and-drop" action.

Important: Make sure your drive is formatted for the Mac or that the needed driver has been installed on your computer.  As a rule of thumb, drives with the "for Mac" suffix in the drive's name will be already formatted for use with a Mac computer.  Examples : Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive for Mac.  Other family of drives will be versatile and allow you usage on both a Mac and a PC. Example : Backup Plus Desktop, Backup Plus Slim Portable Drive.  These drives come preloaded with a little driver you need to install to ensure proper usage with the Mac computer.  On such drives, locate the MacInstaller.dmg file on the drive and install it to your computer.  This will allow you to transfer data to the drive properly.

In MacOS, an external drive that is compatible should appear on the Desktop within about 30 seconds as a new drive icon when it is connected and turned on. To review, here is What to expect when you connect and turn on your drive in MacOS, either via USB or Thunderbolt :

1. The drive will appear on the Mac Desktop within approximately 30 seconds of connecting and turning on the drive.

2. The hard drive icon designates the external drive.

3. You can simply double-click on the drive icon and a window will appear displaying the contents of the drive.

4. Then you can simply copy-and-paste, or drag-and-drop data data, into the drive.  

5. The drive is now functioning normally. Use it manually and/or launch/install any bundled software that is compatible with MacOS to take advantage of the software’s features.

1. Open up a Finder window and navigate to the data you wish to copy.

2. Right-click the file or folder you want to copy and choose Copy "name of the file or folder you clicked on".

3. Open the destination. Ex. Seagate external drive.  Right-click into an empty area of the destination, and choose Paste Item.  Your file or folder will now be copied over to the destination.

Note: To copy and paste files you may also use the Mac keyboard shortcuts Command+C (Copy) and Command+V (Paste).

To drag and drop a file/folder on MacOS:

1. Open up a Finder window and navigate to where you have the data you wish to drag and drop.

2. Navigate to where the file/folder you wish to move over to your drive is located.  For example, if you are trying to copy some documents, then you would go to Favorites in Finder, and then Documents.

3. Left-click and hold the file/folder you wish to move to the desired destination. While still holding the button, slide your mouse so the cursor points over the Seagate drive.  Let go of the mouse button to have the file/folder move to the drive.

Note : If you hold the button while having the cursor over the Seagate drive, the drive's window will open after a few seconds.  This is useful in case you want to put the file/folder into a specific folder already located on the drive.

Note: Please note that using the software is not necessary to use the drive as a storage unit. To use many of the special features of the drive, certainly, the software is necessary, but it is not for storing and retrieving data.