WHAT YOU CAN DO
• Boost your USB stick’s data-transfer speeds
• Automatically back up photos, videos and other files to your USB stick
• Discover the true capacity of your USB stick
• Tidy your USB stick by splitting it into partitions
• Use a portable file manager to organise items
• Index your stick’s contents to find files faster
• Encrypt specific files or your whole USB drive
Considering their size, simple designs and cheap price tags, USB sticks are incredibly useful devices. Plug one into a port on your PC and you can quickly copy files and favourite tools from your hard drive to carry around with you, and create backups of important data – with no need to install any software.
However, when – like us – you’re a frequent USB stick user, there are always new tricks you can learn to improve your stick and the way you use it. In our Cover Feature in Issue 630, we explained how to run different software from your stick, but it’s equally helpful to know how to enhance its core function of storing your photos, videos, documents and other files.
The more content you copy to a USB stick, the greater the likelihood that it becomes slower, messier and more prone to malfunction, which makes files more difficult to access and can cause data corruption.
Here, we reveal expert tips and tools for transferring files faster – whether manually or automatically; fixing common problems when saving items; organising your USB stick so its contents are easy to find; and protecting your data from prying eyes, should your stick be lost or stolen.
We also explain the best way to format your USB stick, so you can save and access all the files you need on any of your devices.
TRANSFER FILES FASTER AND BACK THEM UP
Copy files faster to your USB stick
With USB sticks now offering huge storage capacities, you don’t usually have to worry about the size and number of files you copy to them, but you may have to wait a while for large transfers, such as high-resolution photos and videos, to complete. If files are taking an inordinate length of time to copy over, there are a few tricks you can try to speed things up.
First, try inserting your USB stick in a different port, in case the current one is damaged and slowing your transfers. If that doesn’t help, ensure that the drivers for your USB stick are up to date. To do this, open Device Manager by typing device manager into the Windows search box and clicking the ‘Best match’. Expand the ‘Disk drives’ category, right-click your USB stick and choose ‘Update driver’ (see screenshot above right), then click ‘Search automatically for drivers’.
If Windows says the best drivers are already installed, try reinstalling them. Choose ‘Uninstall device’ in the right-click menu, unplug your USB stick
