ext. hard drive question

[JS]

Hi all,
I have copied files from three pc's to an ext. harddrive. I didn't label
them as I should and now I am getting them mixed up.
How can I tell which pc they came from? two are XP and one is Vista.
Thanks

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "JS" <[email protected]>

| Hi all,
| I have copied files from three pc's to an ext. harddrive. I didn't label
| them as I should and now I am getting them mixed up.
| How can I tell which pc they came from? two are XP and one is Vista.
| Thanks


You can't. You need to practice better data storage management skills.

 

[BillyBob]

If they were copied (as opposed to moved) from the computers then return to
the computers and copy them again. This time, be more vigilant in ways of
identifying which file is which.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

If they were copied (as opposed to moved) from the computers then return to
the computers and copy them again. This time, be more vigilant in ways of
identifying which file is which.

Good suggestions - both of them

 

[JS]

Thank you all!

Good suggestions - both of them

 

[JS]

I am trying to put all these files on one pc that has lots of room, and deal
with them as I can see them. My question is this, if the files are from a
backup, can I assume that they need to be restored? And if they were copied,
can I just drag and drop them? What other suggestions do you have? Another
maybe dumb question, when one copies from an ext. hard drive to a pc, do the
files stay as-is on that hard drive? If I get the files to the new pc, and
mess something up,I can copy them again?
Jim

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I am trying to put all these files on one pc that has lots of room, and deal
with them as I can see them. My question is this, if the files are from a
backup, can I assume that they need to be restored? And if they were copied,
can I just drag and drop them? What other suggestions do you have? Another
maybe dumb question, when one copies from an ext. hard drive to a pc, do the
files stay as-is on that hard drive? If I get the files to the new pc, and
mess something up,I can copy them again?

Well, you aren't making much sense, but I'll try to guess an answer or
two.

Files that were copied to a certain place can be copied from that place
to another place directly, including drag and drop (possibly you'll need
to press the control key to copy instead of move).

Files that were backed up can be copied if the backup program just
copies files (see previous remark), but some backup programs use their
own file formats, so you have to run the backup program to get access to
those backed up files.

"That" hard drive? Which drive do you mean? If you *copy* a file,the
original file where you copied it *from* is unchanged - that's what copy
*means*, after all. Finally, if you copy (or move) a file from one place
to another, and a file with the same already exists in the new place,
Windows normally asks you what to do. Your choice...

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Gene,
Sorry I didn't make much sense, but you seemed to figure it out, because you
told me what I needed to know.
Thanks

Persistence pays off!

Keep working at it, it's a pretty complicated thing, but with time,
work, and luck you'll know a lot more...