How to download photos to sd card

When you need to transport images, such as your company logo or a photo of your corporate headquarters to different offices, a professional printer or other off-site locations, carry them on a compact, lightweight Secure Digital memory stick. If you require photos not already on the memory stick, you must obtain them from the computer first. Once you move them to the appropriate folder on the memory stick, you can plug the stick into any computer and transfer the images.

  1. Insert the memory stick into an SD port on your computer or a memory card reader that's connected to the PC. Click the Windows orb and select "Computer" in the right pane of the Start menu. Double-click the SD memory stick in the "Devices with Removable Storage" section and then minimize the folder that opens.

  2. Navigate to the folder containing the pictures that you want to copy or move to your memory stick. If you want to transfer the entire folder, navigate to the folder location but don't open it. If you want only certain pictures, open the folder. Press and hold the "Ctrl" key and then click on each photo you want to transfer.

  3. Right-click the folder or the photos you want to transfer. Click "Cut" to remove the photos from their current location and transfer them to the memory stick, or click "Copy" to transfer copies of the selected photos.

  4. Open the minimized SD memory card folder. Right-click inside of the folder and click "Paste" to transfer the images you cut or copied. Alternatively, you can drag the images from their current location to the SD card folder.

  5. Close the memory stick folder. Click the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon on the right side of your taskbar near the clock and select "Eject." Remove the memory stick from the SD port or card reader.

i SD Card image by Haris Rauf from Fotolia.com

Whether you want to save some nice photos to your SD card or transfer photos back to your SD card, putting photos from you computer onto an SD card is very easy, and will only take a few minutes. The SD card reader is a USB plug-in device that allows you to easily transfer images and data from the card to your computer. But the disk can also be used in reverse to put photos back onto the SD card.

Step 1

Put the SD card into the slot on your SD card reader. Plug it into the USB drive slot on your computer.

Step 2

Open the “My Computer” menu for PCs or the “Devices” drive for Mac’s. The SD card should appear as a new drive in the menu. Open the card’s folder.

Step 3

Open the folder on your computer's hard drive that contains the pictures you want to transfer to the SD card.

Step 4

Highlight all of the files you want to transfer. You can highlight multiple files simultaneously, by clicking one file once. Then, hold the “Shift” key and use the directional arrows to highlight more files, or you can position the mouse over another file and hold the “Shift” key while clicking once on the file.

Step 5

Right click the mouse and select “Copy” from the menu.

Step 6

Open the SD card’s folder again, and right click the mouse and select “Paste” from the menu to copy the files into the SD folder. You can also drag and drop the files from your hard drive’s folder to the SD card’s folder.

Step 7

Try disconnecting and reconnecting the SD card reader to ensure the photos have transferred successfully.

References

Tips

  • Some cameras may not let you view those photos on the camera, but will still be available for download or to transfer to another computer.

Warnings

  • Do not delete the original files from your hard drive until you are sure the files have copied onto the SD card.

Writer Bio

Currently based in Minneapolis, Minn., Eric Blankenburg has been a freelance journalist since 2000. His articles have appeared in "Outside Missoula, Outside Bozeman," "Hello Chengdu" and online at GoNomad.com and various other websites. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from the University of Montana.

Use this page to transfer files between a device, SD card or computer. Many devices do not have an SD card option, such as Apple devices. Check common procedures to see if a device has a SD card. You can also transfer files using Samsung Smart Switch or Samsung Kies.

SD card

SD card memory size and speed ratings vary by OEM. Using an SD card without the proper speed class may work for basic storage. Advanced features like HD video recording, transferring files, or apps that use the SD card, it is likely to cause freezing, crashes, slowness, or errors. If you see these problems with an SD card inserted in a smartphone, upgrade to a faster SD card. Refer to the following classifications to assist in determing the SD card that will work best with your smartphone.

  • Memory size: Limits vary by smartphone, check the tech specs to determine what size is supported.
    • The storage or size of the SD card refers to how much memory the card has to store music, pictures, videos, apps, or other files.
    • A higher-capacity card increases the amount of data that can be stored. Most smartphones can only take SD cards up to a certain size limit.
  • Size: This refers to the physical size of the card. Most smartphones take micro SD cards.
  • Speed class: T-Mobile recommends SD cards with Class 6 or UHS Class 1 or higher. SD card speed classes are different from speed ratings.
    • Rated Speed is maximum speed of the card and also what you would expect to approximately see in typical usage of writing or reading files on the card.
    • Speed Class is a minimum speed based on a worst case scenario test. The class is printed on SD cards as an even number inside a C. UHS class is an odd number inside a U. This is usually a single digit and can be read as MB/s. For example if an SD card had a U rating of 1, the speed class would be 10 MB/s. The higher the class, the faster data can be consistently recorded, read, or transferred on the phone. T-Mobile does not recommend based on rated speed.

Transfer files - SD card

These are universal steps and customers should refer back to the OEM or User manual for their device specific steps. Apple, BlackBerry Android and Windows Phone do not support moving files from the device storage to an SD card.

Android - HTC

  1. Connect the USB cord to the phone, then to a computer.
  2. Use the USB cable that comes with the phone for best results.
  3. Click Open folder to view files and click OK.
  4. Locate the file(s) you want to move.
  5. Cut or copy and paste the desired file(s) from the internal storage to the SD card..
  6. Tap Disconnect storage from PC

Android - LG

  1. Tap File Manager > All Files.
  2. Tap Internal storage.
  3. Navigate to the desired file or folders you want to move to your SD card.
  4. Tap the manage files icon (down-arrow).
  5. To the left of each desired file or folder, select the check box.
  6. Tap SD card.
  7. Navigate inside your SD card to where you want to move the files or folders.
  8. Tap Move.

Android - Samsung

  1. From any Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Tap My Files.
  3. Tap Device storage.
  4. Navigate inside your device storage to the files you want to move to your external SD card.
  5. Tap MORE, then tap Edit.
  6. Place a check next to the files you wish to move.
  7. Tap MORE, then tap Move.
  8. Tap SD memory card.
  9. Navigate inside your external memory card to where you want to move the files or folders.
  10. Tap Move to.
  11. To copy the file, tap Paste here.

BlackBerry OS

  1. From the Home screen, scroll to and select All.
  2. Scroll to and select Media.
  3. Press the Menu key.
  4. Scroll to and select Explore.
  5. On the File Folders screen, select Media Card or Device..
  6. Navigate to the file you want to copy.
  7. Press the Menu key.
  8. Scroll to and select Copy.
  9. Navigate back to the File Folders screen.
  10. Scroll to and select Device or Media Card.
  11. Navigate to the folder into which you want to copy the file.
  12. Press the Menu key.
  13. Scroll to and select Paste.

Transfer files - PC

These are universal steps for Android, Apple and Windows Phone devices using Windows Autoplay. BlackBerry requires you to download and install BlackBerry link first. Keep in mind that depending on the computer and the device, some menu names or functions will vary.

  1. Using the USB cable that came with your phone, connect the phone to the computer.
  2. If necessary, on the phone touch the Status bar, drag down to open the Notification screen, tap USB connected, then tap USB for ... notification.
  3. On your computer, Windows Autoplay will connect to the device. Click Open folder to view files > OK when the prompt appears. Other transfer options may appear depending on what software you have on the computer, such as Samsung Kies, Microsoft apps, etc.
  4. When the Removable Disk window appears, click Open folder to view files > OK. Multiple file folders (which are on your phone) will appear:
    • One folder has files saved in your phone memory.
    • One folder has files saved on your SD card.
  5. Locate the folder that contains files saved on your SD card and click to open it.
  6. Perform one of the following:
    • Move files from computer to SD card
      1. Locate the files you want to move from your computer.
      2. Cut/copy and paste the desired file(s) from your computer to your SD card. You can also drag and drop items.
    • Move files from SD card to computer:
      1. Before starting, note that it may be helpful to create a folder on the computer for which to store the files you move from the SD card.
      2. Locate the files you want to move in the SD card folder.
      3. Cut/copy and paste the desired file(s) from your SD card to your computer. You can also drag and drop items.
  7. When done, safely disconnect your phone from the computer (such as tapping the Disconnect from PC option on the phone).

Transfer files - Mac

Android

To transfer files, you must have Android File Transfer installed on your computer. Android File Transfer is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 or later and Android 3.0 or later. Once this is installed, follow the rest of the steps found in Transfer files - PC steps

Apple

Follow the steps available in iTunes 11 for Mac: Transfer files between your computer and mobile apps.

BlackBerry

To transfer files, you must have BlackBerry Link installed on your computer. Once this is installed, follow the rest of the steps found in Transfer files - PC steps

Windows phone

These steps require your Windows phone device supports an SD card. The Mac will need to support the SD card and it will need to be removed from the Windows phone device to complete the follow steps.

  1. Connect or insert the SD card into the reader on the Mac.
  2. Open the desired file location on the Mac that you want to transfer files between.
  3. Locate the phone’s folder (typically the name of the phone).
  4. Drag and drop desired files from the Mac location to the phone’s folder or vice versa to move from SD card to computer.