Out of the box LaCie storage products are capable of receiving files via "Drag and drop." This process allows the operating system (in this case, macOS) to transfer files to the drive, directly.
Drag and drop is the most common, and easiest way to add data to an external hard drive.
Note: If the LaCie drive has a green icon indicating it has been setup as a destination for a Time Machine backup then it will not be available for drag and drop.
To begin, open a Finder window by clicking the blue and white face icon in the lower left of the screen. All files stored on the computer can be accessed using Finder, files can be stored in a variety of locations on the drive but for most users' files/folders will typically be stored within User folder. Some examples would include Desktop, Documents, Music, and Photos.
For this example, a folder called “Files I want to copy” will be copied from the Documents folder to the LaCie drive.
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Click the blue and white face icon in the lower left of the screen. This will open a Finder window in the center of the screen.
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Click the Documents folder on the left of this new Finder window.
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Choose the folder or files to be copied. For this example, the folder is labeled “Files I want to copy”.
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Click and hold on the selected file or folder, in this case “Files I want to copy”.
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While still holding the click, drag the Files to the LaCie drive (usually an orange icon, but some drives have an icon that represents the actual external drive.)
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Release the files on top of the LaCie drive.
The file or folder should now be in both in the documents folder and on the LaCie drive.
Note: If you are dragging the files to a separate drive macOS will copy the files. If you are dragging the files to the same drive, macOS will move the files instead. Copy actions will show a green plus icon. Move actions will not show the green plus icon. Clicking the option button on the keyboard while dragging will toggle between copy vs move actions.
Copy vs. Move:
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Copy |
Move |
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Makes a duplicate of the file in the new location |
Deletes the original file after it has been placed in the new location |
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Default when transferring files to a different drive. |
Default when transferring files to the same drive |
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Shows a green plus icon on the file / folder |
No green plus icon |
