Technical information

Chapter 3: Storage: Internal, External, and in the Sky
69
Working with Flash Drives
and Memory Cards
Digital camera owners eventually become acquainted
with memory cards — those little plastic squares that
replaced the awkward rolls of film. Windows 8 can read
digital photos directly from the camera after you find its
cable and plug it into your PC. But Windows 8 can also
grab photos straight off the memory card, a method
praised by any owner who has lost her camera’s cables.
The secret is a memory card reader: a little slot-filled
box that stays plugged into your PC. Slide your
memory card into the slot, and your PC can read the
card’s files, just like reading files from any other
folder. Most office supply and electronics stores sell
memory card readers that accept most popular
memory card formats, and some computers even
come with built-in card readers.
The beauty of card readers is that there’s nothing
new to figure out: Windows 8 treats your inserted
card just like an ordinary folder. Insert your card, and
a folder appears on your screen to show your digital
camera photos. The same drag-and-drop and cut-and-
paste rules covered earlier in this chapter still apply,
letting you move the pictures or other files off the
card and into a folder in your Pictures library.
Flash drives — also known as thumbdrives —
work just like memory card readers. Plug the
flash drive into one of your PC’s USB ports, and
the drive appears as an icon (shown in the
margin) in File Explorer, ready to be opened
with a double-click.
✓ First, the warning: Formatting a card or disk
wipes out all its information. Never format a
card or disk unless you don’t care about the
information it currently holds.
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