How do I move a bunch of photos and videos that are precious to me from multiple phones into 1 Usb drive?

Discussion & Solutions

AI-generated summary

:bullseye: What you get: Quick ways to back up photos from multiple phones directly onto a single USB drive.

:white_check_mark: Start here:

  • USB-C flash drive or adapter — plug directly into Android or iPhone 15 to copy whole folders via file manager apps.
  • Separate subfolders — create a folder per phone on the drive to prevent overwriting files with identical names.

:toolbox: Also useful:

  • LocalSend — transfer files over local Wi-Fi between phones and computers.
  • Samsung Smart Switch — back up media directly to attached USB storage.

:warning: Watch out: Format the drive as exFAT first, or files larger than 4 GB will fail to copy.

1

Ive tried mega’s, online file sharing, and just direct where I just connect my phone to my laptop. The last one worked very well but takes a long time when moving file to file and not directly on the usb.

إعجابَين (2)
2

Maybe LocalSend will work for you.

إعجابَين (2)
3

:camera_with_flash: All your phones’ photos onto one USB stick — the stick goes into the phone, no laptop, minutes not hours

  📱 Android ────────── USB-C ──────────▶ 💾 stick        ~6 min per 10 GB
  🍎 iPhone 15+ ─────── USB-C ──────────▶ 💾 stick        ~6 min per 10 GB
  📱📱📱 many phones ── Wi-Fi ─▶ 💻 laptop ─▶ 💾 stick   2 GB in 80 seconds

One thing first, once: plug the stick into a laptop → right-click it → Format → exFAT → Start. Ten seconds. Skip it and any video over 4 GB silently refuses to copy.

:mobile_phone: Android — stick into the phone

  • plug the stick into the charging port (a $5 USB-C adapter when the stick is the wide shape)
  • tap the USB available notice → Allow
  • open Files by Google → Browse → Images
  • tap ⋮ → Select → Select all
  • tap ⋮ → Copy to → your stick → Copy here
  • do the same for Videos
  • pull down the notice bar → Eject

Done when the copy bar finishes and the stick shows the same number of items as the gallery.

Samsung — one button instead:

  • Settings → search Smart Switch → open it
  • tap the SD-card icon top right
  • Back up to → SD card or USB storage
  • tick Photos and Videos → Back up

:red_apple: iPhone 15 or newer — stick into the phone

  • first: Settings → your name → iCloud → Photos → Download and Keep Originals — wait on Wi-Fi
  • plug a USB-C stick into the bottom
  • open Photos → Select → drag across everything
  • tap Share → Export Unmodified Original
  • tap your stick → Save

Done when Files → your stick shows the photos.

Older iPhone with the wide charging port — send it to any Android that holds the stick:

  • install LocalSend on the iPhone and on the Android, same Wi-Fi
  • Android: plug the stick in → LocalSend → Settings → Receive → Destination → the stick
  • iPhone: Photos → Select All → Share → LocalSend → the Android’s name
  • Android: Accept

Apple’s own route is a $39 Lightning camera adapter with the charger plugged into its side port.

:mobile_phone::mobile_phone::mobile_phone: Many phones at once — one laptop, everybody sends

  • stick into the laptop
  • install LocalSend on the laptop and on every phone, same Wi-Fi
  • laptop: Settings → Destination → Change → the stick → new folder → Select Folder
  • laptop: Advanced settings → Encryption OFF — this alone makes it 15× faster
  • laptop: Quick Save ON
  • every phone: Send → Media → Select all → tap the laptop’s name — all at the same time
  • wait until each phone says Finished

Done when each phone’s folder on the stick matches its gallery count.

:white_check_mark: Before you delete anything on a phone

  • count — open the stick’s folder, press Ctrl+A, read the item count at the bottom; it equals the gallery
  • prove — TeraCopy (free) → right-click the folder → TeraCopy → tick Verify → Copy; every file shows a double checkmark

:wrench: The other cases — open the one that is yours

💻 Laptop + cable was slow — make it fast without typing anything
  • phone: Files by Google → Browse → Internal storage
  • tap ⋮ next to DCIM → Compress → name it → Compress
  • plug the phone into the laptop → pull down the notice → File transfer
  • laptop: drag the one .zip onto the stick
  • right-click it → Extract All → the stick

One big file crosses at full speed. Ten thousand small ones crawl at 1 MB/s — that was the slowness.

⚡ Fastest of all — 8.4 GB in 4 minutes with Google's free tool
  • laptop: download Platform-Tools → unzip → open the platform-tools folder
  • phone: Settings → About phone → tap Build number 7 times
  • Settings → System → Developer options → USB debugging ON
  • plug in → tick Always allow → Allow
  • in the folder: Shift + right-click → Open in Terminal
  • type adb pull -a /sdcard/DCIM E:\Phone1 (E: = the stick) → Enter
  • same line again with /sdcard/Pictures, /sdcard/Movies, /sdcard/Download
  • after: Developer options → Revoke USB debugging authorizations
🩹 Broken screen or dead touch — the photos still come out
  • the Platform-Tools folder from the drawer above, plus scrcpy unzipped next to it
  • plug the phone in
  • run scrcpy --otg — the laptop mouse now drives the phone
  • click Always allow → Allow on the phone’s screen shown on the laptop
  • type adb pull /sdcard/DCIM E:\Phone3 → Enter
🧬 Same photo on five phones — keep it once
  • download Czkawka (free) → open it
  • Duplicate Files
  • Add Directory → each phone’s folder on the stick
  • right-click the folder with your best copies → Mark as Reference Path
  • Scan → Select → All → Delete
💬 WhatsApp, Telegram, screenshots — photos outside the camera roll

Copy these folders too, same way as the camera roll:

  • DCIM/Screenshots
  • Pictures · Movies · Download
  • Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images and WhatsApp Video
  • Telegram/Telegram Images and Telegram Video

Sending a photo to yourself on WhatsApp shrinks it 20× and strips the date. Paperclip → Document keeps it whole.

🏠 No laptop, no adapter, the whole house — the router is the stick
  • stick into the router’s USB port
  • phone browser → tplinkwifi.net / router.asus.com / routerlogin.net → log in
  • USB → turn on Samba (Asus: Network Place) → Save
  • Android: Cx File Explorer → Network → New Location → SMB → the router address → OK → Local → hold DCIM → Copy → Network → the share → Paste
  • iPhone: Files → ⋯ → Connect to Server → smb:// + the router address → then Photos → Select → Share → Save to Files → the share

Slow — leave it overnight with the screen awake.

🗓️ Are the dates still right?
  • right-click any photo on the stick → Properties → Details → Date taken
  • that is the real date — ignore Date modified

:inbox_tray: Start now: format the stick, plug it into the first phone, tick the boxes.

إعجاب واحد (1)
4

Start by giving each phone its own folder on the USB drive, such as Phone-1 and Phone-2, so nothing overwrites a file with the same name. Instead of moving files one by one, select whole camera folders and copy them in one batch, which is much faster and easier to check later. If a phone uses USB-C, a USB-C flash drive or a small adapter can let you copy directly from the phone without a laptop in between. After each copy, compare the number of files on the drive with the number in the phone album before you delete anything. Finally, keep the copies on the phones until you have opened a few photos and videos from the drive, so you know the transfer really worked.