[Guide] How to Transfer Photos from Android Phone to External Hard Drive?

In this era of rapid development of the Internet, people prefer to store photos directly on Android phones or back them up online to Google Photos or Dropbox. In order to protect the security of our mobile phone data to the greatest extent, we still strongly recommend that you transfer photos from Android to external hard drive as an offline copy in case you need it.

If you take a lot of photos, the space of your smartphone will be used up quickly, which is why we need to transfer the phone data to a computer or an external hard drive every once in a while. If you are new to Android and want to know how to transfer pictures from Android phone to external hard drive, you can follow the guide below.

Way 1: Transfer Photos from Android Phone to External Hard Drive with Assistant for Android

The fastest and easiest way to transfer photos from Android to external hard drive is to use a third-party software called MobiKin Assistant for Android (Windows and Mac). It is a versatile Android device management tool that not only allows you to preview and manage your Android device data directly on the computer, but also enables one-click backup and restore to well ensure the security of your device data.

Some properties of MobiKin Assistant for Android:

• Backup Android phone to external hard drive, including photos, music, videos, contacts, SMS, call logs, etc..
• Restore data from the backup to any Android device without data loss.
• Preview and select the data before file transfer and managing.
• Back up and restore Android data on computer within one-tap.
• Manage, edit, export/import and delete Android data on computer directly.
• Provide with two connection types: USB and Wi-Fi connection.
• Get along well with 6000+ Android phones or tablet, involving Samsung, Google, Xiaomi, Huawei, LG, Sony, Motorola, HTC, Asus, DELL, OPPO, etc.

Let's see how to transfer photos from Samsung/HTC/LG/Sony/Motorola/Huawei, etc. to external hard drive, by using the best Android data manager and transfer - Assistant for Android.

Step 1. Run the Assistant for Android program

Launch the Assistant for Android software on your computer after you downloaded and installed it. Then, connect your Android phone to the computer with a USB cable. Meanwhile, connect the external hard drive to the computer.

Step 2. Connect Android and external hard drive

Once the connection between your Android phone and the computer is successful, the main interface of the software will be displayed as below. You can see all manageable Android data types are categorized on the left panel.

Step 3. Preview and handpick the images

Choose "Photos" > "Camera" from the left menu, and all the pictures from your Android will be listed on the right. Now, you can check and handpick the photos you want to transfer.

Step 4. Copy the photos to USB flash drive

After all the desired photos are selected, you can go to click the "Export" option from the top menu, choose the external hard drive as the destination folder, and then all the selected photos will be saved to the drive instantly.

More Related:

• How Can I Transfer iPhone Files to Flash Drive?
• How to Transfer Music from Flash Drive to iTunes Easily?

Way 2: Transfer Pictures from Android to External Hard Drive with Windows Explorer

How to transfer files from Samsung/HTC/Huawei/Motorola/LG and other Android devices to external hard drive without downloading any third-party program? Well, this is feasible on a Windows PC, but it may not be very smooth to operate. It will be more time-consuming.

• Connect your Android smartphone to your Windows PC through a USB cable that came with the Android device.
• Follow the hints to make your phone recognized by the PC. Then, select the "MTP" (Media Transfer Protocol) option on it.
• On your PC, open "This PC"/"My Computer", you will see the connected Android phone shows up under Devices and Drivers.
• Double-click the name of your Android phone, open "DCIM" folder, and copy all the photos you want to transfer to any location of the computer.



• Connect the external hard drive to the PC, open it under Devices and Drives.
• Paste all the photos to the external hard drive.

Way 3: Transfer Photos from Android Phone to External Hard Drive via Android File Transfer

You can also transfer files from phone to hard drive on Mac, as long as you make use of the Android File Transfer program. (Android File Transfer not working on Mac? Click here.) Let's see how to transfer photos from tablet or phone to external hard drive via Android File Transfer now:

• Download and install Android File Transfer on your Mac.
• Connect your Android phone to a Mac and choose the "Transferring image" mode on it.
• Android File Transfer app will open automatically and detect the connected Android device.
• Navigate to the folder where all the photos are saved.



• Select the photos you want to transfer, and drag-n-drop them to a folder on your Mac.
• Connect your external hard drive to the Mac.
• Drag the folder containing the photos you need to this hard drive.

Check If You Need:

• 7 Ways to Transfer Photos/Pictures from Computer to Phone

Way 4: Transfer Files from Android to External Hard Drive without Computer

If you want to transfer photos from Android phone to external hard drive without computer, you can connect phone to external hard drive directly. To do that, you have to install a third-party Android data management app, such as ES File Explorer, File Browser, etc., as well as an OTG cable. But please note that this method can only be used for an external hard drive in FAT32 format.

• Download ES File Explorer app from Google Play for free, and install it on your Android phone.



• Insert the external hard drive into a 3-in-1 adapter, and plug it into the Android phone.
• Launch the ES File Explorer app on your Android phone, and it will detect the external hard drive.
• Tap on "Internal Storage" > "DCIM" > "Camera" to see the "Camera folder" to view all the photos.
• Tap and hold the photo(s), and mark the checked dot on the one(s) you want to transfer.
• Tap on the "COPY" button at the lower task bar menu.
• Go back to Home menu by tapping on the Backward key, and then get into the external storage device.



• You'll see a root folder named "UNTITLED". Just enter into the folder.
• Tap the "+" sign to create a new folder.



• Open the created folder and tap "Paste" at the lower task bar menu to transfer the selected photos to the connected external hard drive.

Once all the photos have been copied to the external hard drive, you can disconnect your Android device and the adapter.

Closing Remarks

USB flash disk is a miniature of the mobile hard drive. And it is wise to transfer photos from Android device to U-disk. To be honest, and apparently, suppose you want to free yourself from the relatively cumbersome and restrictive OTG transfer procedure, then advise you to choose the all-around Android data manager - MobiKin Assistant for Android.

Further, after the transfer is done, you might as well keep your USB flash drive from dust and water. As time goes by, you may want to access the photos from the USB flash drive, and relive the cherished memory of the past one day.

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