How to Transfer Music to a Flash Drive

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Copy music to a USB drive that’ll play on any device

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: September 6, 2024 Fact Checked

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• On Windows
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• On Mac
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• On Chromebook
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• Troubleshooting
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• Video
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This wikiHow article teaches you how to put music on a flash drive. You can use a USB flash drive to quickly transfer music files from one computer to another, save a backup of your music, or play music on devices that support a USB drive. This is great for sharing music with a friend, playing it on a stereo that supports USB, or just creating a backup. If your USB drive isn't working properly, you may need to reformat it.

Adding Music to a USB Flash Drive

Plug in your USB flash drive, then open it in File Explorer or Finder. Drag and drop music files to the flash drive from another folder, or copy and paste them.

Steps

Section 1 of 4:

On Windows

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1. 1
   Insert the USB drive into a USB port on your computer. Try to use a port directly on your computer. Avoid USB hubs, as these will lead to slower transfer speeds.

   • Windows will usually notify you that a USB drive was inserted, and an AutoPlay window may appear. You can close the AutoPlay window for now.
   • If this is your first time plugging the USB drive into the computer, Windows may install some drivers. This should only take a few moments.
   • A USB hub is an external device that allows you to plug multiple USB devices into a single USB port.
   • This method will work for all current Windows versions, including 10 & 11, as well as older, unsupported versions, like 7 and Vista.
2. 2
   Find your USB drive in File Explorer. Open File Explorer and look for your USB drive, which will be displayed in the "Devices and drives" section of the window.

   • If you don't see your USB drive, check the Troubleshooting section at the end of this article.
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3. 3
   Check the amount of free space on the drive. The amount of space available will dictate the amount of music you can store on it. The amount of free space will be shown underneath the drive.

   • The average MP3 file will range from 3-5 MB in size or 1 MB per minute of audio, but this varies depending on the quality of each file. See the chart at the end of the article for a breakdown of the average number of songs you can fit.
   • You can quickly delete everything on the USB by right-clicking on it and selecting "Format." Start the format process and everything will be deleted from the drive.
4. 4
   Select the music files you want to copy in another File Explorer window. Use Win + E' to open another window in File Explorer that you can use to navigate to the music you want to add to the USB drive. Your music files may be located in a variety of locations on your computer:

   • Many programs store music files in your "Music" folder.
   • If you've downloaded music from a website, it will likely be in your "Downloads" folder.
   • In Windows Media Player, right-click on a music file in your library and select "Open file location" to open the folder containing that music file.
   • In iTunes, right-click on a track in your library and select "Show in Windows Explorer" to open the folder containing that song.
   • You can perform a Windows search for "MP3" to search for all of the MP3 files on your computer. Open the Start menu or screen and type "MP3" to begin searching.
   • To select multiple songs, click and drag a selection box, or hold Ctrl and click each item you want to select. You can also press Ctrl+A to select everything in the current folder.
   • Check the size of your selection by right-clicking it and selecting "Properties." Make sure that the size of your selection is smaller than the amount of free space on your USB drive.
   • You may find it easier to move all of your music files into one spot on your computer, organized into folders. You can then copy all of the folders and files at once.
5. 5
   Drag and drop your music files into the Flash Drive in Windows Explorer. You can also right-click and click Paste to paste music files that you have copied.
6. 6
   Wait for the files to copy. Your selected files will begin copying to your USB drive. The time this takes will vary wildly depending on the number of files, the speed of your USB drive, and the speed of your computer.

   • This will not delete the original files. Copies of each file will be made on the USB drive.
   • If you get a message that your USB drive is full, you've likely selected more files than your USB drive has room for. Select fewer files to copy to the USB drive.
7. 7
   Click the Safely Remove Hardware button in your System Tray. This button has an icon of a USB plug with a checkmark. If you don't see it, expand the hidden icons in your System Tray. It's the icon that resembles a bracket pointing up. When you click the button, a list of your attached USB devices will appear.

   • Select your flash drive if prompted.
   • Pull the USB drive out of the computer. Your music is now safely stored on your USB drive.
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Section 2 of 4:

On Mac

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1. 1
   Insert the USB drive into a USB port on your Mac. Avoid using USB hubs, as these may slow the process down significantly. You should see your USB drive appear on the desktop.

   • See the Troubleshooting section below if your USB drive does not appear.
   • A USB hub is an external device that allows you to plug multiple USB devices into a single USB port.
2. 2
   Check the amount of free space on the USB drive. It usually says how much free space is available below the USB drive on your desktop.

   • Most MP3s are about 3-5 MB in size or 1 MB per minute of audio. However, this may vary depending on the quality of the file. See the chart at the bottom of this article for a breakdown of how many songs can fit on a USB drive on average.
   • Alternatively, you can right-click the USB drive below "Devices" in the Finder and click Get Info to see how much free space is available on the drive.
3. 3
   Find your USB drive in Finder. Open Finder and look for your USB drive, which will be displayed in the "Devices and drives" section of the window.
4. 4
   Select the music files that you want to put on your drive. Your music files may be located in a variety of locations on your computer:

   • Many programs store music files in your "Music" folder.
   • If you've downloaded music from a website, it will likely be in your "Downloads" folder.
   • To select multiple songs, click and drag a selection box, or hold ⌘ Cmd and click each item you want to select. You can also press ⌘ Cmd+A to select everything in the current folder.
5. 5
   Drag the selected files to the USB icon on your desktop. The files will begin transferring to the USB drive. The original files will not be removed.

   • If you're moving files from Finder, hold ⌥ Option while dragging them to the USB drive. This will leave the original file on your computer and create a copy on the USB drive.
   • Alternatively, you can find the USB drive under "Devices" in the sidebar to the left in the Finder. You can drag and drop files there as well.
6. 6
   Wait for the files to finish transferring. This may take a while if you are copying a lot of music files. The time it takes to transfer music depends on how much music you are transferring, and the speed of your computer and flash drive.
7. 7
   Drag the USB drive to the Trash. After the transfer is complete, drag the USB drive to the Trash to safely unmount it.

   • Alternatively, click the Eject icon next to the drive name in the Finder.
8. 8
   Remove the USB drive from the Mac. After dragging the USB drive to the Trash, you can pull the drive out without worrying about corrupt data or damaging your Flash drive.
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Section 3 of 4:

On Chromebook

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1. 1
   Insert the USB drive into a USB port on your Chromebook. Try to use a port directly on your computer. Avoid USB hubs, as these will lead to slower transfer speeds.

   • A notification will appear in the bottom right corner.
   • Since Chromebooks don't have a lot of storage, your music files need to be in cloud storage, like Google Drive, for this to work.
2. 2
   Click Open Files App. It's the only option in the notification window and will open another window.
3. 3
   Click Google Drive. If there are downloaded music files, those will appear in "Downloads" instead. However, the space on a Chromebook is limited, so downloading music to a Chromebook isn't suggested.
4. 4
   Click and drag music to your USB drive. You can access the selected files offline from the USB flash drive.
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Section 4 of 4:

Troubleshooting

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1. 1
   Try a different USB port. Sometimes USB ports fail, so if you're running into problems getting your USB drive to work, try plugging it into another port on the computer.

   • Avoid using USB hubs. USB hubs are devices that can connect multiple USB devices to a single USB port. They may not provide enough power for the USB drive.
2. 2
   Try the drive on another computer. If the USB drive appears on another computer when you plug it in, then there is something going wrong with your computer and the way it connects to the USB drive. You may need to try updating or reinstalling your USB drivers, or your USB port might be malfunctioning.
3. 3
   Check if your music has DRM protection. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. It's not as common with music files, but files with DRM protection can only be played on certain devices when signed in to a specific account. Use the following steps to check if a music file has DRM protections:

   • Right-click an MP3 or music file.
   • Click Properties in the pop-up menu.
   • Click the Details tab at the top of the Properties window.
   • Check to see if it says Yes next to "Protected".
4. 4
   Look for your USB drive in Disk Management (Windows) or Disk Utility (Mac). If the USB drive isn't appearing, it may still be showing up to your system. If it appears in Disk Management or Disk Utility, you may be able to format and use it.

   • Windows - Press ⊞ Win+R and type diskmgmt.msc. Look for your USB drive in the list of drives at the top of the window, or in the volume layout at the bottom of the window.
   • Mac - Open the Utilities folder in your Applications folder, then run Disk Utility. Look for your USB drive in the list of drives on the left side of the window.
5. 5
   Format your drive if it appears in Disk Management or Disk Utility. If your drive appears in your disk utility, it may not be formatted in a compatible format for your operating system. Formatting the drive with the exFAT file system will allow you to use it on both Windows and Mac computers. All of the data currently on the drive will be erased during the format process.

   • Windows - Right-click the drive in Disk Management and select "Format." Select "exFAT" as the file system, as this is compatible with most computers and devices.
   • Mac - Select the USB drive and click the "Erase" tab. Select "ExFAT" from the Format menu and click the "Format" button.
   • If you need to format your flash drive to an older format, such as FAT32, you can use a third-party app to format the flash drive.
6. 6
   Ensure you're not trying to copy too much. If you get a notification that there isn't enough space available, you may be trying to copy too much. Make sure that you have enough free space on the USB drive to copy the selected files. Note that the advertised space is usually more than the actual available space. The approximate number of songs you can store on flash drives of different sizes is listed below.
   
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Average Number of Songs

Format and Quality	1 GB	2 GB	4 GB	8 GB	16 GB	32 GB
128 kbit/s 3:30 minute MP3	319	639	1278	2556	5113	10226
256 kbit/s 3:30 minute MP3	159	319	639	1278	2556	5113
320 kbit/s 3:30 minute MP3	127	255	511	1022	2045	4090
3:30 minute WAV	28	66	113	227	455	910

Community Q&A

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• Question

  How many songs will a 16 GB flash drive hold?

  

  Community Answer

  That depends on the length and format of the files. It's generally somewhere around 4000.

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• Question

  Is there a device other than my computer that I can use to play my music using my thumb drive?

  

  Community Answer

  You can get an adapter called an OTG cable to essentially plug a USB drive into your phone or tablet.. However, if your device can use a microSD card, that's a much better option. Some other devices, like some modern televisions, game consoles, and Blu-ray players, have USB ports and are capable of playing music.

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  Thank you for your feedback.
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• Question

  Will my music files stay on my computer in addition to being copied to the USB flash drive?

  

  Community Answer

  Yes, as long as you use the Send To option in Windows or drag from iTunes on a Mac, the original files will stay on your computer and copies will be made on the USB drive.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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• You can also copy music from a CD to a USB flash drive.
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