Macbook - Copy a File to a USB Stick

This one is for John from our U3A outreach clinic. He has a file that he wishes to send  to someone. Unfortunately, it is far too big to email. (There is some bad news at the end of this article)

(This is the sort of thing that would be best done by copying the file to the Cloud and sending a link to the file but you would have to have a Google or Microsoft account for that and the other person would have to know how to download it.  The next best way is to send it on a USB stick.)

All 'Clicks' will be using the left mouse button or left keypad button unless I say 'Right-click' which will mean the right mouse button or right keypad button or 'Double-Click' which means clicking the left mouse button or the left keypad button twice in fairly quick succession.

1) Stick the USB thingy into the macbook (as shown in the picture above) then open the 'Finder' app on the macbook.  In the image below the USB stick will show up in the left column under 'Devices'. My USB stick is named DISK_IMG.

2) Scroll up to the folder that contains the file that you wish to send. Copying a file is a 3 step process -

a) Click on the folder name in the left column.

b) Place the cursor (the arrow thing that moves around) on the file and Right-Click to bring up a menu.

c) Click on the 'Copy' option in the menu. 

3) Scroll down to the USB stick in the left column. Moving the file to the USB stick is also a 3 step process -

a) Click on the USB Stick name. This will either show you (in the right column) any files that are already on the the stick or a blank area.

b) Place the cursor on a blank area and Right-Click to bing up a menu.

c) Click on the 'Paste Item' option. 

4) The macbook will start copying the file to the USB stick. a small window will open to show you the progress. 

5) When the small window disappears, the copying has finished. Before taking the USB stick out of the macbook is has to be 'dismounted'. This is important as, if it's not done, the process may not finalise and the file may be unreadable.

To dismount the USB stick just click on the symbol to the right of the name as shown below.

And, now for the Bad news .....

The name of the file ended in '.m4v' which signifies that it is a file format developed by Apple. This file may have been downloaded from iTunes, in which case, it may have security on it that will only allow it to be played on a device logged into that Apple account. 

If it doesn't have security built into it then it can be played on a PC by using a program called 'QuickTime' player. This is a free download from apple. You can test it by trying to view it on your PC.   Click here to go to the Apple Download page

Apple really, really don't like this brave new world of sharing everything, it cuts down on their revenue stream. In their eyes, you don't own the downloaded file, you are just paying for the privilege of using it and only under Apple's very strict rules.

It all seems so easy when you think, 'I must send this to Fred, he would enjoy it'.

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