Have you been using your new Android smartphone as a replacement for your Digital Camera? If so, I’m sure you’ve taken lots of great pictures! Taking pics on your Droid is a lot more convenient than carrying around another camera. But what if you lost your smartphone? Wouldn’t you like to store the pictures on your computer as a backup? If so, just follow the simple steps in this lesson and I’ll show you how to backup your photos and transfer them to your PC.
Copying pics and videos from the micro-SD Card in your Android device to a computer, allows you to back up and use them on your PC for editing, sharing or viewing. The process of copying photos and videos from your phone to a computer is fairly simple, just follow our step-by-step instructions below to get started!
Instructions:
1. Connect your smartphone using the USB sync cable. An USB icon will appear in the notification area of your phone.
2. On the smartphone, drag the notifications bar down and then tap it. Next tap USB connected, and then Mount.
3. On the computer, click the START button and then select Computer or My Computer. The micro-SD card in your phone will be recognized and listed as a Removable Disk.
4. Double-click this removable disk to open it. Double-click the folder DCIM, and then the folder Camera.
5. From this folder, you can copy all pictures and videos taken with the Digital Camera of your Android smartphone.
6. To disconnect your Android, just go to the notifications area on your phone and tap on the USB sign to disconnect.
7. That’s it! Enjoy the peace of mind of knowing that you have a backup of all your pics & videos stored on your PC. In addition, you now have an alternative way to view, share, and edit all of the pics that you’ve taken on your Droid!
Looking for other ways to transfer the files? How about without cables and via WiFi? Check out one of our other tutorials for more Advanced users: How to transfer files via WiFi from PC to Android (Wirelessly)
Do you have any questions or comments? Please feel free to leave us a note in the comments section below!
John A
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Is there a way to copy pictures from the messages to a computer?
Yes, check out this other lesson and combine it with the lesson above: http://droidlessons.com/how-to-save-pictures-and-attachments-from-text-messages-on-android/
I am looking for the instructions on how to How to Transfer Pictures from Android to iMac. Thank you so much!
Hi there,
If I were to take a picture, and I wanted to move that particular picture to a specific existing photo album, how would I go about doing that?
Is there any way to be certain that ALL of my pictures and videos have been transferred? I have tried transferring them a few times and each time the number changes … ex: I just transferred all the files from my phone to my computer (1,624 files transferred), when I opened my Picture Gallery on my phone there were 1,415 files there. HELP! I don’t want to lose any of my pictures or videos.
I need to free up internal storage space. I’ve cleaned out messages and unneeded stuff.
I just loaded my pictures in to my pc and now I want to delete all the photos. I think that will free up a lot of space. How do I do that”
There are a lot of pics that I have deleted that remained in the memory!
Thank you John for this info! I was having so much trouble – tried various web sites. Finally, your info worked! THANK YOU!!!
No problem! 🙂 I’m glad to hear that it worked well for you! I hope you enjoy the other articles on the website as well! 🙂
Thank you!!!! Your post helped me figure out how to transfer my photos when I’ve been trying to figure it out for months!! I should have found this sooner 🙂 very simple and easy to follow.
When I connect my phone via usb cable to my pc, the notifications bar does not show that first screen that I’m connected to usb.. What do i do? I’m using my charger cable. Do i need to buy a different usb cable and if so what one?
How do I select all on the computer to save pictures to a file? I’m doing it 1 by 1 and there are close to a thousand 🙁 this could take hours..Thanks Jim
hello,
When i plug my phone in to my computer with the usb cord no notification comes in that says its selected. wondering if you could help. i have a droid 4
I’ve searched diligently for information on how to transfer Samsung Note II photos along with their (if any) associated drawn on notes to my PC. The photos transfer, but any notes (stuff drawn on the photo) disappears.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Hi,
when I connect my droid to the computer, there is no notification of the usb cord and my computer does not show anything is connected to it. Could you please give me some help?
thank you
Thank you so much for this!! Worked perfectly! Exactly what I needed -step by step instructions.
Just a note of appreciation. I followed your instructions.
I was successful in transferring my pics from my Android to my PC.
Thank very much I shall keep your site on my favorites for future reference.
Thanks for the help on pictures I will be coming back to you
Thank you so much! Instructions for transferring photos from my Android to my laptop were not included in owner’s manual. I tried on my own in vain. Then, finally googled it and found your EASY instructions. Thank you!!!
Brilliant. I had tried downloading Apps and drivers as other sites describe and was about to email my photo library (4 photos at a time!!) when I came across you instructions and it was then so simples. It is now bookmarked.
Step #2 does not work for me. When I pull the notification bar down, and try to select USB, the notification bar just slides back up and hides, and nothing has happened. What now?
Try the wireless method instead. Look at the bottom of our article for the link. Hope that method works for you instead. Best of luck and let us know.
is there a way to transfer them without touching the phone? my screen is broken and I can’t open it from the lock screen. I have to get a new phone but I don’t want to lose the pictures I have…
OK so i hope you can help. I have a My touchQ from tmobile. and its an android. my phone just died yesterday and there is no way to turn it on to physically see anything on the phone. Is there anyway to transfer pictures from my phone to the computer that werent saved to an SD card? Or are they gone? i havent been able to find a clear answer and i would hate to lose my pictures.
When I plug my phone into my computer with a USB I don’t get any notification that it is connected. So I can’t get step 1.
You could always try the Wireless method instead. Check out the link at the bottom of the article for instructions on transferring your files via WiFi instead of USB.
I can’t believe I did it! I transferred my photos from my Droid to the computer – without tears or frustration! Yay! Thank you!
I have a Sony Experia Z. I want to transfer my pics and video’s to my PC. I read and followed your instructions, did not work. The folders mentioned (ie) DCIM and Camera were indicacted to be empty.I followed the directions of double clicking each one but nothing happened. I have had this phone for 6 weeks, a new model and I need to transfer video’s and pics to my PC so I can forward to my family around the country. Please reply and help me if you can.
I would be very appreciative.
Best Regards.
Hi Harvey. I hope you got this figured out! It may have been that your camera was set to save the pictures to the internal memory instead of the external card. That would explain why you weren’t seeing the pics. You could try changing that setting in your camera and then try it out.
THANK YOU! My phone gallery was full and didn’t know how to get them off the phone to back them up so I could erase and take more. When people chat me photos, I noticed there is no menu selection to save or forward the photos. Is there a way to get them saved to my phone memory?
No problem! 🙂 I’m glad to hear the instructions worked well for you! Yes, check out our other tutorial on how to save pics that are text messaged to you. Here is that lesson: http://droidlessons.com/how-to-save-pictures-and-attachments-from-text-messages-on-android/
Is there a way to transfer the photos from my android to my PC if my phone screen is damaged? Apparently, it costs an arm and a leg to get the screen fixed versus using my insurance for a new phone.
Thank you!
What about the .thumbnails folder? That folder contains a lot of smaller sized pictures but they still take up space on my very space-limited Nexus 4. Should I delete these?
Hi John- Wireless uploads from my iMac to Note 3 are working great! Thanks so much. Question- Can photos be sent from the phone to the Mac when the photos are stored in the phone’s memory, and not on an SD card?
Hi Roger. I’m glad you were able to get that figured out! Yes, you can send those photos over as well. Check out this other lesson we have with some details on that: http://droidlessons.com/how-to-quickly-transfer-files-from-android-phone-or-tablet-to-pc/
Now that I see how to do this, I noticed that the pictures are small when I view them on my PC (as opposed to other pictures I trnasferred from a camera card to my PC). I double checked to make sure I didn’t copy the thumbnails over to the PC, so I know that isn’t the problem. Any suggestions to make the transferred pictures “full size”? Thank you
I have an LG Optimus Zip. It’s an android phone (running 2.3.4). I almost never get the droid icon, and I’ve been having a tough time transferring photos from my phone to the pc or a flash drive. I’ve tried emailing them – no luck. I’ve sent them via SMS no problem. I expect I’m doing something wrong, but have no idea what it is. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi John,
Many thanks for the instructions on how to transfer pictures from the Android tablet/phone to the desktop. I did not know how to locate the camera after I connected the tablet to the desktop.
Thanks again,
Sheryl
What if steps 1-3 never occur? My phone recognizes the USB as a charger but it does not recognize it as being connected to a computer and my computer doesn’t see it as a Removable Disk. Help!
Jackie
How do you transfer images you’ve edited and downloaded from mobile to pc? I’m an Xperia Z user and have found that only the original pictures I have taken from the phone’s stock camera app show in DCIM. Also, is there any way to not transfer the photos marked as favourites other than going through and finding them all?
Thank you so much for this article John A.!!!
I just purchased the new Droid Turbo and I couldn’t figure out how to transfer my photos. I haven’t ever needed to turn the USB camera on, on my previous phones. I use my photos and transfer daily due to the type of business I own.
You are awesome, you have saved the day for me! Thank you thank you thank you and Merry Christmas!
I went to Verizon to get help in transferring photos from my android phone to my laptop. After a long wait, I was told that it would be too difficult without calling from home to a paid service. I left.
I found you when I googled for answers. My pictures are all transferred–quickly and easily. Thanks you for doing such a wonderful thing helping all of us.
Thank you John, I haven’t tried transferring my photos as yet but your explanation is clear and concise so hopefully should have no problems. Cheers again.