As time goes and technology becomes more and more convenient, saving data and information on the cloud has become commonplace. Among the many cloud image servers, Google Photos is one of the most used, thanks to its close association with Android and its fantastic support from the tech giant that is Google themselves, not to mention, it’s free.
It’s an excellent service, keeping all your pictures and images saved for backups with all their file metadata stored perfectly. On top of that, Google Photos is easy to use and quite powerful compared to most simple photo and gallery applications. Accessibility is also another strong point for Google Photos, being available for basically any device, be it a computer or a smartphone.

Now, uploading, importing and saving images and snapshots to Google Photos from your mobile phone is simple enough, but what about transferring photos manually from a USB flash drive or memory stick? After all, if ease of use is one of Google Photos’ key selling points, then surely it’s a pretty basic process, right? Well, we’re happy to tell you that not only is it simple, but we’re also going to guide you to the process so that it’s as painless as possible!
How to Manually Upload, Transfer or Backup Image Files & Pictures from USB Flash Drive to Google Photos Cloud Service
Now, the first thing you’re going to need is a computer, laptop or desktop will do. Without a computer, it’s a lot more difficult to import and transfer image files around like this. It doesn’t need to be your own computer, as the files aren’t staying on it and you can easily sign out of your account and then make the device forget your Google account. So, without further ado, let’s get straight into it!
- Plug USB flash drive into free USB slot on your computer.
- Use your file explorer to access the files on your USB flash drive.
- Find the images you want to save on Google Photos.
- Take all the images and relocate them into a new folder.
- Open your browser.
- Go to the Google Photos website.
- Sign into your Google account.
- Drag and drop your images into Google Photos.
- The images will be automatically uploaded, keeping them online forever.
Wrapping It Up
Now that you’ve completed all these steps, you should find all your photos saved comfortably on your Google Photos account. From now on, you can delete all the images from your USB flash drive and just visit the site to take a look at all of your photos and pictures. We hope this guide helped you out, and keep reading for more fixes and tips!