How to Transfer Programs From an External Hard Disc

External hard drives, as their name notes, are computer hard drives housed in a casing outside of a computer. The drives are often connected to computers via a USB connection or a Firewire connection. When they're connected, files and programs can be accessed on the external drive through the computer. The files can also be moved between the computer and drive. If you have a program or files stored on the external drive, you can copy or transfer these to the connected computer's own hard drive.

• 1

  Connect the external hard drive's USB or Firewire cable to an available USB or Firewire port on your computer. Wait a few seconds for the drive's icon to appear on your computer's desktop screen.

• 2

  Double-click on the external hard drive icon on the desktop. A new window appears. Navigate through the folders and files until you find the folder for the program you want to transfer to the computer.

• 3

  Right-click on the program folder and select "Cut" or "Copy" from the drop-down menu.

• 4

  Right-click anywhere on the computer's desktop screen and select "Paste" from the list of options. Alternately, double-click on the "My Computer" icon or the Mac "hard drive" icon and locate either the "Programs" folder or the "Applications" folder. Double-click on the folder, right-click anywhere inside the folder and select "Paste" to put the program directly into the folder.

• 5

  Wait for the transfer to complete. A status bar may appear indicating how much time remains. Right-click on the "external hard drive" icon on the desktop and select "Eject." Wait a few seconds, then disconnect the USB or Firewire cable.