file type organizing help needed please

I have a windows 10 laptop 64 bit 21h2 and I also have a windows 10 desktop 64 bit

I have purchased (2) 1TB USB External hard drives from my local walmart and would like to be able to scan my laptop for files that I can copy and place onto the hard drives and then delete the originals if possible.

So here is what I want to do I was wondering if there is a way to scan the entire laptop and find files based on type just as .mp3 .mp4 .jpg and .pdf and then copy them to the hard drives and then delete the originals. I would like to copy all of the media files from the laptop some are in the wrong location so I would like to find all available media files if possible. But I would like to block or lock the windows files in a way they don't get shown or can't be deleted.

I don't want to mess up the laptop I just want to copy the media files and the remove them from the laptop to give me more space.

Is something like this even possible.

Or is there a free program that I can use that can scan the entire PC and allow me to block specific folders. Is something like this even doable if so please tell me how or if you have done anything like this yourself please give me a few pointers.

Thank You!

I just tried to do this 3 times with "File Explorer" and it keeps freezing up and saying (Not Responding) is there a way to back up the entire laptop to 1 folder on the USB hard drive without needing to wipe the hard drive and then just reinstall windows 10 onto the laptop and then just search through the file on the hard drive. I know this might sound odd but it might be the easiest way since the "File Explorer" keeps saying not responding. Or is there a different way of checking for the file rather the "File Explorer". If you do suggest a program or app please make sure its a free one and not to difficult to use. Thank you.

Hello, I echo what @Try3 said. * is a wildcard for searches, which means anything, basically. So if you searched for *.mp3, or *.mp4 your computer would search the current folder and sub folders for any files. To avoid moving any windows files, don't search those folders, only the ones where you have files saved.

I would always have a look at the search results to make sure it all looks okay. Then select all and, to be honest I use move / cut a lot but as suggested, copy them, paste them to your new drive. Then delete, you can delete from the search results. Make sure the copied files are okay, open some of them. Someone I know copied all his files, then selected paste as shortcuts, deleted source. That was a hard day of recovering files then having to try to explain why they're all named, file0001.doc, file0002.doc.

I hope that offers some help.

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Hello, Not Responding isn't all that bad, it will still be working on your task but doesn't have the time to update you. Leave it for a moment, if you have a full, slow drive, it might take some time to find everything.

TidySean said:

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Hello, Not Responding isn't all that bad, it will still be working on your task but doesn't have the time to update you. Leave it for a moment, if you have a full, slow drive, it might take some time to find everything.

I did finally get it to scan for .mp3 once I opened the "File Explorer" the 4th time and I am moving the files to a folder called .mp3 on the hard drive and then I will look at each file quick and then if there just songs I have downloaded or something I will then just delete them. And then I will move on to the next file type and so fourth.

I have a odd question if I scan like this will it also show copy files what I mean is if I have a song called "Garth Brooks - Thunder Rolls.mp3" inside a folder called "Country Music" and then I have a folder called "Garth Brooks" and have the same song in there will this show the same "Garth Brooks - Thunder Rolls.mp3" in the list twice. I just got a pop up stating that the files I tried to move to the .mp3 folder already has some of the same files names. I was just checking that is why I asked.

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Try3 said:

I imagine you meant a folder called mp3 rather than .mp3.
Having a dot at the start of a folder name is possible but I think it's bound to lead to mistakes in later use.
If you did call it .mp3 then just finish that part of the job and rename it to mp3 afterwards [not during the copying].

All the best,
Denis

I quickly named it .mp3 since that was the kind of file I am currently working on. Most if not all of my .mp3 files are music and really nothing else. I plan to change it to music once I have moved all the file from the laptop to the hard drive. But currently I have multiple music folders on the same hard rive so that is why I called it .mp3 just until I get these moved over. And then I plan to take all of the .mp3 files from the hard drive that are in messed up folders and move them all to the music folder on the hard rive and then make multiple folders inside music starting with "Need To Be Renamed" - "NTBR" and then one called "DONE" and then once all the .mp3 have been renamed and organized by artist in there own folders I plan to remove the "DONE" folder and inside the "Music" folder there will be artists and then the albums and then the songs. But first I just needed to get all the files in one place so I knew where they are and what needed to be worked on still.

I pan to do this for my Movie and TV Shows also as well as my "ANIME". I have the programs that can do the tag editing and the renaming I just needed to get everything together before organizing and decluttering. I hope this makes sense.

Dawn121988 said:

I have a odd question if I scan like this will it also show copy files what I mean is if I have a song called "Garth Brooks - Thunder Rolls.mp3" inside a folder called "Country Music" and then I have a folder called "Garth Brooks" and have the same song in there will this show the same "Garth Brooks - Thunder Rolls.mp3" in the list twice. I just got a pop up stating that the files I tried to move to the .mp3 folder already has some of the same files names. I was just checking that is why I asked.

That depends, yes and no. It depends on how the files are named. For example, you might have some albums and a best hits or other compilation (like you do). They would probably be named with the track number first. So won't always show up side by side in the search. I have had a similar issue before with music. After the search has finished, select view and select details. Then at the top where it lists the column headings, you can right click and pick your own, there is an artist option, album and so on, then you can order as you wish to see the duplicates. But then you delete songs from either the album or other, I don't like that but it is up to you if you do that. Usual, windows will select appropriate headings in details but I don't think it will in search.

I work with music, these are the default headings for file explorer on my machine, it's quite surprising how many there are.

I just did something inside the folder after I moved the .mp3 files I clicked on "View", "Details" I now see "Name, Date Modified, Type, Size, Folder Path. Every .mp3 File is located inside the "Music" folder somewhere so I plan to just delete all of the files since there just "Music" and then just keep them on the hard drive and rename them from there. I have 1,921 files inside the search results and then I have 1,747 that was copied to the hard drive.