Copying folders from C: to external hard drive or USB

I'm switching from an old desktop running XP to a new laptop running Windows 10.
I've copied folders, including some programs, to an external hard drive and/or a USB.

Windows Explorer in XP allowed me to just highlight files or folders I want to copy, then right click to copy them to HD or USB, and vice versa.

How do I accomplish this in Win10?

I just did that, using a two-step operation, first copying selected files, then opening the external hard drive and clicking on Paste.

I thought I would be able to have both panels (C: and E:) open side by side, so I could just drag and drop. But when I open E:, C: closes!

dalchina said:

Selection:
1. left click first file, hold CTRL down, click all other files you want if they are not contiguous.

2. Also select a range- left click, drag the selection, release.

3. Also left click to select 1st file, move to end of desired list, SHIFT + left click.

Then you can, e.g. rt click and drag your selection to destination, release & select from the options e.g. move, copy...

Nothing special.. are you experiencing some particular difficulty?

BobbiGraham said:

I just did that, using a two-step operation, first copying selected files, then opening the external hard drive and clicking on Paste.

I thought I would be able to have both panels (C: and E:) open side by side, so I could just drag and drop. But when I open E:, C: closes!

I usually have 2 or more instances of File Explorer open at the same time, right now just 2. To get more than 1 copy I right-click the File Explorer icon on the Taskbar then either click what would be a History or click File Explorer to just open another one. If not wanting to rearrange them I can right-click a blank area of the Taskbar and choose Cascade or Stacked side by side then the drag will work from a Folder on one drive/partition to another drive/partition, whatever is open.