Can I copy (or move) files directly from one EHD to another EHD?

[katetx]

PROBLEM: I accidentally removed a bunch of files to my Archive EHD and erased them from my MacBook Air, so that I only have ONE copy of them. My MB doesn't have room to move the files back and then move them to another EHD.

GOAL: Make a backup copy of my archived files. Is there any way to, say, plug two EHD's into the two USB slots and just drag the files from one to the other? I don't use the cloud, except limited use of Dropbox, which doesn't help since the files still take up room on my Mac.
I'm running 10.12.5.

Many thanks.

Kate

 

[DeltaMac]

Yes.
Connect both hard drives to your MBAir.
Drag the files that you need to back up to the other drive.
Finder will copy the files to the second drive.
If you want to make certain that the first drive is not disturbed, hold your Option key down for the drag copy. That forces a copy to the new location
That will leave the files in place on the first drive, so you would then have copies on both drives.

 

[katetx]

Yes.
Connect both hard drives to your MBAir.
Drag the files that you need to back up to the other drive.
Finder will copy the files to the second drive.
If you want to make certain that the first drive is not disturbed, hold your Option key down for the drag copy. That forces a copy to the new location
That will leave the files in place on the first drive, so you would then have copies on both drives.

Thank you SO MUCH. I've had so many people, even so-called 'geniuses" tell me that I can't do this. But I gave y'all one last chance and you CAME THROUGH!

 

[BrianBaughn]

The external drives have to be formatted in way that macOS can read and write to them.