Just experimenting with a “Screen Recorder” website, called Screenr.com, and thought I’d put it to use for showing you how to find out how big a folder is. You’ll want to know this, if you plan to back something up. Otherwise you wont’ know what to back it up to in the first place, right?
For example, if you shoot pictures at a party, and want to make a copy of all the pictures to give to your friends, what would be the easiest and cheapest way to do that? If your friend has a USB “thumb drive” that is 1 GB, would they all fit?
Now you can know! By finding the folder on your computer, and then viewing the properties of that folder, the computer will tell you exactly how much space that folder will need on the USB Drive.
Here’s a step by step that should get you there. Each version of Windows has a slightly different way of getting you to the same place, so you may have to adjust a bit, but here we go.
My preferred way first 
On your keyboard, at the bottom left corner, between Control (Ctrl) and Alt keys is a key with the Microsoft Flag, typically called the Windows Key. Notice that it looks like the symbol on the Start button on Windows? If you press that key, and then let go, it is the same as if you had taken your mouse and clicked the Start button.
If you hold down the Windows Key, and not let go, and then press and release the E key, Windows Explorer will open. That is what I have open in the video. Depending on your computer, and some options, your view will almost assuredly not look like mine. Sorry, I always tweak things, and its hard for me to remember what things usually look like for people!
Remembering that files are stored inside of folders, and that folders can be inside other folders, at first its a bit confusing remembering where things get saved! Its worth paying attention when you do save something, so you can later find it! Typically, Windows will have a system, so if you don’t change where it is trying to save things, the system will help you later. So if you have pictures saved from your digital camera, odds are they got saved into Documents \ Pictures. Documents is a folder that is inside your “user profile” area of the hard drive. On Windows Vista, that is usually located at “c:\documents and settings\user name” where “user name” is your Windows login name. In the video, you may have noticed that my User Profile was on the D drive, which I had to change on my own. I won’t waste your time explaining why or how to do that today!
Also within the Documents folder is Music, Videos, Favorites, Links, Downloads, and a few others. If you type a letter and save it, its probably in Documents. Hopefully! Each program has its own “default file locations” where it will save things unless you tell it otherwise. Next time you save something, pay attention to where it goes. The file location “address” will be in the top of the “file save dialog box” where you typed in the file name and then hit Save.
Ok, with all that said, how big is the folder? I realize I ran though it pretty fast in the video, so I’ll try again. Once you navigate to where the folder is, by finding its parent folder, and then finding the folder it self, you use your mouse and click the RIGHT button on the mouse, while pointing at the folder. A menu opens up, and the very last item on the menu, will be Properties. If you left click on Properties, a dialog, very much like the one in the video, will open up. That properties box has changed very little since Windows 95. Windows will calculate the size of the folder, and all the included files inside of it, and give you an answer.
Now, a CD-R or CD-RW will hold about 650 MB (sometimes 700 MB). 1,000 MB is about 1 GB. A DVD will hold 4.7 GB, or about 4,700,000 MB… or roughly 8 times what a CD will hold. A 1 GB Flash Drive or Thumb Drive will hold more than a CD but less than a DVD. If you remember the old floppy disks, a CD can hold about 500 of the the 3.5 inch, 1.44 MB disks. The digital flash memory card you have in your camera right now, probably holds more information, than all of the floppy disks you’ve ever seen or used. Or about 500 pictures now, right?
Ok, still, I feel like I’m not saying that in a way that makes sense, so I’ll think about it and get back to this again later
Its hard for me to explain something like this, cause I just know it, and don’t really think about it much anymore!
