Congratulations! You have purchased the new backup device, the most popular and reliable Photo stick to save all your precious memories. Read our Photostick Troubleshooting guide.
If you are not sure how to use it for the first time or it’s not actually saving your photographs automatically, then this article is for you.
We explain how to optimally use the Photostick and how to troubleshoot the Photostick device too. Let’s get started:-
Why Photo Stick Is So Simple to Use
You can store all those folders that contain photos and videos from your computer or phone, but you must spend a lot of your time selecting those files that deserve to be saved carefully. The most awkward moment is that there is a possibility that you have missed a photo or video and when you realize it, it will be too late.
- Technology thrives on its ambitious proposals and American companies have generated the PhotoStick. This incredible software saves all the files on any device within the computer’s storage with one click.
- Surely you classify those photos in numerous folders to which you have to spend a great deal of time locating each image in the group that it belongs. On the other hand, perhaps it is one of those that just crowd everything in the same place. In both cases, I can tell you not to be stupid and protect yourself from the terrible inconveniences of losing files with the new good idea that grates on the genius of auto photo backup or auto storage of photos.
- The device breaks the line of those programs that upload images and videos to the internet by charging an expensive monthly credit card fee.
- This flash drive protects your private data, avoiding lengthy and complicated processes that are so tedious that there will be no extra charges for the service. Photo Stick is as friendly as it is inexpensive since it is compatible with Windows and iOS, which overlaps it as one of the most profitable software on the market. It has become the favorite of users who are fans of the good. Best of all? You only need to press one click and the PhotoStick will take care of the rest.
PhotoStick Troubleshooting
How To Reset Photostick To Factory Defaults?
If your PhotoStick needs to be restored to factory settings, you can use the Windows restore tool:
- Download the PhotoStick Restore Tool
- Plug your Photo Backup Stick into your Windows computer
- Run the pbs-restore.exe app and click the “Recover” button.
- If your Photo Backup Stick is not detected, please contact our support team.
If You Want Manual Restore Factory Setting in PhotoStick, Follow These Step –
- It will delete any thumbnail files it can find
- Delete the My_Files folder and all subfolders and files located in My_Files
- It deletes the entire ThePhotoStick folder.
Removing Duplicate Photos from the PhotoStick
PhotoStick is a pen drive used to back up photos with a single click. It comes in various sizes including 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB, and a whopping 1TB! PhotoStick can be connected to any computer with the help of the standard USB port. Even though PhotoStick’s promos claim it can be used for backing up photos, it is equally handy in backing up documents, videos, music files.
The advantage of this small hardware device is it being optimized for media content, and thus it is ideal for backing up personal multimedia in order to guard against any accidental loss. This guide demonstrates how to weed out duplicate photos from PhotoStick with ease by providing 3 solutions for our readers’ benefit.
Solutions: The Native Method
The native method is the default way that can be used to eliminate duplicate photos while they are being copied to the drive. This method is reliable to a greater extent. In this solution, we will make use of the PhotoStick app that comes with the device itself. The software by default scans the entire computer and copies the photos to the drive. All the photos are copied to the same folder in the drive regardless of the location on the computer they are being fetched from, and thus the duplicate content is renamed to comply with rules imposed by Windows itself. Since only the earliest version of all images saved to PhotoStick, any duplicates aren’t accepted into the drive at all.
- Plug in the PhotoStick drive to the USB port.
- Now launch the installation file from the PhotoStick drive and install it.
- Once the PhotoStick software has been successfully installed, launch it.
- Navigate to the ThePhotoStick Settings and Options section and click the Options tab.
- Select both Consolidate all files into a single directory and Skip duplicates options
How to Run PhotoStick?
Insert the stick into the USB port. Most windows computers will automatically recognize the device and a File Explorer window will open automatically. If the File Explorer window does not open automatically after plugging in ThePhotoStick, go to This PC and double-click PhotoStick listed under devices and drives. Double-click on ThePhotoStickWindows.exe to install the application. Once the application is installed, it will launch automatically.
To install The PhotoStick on your Mac laptop/desktop, insert the PhotoStick into the USB port. Double-click on the desktop shortcut labeled as PhotoStick. If no icon appears on your desktop after plugging in ThePhotoStick, go to Finder and double-click PhotoStick listed under devices. Double-click on ThePhotoStickMac to install the application. Once the application is installed, it will launch automatically.
For those who want to use ThePhotoStick on their android and iOS devices, download and install ThePhotoStick app on your device.
How to run PhotoStick on Your computer (Step by Step guide)
ThePhotoStick is convenient to use. Open the cap of the USB stick. Locate a free port on your device and insert the stick into it. Sometimes, it might not fit a single USB port. Just look for the perfect size. From there, the computer recognizes the drive and a window will pop up on the screen.
In case the Window does not appear on the screen, open My Computer, look for the USB icon, and double click on it to allow the software to run. What makes this brand special is that it comes with a comprehensive manual. Read on the instructions or seek assistance from a friend.
Before we start using the photo stick let’s first see how the user interface looks so we can get an understanding of how to run it.
- Main Menu – This menu toolbar allows you to have access to different features of photostick and some of them include images/videos, tools, settings and updates regarding the software.
- Status Area – Whenever there’s a backup running or other kind of operation, this area will tell you the current status of program.
- Photo Stick Capacity Chart – This little chart will tell you how much space you have used and how much there is available on ThePhotoStick.
- Backup Statistics – All kinds of information about your current backup.
- “Photo/Video Organizer” Button – This button will open up a window that shows all your currently backed photos and videos.
- “Settings” button – This opens up the options and settings windows for the program.
- “User Guide” button – This will show you the online user guide.
- “Exit” button – As the name suggests, this button will close the program.
- “Go!” button – And finally, the most important button, this one starts the backup of all your photos and videos on your computer.
How to run PhotoStick on Computer
Insert the stick into the USB port. Most windows computers will automatically recognize the device and a File Explorer window will open automatically. If the File Explorer window does not open automatically after plugging in ThePhotoStick, go to This PC and double-click PhotoStick listed under devices and drives. Double-click on ThePhotoStickWindows.exe to install the application. Once the application is installed, it will launch automatically.
Step 1 – Insert Your Photo Stick inside any open USB slot.
Step 2 – Find the USB inside File Explorer and open ThePhotoStick_Windows.exe.
Step 3: When the program loads in, simply click “Go”
Does The Photo Stick Work With Windows?
- Insert Photo Stick in any open USB slot.
- Find the USB inside File Explorer and open ThePhotoStick_Windows.exe.
- When the program loads in, simply click “Go”
How To Use Photostick on Mac
- Find an empty USB slot and plug ThePhotoStick in.
- Search for an icon on your desktop by the name of PHOTOSTICK (if by any chance the icon does not appear, you should then go to Finder and open it from the list of devices)
- Open the file called ThePhotoStick_Mac.
- After the program loads up simply click the button “Go”.
The PhotoStick Usage Manual
ThePhotoStick Default Settings
ThePhotoStick was designed to be flexible to meet your back-up needs. It can find and save a wide range of photo and video file types as well as allow you to specify where ThePhotoStick will search for photos and videos.
By default, ThePhotoStick will search for JPEG photo files. These settings can be changed. Please click here to view all the options available in ThePhotoStick.
- Default Start Search Locations (recursively searches from the start search location)
- On Windows: c:\
- On Mac: /Users
- Default List of Folders to Skip
- On Windows:
- C:\Program Files
- C:\Program Files (x86)
- C:\Windows
- On Mac:
- /System
- /Application
- /Library
- /Volumes/PHOTOSTICK
- On Windows:
- Default Photo Types
- JPEG (*.jpg;*.jpeg;*.jpe;*.jfif)
- Default Options
- Consolidate all files into a single directory
- Photos saved to My_Photos
- Skip duplicates
- Consolidate all files into a single directory
Getting to know ThePhotoStick interface
- Main menu — allows for access to various features of ThePhotoStick, including your photos/videos, settings, logs, and checking for ThePhotoStick software updates.
- Status area — provides status messages before, during, and after a back-up is run.
- ThePhotoStick capacity chart — provides a quick snapshot of how much used and free space is currently on ThePhotoStick.
- Back-up statistics — provides information for your current back-up.
- “My Photos/Videos” button — clicking this will show your photos and videos that are currently backed up to ThePhotoStick.
- “Settings” button — clicking this will launch the Settings and Options window for ThePhotoStick.
- “View Logs” button — clicking this will show the back-up logs for all the previous and current back-ups that were run.
- “Exit” button — clicking this closes ThePhotoStick software.
- “Go!” button — clicking this starts a back-up of your photos and videos.
1. To start a back-up, simply press the green “Go” button.
NOTE: ThePhotoStick will find and save JPEG photo files. ThePhotoStick can also find and save many more file types if you choose.
NOTE: To see other default settings for ThePhotoStick.
Viewing files saved to ThePhotoStick
There are 2 ways you can view your photos and videos saved to ThePhotoStick:
1. From inside ThePhotoStick software (same for Windows and Mac):
2. From your Operating Systems File Manager:
ThePhotoStick stores your photo and video files on the USB stick in the directory path: <ThePhotoStick drive>\My_Files\<computer name>.
For Windows computers, for example, if you plug ThePhotoStick into a Windows computer with a computer name of mphillips1, and Windows assigns the drive letter F: to ThePhotoStick, the path to files backed up to it would be F:\My_Files\mphillips1\.
For Mac computers, ThePhotoStick is always mounted on the path /Volumes/PHOTOSTICK. So, if you plug ThePhotoStick into a Mac computer with a computer name of phillips-mac, the path to files backed up to ThePhotoStick would be /Volumes/PHOTOSTICK/My_Files/phillips-mac.
Example screenshots from ThePhotoStick running on a Windows computer named mphillips1:
Example screenshots from ThePhotoStick running on a Mac computer named phillips-mac:
Settings and Options for ThePhotoStick
ThePhotoStick offers several options to meet your photo and video back-up needs.
Accessing the Settings and Options
To access ThePhotoStick’s settings and options, open ThePhotoStick software and click on the “Settings” button.
File Locations
ThePhotoStick will recursively search any directory paths specified in its settings. By default, ThePhotoStick will start at “c:\” on Windows computers and “/Users” on Mac computers.
Adding a Folder path to scan:
You can add additional search paths by clicking on the “Add…” button, browsing to and selecting the folder you would like to recursively search, then clicking “open”. You should now see the path added in the list of folders to scan. Click “Ok” to save.
Removing a folder path to scan:
To remove a directory path to search, select the folder path in the list, then click on “Remove Selected”.
Note: You can select multiple folder paths at the same time by holding down the Ctrl key when clicking on another folder path.
For example, on a Windows system, if you do not want ThePhotoStick to search your entire drive, you can remove “c:\” by selecting it and then clicking “Remove Selected”. Then, click “Add…” to add a more specific path. In this case, we want to only search the “Pictures” folder. Click “Ok” to save.
Reset Folders to scan back to default:
To reset the folder paths back to default, click on “Reset To Default”. This will remove any added paths and set it back to “c:\” on Windows computers and “/Users” on Mac computers. Click “Ok” to save.
Adding a Folder path to skip:
You can add additional folder paths to be skipped and ignored by clicking on the “Add…” button, browsing to and selecting the folder you would like to skip, then clicking “open”. The folder you selected, plus any subfolders in that folder will be skipped. You should now see the path added in the list of folders to skip. Click “Ok” to save.
Removing a folder path to skip:
To remove a directory path to skip, select the folder path in the list, then click on “Remove Selected”.
Note: You can select multiple folder paths at the same time by holding down the Ctrl key when clicking on another folder path.
For example, on a Windows system, if you do not want ThePhotoStick to skip the “C:\Program Files” folder, you can remove “C:\Program Files” by selecting it and then clicking “Remove Selected”. Click “Ok” to save.
Photo File Types
ThePhotoStick can find and save many types of photo files. By default, ThePhotoStick will find and save JPEG photo files, but it can find and save many more photo file types if you choose.
To add additional photo file types to find and save, click on the “Photo File Types” tab, and then check the box next to the photo file types you would like ThePhotoStick to find and save. Click “Ok” to save.
Video File Types
ThePhotoStick can find and save several types of video files.
To add additional video file types to find and save, click on the “Video File Types” tab, and then check the box next to the video file types you would like ThePhotoStick to find and save. Click “Ok” to save.
Options
ThePhotostick has additional back-up options available. These can be accessed by clicking on the “Options” tab, making any option changes, and then clicking the “Ok” button to save.
Copy options:
Consolidate all files into a single directory — By default, ThePhotoStick will consolidate your photo and video files into a single folder for easy and convenient access. ThePhotoStick stores your photo and video files on the USB stick in the directory path: <ThePhotoStick drive>\My_Files\<computer name>. See Viewing files saved to ThePhotoStick for additional details.
Skip duplicates — When consolidating files into a single directory on ThePhotoStick, ThePhotoStick can skip any duplicates it finds. Often times, the same photos and videos can be saved in various places on your hard disk drive. Having “Skip duplicates” checked will result in only one copy of that file being copied to ThePhotoStick. If you uncheck this option and ThePhotoStick finds a duplicate file, it will copy the duplicate file to ThePhotoStick and rename it on ThePhotoStick to <filename>_copy-#.
For example, say there is a photo file called DSCF0566.JPG, and it is saved on your hard disk drive at C:\Users\ricky\pictures\DSCF0566.JPG, C:\photos\DSCF0566.JPG., and C:\Users\ricky\Desktop\pics\DSCF0566.JPG. ThePhotoStick will copy the first of these DSCF0566.JPG files, C:\Users\ricky\pictures\DSCF0566.JPG, as normal to ThePhotoStick as DSCF0566.JPG. When it goes to back up the next DSCF0566.JPG file, C:\photos\DSCF0566.JPG, it will see that a file called DSCF0566.JPG is already on ThePhotoStick, so it will analyze the file further to verify if they are true duplicates of each other. If they are, and “Skip duplicates” is checked, it will make note it found a duplicate but not copy this file to ThePhotoStick. If “Skip duplicate” is not checked or if the files are not true duplicates of each other, the file will be copied to your ThePhotoStick as DSCF0566_copy-1.JPG. The process is repeated again when it goes to save the third DSCF0566.JPG file, C:\Users\ricky\Desktop\pics\DSCF0566.JPG. It will see that there is a DSCF0566.JPG and DSCF0566_copy-1.JPG file already on ThePhotoStick, so it will check if this third DSCF0566.JPG file is a duplicate of DSCF0566.JPG or DSCF0566_copy-1.JPG. If so, it will not save it again. If neither is a duplicate, then it will copy it to ThePhotoStick as DSCF0566_copy-2.JPG. For this example, assume ThePhotoStick is running on a Windows computer named “mywincomp” and was given the drive letter F:.
| Original File Path on HDD | File Back-up Path on ThePhotoStick |
|---|---|
| C:\photos\DSCF0566.JPG | F:\My_Files\mywincomp\My_Photos\DSCF0566.JPG |
| C:\Users\ricky\pictures\DSCF0566.JPG | F:\My_Files\mywincomp\My_Photos\DSCF0566_copy-1.JPG |
| C:\Users\ricky\Desktop\pics\DSCF0566.JPG | F:\My_Files\mywincomp\My_Photos\DSCF0566_copy-2.JPG |
Exclude Photo/Video files smaller than — By default, ThePhotoStick will skip and not save any files smaller than 100kb. Generally, any picture or video files smaller than 100kb are system or application images and not user photos or videos. This value can be adjusted to any size that you prefer. For example, if you want all photo and video files saved no matter how small they are, you can change the value to “0”. Likewise, if you know your photos are all bigger than 2MB (the approximate size of a 8MP camera), you can change this exclude value to 2MB and fine tune the photo back up.
Advanced Options:
To view the advanced options for ThePhotoStick, click on “Show Advanced Copy Options…”
As you can see above, the Advanced Copy options are:
Maintain source directory structure — This option will not consolidate all photo and video files into <ThePhotoStick drive>\My_Files\<computer name>\My_Photos and <ThePhotoStick drive>\My_Files\<computer name>\My_Videos. With this option, ThePhotoStick will separate your photos and videos into the directories My_Photos and My_Videos, but it will maintain the entire path structure to the file. Also, because each file maintains its original directory path, there will never be a duplicate on ThePhotoStick USB stick, so skipping duplicates is not a selectable option when using “Maintain source directory structure”.
For example, say there is a photo file called DSCF0566.JPG, and it is saved on your hard disk drive at C:\Users\ricky\pictures\DSCF0566.JPG, C:\photos\DSCF0566.JPG., and C:\Users\ricky\Desktop\pics\DSCF0566.JPG. If “Maintain source directory structure” is selected, all three of these files will be saved to ThePhotoStick whether they are duplicates or not. They will be saved to ThePhotoStick in the following way. For this example, assume ThePhotoStick is running on a Windows computer named “mywincomp” and was given the drive letter F:.
| Original File Path on HDD | File Backup Path on ThePhotoStick |
|---|---|
| C:\photos\DSCF0566.JPG | F:\My_Files\mywincomp\My_Photos\photos\DSCF0566.JPG |
| C:\Users\ricky\pictures\DSCF0566.JPG | F:\My_Files\mywincomp\My_Photos\Users\ricky\pictures\DSCF0566.JPG |
| C:\Users\ricky\Desktop\pics\DSCF0566.JPG | F:\My_Files\mywincomp\My_Photos\Users\ricky\Desktop\pics\DSCF0566.JPG |
Copy Thumbnails in iPhoto Library — On Mac computers, when this option is checked, ThePhotoStick will copy all the iPhoto Library thumbnails in addition to all the Master (original size) photo files. This option is less common since iPhoto will automatically generate new thumbnail images when importing the Master photo files.
Debug logging (Support Only) — On occasion, ThePhotoStick support may require more detailed logging when investigating an issue. This option turns on detailed logging and is only recommended to have on for small periods of time and as directed by ThePhotoStick support. Having it always on can impact performance.
Conclusion
Thus, we have shared the best way to use the Photo Stick and also how to troubleshoot it. If you still have doubts, you can write down to us in the comments section below and we shall be happy to help you. Photostick Troubleshooting is a concern for many readers.