Please verify the size of this folder on my C: drive

I have Win10. I have a folder, Documents, where I store all my documents. I have an external drive that has documents files saved and I cannot access the files through my computer ports.
Thus, I want to buy a flash drive that I can transfer documents to. I did a Properties size and it shows 980GB. That seems absurd. Here is what the readout states:

Size: 980 GB (1,052, 720,369,776 bytes)
Size on disk: 983GB
Contains: 1,458, 689 files

That seems like a lot of files and I wonder if some of them are duplicates. I'm trying to clean up the Documents & C: drive so I can transfer files to a flash drive vs. an external drive. What size flash drive should I buy? Thanks.

That looks like the size of the entire C: drive. In Windows (File) Explore, navigate to the C:\Users\<YourUsername> folder (substitute your user name for <YourUsername> and right-click on the My Documents or Documents folder and select Properties. You should get something similar to the attached screen capture that tells you how big the contents is. Bear in mind that there may be files elsewhere on your computer that you may want backed up (pictures, videos, configuration file data, application file data, etc.)

I would start with at least 1 256 GB drive:

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra.../dp/B00YFI1A66

Also, remember that files stored in only one place, even externally, are NOT backed up.

Did you upgrade to Win10 or was it a clean install? If it was an upgrade, part of it could be the Windows.old folder.

You can try using Treesizefree to see which folders are the biggest.
https://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

Typical flash drives are much slower than external hard drives, so it's going to take longer to copy over the files. And to reiterate what jdc2000 said, you always want more than one copy of your files. External does not equal backup.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jdc2000

That looks like the size of the entire C: drive. In Windows (File) Explore, navigate to the C:\Users\<YourUsername> folder (substitute your user name for <YourUsername> and right-click on the My Documents or Documents folder and select Properties. You should get something similar to the attached screen capture that tells you how big the contents is. Bear in mind that there may be files elsewhere on your computer that you may want backed up (pictures, videos, configuration file data, application file data, etc.)

I would start with at least 1 256 GB drive:

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra.../dp/B00YFI1A66

Also, remember that files stored in only one place, even externally, are NOT backed up.

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Followed instructions, same thing, same size. I have 1 TB HD; and when I see the C:drive it shows: 109GB used; 805 GB free.
I am going to Properties in Documents. This is a head scratcher.

If the C: drive shows 109 GB of 805 GB used, then you cannot have 980 GB of files in (My) Documents.

Attach a screen capture from your system like the one I posted.