How to Bring Up the E Drive for the Kindle Fire

Load books and media directly from your computer to your Kindle.
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Connecting a Kindle Fire to your computer gives you the ability to quickly transfer files to and from your computer just as you would any USB storage device. Once connected, the Kindle Fire usually appears on your computer as an "E:" drive, although it can be almost any letter. In order connect the Fire to your computer, you will need a micro-USB cable. You can use a micro-USB cable from other devices, including some cameras and other tablets, or you can buy one from Amazon or from most computer stores. The Kindle Fire does not ship with a micro-USB cable.

Connect the large end of a micro-USB cable to any USB port directly on your computer. Connect the smaller end into the micro-USB port at the bottom of the Kindle Fire.

Unlock the Kindle Fire so its storage can be accessed by the computer.

Go to your computer's desktop. On a Windows 8 computer you can do this quickly by clicking the "Desktop" tile on the Start screen. Click the "File Explorer" icon at the bottom of the desktop. This icon resembles three file folders.

Select "This PC" from the left File Explorer menu. The Kindle is displayed in the main pane as the "E:" drive in the Devices and Drives section. Double-click the drive to open it. You can drag any files you want, such as e-books and music files, from your computer into the appropriate folder in the "E:" drive.

Eject the Kindle by clicking the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" icon located at the bottom of the desktop. This icon resembles a USB cable with a check mark beside it. Select the "Eject Kindle Fire" option before disconnecting the USB cable.

  • Your Kindle Fire may not always appear as the "E:" drive if you have other drives attached to your computer. It could be the "F:," or "G:" drive, for example. The "C:" drive almost always refers to a hard drive and "D:" refers to an optical drive like a DVD or CD player. Additional storage devices like that in a Kindle Fire are assigned the first available letter after "D:" It's unlikely you will ever see an "A:" or "B:" drive today, since these are reserved for floppy disks, which are practically obsolete.

A published author and professional speaker, David Weedmark has advised businesses and governments on technology, media and marketing for more than 20 years. He has taught computer science at Algonquin College, has started three successful businesses, and has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines throughout Canada and the United States.

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