# How do I put my Kindle 2 books on my computer?



## stiches44 (Feb 19, 2011)

My Kindle was frozen just a short while ago and I was afraid of losing all of my books. Thankfully everything turned out all right but I would, just in case it ever happened, like to put them on my computer just in case. Any idea how?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

You can just drag and drop the files from your Kindle to your computer, or download them from your Manage Your Kindle page on your Amazon account. You need to download them for each device on your account if you want to back them all up.


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## TheKindleWorm (Sep 11, 2010)

Amazon back up all the book purchases you make with them and you can download these at any time to your Kindle by visiting the Archived Items on your device OR by going to the Manage Your Kindke page which is accessible via the Amazon Kindle store.

I have only ever read about one case where Amazon "lost" soneones books but they reimbursed the person so they had the option to buy back all the books if they wished. 

You can back up whatever books are on your Kindle by simply plugging in your Kindle to your PC and then copying the Documents folder on your Kindle over to your PC. Any Amazon books on there will only ever work on that specific Kindle device. You need to download from Amazon with the methods mentioned above if you wish to use Amazon books on another Kindle or Kindle app.


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## luvshihtzu (Dec 19, 2008)

If you are talking about personal books that don't have DRM on them, use Calibre to do the transfer.  I had to do that last week, when my computer went belly up and the hard drive crashed.  The last back up done, didn't have my books from the last two months.  Now I have everything restored to the new computer from my Kindle.

You can download all of your purchased Kindle books to your computer, in case you are worried about Amazon going away, by choosing the computer when you download each book instead of choosing an individual Kindle.  You can also find that command on Manage My Kindle for each book.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

luvshihtzu said:


> You can download all of your purchased Kindle books to your computer, in case you are worried about Amazon going away, by choosing the computer when you download each book instead of choosing an individual Kindle. You can also find that command on Manage My Kindle for each book.


Not exactly.

You can choose 'transfer via computer', but you still need to specify which Kindle the file is ultimately to be used on. And then THAT file will only work on THAT device. If you want another copy for use on a different device, you have to download it again.

If you download via Kindle 4 PC or Kindle 4 Mac, that file will not work on your separate Kindle device.

I'd recommend having completely different folders for each different device for which you do such downloads.


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## KayakerNC (Oct 7, 2009)

I copy my Document file to a thumb drive as a back-up.  
I have lots of non Amazon books I'd hate to lose.  Cheap insurance against an unlikely occurrence.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Easy. Assuming you have a Windows computer, when you connect your Kindle via the USB plug, your computer should see it as just another drive. Plug a thumb drive (a USB flash drive) into another USB port. That drive should eventually open also. On your Kindle screen, look for the "Documents" folder - this is where Kindle stores all of your books. Just drag that folder to your USB drive and it will copy the books to the thumb (USB) drive.  If you have an Apple computer, I assume the steps are similar.

If you don't have another USB drive free, drag the folder to your desktop and once it has finished copying the files, eject then unplug your Kindle and put the USB drive into the port where the Kindle was connected. When the USB drive becomes available, drag the folder from your desktop to the USB drive.

I usually open, "My Computer" after everything is plugged in so I can see all of the drives I'm working with.


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