Mr. Chen plugged the hard drive into their computer. “A new hard drive needs to be formatted so the computer knows how to talk to it.” He right-clicked the drive in “This PC” (on Windows) or used Disk Utility (on a Mac) and chose exFAT format. “Why exFAT?” Leo asked. “Because it works on both Windows and Macs, plus some smart TVs. That way, we can watch our movies anywhere.”

Leo had always loved movie nights with his family. But every time a storm rolled in, the Wi-Fi flickered and died, leaving them staring at a buffering screen. Frustrated, Leo’s dad, Mr. Chen, decided it was time to learn how to download movies directly onto a hard drive.

“Let’s stay organized,” Mr. Chen said. He created a folder on the hard drive called “Family Movie Night.” Inside, he made subfolders: “Animated,” “Action,” and “Classics.” “This way,” he smiled, “we won’t spend an hour searching for a movie later.”