Best way to transfer files between android and PC?

[AC Question]

I'm looking for "best practices" for transferring files between my Android cell (running 4.4.2) and my laptop (running Windows 8.1). Files may be transferred either way: for example, I may transfer pictures taken on the phone to the PC but transfer grocery lists composed on the laptop to the phone to take shopping with me. Most transfers would take place at home. I do NOT want to transfer via the cell network and have to pay for data usage.

I'm guessing that my two basic choices are to connect a USB cable between the phone and laptop or use an FTP app to move the files via WiFi.

Re USB transfers: I connected the two machines via a USB cable but it seems like major parts of the phone are not visible on the laptop. For instance, I see a screenshot I took on the phone from the laptop but none of the other pictures or videos I've made. I can't find a short text file that I created via Text Editor on the phone. How do I see ALL of the files on the phone?

Re WiFi transfers: I found one tutorial that suggesting using ES File Manager and swiFTP on the phone, the former to locate the files, the latter to transfer them. I went into Google Play and found the former but don't know how safe it is; I was advised the other day to ask about any given program on a forum first to be sure it was safe and effective so that's part of this question. I also failed to find swiFTP, although there *were* 75 other apps that had something to do with FTP in my search. If people can suggest the best two or three FTP apps so that I can choose, that would be great.

Are there any other ways to transfer data between laptop and phone that I should know about?

 

[dadoubz]

I use Dropbox extensively for my graphics and text /document files between my phone, tablet, desktop, and laptop, and the files are always backed and synced up to their appropriate folder, all without any intervention on my part.
I am also able to recover previous versions and iterations of the files that I store.

 

[Rukbat]

ES File Explorer is safe, and it's a very good app for many purposes. (I've been using it for years.)

I use WiFi File Transfer to transfer files if I don't want to use a cable. Finding pictures is a problem for some - there isn't a single folder that everything you want to transfer is in. Start with DCIM for anything you took with the camera. For anything else, you should create a folder to keep pictures in (you can make sub-folders, because Gallery uses the name of the last folder, the one the picture files are in, as the "album" name), so it's easier to find them.

Unless the phone is rooted, most of storage isn't available, either from the phone or from the PC - that's how Linux, the OS in Android phones, works. If an app is storing pictures in a folder that only it and root have access to, you're not going to be able to see them, except by using that app. Backing them up then becomes a problem.

I also use a cloud account to keep everything - hard drives do fail. Back up to the PC, then to 2 cloud accounts. They're free - MEGA gives you 50GB for free - so there's no reason to not have the entire phone (the parts you can access) backed up.