It is better
a) transfer all my pictures to a USB stick
or
b) on the laptop, create your own folder and if necessary use a password, if it works.
Which method would you choose?
I have all the pictures on my laptop because I tend to lose USB sticks.
Nevertheless, a stick would be the better solution, because a laptop can break (ok a USB stick too) but the stick is also easier to transport, usable on different devices and if you have a new laptop in a few years you just have to change the stick instead of transferring all photos a bit more elaborately.
Both, you should always have a backup of data that you can't get back.
I connect the mobile phone with the PC or laptop by cable and can then access from the PC to the hard drive from the phone, then I simply copy it into a folder.