What is best way to store in some order 1000s of downloaded files I want to keep?

[SkipperHolmes]

Hi everyone! Jes l'il ole me with a request for support! I have accumulated lots of info I want to save and access. Thus far I have set up email files by person's name & stored their docs in there. Is there a better way to store them on my computer in the main storage drive? Thx!

[David_Perdew]

Skipper -

I really struggle with this. I've got a couple of hard drives full of stuff filed by product name, and then I didn't like that and switched to person name...

Now what I do is a lot of searching using desktop search tools.

That seems to work for me.

Bob's mindmap session was especially instructive about how to organize stuff.

About once a year, I have to go into everything and reorganize - this is not a digital issue. I had the same problem with filing cabinets as well.

It's good you're at least thinking of this...

d

[ChristineCobb]

Remember to back up your hard drive on a regular basis. I learned that lesson the hard way. Believe me, it's very expensive to have the files recovered after a drive failure.

I find that person name works best for me. Also when I download a zip file, I create a separate folder with a descriptive name rather than just using the cryptic name in the zip file.

[LorayneBlacka]

I second David's focus on having and using good search tools on your PC. No matter how you organize your files and emails, I've found that the ability to search and find files quickly is the most important! Matter of fact, I've been thinking seriously about creating some tutorials on this very subject, because it's a very common problem. These could become products!

I also strongly second Chris' recommendation to backup. I've been working with computers since the late 70s (I know that really dates me) and I've had more than one hard disk crash - at work and at home. Backups are very important - something everybody talks about and almost nobody does very consistently. Sounds like another area of potential products. Hmmmm....

Lorayne

[SkipperHolmes]

David, you always make me feel better coz you have the same issue! I now have some 30 "very pretty, colorful and expensive" D-ring binders 1 to 2-inches ea labeled with names like PERDEW, DAVID, and they fill up! Now I have to add one for Bob the Teacher.

Do you think I could do a mindmap of my hard drive stored stuff? (Maybe I could outsource it to Bob...tee/hee!) I have two external hard drives, and they communicate stuff to my laptop, which helps keep that aligned with my PC.

How does everyone else do it? I'll bet Lorayne Blacka, who is a bonified computer genius, could whip something up if we paid her 10K.

Skipper

[nicoledean]

Hey Skipper,

I switched over to Dropbox a few years ago and have not looked back. I can access all of my files from any PC in the world and also from my iPads. Plus, it backs up automatically so I don't have to worry about losing files. If I accidentally delete one, I can recover it.

Here's a little video that I recorded about how I use it:
http://www.marketerscoach.com/tools/easyfiles/

HTH,
N

[ScottJSmith]

Be descriptive with the file names and folder names. If it's a document you are archiving, and might not use for a while...will you remember that you saved Scott J. Smith's Wonderful Cheat Sheet as sjswcs.docx?

Another vote for creating a backup...for EVERYTHING! Whether that is a Jump Drive, SD Card or DVD of your files, an external hard drive or online service (like mozy.com or carbonite.com), make sure you schedule regular backups.

DropBox, Google Docs and SkyDrive are excellent ways to manage your files, when you typically need to access them from multiple devices (work computer, home computer, laptop, smart phone, tablet, library computer, etc.), or be used as your "online backup" via that service's synchronization feature.

I'm not sure about DropBox, but Google Docs and SkyDrive will also let you edit and email documents, spreadsheets and presentations online...in case the computer you are working from doesn't happen to have the appropriate application installed. (Ever been on a trip, and the hotel/library/webcafe computer doesn't have the latest version of Office and won't open your .docx, .xlsx or .pptx file?)

[deannatroupe]

I like dropbox for archival purposes. Also consider storing information on flash drives. I do like skydrive and Googledocs for files that I'm editing.

[DonnaBlevins]

@DeAnna - like dropbox too, however, having an issue keeping trimmed down so I just upgraded to the 10 bucks a month for more storage. yet, don't think I really need 'instant' access to all that.

been meaning to get into Googledocs, but have not. Is there a quick how to that you now?

Donna

[geoffhoff]

I use Carbonite as my main backup. (Around $50 a year- backs up everything all the time.) Then, when I'm on the road and need something I didn't bring, I just log in to my carbonite backup, find the file, download (called "restore") it to my laptop and I'm good to go. Be careful if you make changes to the doc, though, that you then bring those changes to the one on your home computer.

[richardschnur]

I tried to be organized to more detail, but realized it was pointless. Same with my Outlook mail.

I'm with David too. I have some good search tools.

I have several high level folder names to keep the top level clean, but below that level it gets pretty free-for-all. That's where the search tools come in. I have them organized in a mix of people and topics.

I also have a 64gb flash drive that goes with me everywhere. It is my primary storage and my hard drive and my cloud accounts are all backups. The flash drive has documents and a large cache of programs (GIMP, Evernote, HTML editer, etc.).

I re-evaluating my search tools now so I can get deeper as things get more chaotic.

I too have at least 2 terra-bytes of pictures, music, training, audio books, etc.