How do you keep your computer files organized

[MikeH]

Ok serious question, how do you guys keep your shit organized? I always end up just erasing all kinds of shit because it gets to be a cluster fuck and pisses me off. Its stuff I usually want to keep too. Do you just have a million folders with stuff in them? The only thing I have remotely organized is my music and thats all just thrown into a folder.

Have any tips, etc?

[Andrew]

If your computers already a clusterfuck, its gonna take time.

When i moved computers, it took me about 2 solid days (music being the biggest one) of moving/renaming/creating/deleting folders before everything was where I wanted it.

I have a bunch of folders, and usually try and put everything on my external HDs. Nothing is on my desktop (no icons/recycle bin/anything), barely ANYTHING on my computer at all, and I use a widget? I guess you would call it called rocket dock, hides everything to the top.

Right now my pictures folder is a giant mess, and I have to get ontop of it before it gets ridiculous.

I would say start somewhere (pictures/documents) etc, and just start making folders as you need them. If when your done, you see a folder only has 1 thing in it, maybe make another folder more broad to include it.

...I also have a "To Be Sorted" folder in My Documents, where I just mash everything in if im working on a project or something, and dont want to bother putting everything into its proper place. I see it as a...thing that has to be done? Like cutting your grass once a week, I usually make time to go around and clean my computer basically. :shrug:

[race2c]

I try to keep it organized, but that sometimes is a pain.

For example, my music is as follows:

My Music>Artist>Album>Song Title

My school stuff:

My documents>college name (undergrad and grad are different schools)>semester,e.g. spring 2011>class number>document title

Downloads from the internet

my document>downloads>downloadhelper


Just some basic stuff I do, there is more to my organization, but thats just off-the-top of my head of what I do...

[MikeH]

I dont have shit on my computer right now other than my music and a few random files. I just went through and deleted everything lol. Maybe I should make a few folders now with various names and just start throwing stuff into them as I download.

I dont have a desk right now and its annoying cuz I cant use a mouse. When I have to mass move stuff its a pain in the ass with just the track pad. For some reason when Im able to sit down at a desk, I can get more shit done.

---------- Post added at 01:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:56 PM ----------

I need to even reorganize my music. Half the shit is named retarded so its almost impossible to find.

[race2c]

IIRC there may be programs that will rename music files if they can recognize the ID3 tags...:shrug:

---------- Post added at 02:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:10 PM ----------

http://lifehacker.com/#!5266613/six-best-mp3-tagging-tools

[theholycow]

I operate like Andrew and race2c.

I do use a bunch of tools to help with music and pictures, but they mostly operate on files and folders (rather than being database-centric like iTunes). Since I got my mp3 collection tagged I have been very aggressive about making sure all new mp3s are tagged, named, and sorted properly. I can list the tools and how I use them, if you want.

I always end up with clusterfucks and I often spend time sorting them, but it's getting better. One thing that helps is having a huge external drive, large enough for almost everything; I can sort it all and move it all around on there pretty efficiently.

---------- Post added at 03:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:25 PM ----------

...of course, then sometimes I go on downloading binges and that usually makes a mess. I'm on a binge right now, trying to collect full seasons of my favorite shows and such, which is making a bit of a mess but it's all contained and semi-sorted; it shouldn't be hard to clean up when I give up downloading (or run out of space).

[stonehenge]

I have my OS on one hard drive. Then I have a second HD in my computer where I keep everything. To attempt and keep it organized, I set shit up kinda like this:

HD

- PICTURES
- - Wallpaper
- - Jesty
- - Digital Camera Pics
- - Phone Pics
- - N00dz

- MUSIC
- - Genre
- - - Albums

- VIDEO
- - Pr0n
- - TV Series
- - Movies

- DOCUMENTS
- - School
- - Work
- - Personal

- MISC FILES
- - Android
- - Portable Apps
- - File Installs

Etc etc.

Then I have an external that I copy the most important things to every so often. Usually just pics and documents since everything else can be redownloaded from somewhere.

:shrug: once I have broadband, I may use online backup more often.

[stonehenge]

But yeah I also get lazy sometimes and don't put things into folders for a ling time and end up with a cluster of shit in My Documents or the default Downloads folder.

My phone is a cluster also.

[MikeH]

I need to sit down and sort it like you do, Juan. Im gonna sort what I have now, make a few extra folders with misc titles so I can put new stuff in the right spot. That way I dont have an excuse to be lazy since I will have the folders already made. All my music is tagged correctly but the folders they are in are labeled whatever the person zipped it up labeled it as.

I was actually gonna pick up an external drive today but I couldnt decide which one I wanted. Yes, I make shit difficult lol.

[Cez★]

i keep it all in mostly one main location with paths branching off from there. like dled music, cds, pics, movies are all in the same spot. school papers and shit i keep in a folder nearby too.

[MikeH]

Ideally, I would like a dual monitor setup so can haz drag from one and drop to the other lol.

---------- Post added at 02:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:14 PM ----------

Gonna go pick up this external, its plenty big for what I need.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+Digital+-+My+Passport+Essential+500GB+External+USB+3.0/2.0+Portable+Hard+Drive+-+Midnight+Black/1251381.p?id=1218242898927&skuId=1251381&st=Western%20Digital%20-%20My%20Passport%20Essential%20500GB%20&cp=1&lp=7

[stonehenge]

The little ones are nice because you don't have to deal with a separate power adapter. That shit gets annoying.

BTW when you go to BB to pick that up, stop by the post office and drop off le nook. thx

[race2c]

check techbargains and slickdeals to see if anyone has some on sale...

[Andrew]

Biggest thing to do is to get ahead of it, then stay ontop of it. If you notice it getting out of hand, make time to fix it.

Music is the most tedious..all the artist/genre/tracking crap takes forever, especially if you have a crapload of music, and your anal about it appearing right on your ipod/computer.

[stonehenge]

I used to be OCD about the tags on my mp3s and then at some point I just said FTS and now I only change them if they are really fucked up :roflmao:

[Cez★]

mine no haz tagz :cool:

[MikeH]

Editing ID3 tags is a bitch. I did all my music a couple weeks ago.

I did searching online and newegg, amazon and everywhere else is the same price for that external.

[theholycow]

All my music is tagged correctly but the folders they are in are labeled whatever the person zipped it up labeled it as.
There's no shortage of tools that can abandon your old folder structure and sort them into whatever structure you want based on the tags. mp3tag is probably best for this.

Ideally, I would like a dual monitor setup so can haz drag from one and drop to the other lol.

---------- Post added at 02:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:14 PM ----------

Gonna go pick up this external, its plenty big for what I need.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western+Digital+-+My+Passport+Essential+500GB+External+USB+3.0/2.0+Portable+Hard+Drive+-+Midnight+Black/1251381.p?id=1218242898927&skuId=1251381&st=Western%20Digital%20-%20My%20Passport%20Essential%20500GB%20&cp=1&lp=7
:caoshake: I roll the same model in 1tb size.

No need for dual monitors, just tile two Explorer windows.
I used to be OCD about the tags on my mp3s and then at some point I just said FTS and now I only change them if they are really fucked up :roflmao:

musikCube is really great for fixing that kind of tag mess, where you have the same name spelled slightly different and such.

[race2c]

I have the same WD portable hard drive in 320gb...

[MikeH]

FTS, want dual monitors so dont have windows over lapping. I used mp3tag when I when through my music the other week but didnt change folder name cuz I just opened my whole directory at once.

---------- Post added at 03:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:53 PM ----------

actually gonna order it from Amazon to save on tax.

---------- Post added at 03:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:02 PM ----------

and its been purchased.

[theholycow]

Load the whole collection in mp3tag and use its rename feature to re-sort them into folders.

[TATERNATER]

a. stuff I dont care if the wife sees

b. the other file

[stonehenge]

well recently, with the news that I'll have broadband soon, all the stuff wife can't see has been removed. Before that, it was kept in locations such as:

C:\Program Files\ATI\Drivers\Halp\10934003\nVidia\Data Files\InteriorCrocodileAlligator\PORNO

[Jaymez]

I do a decent job at keeping all my shit organized, but, somehow I keep ending up with tons of duplicate music files. How? I haven't downloaded large quantities of music in years.

I wish I knew of a way to synchronize folders on my desktop and laptop automatically. That is my biggest problem. I have shit stored on multiple drives in multiple machines. I keep saying I am going to buy or build a NAS device, but, I never get around to it.

[stonehenge]

What about sharing a drive/folder from your desktop? Same effect as a NAS but doesn't require any building or buying.

[Greatwhite]

my pictures/ (all my pics and shit here)
my music/ (all music here)

desktop..... all shortcuts to downloaded brazzers.com vids in new particular order or fashion.

[Jaymez]

What about sharing a drive/folder from your desktop? Same effect as a NAS but doesn't require any building or buying.

For some reason, I can never get that to work on a a peer to peer network. It drives me nuts. Besides, if it's just a NAS, there is one less computer that has to remain running.

[stonehenge]

:shrug:

[shootermcgavin003]

put shit in files

[MikeH]

Got my portable hard drive the other day and started cleaning everything up today and moving stuff over to it. Looks a lot better already after only an hour or so.

[stonehenge]

:better: