Hello,

In the age of every thing is on the computer or lets look it up on the internet most of us would tend to have one or more computer in our homes, work places and even schools. But how do you keep all of your files organized and what is the best way to do this?

I have found this to be a difficult answer. This week I had the pleasure of being given a MacBook and it is one of the best things I have ever received and as I began to put all of my files on the Mac from my Windows XP Desktop & Laptop I realized how much duplication I had and how much useless data I was saving.

Now I know you are wondering what kind of PCs do I have? So hear is the run down.

My Desktop
AMD equivalent P3 Processor
512 Megs of Ram
60 Gig Primary Hard Drive
80 Gig Secondary Hard Drive
CD/DVD Burner
CD Burner
ATI Dual Screen Video Card (Standard Monitor/RCA)
Acer Wide Screen Monitor (I Think 24″)
Windows XP Professional

My Laptop
Pentium 4 Processor
256 Megs of Ram
30 gig Primary Hard Drive
CD/DVD Burner (Needs Repair)
Dual Screen Display (Standard Monitor/S-Video)
Windows XP Home

Now that you know what kind of PCs I had here is what the problem was in now having a Mac. I have two external hard drives

Acromdata
500 Gig
formated FAT32

Western Digital
1 tb (tera-byte)
formated NTFS

Now saving data to them on a Windows XP Computer is not a problem. Both drives read and write just fine. But here is the problem, the FAT32 formated drive reads and writes fine on my MacBook but the NTFS drive is read only as Mac does not support the Microsoft owned NTFS file format. So what to do?

Well the first thought was keep the first drive as is. The second drive was more of a problem, I began to think what if I split the drive in to two partitions half for Reading and Writing on a Windows PC and half for reading and writing on a Mac computer/laptop? Easy? No!

First problem where to put over 490+ gigs of data off as a backup before I do this. Well this was a no go I decided I would try and split the drive and risk loosing my data. That failed the free program I was using stopped at 9% of the total process. CRAP! Tried with another demo program it was going to take 12+ days to get this done. Okay not a solution as I was  1hr from leaving to go to the church

Get to the church and talked with my friend who is a Mac expert and well that was not a dead end but was he showed me was going to wipe out the entire drive. Loose all my data no freakin’ way. What is my option?

I started to sort out all of the files on both drives and my Macs internal hard drive. Here is when I realized something. “I have 3 copies of my music” “I have saved how much in videos?” So quick take my NTFS drive on a windows computer found out I have 380.5 gigs of just videos, now what to do?

I know what I want out of the drive but how to accomplish that? Do I really want to loose all of my stuff? Do I buy another drive and format it for my Mac? This might be a good option but who has $119.00 to throw away? My NTFS drive is less then half full. Crap Again!

This is where I sit.. Stucker then Stuck! I know I can save my data like Optimist Club of Oshawa and my IHOP stuff no problem on my other drive. I did move all my personal documents to the Fat32 drive and am getting rid of all my music on the NTFS one but again what do I do?

Well here are some tips I have learned in only day and a half.

1. External Hard Drives are great for backup
don’t backup the same data ex Music/MP3 files on more then one drive this only confuses you. You begin to ask your self “What copy is the current and correct one?”

I find now that I have 3 copies of my music (both external drives and MacBook) I am going to have to try to amalgamate everything into one copy on my MacBook with a backup on one of the two external drives. Hopefully I don’t loose any important songs.

2. External Drives are great to use as primary storage for all documents and digital media
I am finding with my Windows PCs getting full so fast that rather then save to those computers “my documents” folders I just save direct to the secondary or external hard drive this way if the computer crashes all you loose if your desktop stuff (anything you saved on the desktop), Windows and Programs.. not a huge loss but some loss none the less.

This will also save you from having to keep making backups but in some cases your external drive could crash or get damaged before the computer you are using so use this option at your own risk. I do

3. If you have more then one computer make sure you know what data goes where
I find now with having two laptops and one desktop it is hard to know what data is for what and is it for Mac or PC. Is the file I created on my pc able to be opened on my Mac? Is the program I used Mac or PC only?

Always know the files that go to what computer! Make sure that you have access to the programs you need to open those files. IE Microsoft Office, Itunes, Ilife etc.. and when using Mac and PC becareful what fonts you use.

Although PC Fonts can be installed in your Mac, Mac Fonts cannot be installed on your PC and to find the font from the Mac for use on a PC can cost you big.

4. Last but not least Keep your data organized!
Make sure you know what belongs where and make sure you know where everything is stored. It does not matter weather PC or Mac you must keep your files in order. Keeping your files in order helps you to save time trying to figure out where you saved that pesky file.

I like to organize things in to folders with lots of sub-folders here are three examples

A. Music –> Christian –> Artist/Disc –> MP3 File
Music –> Christian –> Artist/Disc –> CD Name –> Mp3 File

B. Church –> Church Department –> Stuff For Department –> File

C. Documents –> Item –> File

Example A: I have the root of my external drive (or documents folder on my desktop/laptop) Music in there is a sub-folder called Christian and then in the sub-folder Christian is a folder marked with the Artist or CD Name then a folder under that with the CD/Album Title and then the MP3 file. Some times if I don’t know the cd/album I will just put the MP3 file in the Artist Folder

Example B: This how I would store all of my church related work/data the root folder is called church then a sub-folder for each department (Sunday, Student Ministries, House of Prayer) and then a sub-folder for each item I am working on for that department (recordings, bible study etc) and then you will find the actual file

Example C: This for if you are using a folder for personal data that is not related to work or volunteering. The root folder is for documents or my documents then a sub folder for the item you are working on (health, finances etc) and then in that sub-folder you will find the file

These are three of the many folders that I have on my computer and external hard drives. I at times have been called the folder king but I know where all my data is and anyone can find what they need in a snap.

I encourage you to keep your data organized like me. But I have learned from helping many people or all ages and generations that we all have our own way of doing things. Some like my mother are like me and some like one senior I help out don’t care where the files go and in turn is always is opening the wrong file and messing it up. So I can show people the way but in the end it is up to you.

My hope is that you get your data in an order that works for.

Till Next Entry