The Complete Guide to Organizing and Backing Up Digital and Non-Digital Photos, Videos, Music, and Other Files – Part 2

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Yesterday on the blog I discussed how to turn your tangible media – printed photos, old VHS and DVD home videos, CDs, and paperwork – into digital files, and I also shared how to store tangible copies.  Today I’m going to share with you how to organize and back up all of those files that you digitized and I’m also going to share with you how to manage the upkeep of new files that are constantly created.  So, if you missed my post yesterday, you may want to go back and read it (here) before you get started on today’s post!    

Digital files are the files of today – the photos and videos that are taken with a digital camera or smart phone, digitally downloaded music, papers created on the computer or scanned into the computer.

First I'm going to talk about how to organize your digital files, then how to back them up, and then I'm going to show you some examples of my folders. 

How to Organize Digital Photos

1.      Create a “Photos” folder.

2.      Organize all digital photos in separate folders within your “Photos” folder by date.  I use the following format to label my folders because it keeps them in chronological order – four-digit year, dash, two-digit month, space, month name.  For example, “2018-01 January.”  Labeling your folders this way keeps them in chronological order in your main folder.

3.      All photos created in that month go in the folder for that month.  For example, all photos created in January 2018 go in the “2018-01 January” folder.

4.      I personally like to keep the special photos taken with my fancy camera separate from my every day photos taken with my iPhone, so each monthly folder then contains a separate folder labeled “iPhone” for the iPhone photos and then each big event or photo shoot taken with my fancy camera has it’s own separate folder that is dated and labeled with the event.  For example, “2018-01-10 New Year’s Bar Cart.” 

How to Organize Digital Videos

1.      Create a “Videos” folder.

2.      Organize all digital videos in separate folders within your “Videos” folder by date using the same labeling format that you use for photos.  For example, “2018-01 January.”

3.      All videos created in that month go in the folder for that month.  For example, all videos created in January 2018 to in the “2018-01 January” folder.

How to Organize Digital Music

1.      Create a “Music” folder. 

2.      Label each song with the artist’s name, a dash, and then the song title.  For example, “Dave Matthews Band – One Sweet World.”

3.      Transfer all songs to your “Music” folder.  They will then be listed in alphabetical order by artist and song title.  When you have thousands of songs like I do, this is very helpful.

How to Organize Digital Papers

1.      Create a “Papers” folder.

2.      Create folders for all categories you have within your “Papers” folder.  For example, school, medical, car payments, taxes, blog, your kids’ names for all of their files, and the list goes on…

3.      Label each document with the date and a description of what it is.  For example, “2018-01-10 January Car Payment.” 

4.      Move all documents to their appropriate folders.

How to Back Up All Digital Files

Once all of your files are digitized and organized into folders, it’s time to back them up.  I am extremely paranoid about losing my files, especially my pictures, so I back them up in three places.

1.      An external hard drive that is kept in my office drawer (this is the one that I will use to access pictures anytime I need them)

2.      To another external hard drive that I keep in a fireproof safe (this is a backup of the main external hard drive that is kept in case the original external hard drive fails or if, God forbid, the house ever catches on fire)

3.      To Amazon Drive (this is a backup of my backup – LOL – that is kept online so if all else fails, my photos will still exist.)  Pictures are very important to me, so I don’t mess around with their safety.  If you don’t like Amazon Drive you could use Google Drive or any of the other online storage services.

4.      Once everything is backed up all three times, delete original files from phone, camera, and computer.  This means that you will only have a maximum of one month’s worth of photos on your phone, camera, and computer at all times.  That’s a great thing because having all of them on your computer can slow it down exponentially!  And if you need to access an old photo, you can easily pull the external hard drive out of your desk drawer any time you need it.  Easy peasy!

A Look at the Folders On My External Hard Drive

Now I’m going to share a few screenshots of how my files are organized.  This should give you a better feel for the flow of organization if you’re a visual person like I am:

Immediately upon opening the hard drive there are two folders: “Brian” and “Lindsay.”  (You can ignore all of the other folders because they were default folders that came with the external hard drive.)  The “Brian” folder holds all of Brian’s photos, videos, music, and papers that he’s taken through the years and the “Lindsay” folder holds all of my photos, videos, music, and papers that I’ve taken through the years.  Like, literally, every single file.

Inside the “Lindsay” folder are four folders, one for each of the types of files I have:

My Music (my entire music library is stored here)

My Papers (all Excel, Word, and PowerPoint files plus scanned papers are stored here)

My Pictures (all pictures are stored here)

My Videos (all videos are stored here)

Inside the “My Pictures” folder are all of the pictures I have ever taken (digital and film) and they are all arranged by year and month.

Now we’ll take a look inside one of the monthly folders so you can see how each of those is arranged.  As you can see, the “2017-11 November” folder contains three folders.  The first two folders are photos that were taken of big events with my fancy camera.  As I mentioned before, I like to keep those separate, so that’s why they are in their own folders.  They are labeled by date and event so I can easily find what I’m looking for.  Then there is one generic folder for all of my iPhone pictures. 

When you open the “iPhone” folder, all of the pictures are just dumped in there like this:

The “My Videos” folder is arranged similarly in folders labeled by year and month so they are easy to access. 

The “My Music” folder is in alphabetical order by artist and song title. 

The “My Papers” folder is divided into different folders by category.  (I've blurred some folders for privacy.)   

Both external hard drives as well as our Amazon Drive are identical. 

See, organized to the max and easy to find everything, right?

Weekly & Monthly Upkeep for All Files

Now that you’ve digitized all of your old files, organized them, and backed them up, you’re sitting pretty, and all you have to do is manage the new ones that come in!  This usually takes around 20 minutes per week and 30 extra minutes to back them up once a month is over for me, personally.

Once a Week (for Photos and Videos)

1.      Transfer all photos and videos from phone and camera to computer.

2.      Delete any duplicate photos or anything that you don’t want to keep.  When you’re a parent, sometimes you have to take 20 pictures of the same shot to get one good one, so now is the time to delete the 19 bad ones!  Haha.

3.      Move videos to a separate folder for videos labeled by year and month.

4.      Move photo files to the folder for that year and month, separating the phone photos from the photos taken with the fancy camera.

Once a Month (for Photos and Videos)

1.      Copy and paste all files from the previous month to the external hard drive in your desk drawer.

2.      Copy and paste all files from the previous month to the external hard drive in your safe.

3.      Copy and paste all files from the previous month to Amazon Drive (or whatever online storage service you use).

4.      Once everything is backed up all three times, delete original files from phone, camera, and computer. 

5.      Create new folder for the new month and start all over again!

* Music and paperwork should be added to the appropriate folders and backed up as it comes in or you could back it up once a month or so if you prefer.

Summary

Using the method that I have discussed the last two days has made my life a million times easier.  It was a ton of work up front converting all of our old files to digital, but the weekly and monthly upkeep is a breeze. 

And it means that every photo I own (taken with film and digital cameras), every video I own (taken with VHS and DVD and digital), every song I own (from CDs and digital), and every paper I own are organized and backed up in the same place – one external hard drive in my desk drawer, one external hard drive in our fireproof safe, and on our Amazon drive. 

No more pictures scattered about, no more bulky photo albums, no more stacks and stacks of home videos or CDs.  Using this method, you can literally hold all of your personal media in your hands!  All you need is a photo storage case (see previous post for explanation), an external hard drive, a back-up external hard drive, and an Amazon Drive subscription. 

It also means that I can access any memory at any time from anywhere (with Amazon Drive) and I am also able to rest easy in knowing that I shouldn’t ever have to worry about losing any of our media.  If our house was ever on fire, the only thing I would need to grab would be our external hard drive!  And even if I couldn’t, everything is still backed up online.  Whew.

I know this was a ton of information but I hope you found it useful!  Now get to organizing!

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The Complete Guide to Organizing and Backing Up Digital and Non-Digital Photos, Videos, Music, and Other Files - Part 1

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Hi, my name is Lindsay and I’m a picture-aholic.  Is that a thing? 

For my entire life, I have always been the girl with the camera in hand.  I have always loved capturing every moment from the special to the mundane, and because of that, I have quite an extensive picture collection… as in, I currently have 118,159 photos stored on my external hard drive. 

I kid you not. 

In addition to being a picture-aholic, I’m also a video-aholic, a music-aholic, and a paper-aholic so I have loads and loads of files.

A few years ago, I revamped my technique for organizing and backing up my files, and it’s been working very well so I thought I would share it with you.  Today’s post is going to focus on turning all of your media into digital files (meaning they are stored on your computer and they are no longer tangible things) and what to do with the tangible copies, and then tomorrow I’m going to show you exactly how to organize those digital files and how to back them up.

Photo Prints

Photo prints can come from several different sources: 

1.      Old photos that were printed from film

2.      Photo prints ordered from professional photographers

3.      Digital photos that were printed for frames and photo albums

How to Organize Printed Photos

1.      Scan all photos that were printed from film (that are not currently digital) to your computer.  I have the Epson XP-610 printer/scanner and I LOVE it.  The scanning quality is excellent!

2.      Scan all photo prints ordered from professional photographers (that are not currently digital) to your computer.  Just keep in mind there are copyright laws regarding professional photography, so don’t do anything to infringe on the copyright laws.  (You should have received that information from your photographer.)

3.      Organize the new digital scans in separate folders by date.  I use the following format to label my folders because it keeps them in chronological order – four-digit year, dash, two-digit month, space, month name.  For example, “2018-01 January.”   

4.      Store original photo prints by year somewhere safely.  I use this photo storage case to keep mine organized (more on the photo storage box later) but you could also use photo albums if you prefer.  I prefer not to use photo albums because they are too bulky.  You could also throw out the actual photo prints since you now have digital copies, but personally I can’t bring myself to part with the prints for photos shot with film since it’s hard to find any place that will develop pictures from film.

5.      Store film negatives in envelopes labeled with the date and event in the photo storage case or a separate box. 

6.      Trash prints made from digital photos.  There is no need to hang on to these since you can reprint easily at any time.  I do hang on to my very favorites because I switch out frames frequently, and the ones I do keep are stored in the same photo storage case by year like the rest of the photo prints. 

Scanning all of your old non-digital photos is a huge job, but considering that we are now living in a digital world, personally, I think it is worth the time to make digital copies of each of them. 

Here’s a better look at the photo storage case that I have.  The storage case is two-sided – it has one side that stores 2,000 4x6 (or smaller) prints and the other side is a big open 12x12 space where you can either store enlargements or film negatives.  This means that every single printed photo that I own is right here in this one case, and the case slides right into my craft table perfectly.

I use these 4x6 index dividers with tabs and they work PERFECTLY with this case!  Each divider represents a different year, and all of the pictures from that year go behind the divider for that year.

The two bottom pictures show how you can store either film negatives in envelopes or photo enlargements.  The photo in the picture below is a 5x7 but you can easily store 8x10s as well.

Y’all I cannot tell you how much I FREAKING LOVE THIS CASE!  Get one here.

Videos

Home videos can come from several different sources:

1.      VHS tapes

2.      DVDs

3.      Videos taken with digital cameras, video cameras, and smart phones

How to Organize Videos

1.      Convert all VHS tapes to digital files.  I used a VHS to DVD converter similar to this one and then I eventually ripped the DVDs, but there are also companies like Walgreens who will convert them for you for a fee.  You can also convert straight from VHS to digital using one of these.  

2.      Convert all DVDs to digital files.  I used a program called Handbrake and it was free!

3.      Organize all digital videos in separate folders by date just like you organized your photos.  For example, “2018-01 January.”   

4.      Trash old VHS tapes and DVDs.  No need to hang onto those once they’re digital!  They take up way too much space!

Music

Music can come from a couple different sources:

1.      CDs

2.      Digital downloads

(If you’re a little older than I am, I suppose you may have tapes or records lying around, too!)

How to Organize Music

1.      Rip songs from all CDs to your computer.  I use Easy CD Extractor… it’s very user-friendly!

2.      Label all songs using the following format – Artist Name, dash, song title.  For example, “Dave Matthews Band – One Sweet World.”

3.      Move all labeled songs to one general “My Music” folder with all of your other digital downloads. 

Papers

Paperwork can come from loads of different sources:

1. Old bills
2. Car and house info
3. Bank Statements
4. Taxes
5. Files already created with computers (Excel, Word, PowerPoint files)

How to Organize Paperwork

1.      Scan any old bills and other paperwork you want to keep record of but don’t need the physical paper itself.

2.      Organize in folders labeled by category – for example school, medical, car payments, blog, etc.

3.      Shred all documents you don’t need to keep.

Summary

Once all of this is done (and it may take months, friends!) you are ready to organize all of your files into folders and back them up.  I will be sharing how I do this tomorrow along with step by step instructions for keeping up with new files as they come in.  Before I go, here is a complete checklist for getting all of your files converted to digital format.

Converting All Media to Digital Files

1.      Scan all photo prints that were taken with film to create digital files.

2.      Scan all photos from professional photographers.

3.      Organize the new digital files into folders by year and month.

4.      Store original photo prints in photo storage case.

5.      Label and store original film negatives in photo storage case or separate box.

6.      Convert all old home videos from VHS to digital files.

7.      Convert all old home videos from DVD to digital files.

8.      Organize the new digital files into folders by year and month.

9.      Rip all old CDs.

10. Organize the new digital files in alphabetical order by artist and song title.

11. Scan all old paperwork that you want to save.

12. Organize papers into folders by category.

Whew, that was a lot!  And for those of you who already have everything on your computer, tomorrow’s post is for you!  I’m sharing how to organize them in the most functional way and how to back them up to ensure you’ll never lose any of them!

Snow Day & The Weekend

This past Tuesday all of the schools announced they were closing Wednesday in anticipation of the winter weather that was headed our way.  Down here in the south when it comes to snow it’s hit or miss, though, so we all went to bed wondering if there would even be any snow on the ground the next day.

The kids were up bright and early the next morning to check, and lo and behold, we had gotten a TON!  So at 7 AM we all bundled up and headed straight outside before the sun was even up.  No breakfast first, no nothing… all they wanted to do was play in the snow! 

We ended up getting about 3-4 inches at our house and we had the good powdery real snow like you Northerners get… we never have that here!  Normally when it snows here in Georgia (and we only get it once every 4-5 years) it’s all wet and icy and you can’t really do anything with it nor do you really want to touch it because you’ll end up all wet.  This snow, my friends, was ah-mazing!  It was soft and powdery and glittery, and we could blow it out of our hands like confetti.  So.  Much.  Fun.

We let the kids play for about 20 minutes and then it was time to go in because it was dangerously cold… I think when we went out there the first time it was around 18 degrees and the wind chill was a mere 5.  That, friends, is something that we never see here. 

After breakfast and a little bit of cartoons, we bundled up once more and headed back out.  Olivia would have stayed out there all day if we had let her, but Jacob was ready to go in after about 10 minutes.  Lol.  Again, we weren’t able to stay out long because the temp continued to drop all morning and it was ridiculously cold.  Not to mention we’re just not equipped for weather like that down here.  Neither of our kids has a real jacket and only Olivia had actual waterproof mittens.  And I’m not really even sure why she had those to be honest with you!  Haha.

Another thing for all of you northerners to note is that we so rarely get snow here in Georgia that we don’t have salt trucks and shovels and scrapers, so when we get so much as a half of an inch it completely shuts down the whole city.  We wouldn’t have even been able to get out of our driveway if we wanted to.  They said on the news the next day that there were more than 100 car accidents just in our city alone because the roads were so dangerous.  I honestly don’t know why anybody would have even tried!

The rest of the day was spent snuggling on the couch trying to keep warm.  B was able to work from home and he kept a fire in the fireplace most of the day and the kids watched cartoons while I read and relaxed.

Late that afternoon the kids decided they wanted to get out for one last round, so B bundled them up and took them out while I cooked.  They made snow angels and ran around and I went out to join them for the last few minutes before dinner was ready.  As you can see I’m already sporting my pajamas and I never even put on makeup since we never had to leave the house!

The kids ended up being out of school the next day again for another snow day because the temps never got above freezing so the roads were still too dangerous to navigate that morning.  That meant we had another morning of snow playing and hanging out at home.  By lunchtime, the temps were in the 40s and some of the snow and ice finally started to melt so B went in to work and I loaded the kids up to get them out of the house for a few errands – an allergy shot for me and a Walmart trip! 

It was a wonderful couple of days unexpectedly spent at home, but I was SO ready for them to go back to school on Friday!!  When they’re home, my productivity levels plummet!  This summer should be interesting.  Haha.

Friday after school we decided to stay home.  B picked up pizza on the way home and then we had a family movie night.  We watched Inside Out and, y’all, it was SO GOOD!  Have y’all seen it??  I know we’re behind because it’s a few years old, but I LOVED it.  Probably one of my favorite kid movies I’ve seen in a long time!

Saturday morning we were up and out of the house early because Olivia had to be at her new school for next year for her Pre-K 4 assessment.  The teacher said that she made it through the assessment in record time and she did great!  She will be joining Jacob in the fall at my alma mater (and the school that is affiliated with our church) and I could not be more excited to finally have her there!  It’s going to be wonderful only having one pick-up and drop-off, and it’s going to be exciting to know that she and Jacob have each other and they’re both a one minute walk to my mom’s office (she works in the church office).  We love our church and school family so much and it really means a lot that both of our babies will be there together next year! 

After that we headed to the city library to load up on AR books for Jacob since he’s rolling right through them faster than he can go to the library at school.  After the library we went to the playground behind the library because it was 50 degrees and sunny!  Woo hoo!  A heat wave compared to what we had all week!

The rest of the day was spent working on Jacob’s 100 Day project for school, working in my office cleaning off my bookshelves, going to church, going to Mexican for dinner (I swear our kids would eat Mex for every meal if we would let them!), and then going to Dairy Queen for dessert!  Because naturally, the best dessert to eat when it’s freezing outside is ice cream.  Hehe.

Sunday morning we finished up Jacob’s project and then we headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s for lunch.  It was 70 degrees Sunday afternoon so we played out in the yard for a long time and soaked up the sunshine.  I think it was the first day I didn’t wear boots or tennis shoes in almost a month!  The kids made mud in Nana’s garden and it was hard to believe that it had snowed earlier in the week. 

Sunday evening we celebrated my uncle’s birthday at my parents’ house.  My momma made his favorite dish of hers – vegetable lasagna – and we had cake for dessert.

It was a great week followed by a great weekend with tons of family time, but now this Momma is ready for a normal week this week… we need to get back on a schedule!  It feels like we’ve just been running wild since mid-December!!

Here’s to a productive Monday!  

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