Quick Report> Technology Decided To Hate Me This Week

Well…yesterday happened.

And since I’m writing this the day before it goes live you can imagine I’m still in a bad mood after reading my issues. I was going to make brownies (I have one bag left of brownie mix) but we’re out of eggs. That’s fine and I had a feeling we were out. Dad’s going shopping Monday so maybe next weekend. Also unplugged one of the air conditioners for the winter season so I don’t have the cord dragged. I just have to cover it and I’m good.

Then the problems started. My project drive appears to be zirched and unless my computer expert friend can recover them I’ve lost a whole lot of video projects and thumbnails tied to my other website, including a video I’ve been trying to edit for years with my various medical issues distracting me possibly lost for good. So yay.

Then I try setting up a set of programs I need for a different project and it fought me at every possible point. I don’t have it completely set up but far enough that I’m ahead of the game.

Finally our TV will only put up a picture for a second before becoming a radio. Have to get a new TV with money we really can’t afford to spend. Even more yay.

EDIT: Guess what started working this morning…AFTER dad came back from the store with the new TV. Yesterday was evil to tech.

Yeah, I’m a bit ticked off right now. Technology decided to smack me around and I’m not happy about it.

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The Back-Up Drive Is Organized!

Well, it’s taken a few weeks but I finally took all the files, dumped the duplicates and other files I didn’t need, and put them all in an order where I can find them. Along the way I figured out an directory system I can use in the actual backing up (which I probably won’t waste your time with) that works for me and I can find stuff in. I used techniques I learned from physical record and media organizing, and some things I learned here will work in future stages of those projects.

Now I just need to do the same with my project drive, but that’s for the future. Additionally I managed to get myself to work on something that may not be the most interesting articles, and I apologize for that, but decluttering isn’t just about doing the pretty projects, or the parts of your home/office that you can see. While you don’t have to drive yourself mad with compulsive organizing, which also ruins any spontaneity and would be hard for the less rigid-minded types, a good system is a good thing to have. Just know that as times change and things are both acquired and unacquired, as the paths of your life take a new course, a new system may have to be created. My problem was lacking a good starting point to build off of. Now I have that so if anything changes in the future, hopefully I’m ready to change with it.

Next time I may be ready to do a more interesting project to discuss, but this was something that needed doing. If you stuck it out with me then thank you and I hope you learned something from this project like I did.

Quick Report> Back-Up Drive Almost Done (or phase 1 anyway)

 

I’m starting to get as bored with this project as I keep imagining you are. I also keep forgetting to update the images of this project.

Still, I pushed through on this one. Yesterday I went through my old videos, which like with the photos was a nice trip down memory lane. There are duplicates I’m going to have go through in the future, as well as compare with my video project drive but that’s for some later project. This is about organizing the back-up drive so I can start backing things up again. I did a good number on this one. Additionally I managed to go through the leftovers from my first PC (my first actual computer was the Atari 800, the first PC was an AST Adventure 200), a lot of which were files for whatever version of Windows I was running at the time. There were audio and image files that I can use elsewhere, back-ups of sample footage from video editors that I can use in other videos and audio projects, and clip art for days. New folders were created, too.

I think once I’ve finally gotten this stage done I’m going to do something else for your sake as well as mine. This is something I needed to do, though when I go to actually back things up I can always do some further sub-organizing then. I have other things I want to do, some physical clutter to clean or things to review that will be far more interesting than these quick reports. So for any of you still reading I’ve hopefully encouraged you to get a back-up drive, organize the one you have, or start doing back-ups before your current computer gets the drop on you like my last computer did to me. Otherwise, we’re almost through this project and it’s still shorter than the comic mega-project.

Quick Report> Still Learning From The Back-Up Clean-Up Project

I know, it’s still not exciting but this is about me getting the projects done and this is something long overdue. Today I tackled the images and downloads folders. I also did a bit of an archive of one of my older computers that was also on this drive. This is where I feel like using the program that came with this drive to back-up files was not as helpful as they intended. For example:

• When you change your directory set up on the actual computer the back-up drive program doesn’t know that. I ended up with a bunch of multiples from this alone.
• Also creating multiples was one of the programs itself, that seemed to create new images with every advertisement or install. I had like five or more folders just for the same set of images because they were under different numbers. It makes me wonder how many duplicates are on this computer now.
• Some of these were programs I don’t use anymore, or in the downloads they were older versions of new programs I can just get off the internet currently. In only a handful of cases are they programs that may or may not have a new version, while some I already have a newer version of on this computer.

I spent hours deleting the same pictures because they were duplicates of ones I have. In a way I’m lucky the program doesn’t work with Windows 10 because it did more harm than good and used up a lot of space. Lucky for me this is a huge drive so I had the room for it, but how much of that space was clogging up my hard drive space when it was on one of my older computers–and how many duplicates are doing that to this one–I can’t really say, and in the latter case I wouldn’t even be sure which ones I can delete, like all those images for software I’m using. I still have a bunch of folders left and remember this is only the first pass of organizing my old back-up files. If I can somehow squeeze in time during the week I’m going to see if I can speed this along but it’s not the only active project for me right now so we’ll have to see if I can get away with that plan or if it’s just going to be the usual Saturday project.

Quick Report> Back-Up Drive Documents

Not a whole lot new to add. This time I worked on my documents folder, possibly my biggest file set. There were a lot of links I moved to my links to try folder on my computer. I want to start going through those and deleting what I don’t want while just re-bookmarking them in the browser. Thanks to syncing I can have my bookmark list accessible on any computer provided they were included in the last sync up. So in the future I hopefully won’t have to save all my bookmarks and lose a site. I’m curious to see what sites I haven’t visited in years are still around.

Meanwhile the documents were sorted, some files were actually moved to a different folder I’ll be further sorting later on, and I got rid of a few duplicates, but I did keep some I want to double check later on. This one was a trip through the past, which was kind of fun. Except for some of the more saddening memories in hindsight, memories you cherish but remind you those people aren’t in  your life, or in some cases THIS life, anymore. You miss them but we have photos, videos, and writings that keep them with you forever, even if somewhere down the line they won’t mean anything to someone. They mean something to you and there’s nothing wrong with keeping them. You just have to organize them better so they aren’t as clutterful. Stuff you don’t need to remember can be done away with however.

Old documents, old images, old videos, stuff I kept from previous computers that I plan to eventually resort into the new system, manuals for things I use and some I don’t anymore…when I’m done it will be a lot cleaner system and I should be able to find stuff I want while having the extra room not cluttered by clutter. This is going to be a longer project that I thought but it’s one I really want to do before the inevitable computer issues and just stuff I didn’t get into the computer or “artputer” in the past. I’m glad I’m finally doing this.

Quick Report: The Back-Up Hard Drive Organizing’s Bonus Benefits

Nobody’s commented on the gag folders. Either I’m that uninteresting or nobody caught them. Or maybe the image is too small. I don’t know.

In this week’s chapter in the back-up drive reorganizing project I came up with a good idea. Every unorganized folder is marked with a plus, meaning I still need to do those. I only have to do this on the main list of my computer’s backups so I know which folder to do next. The plan with each project is to do at least one of these main folders a week, more if possible. The ones already organized were left without the plus sign and the ones I do from here out will have it removed. This makes it easier for me to remember what I’ve done and how much further I have to go.

This week it was the files tied to my other website, BW Media Spotlight. All of my banners, comics, and other images were resorted, duplicates or no longer needed files removed, and some other files put in completely different files that I’ll be sorting in the future. Further sorting may occur later, since I’m doing what I do with physical paperwork: larger organizing, sub category organizing, and so on until I only have what I need better sorted without a headache. Longer time but worth it in the end if I can put future stuff right into the proper sub category. It’s all about getting my files straight, and I may use the new system when reorganizing the files on my computer once this is all done and the actual new backing up begins.

I know these may not be the most interesting projects but letting these larger projects go has been a big mistake and the source of my disorganized…nearly everything. That’s why Operation: A Place For Everything exists and in a way this is an extension of that. Every file in a proper place so I can access it later and lose the files I don’t need. That clears up a lot of virtual space just as the other projects I’ve done has cleared up physical space in my living area. The battle continues, and I’m actually learning from this project how to go forward with other projects just as some of the past projects have taught me tricks for this one. So I’m cleaning AND learning. Neat!

Quick Report: Back Up Drive Organizing Continues

I didn’t have a lot of time this week but I did squeeze in a little time to do some reorganizing on the back up drive from last week. The audio files were easy because the directory I already had was easy to work with back in the first phase only some minor fixing and deleting of duplicates had to be done this week. The fonts folder is also fine the way it is though at some point I do want to make a list of all my fonts for use in other projects. I don’t need them all installed, but it’s nice to have them for other projects.

In the other folders I made up two new subfolder: old directory and new directory. In keeping with last week’s organizing all the old subfolders in the remaining categories were transferred to “old directory”. In the new one I’ll create a new directory and organize all of those items into it. Due only to my schedule I’m hoping to do at least one main directory a week. One week it’s videos, another it’s downloads…I imagine some folders will need longer days and maybe even multiple project days while others I may get through quickly and start work on other folders. The goal is to be done by the end of September but hopefully it won’t actually take me that long.

Not much to report but slow and steady wins the race. I just wish there weren’t so many races.

Cleaning Up The Back Up Drive

This week I go to work on the project I didn’t get to do last week. I don’t back up my stuff enough, and this came back to bite me a few years ago when my computer died. I’m not sure how much I really lost but I’m sure I lost something I wanted. Thankfully a lot was backed up to my back up drive. The back up program that came with the drive doesn’t work on Windows 10, but that may be a blessing in disguise.

My back up drive has a lot of stuff I don’t need anymore, either because what was backed up has advanced well past that or certain things don’t work anymore. There are even a few things that came up in multiple copies for different reasons. So this week the first step in organizing this drive so I can back up my computer was the project of choice. Lucky for me since starting this de-cluttering project I managed to develop a system for organizing files and collections that I was able to translate to this project, and one I should be using to further organize my various files in the future. Maybe this will work for you as well, because this can seem as insurmountable as organizing your records or your (insert really big collection here) as well as trying to cut them down to something more manageable. However, my organizing system may take more time but it’s less headache inducing and the small victories can pile up almost as much as the small clutters. 🙂