HELP! I'm swamped with files

[El Gibbon]

I am looking for other member's 'filing' systems. Here's the problem, I've got 5250+ files of photos. They need to be organized in some fashion but, I don't want to spend years reviewing and tagging each photo file.

I have over 10K 35mm slides stored and sorted in the US but find it difficult to manage any type of filing system that makes sense to me on the computer. I am not totally computer illiterate but in this case am fairly lost.

It needs to be accomplished sooner rather than later I know, but how to start? I don't want to get halfway done and come across an obstacle that makes it all moot.

Going forward is not a problem but re-classifying all that are residual is.

Any help or examples would be greatly appreciated.

E. G.

[dirtydog]

2 folders, 1 name "Porn" stick the 5,000 in there, the other named "Family" stick the rest in there.

[Marmite the Dog]

I file by date & place.

I.e. Sihanoukville - 20-09-07

It'll still involve you putting a bit of effort into it.

[buad hai]

Every year I create a folder named after the year. Within that folder I create folders by catagory: House, Garden, Korat, Mukdahan, Songkran, Teak Door Pissup (empty), etc. The full sized photos go in there. Within those folders I create another folder called "sm". Into that folder I put edited, enhanced, reduced sized versions that are appropriate for e-mail and forum posting. If the "sm" folder contains a series of photos on a particular topic, I often rename them to reflect the topic and order: brownies01.jpg, brownies02.jpg, etc.

[friscofrankie]

Filing by Date is the only real alternative for a retro sort that could be even semi automated.

It's how I sort all my stuff - You can use the windows search function to find all photos under a certain subdirectory then sort them by date. Then just create a directory with the date name like Apr-8-08 or what ever suits you and move the files with that date to the folder. My files got to be confusing about a year ago. With perl I just wrote a script to find all my jpeg files, read the date, create a dir with that date and them move the files into it. If you've fucked up the date n your cam or neglected to set it... you're kinda fucked.

right now I've got 5,033 files in 136 subdirectories works for me. getting it sorted might take a couple hours if you ues the search and sort method. if you can run perl on your system and can write s imple perl script the whole process might take a half hour or so. You can go for monthly, weekly or daily dirs with the search & sort or script method.
Moving forward it's easy to maintain and take only a few minutes to save the files though.

[Wallalai]

I file mostly by date, subdivised in events and subject folders.

[El Gibbon]

Thank you all! Greens sent where possible... sorry BH & FF gotta spread.... bullshit

Exactly as expected. Your comments and suggestions lead to a relatively simple solution. duh!!!

Most all my digital stuff is directly related (by time frame) to where I lived when the shots were taken. Wallah, organize by what I remember (location i.e. KL, Phuket, Din Daeng, Chantaburi etc. etc.)

Of course all the time/date stamps are still attached so that solves another problem in terms of sequencing. So now have 5281 files in 12 directories and 211 sub-directories.

Thank god there was some organization by folders, just took some time to re-name folders and move folders around to where it made sense to me. (Prolly not to anyone else but???)

I'll go through the folders and organize within but the main hassle has been solved.

Again thank you to all, each had a hand in the solution. Me thinks I was trying to get too cute and complicated. KISS.

FO DD no porn!

E. G.

[Bobcock]

I create directories related to subject, I also rename each file so for example

Wat Saket - 001 onwards.

Bulk File Rename is a great program, but there are many others, even adobe Bridge does it.

[Norton]

I create directories related to subject, I also rename each file so for example Wat Saket - 001 onwards.

I do the same. Folder files sorted by date allows for viewing newest files. File names same as Bobcock. I used to file by date but found my memory dimming with age and couldn't remember when I took a particular photo.

[El Gibbon]

As I mentioned in the earlier post, when looking for photos my mind always associated who I was with (which in turn leads to where I was living), or what I was doing, when the shot was taken.

With that basis for the root directory I'm golden. Now I can do the file names and dates quite easily.

It was reading others' comments the caused the 'bulb' to go off. We each have our own memory triggers to base our systems on.

E. G.

[Happyman]

As I mentioned in the earlier post, when looking for photos my mind always associated who I was with (which in turn leads to where I was living), or what I was doing, when the shot was taken.

With that basis for the root directory I'm golden. Now I can do the file names and dates quite easily.

It was reading others' comments the caused the 'bulb' to go off. We each have our own memory triggers to base our systems on.

E. G.

Is your new Av that little fella that runs around the elephant trek place between the viewpoint and Kata?- if so he is still there and told me to tell you he misses you !

[El Gibbon]

Yeah, but am sure he's found someone else to steal bananas from.

Give him my regards!

E. G.

[lovethai]

have u tried some of the free programs on offer by google or microsoft? i this the google one is called picassa, it will do the hard work for you, like sorting the images according to the date taken and its very easy to create slideshows and add music to them too.