Do you hoard computer files?

[Alir]

I recall watching a show a few years back of this person who was a complete hoarder. Like literally had a fire extinguisher in his/her house because he/she - I think a he - didn't want to get rid of it. The persons house was not just a mess, but stank of something not of this world.

Coming to think of it, probably was hoarding molotov cocktails for the fun of it, maybe the fire extinguisher would come in handy

 

We watch these kinds of people and laugh but it got me wondering. How many people hoard computer files because we can afford the space and end up having an extremely messy hard drive with data that goes back years and we don't want to get rid of?

 

Me personally, I still have all or most of my files going as far back as 7 years, including simple downloads. I don't want to delete them. I don't know why, I just don't.

But that's not as bad as my encrypted containers (folders) of which I have forgotten the passwords to. I have a couple of those folders, small folders, probably junk with nothing in them, but I have refused to delete them just in case I one day remember the passwords or manage to brute force them (use a computer to automate a script which tries every possible password). I refuse to delete them in case there's something important inside of them. Those few files make it impossible for me to organise the rest of my files because I get back into the process everytime of trying to remember the passwords for these folders which are practically long gone inside the back of my head. Anyone think I should just delete them? Life is short. We can't waste time on such small things which at the end of the day, even if there is an awesome family picture inside, can't have been worth many months/years of obsession and procrastination, which I have no doubt computer files will become as Hard Drive storage capacities sky rocket.

 

Do others obsess over computer files like this as well?

 

Which then gets me wondering. What's the point of even hoarding such old work and other such files in the first place. Do you just delete them when you're done and move on?

 

I keep thinking I need to buy a 2TB HDD but then within a couple of months I'd have probably filled that up with ISO and other such files which I'd repeatedly download again and again. It's worth noting, I am the kind of person who generally stays organised. And I do go back and organise myself. But it seems with technology that the rate at which I download and duplicate files, is too fast for me to delete and keep an eye on.

 

Anyone else in the same boat?

[Godlygamer23]

I wouldn't say that I hoard computer files, but my server handles all the archival stuff, including storing NVIDIA driver revisions that I get, and also storing the release notes alongside those driver revisions. I also store installation executables of programs, like CCleaner(I have down to 4.11 for that, and up to the latest version).

[Alir]

Funny thing is, we do the same with Steam games (I'm actually more strict on myself when it comes to buying Steam games because they're popular), I do constantly do the same with links, bookmarks of links, videos, documentaries, books.

 

Probably more than 99.9% of the stuff I hoard I will never see again before I get buried in the ground.

[Dreigo42]

I tend to keep old files but I offload them to a NAS packed in 7z archives. I'll often keep a backup of game folders so I don't have to download them from the internet again. Most clients like Steam will detect existing files and just use them provided they aren't damaged.

[AshleyAshes]

Uhh...

 

[Alir]

2 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Uhh...

 

 

 

*jaw drops in horror*

 

What the hell do you have on there?

[AshleyAshes]

Just now, Alir said:

*jaw drops in horror*

 

What the hell do you have on there?

It's mostly media.  It keeps everything I've watched on my HTPCs, but it's not just stuff I watched since I built the HTPC setups in 2011 and started collecting, I've also gathered files that I will likely never watch, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TaleSpin, The Real Ghostbusters and the like which I added but am likely to not actually watch.

 

I mean, maybe one day I'll need those 4 year old episodes of The Daily Show, right!?  If the world ends, everyone is coming to my house with USB keys and they'd better like Slice of Life Anime and Yaoi!

[VinsinityKT]

I shove everything I no longer need into a NAS at home.

[PlayStation 2]

>looks at meme folder

>

idk

[Godlygamer23]

1 minute ago, AshleyAshes said:

It's mostly media.  It keeps everything I've watched on my HTPCs, but it's not just stuff I watched since I built the HTPC setups in 2011 and started collecting, I've also gathered files that I will likely never watch, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TaleSpin, The Real Ghostbusters and the like which I added but am likely to not actually watch.

 

I mean, maybe one day I'll need those 4 year old episodes of The Daily Show, right!?  If the world ends, everyone is coming to my house with USB keys and they'd better like Slice of Life Anime and Yaoi!

That's the advantage to having offline media that you can watch. If my Internet connection goes out, I don't really need to worry about content because my server has plenty that will keep me entertained for a while.

[vanished]

I actually do do this but it's very organized and I have the space so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Alir]

3 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

It's mostly media.  It keeps everything I've watched on my HTPCs, but it's not just stuff I watched since I built the HTPC setups in 2011 and started collecting, I've also gathered files that I will likely never watch, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TaleSpin, The Real Ghostbusters and the like which I added but am likely to not actually watch.

 

I mean, maybe one day I'll need those 4 year old episodes of The Daily Show, right!?  If the world ends, everyone is coming to my house with USB keys and they'd better like Slice of Life Anime and Yaoi!

 

Can you send me those episodes of The Daily Show please?

 

Thanks. You're a babe

[Alir]

2 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

That's the advantage to having offline media that you can watch. If my Internet connection goes out, I don't really need to worry about content because my server has plenty that will keep me entertained for a while.

 

I don't think his internet is going to go out for 4 years tho

[Godlygamer23]

1 minute ago, Alir said:

I don't think his internet is going to go out for 4 years tho

I sure hope not.

[Alir]

2 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I actually do do this but it's very organized and I have the space so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Yeah sometimes I think I'm organised. But then I go to my folder from way back in secondary school and see files that are literally just scattered everywhere. Didn't have the time to keep everything organised when I was enslaved in the education system. If I lost a USB, I'd use my backup on my laptop for the day and then when I got home and found it on my table, I'd create 2 folders dump each copy in each and never bother with deleting the replicated files. I don't do that anymore but it means I do have old files that are scattered like that.

[Alir]

3 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

I sure hope not.

... keep em just in case it does

 

 

[Alir]

9 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

It's mostly media.  It keeps everything I've watched on my HTPCs, but it's not just stuff I watched since I built the HTPC setups in 2011 and started collecting, I've also gathered files that I will likely never watch, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TaleSpin, The Real Ghostbusters and the like which I added but am likely to not actually watch.

 

I mean, maybe one day I'll need those 4 year old episodes of The Daily Show, right!?  If the world ends, everyone is coming to my house with USB keys and they'd better like Slice of Life Anime and Yaoi!

 

I guess you're set to live in a bunker the rest of your days if nuclear war breaks out then.

[AshleyAshes]

10 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

That's the advantage to having offline media that you can watch. If my Internet connection goes out, I don't really need to worry about content because my server has plenty that will keep me entertained for a while.

 

2 minutes ago, Alir said:

 

I guess you're set to live in a bunker the rest of your days if nuclear war breaks out then.

Part of it is it's a hobby.  Getting the content, maintaining the systems that organize it, working on the storage solution, the Kodi database where all the episode and movie info is stored and then shared to Kodi, a big portion of it is very much 'a hobby'.  The 'hobby' aspect is likely why I don't toss fires that are surely obsolete and are very unlikely to ever be watched again.

 

 Also since it only has content I enjoy, I don't have to filter through a huge selection of content I have zero interest in as I would with Netflix or even cable TV.

 

FYI, it totals 7143hrs of television and 792hrs of movies, that would be a 330 day non-stop marathon with no repeats.   Though only 90hrs are marked 'unwatched'.  (Keep in mind that some series I won't watch, like RGB, TMNT, Rescue Rangers, ect, were marked 'watched' once added to the server.  So only truly 'new' content that I intend to watch is marked unwatched)

 

That said, I really need to make a cherry picked Christmas Episode/Special/Documentary playlist for the holidays.

[SLAYR]

Hoarding computer files just makes me think of the people who have desktops like these, and store files in the desktop folder.

 

I use 2+Tb of storage, but that is just my hdd I have for my steam library so it isn't really hoarding.

[ramencupofjoy]

my desktop occasionally gets a little messy but i never classify it as hoarding. maybe i have a couple of leftovers from a video i was making on my desktop but i eventually have a cleansing frenzy and clean up my desktop and/or change the wallpaper.

same can be said for my desk setup but that's a story for another thread

[Jovidah]

I used to be a giant hoarder of game isos... until Steam came along. Ironcially the main reason I downloaded was not because I didn't want to pay for them, I just thought it was ridiculous I had to get off my chair and go out to some store 15 kilometers away just to get something I could simply download and store on my disk. Downloading used to be far easier and more convenient than buying it. 

Honestly I have to commend Valve, because instead of trying to simply screw over your customers by adding rootkits and other nasty DRM (something cracked games never contained!), they actually did something to improve the problem that illegal software was simply winning on convenience. I think the existence of Steam did more against piracy than any DRM or lawsuit ever did.

[SteveGrabowski0]

Storage is so cheap. I have video of every NBA Finals game since like 1975. 

[Alir]

1 hour ago, Jovidah said:

I used to be a giant hoarder of game isos... until Steam came along. Ironcially the main reason I downloaded was not because I didn't want to pay for them, I just thought it was ridiculous I had to get off my chair and go out to some store 15 kilometers away just to get something I could simply download and store on my disk. Downloading used to be far easier and more convenient than buying it. 

Honestly I have to commend Valve, because instead of trying to simply screw over your customers by adding rootkits and other nasty DRM (something cracked games never contained!), they actually did something to improve the problem that illegal software was simply winning on convenience. I think the existence of Steam did more against piracy than any DRM or lawsuit ever did.

 

Nice job changing the topic, realising you incriminated yourself on a public forum, justified your actions based on not having ill intentions and then confirmed that you are now living a legal life. Salute!

[Alir]

1 hour ago, AshleyAshes said:

 

Part of it is it's a hobby.  Getting the content, maintaining the systems that organize it, working on the storage solution, the Kodi database where all the episode and movie info is stored and then shared to Kodi, a big portion of it is very much 'a hobby'.  The 'hobby' aspect is likely why I don't toss fires that are surely obsolete and are very unlikely to ever be watched again.

 

 Also since it only has content I enjoy, I don't have to filter through a huge selection of content I have zero interest in as I would with Netflix or even cable TV.

 

FYI, it totals 7143hrs of television and 792hrs of movies, that would be a 330 day non-stop marathon with no repeats.   Though only 90hrs are marked 'unwatched'.  (Keep in mind that some series I won't watch, like RGB, TMNT, Rescue Rangers, ect, were marked 'watched' once added to the server.  So only truly 'new' content that I intend to watch is marked unwatched)

 

That said, I really need to make a cherry picked Christmas Episode/Special/Documentary playlist for the holidays.

 

If you have the bandwidth, you could seed them. I think that's the correct term? I don't torrent.

 

Then I could download your copies of TDS.

 

Wait is that allowed on this forum? They're all available on Comedy Central for free anyways

[Dredgy]

I don't hoard - quite the opposite, I'll go to lengths to clean up. I have files dating back 10 years or more, but they are generally resume pieces I need if I want to get another job.