Proposal: How to keep your files organized

[vraiment]

Hi guys

 

I'm new in the forum and I'm trying to participate more (RL takes care I don't but anyway) and I want to share something I've been working on and get some feedback.

 

For years I've had problems trying to keep my files organized in a sensible manner such that I can find things easily and do whatever I want to do (program, game, school, etc.) with no compromises. I've searched Google with no success on finding formal proposals on how to do this so after putting some thought onto it I've come up with my own.

 

Also, if someone knows about something like this but for email it would be great if you could share it.

 

Disclaimers:

1. This is very early work, I'm just starting to move my files to this structure.
2. I'm writing the proposal in Spanish and using markdown, because I don't want to write it twice I've passed it through google translated and gave it a quick check, sorry if there is something that is just incorrectly translated.
3. If this is not the correct forum, please move it to the correct one.

Proposal for digital organization

Nowadays, it is common for personal computing systems (whether desktop or portable) to store their users' information in "personal directories" that are divided into predefined categories such as "Documents", "Images" and "Videos".

However, since these categories are not very flexible, they contribute more to create chaos in the user's information than to maintain order, for example, imagine the following scenarios:

1. If I have a software development project (ie: consisting only of source code), in what category does it fit?
2. If I have a multidisciplinary project (for example a music video that needs the audio, the script, images and animations), where should I store it?
3. What kind of files should be stored in the "Desktop" folder?

In this document I try to present a proposal that is general enough so that anyone can apply it when using their computer equipment as well as to note the possible weaknesses of the proposal.

Categorization of information

The structure of personal folders that is predefined in today's popular operating systems focuses on vaguely cataloging user information by type of content: images, music, etc.

The proposal in this document is more focused on classifying files based on their use, which should make it easier to group related files and therefore be able to find information easier when needed.

The information of a user can be classified into three different categories, these categories are slightly based on the Unix "modes": read, write and execution.

For reference (read)

This information has as its sole purpose to serve as reference or to reproduce again (ie: music, movies, software installers). Ideally, files that contain reference information should be read-only, since they are considered "final versions".

To organize these files, we use what we might call libraries: sets of files that share a classification. You can also think of a special library of "Miscellany" that contains all the "loose" files that are not enough to justify a library.

Additionally, here the projects categorized originally in the work area (described in the next section) are retired (under a dedicated library).

Ideally you could generate "hard" backups (such as a series of CDs or DVDs) and spaced (generated weekly, monthly or even with more time between them) of this information as it should not change.

For work (write)

If you do some type of activity on the computer (ie: generate content) you need a work area, where you can have available the files you need to work on.

The organization of this category should be given by "project" and it should be very organic since it reflects "what you are working on". If something is already finished or abandoned, it should be "retired" to the file section "For reference".

By the same nature this information is constantly changing and the files in this category should be backed up small and frequent that are generated automatically (similar to the file recovery system of Dropbox).

To execute (execution)

Every operation in a digital workstation requires programs to be able to perform any action. The very particular characteristic of these is that besides being ideally read only (which would classify them as "files of reference") they are executable. In addition to the executable itself, the programs come with configurations (ideally stored in their files separately). Therefore, a special area is required to store the set of programs with their respective configurations.

Proposal

The following is a proposal of folder structure to show how it would work as described in the previous sections. In order not to create technical complications, special characters (eg, accents) are not used in the folders that make up the structure or in the names of the files.

• Applications: Contains the files to run
  • It should be organized with folders by application or even by developer and then by application.
• Library: Contains the files for reference
  • Folder Archived containing projects in which you are no longer actively working (ie: finished or abandoned)
    • It must reflect the Workspace section
  • Folder Documents that contains documents for reference of important issues (ideally in PDF) classified by folders such as:
    • Academic: Report cards, titles, payments, etc.
    • Financial: Insurance policies, credit card contracts, etc.
    • Home and Services: Rents, internet, water, electricity, etc.
    • Work: Contracts, supply letters, etc.
    • Legal: Identifications, passports, visas, etc.
    • Health: Studies, recipes, etc.
  • Folder Memories: Photos and videos organized by year and month
  • Folder Misc (miscellaneous): Folder to store files that do not merit a library, preferably organized by file type.
  • Etc.
• Workspace: Contains files for projects in progress, here are ready personal examples with names that make me logical.
  • Folder Music: Store sheet music files, songs to edit, etc.
  • Folder Programming: Store projects, source files, etc.
  • Folder Writing: Documents, letters and other texts

Ideally these folders should be created on hard drives or separate partitions (ie: Data, Workspace and Applications).

Problems

Landing in reality, this theory has to be applied to the operating systems that exist (ex: Windows, iOS, etc.) and to the cloud storage solutions that currently exist.

The following are some problems or weaknesses that I find in this proposal:

1. Each operating system has its own expectation to store files not only in technical matters but also in the model they present (eg, user folders).
2. Some programs decide to manage the organization themselves (eg: Steam, iTunes).
3. Some programs expect you to have the information in some of the folders predetermined by the operating system (eg: GarageBandexpects the musical projects to be in the Music folder of the user).
4. Once a project is finished, you must manually move it from the Workspace folder to the Library folder, if this does not happen automatically there is a risk that the Worspace folder will mess up.
5. The folder of miscellany is also dangerous since it runs the risk of becoming a "black hole" in which any type of file is saved for reference that is not yet categorized although it should be.

 

[SImoHayha]

Honestly the way I keep my files organized is just using folders and placing files in said folders then do group by type and then if I need to find something specific download " Everything" which scans your entire HDD/SSD hierarchy and finds the file you want and you can sort by file as well so if you wanna find a music file then you can search by audio files and etc. 

[TheKDub]

I've given up on trying to organize my files. I've got like 10 different copies of 50% of my files spread throughout several drives. Great for redundancy, terrible for efficiency.

[SImoHayha]

2 minutes ago, TheKDub said:

I've given up on trying to organize my files. I've got like 10 different copies of 50% of my files spread throughout several drives. Great for redundancy, terrible for efficiency.

Use DUPE guru that helped me massively when I had a music collection that completely went outta control. 

YOu can even set the options to mark all duplicates and save one of copy