How to store important files, photos
When it comes to having a lot of files and documents on her computer, few know more about this than Frankie Roberts.
The Kentville woman worked as a reporter and editor for years, then later ran her own business, doing all her own accounting. As a journalist, with deadlines always looming, Roberts needed to access past information or articles quickly.
"Before computers, we had morgues filled with paper files that we used for this," she says.
Then, she moved to digital files for reference.
Although she no longer writes, Roberts still organizes her digital files in a way she can quickly access past information.
It may take time to set up, but, in the long run, having a system to organize digital files saves time, she says.
“When I need a specific photo, I can find it easily. If I need a receipt for an online purchase, it is at my fingertips. And the same for bills or account statements,” says Roberts.
IMPORTANCE OF BACKING UP FILES
Having organized files makes it easier to back up your files, says Roberts.
"I have one folder on my computer for the current year. So, when I back up, I only have to back that up. At the end of the year, since that folder won’t be changing anymore, it is backed up elsewhere — so I have a copy in case my computer crashes — and then moved into my 'stagnant' folder so it’s still handy for reference purposes," she explains.
The folder is actually copied to three hard drives, two onsite and one kept off-site in case of loss, and are updated quarterly.
"I backup manually using a basic zip program such as 7-Zip or Winzip. I use this because it’s fast, protects my privacy and costs me very little in the long run," she says. "Organizing and backing up your digital files should be simple, and it should work for you, otherwise you won’t do it."
How often it should be done depends on how important the information is to you and how often the information changes, she says.
GETTING DIGITALLY ORGANIZED
The best way to determine the type of system you want on your computer is to envision your hard drive as a filing cabinet, says Roberts. Tossing things into one great big drive is like opening a filing cabinet drawer and throwing everything in.
She offers the following tips for getting digitally organized:
1. Use one main active folder for each calendar year so it makes for easy backing up. Roberts uses sub-folders inside that for accounting, photos, income tax, correspondence, etc.
2. Label each file starting with the year. Save files using a year-month-date format (202101-01), as the computer will automatically sort in order. If you use a different date format than this, the files inside your folder will be out of order, taking longer to find.
3. For storing financial information, Roberts downloads her bills and keeps them on her hard drive for the recommended seven years. She finds this easier than logging into the website to retrieve the information.
"Digital records take up very little space and drive space is cheap. My time is valuable to me, so I’d rather save it all than take time to sort and purge," she says.
Systems like this save a huge amount of time during tax time, and being self-employed, she needed access home expenses to claim.
"If you own a business, CRA loves digital records, so having a good accounting program is a must," says Roberts.
SORTING PHOTOS
With pictures now being taken on phones, it's harder to find anything, says Roberts.
Pre-cell phone, Roberts had folders of photos ordered by year and sub-folders by month, with notations of what’s inside.
"Some experts recommend deleting duplicate photos, but I never wasted time doing this, mainly because computer storage is so inexpensive when it comes to external hard drives. But this is probably a worthwhile use of time if you are using a paid backup service, since space costs money," she says.
For cell phone photos, she manually downloads them and stores them on her computer, backing them up in the same manner. They take up even less space than photos from a good quality digital camera, so she doesn’t begrudge giving up disk space.
If you use an iphone, you can automatically sync photos to back up to icloud, which offers five gigabytes of free space. Google Drive offers android users a similar feature with 15 GB of free storage space. Keep in mind that this storage space for both icloud and Google Drive is shared with email, documents and files as well as photos, she says, and that you are storing information on an unknown computer server in an unknown location.
Google used to offer unlimited photo storage but has announced it will be limiting free photo storage space to 15 GB after June 21, 2021. Anything uploaded before that date will not count toward the 15 GB.
“While cell phone photos are relatively small, eventually all things add up. So, if you want the photos, I would do the same as with home files and back them up regularly,” suggests Roberts.
If you have a backup, you always have a copy of the photo and you can go back for years and find it on your personal hard drive. But if you accidentally delete a photo from your icloud or Google Photos, it could be gone forever, says Roberts.
Roberts recommends backing up your cell phone either by hooking your phone up to your computer or through Google Takeout, which sends a link to a zipped folder that you can easily download and open to see your photos. Iphones can also be backed up through your computer using icloud or itunes.
"When it comes to backing up, I think you have to decide what you can live with," Roberts says. "If your phone died tomorrow and all your photos were lost, if you are OK with that, don’t worry about backing up. But if you would be devastated, take the time to look into it now."
There are several online services available, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, she adds.
Roberts says it’s worth taking the time to set up a system to organize your digital files, and then to back them up.
“I hate wasting time and I hate looking for things. I also hate the idea of losing all the photos I have taken over the years,” she says.
“Digital records take up very little space and drive space is cheap. My time is valuable to me, so I’d rather save it all than take time to sort and purge.” Frankie Roberts