Chuck The Geek.com

How I organize my PC’s files

July 9th, 2008 by Chuck Sharp

I’m a little OCD, I think. I’ve been re-engineering my file organization scheme forever. I wanted a data management system that would allow me to easily find the files I am looking for, when they’re needed, and make it simpler to backup and sort my data. This takes the following pieces:

1. A file organization scheme that is filed by subject and general data type.
2. A disk partitioning scheme that would separate, as much as possible, the system and program files from data files.
3. A backup system that would replicate my data away from my PCs, and create archive copies for point-in-time data snapshots.
4. Data replication to keep updated versions of my files on my regular-use PCs.
5. Windows preferences and software configured to make maintaining this system lazy and hands-off.

In this post, I’ll discuss my file organization scheme. Basically, it’s two levels deep. I have my documents folder, which then has directories for major data types. For me, this includes

• Audio/ - All my music and audio books go in here. This is my largest directory by far.
• Bin/ - Scripts, little programs, and portable apps go in here.
• Files/ - My own data. This is where my Word, Excel, and Mind Manager files go, along with any source code or other “creative” works. This, along with the Pictures directory, hold my most irreplaceable data.
• In/ - This is my digital Inbox. All downloads and new created documents go in here, first. It gets cleared and processed regularly.
• Library/ - This includes all the PDFs and Docs and Html files I’ve collected for reference. It also has the video and other media files I’ve kept, other than audio.
• Pictures/ - All digital pictures I’ve ever taken or collected, and some collected pictures from elsewhere, though those usually end up in the Library.
• Software/ - I keep a big, flat directory with purchased and newest-versions of many software programs that I like to keep close by.

I split up Files and Library so that I could copy or backup my own data quickly — Files/ is less than 2G by itself. Audio has separate directories for Books, Christian, Classical, and General. Files and Library look like this:

By using this strategy, I know where to put every file that comes in. It also segments the data in useful ways, which I’ll speak about in another post. What methods do you use for file organizing?

Entry Filed under: PC Basics, Productivity