Friday, March 18, 2011

Storing your Digital Stash on your PC

Hi, this is Jodi here
Story Writer for Gungerscrapstreet.

I was thinking of something to blog about today which lead me to think about the ways that my storage of digital elements has changed in the few months since I've been doing Digital Layouts,
So i thought i would share it with you....
Maybe you might be able to pick something up??

I have a PC, Im not sure what the MAC systems have, 
so everything i refer to it will be in reference to the PC System.

WOW, cant your digital bits and pieces add up?
I was wondering why my images were having trouble opening until i saw the size of the folders on my PC!!
Oh My Goodness!!!


"LOVE"
(This is one of my first Digi layouts using Free Digi Downloads)

So to save on space, i have had to start looking at how i am storing my digital items.
At first i used to download kits and drag and drop items into separate files sorted into categories
such as papers, ribbon, flowers, embellishments etc.
And then i started having my items published and the details of the 
designers were lost during this whole process!!
Ekk! I didn't even consider that!!!


"Snow Fairy"
(This was last months Gingerscrapstreet Free Download)

Then i started downloading more and more digital elements 
and trying to find actual items started to get time consuming.  
As I became more aware of Digital Scrapping and following different designers,
i found it was easier to save items in Kit form with the name of the kit and the designer!
This made it so much easier to identify different items when it comes to naming the designers.

Incidently, this is the same way I store my traditional scrapbooking items.
In bags by Kit and Manufacturer.

Another thing i have done recently to address the increasing size of my digital stash, 
was to purchase a separate hard drive just for digital elements.
Its 2 Tegabites (Which is like really big!!)
and cost about $100 (AUD)
But now all my digital elements are saved onto that hard drive
in folders under the name of the kit and Designer.


"You are Amazing"
(This was one of my first purchased kits)

The upside, is that when the computer gets a bug, it cant get into this external hard drive
and if i go anywhere, all i need to take with me is my laptop
and the external hard drive
and i can scrap on the go!!!
Yay!

Hope this post might help someone that is thinking about this area.

Dont forget to stop by my blog

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5 comments:

Suzanne said...

This is timely for me. I also recently purchased an external hard drive as my files are multiplying, but what about backing up the external hard drive? I wonder about having everything on an external web-site as well, but I'm not sure about how to have everything in sync. I also don't want to have to pay a monthly fee, as this is just a hobby. Any advice?

Willow River Piecemakers said...

You Definately Want to Do a SECOND back-up. I do some part-time consulting and web work and have an external hard drive, but also a subscription to Backblaze - costs me $50 per year, but already saved me once. Learned this leason after my hard drive was corrupted and I lost TONS of files. You made the big investment in all those digi files - now you must insure them!

Anonymous said...

That's a fabulous idea Jodi--thanks for sharing!

Big Cricky Hugs,
K Andrew

Suzanne said...

Thanks Maxi - hadn't heard of Backblaze. I'm going to check that out. I've seen other backup webservices, but reviews have made me skeptical. Any advice on keeping things synced up?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tips on backing up! :) I have 2 EHDs, but I'm thinking of burning important DS items to disc (purchased kits, fave LOs, etc) and keeping those discs at my parents' home. That way, if anything happens to my EHDs, I'll still have the DVDs of my fave goodies. (I've tried an online back up service and it's just not for me. I just couldn't remember to back up!)