Kts, drives, external, designers, stores

[Cath]

anyone else have this problem

 

[Cath]

i came back after 5 years. Oh world has changed. Designers selling more then 1 store, puters no longer have big internal drives
i need help. Unknown what external has pre-2014 back to 2006. 2014-2016 on my internal (no real order other then store and month purchased - 2 sets back ups, one of puchase zips, one of it unzipped and in increments in order). many thousand of dollars of kits zipped purchased since 2016 on internal and not unzipped

Where to begin
no room to unzip all them onto internal. Future will need to work from externals with a new laptop. my purchases are in a single folder of all purchased from same session.

my stupid order now (well started to move off to external and more mess)
all purchased kits on g drive
templates, free things, chalenge things, designer parts on e drive
pics, layouts, fonts, planner kits, graphics on d drive
anything new saved to h drive

I do some what have all purchase kit zips in a spreadsheet, and some links to kits in store with purchase, some with more then one store....

WHERE do I start ?

 

[wvsandy]

I would start with unzipping the most current months of purchases.

Perhaps pick one store or one designer that you love and organize their files so you can find them.

Then do some scrapping so you remember why you purchased them in the first place.

Now add another month of products for your store or designer or even add another designer if you'd like. If you work in pieces you will start finding some order and peace in your stash.

Do not start with the oldest files and do not try to move everything at once. Good luck!

 

[hclappy]

I agree with Sandy. I'd also add this- if at all possible get your photos onto your computer's HD, even if that means moving everything else over to EHD's. And have backups!!!! Your photos are your most important thing and you don't want to lose those. Once that's done, do the same thing for your LO's (if possible) Kits and fonts are replaceable, your photos and LO's are not.

 

[bestcee]

I really don't want the heads of the hard drive to jump around so much, if i unzip by all zits under the one paypal charge.
I don''t mind unzipping to a usb drive ... just not crazy to do a layout from (or call up thumbnails)

Anyone just starting ,,, start a system ,, and not by month (good for bu in parts, but that all)

The heads on hard drives are a bit less sensitive than they used to be. Also, if you have a Solid State Drive, it doesn't use those heads you remember. It works like flash memory and memory cards.

What do you want to find? Do you remember the day you purchased the items? Or do you remember the theme? Do you participate in challenges and need to know what store a designer is at?

I participate in store challenges, so I need my products to be organized in that way. Prior to this realization, I had pieces all divvied up by type (papers in one folder, ribbons in another) like I did in paper scrapping. That didn't work for me in digi scrapping.
So, each store has a folder:
Store A
Store B
Gingerscraps

and each designer has a folder in the store:

Gingerscraps​

Miss Fish
Gingerbread Ladies
Magical Scraps Galore
​

Inside each designer is the kits I've bought from them. When I started, I set up my folder system (picture setting up folders in a file cabinet). Then, I went through the folders where I had kits. I moved each one to it's home. I didn't worry about retired kits or if I bought it elsewhere. If it's a Miss Fish kit, it goes in her folder under Gingerscraps. Retired kits, and designers at two stores, or designers that moved stores was not my concern at the moment. My only concern was taking the big pile of folders and putting them away neatly.

Now, if you shop by theme and don't care about the store, maybe make your folders by season?
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Spring
Add your birthday or holidays that occur in that time frame inside so all your similar types are together.

Autumn​

Leaves
School
Birthday (depending on when your birthday is!)
Halloween​

Same thing as above. File each kit where you want it. Don't worry about designers or stores. Just the theme you'll look for it under.

It's going to be a big job. But, if you start, you'll be surprised how quick you finish. Also, if you have a hard drive that has a bunch on it, but is mostly empty, maybe organize that one first and make it the 'file cabinet' where it all goes.

 

[DebraB]

Cath,
Sorry to hear about your stroke. They cause such a havoc in a persons life. I would 2nd Jennifers comment about making sure your photos are taken care of. The other idea, maybe a long shot, but is there someone local that does digital scrapping and could come over and help you get started with setting up a system. Sometimes easier to work through it with someone seeing exactly what you have, where you have it and working together to get started.
Deb

 

[LilyAnn]

I used to organize by theme but I often use kits for colors as opposed to theme so for me it is easier to organize by store than designer.