January is “Organize Your Technology” Month during my free webinars. In our January 9th webinar we talked about the 4 steps we need to take to start this process

1. Getting output files stored in a central location (My Documents)
   • By default most Windows programs store your output files (.DOC, .XLS, .PPT, etc) in the My Documents folder. Not all programs do, however, so you need to check the Options or Preferences section of your programs to ensure that the documents you create get stored somewhere in the My Documents hierarchy.
2. Removing Duplicates
   • When we’e in a rush it’s easy to temporarily save documents in random locations, but we end up with duplicates as a result. You can do a manual search for duplicate files, but there’s an easier way. I found a wonderful program called Beyond Compare that lets you compare files not just by filename, but “bit-by-bit”, at the most technical level. This program lets you set up files or folders side by side, and color-codes the differences so you can easily delete the duplicates. Visit http://www.scootersoftware.com/ for more information, and to download the software. It costs a mere $30 for personal license, but the software far more valuable in terms of your time saved!
3. Organizing the Remaining Files By Business, by Client, by Project, by Internal Function, etc.
   • Once you’ve removed the duplicate files, it’s time to organize what you have left into a consistent filing scheme. If you have more than one business or business emphasis, you can use that as a top-level folder idea. Perhaps you have multiple clients or multiple projects. If you store all the documents related to that project in one hierarchy, then it’s easy to archive documents later on. I also use a folder hierarchy for my internal documents: items related to my corporation, state and federal requirements, operations, marketing, etc. Your overall filing scheme will probably be a combination of all of the above.
4. Maintaining files using antivirus, Windows update, disk defragmenter, error check, and other maintenance tools
   • You may not think of antivirus software as a file maintenance tool, but it really is! You’re using antivirus software to protect the integrity of your documents; the same is true of disk defragmentation software. Keeping the operating system good condition by using Windows update means your OS is better equipped to store and protect your files properly. You get the idea.
   • 
   • UPDATE: I have been using the Diskeeper software that I demonstrated in the January 9th webinar for a week now, and I’m glad to report that I am very pleased with the results. My hard drive is persistently full, which makes defragmenting it using the built-in Windows disk defragmenter impossible because the Windows version requires 15% free space. Diskeeper can defragment with as little as 5% free. I can say that my hard drive is running faster, so I’m very pleased with the software.

Getting your files organized is the first step in preparing for backups. By removing duplicates and corrupted files, and defragmenting the remaining files regularly, backups will be smaller and take less time.

Webinar Date: January 9, 2008

2 Comments »

1. 

   I second that, Diskeeper is a wonderful utility, it runs without being obtrusive to other operations.

   Comment by ipion — January 21, 2008 @ 4:58 am

2. [...] same principles apply to archiving that you used when you organized your data (see the January 9th webinar posting). Look at the way your business operates and organize your files accordingly. Here are some [...]

   Pingback by Toolie Recommends » Blog Archive » Webinar Resources - January 23, 2008 — January 23, 2008 @ 6:00 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website