Not much to say really. Except regularly backing up your key data is important. I have an external USB2 hard disk (appears as my Q: drive) and use Microsoft’s free SyncToy 2.1
I run it in contribute mode with my synching folders (folder-pairs) something like this
| Left |
Right |
| C:\My Documents |
Q:\backups\My Documents |
| C:\Music |
Q:\backups\Music |
SyncToy (ST) was initially designed to keep the two folder-pairs (labelled Left and Right) in synch. So if you added a file to the Left folder then ran ST, it would copy that new file to the Right folder…of that pair. Or vice versa. Including changes/deletes.
Contribute mode in ST is newer and different, basically not really syncing, just copying from Left to Right and not deleting. It’s my quick and simple back up. Mainly My Documents, Music, business data (MYOB) and some text files/notes.
I’m gradually building up a few articles here on SiC about software I use and tips on how I do things. This will be the Master List and thusly have summaries and links.
Now where are those files? I’m looking for the movie Big Buck Bunny.avi as well as the unpublished masterpiece My Life Story by Me.doc
They are either on the main hard drive … or maybe on one of my archive DVDs or – hang on – are they on that 500 GB external USB hard disk? Then there’s the files on that old laptop that I access via the network. Mmmm.
The solution is to use a Windows file catalogue program and then do a search. I’m only going to give quick overviews so you can go off and have fun trying them out for yourselves.
Key point: I’m really only interested in file and folder names, not their contents nor their tags (like mp3 or jpg files have). It takes much longer to catalogue inside a file and there are programs that will do this.
I have covered my tips for Archiving and indexing your digital photos elsewhere on SiC.
Files stored on hard drives, including external USB/firewire and networked hard drives
I use the free Locate32 to catalogue these drives. I can then search for the file named Big Buck Bunny with the extension avi. Or all avi’s. It can do more complicated searches (size and date etc). My basic Logitech keyboard has a Search key and I assign that to start up Locate32. I also have Windows update some of Locate32’s catalogues every few hours; the main ones.
FYI: on the main hard drive I catalogue My Documents, my Music folders and Downloads
Continue reading “How I find my files (including on external disks and DVDs) & Blu-ray movies etc”
It’s now mid 2010. A quick search shows I have been taking photographs with digital cameras since 2005. I was actually a late starter, but still have lots and lots of JPG and NEF image files.
There comes a time when you have to move them off your hard drive to free up space. This is called archiving. For my purposes this is different from backing up, which means taking a copy onto an external media, but leaving the original on the hard drive. Archiving means deleting them off the hard disk, once they are safely on your external media (like a DVD).
It’s a 4 step process:
- Copy them to the external media, usually a DVD
- Index them, including creating thumbnail (small) images of them, enabling you to still ‘browse’ them without having to hunt down your archive DVDs
- Create a 2nd copy of your archive DVDs (for taking off-site, see later)
- Delete the original files from your hard drive
I archive by year. In fact the photos on my hard drive are arranged by year too; I have top-level folders 2010, 2009, 2008.
1. Copying them
Just use your standard DVD creation software. You are creating a Data DVD (not a Movie one!). I use the free ImgBurn software. Important point: give each DVD a sensible, unique Volume Label. For my 2009 archiving it took three DVDs. So I gave them Volume Labels of DS.photos.2009.1 DS.photos.2009.2 and DS.photos.2009.3
After the files have been burnt, write the Volume Label on the DVD itself.
Verify the burning worked, by browsing a number of folders on your new archive DVD.
Continue reading “Archiving and indexing your digital photos”
Great walk, starting only about an hour from my place! Spectacular views over the steep Werribee Gorge. The river, of the same name, has cut a massive slice through the country over the millennia. A relatively easy walk takes you from the car park, along a creek valley and some spurs to the Lookout.
More Pictures: At my PicasaWeb album of this walk.
Listed in: The Parks Victoria free PDF Werribee Gorge State Park – Visitor Guide plus a number of bushwalking books, including Walk 24 in Daywalks Around Melbourne as covered here.
Location: About 15 minutes from Bacchus Marsh (see map below).
Advice: Books say to wear hiking boots (not runners) and take a walking pole. I agree as the walk, whilst under an hour each way, has parts that are a bit steep and with loose stones. I think it would be slippery after rain too.
Map: created from my GPS logs and converted to Google Maps format. Note the link to view it in a larger map at the end. From that larger map, you can then view the route in glorious 3D in Google Earth; highly recommended.
View Falcons Lookout walk in a larger map
