What was once on paper is now in PDF; what was once in photo albums is now in JPEG; what was once on drawing rolls is now in DWG.  In short, our analogue lives have been digitized; how will we organize our lives now that they are digital?  We had binders for paper, shelves for photo albums, and drawing racks for drawing rolls, but where do we put the PDFs, JPEGs, and DWGs?  Most people have answered this question in a combination of the following:

 

• "On my 'Desktop'"
• "In 'My Documents'"
• "Where the 'Save as' window tells me to"
• "Justin, can you help me find a file that I don't know the name of nor the location?"  (No.  Well, yes, I can, but please don't ask me to--instead read this guide.)

 

     The correct answer is none of the above.  The correct traditional answer is: "In highly structured and hierarchical directory trees."  If that is the answer you gave, congratulations, you can now go off and ponder the infinitesimal calculus.  For everyone else, I highly recommend reading and implementing the ideas set forth in this paper.  Note that I used the word "traditional" for my answer: this is because new technologies have made it possible to store files in "the cloud."

 

Trees (not the ones outside)

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• install
• Installation files are critical for your computer infrastructure.  Unfortunately, on most consumer operating systems, no central, online repository of installation files exists.  Even on Linux, some installers cannot be found in a repository or on the web.  Since re-installation of an operating system must happen from time to time, the installation files must be saved in an intelligently designed a file structure; all installation information must be saved and not deleted.
• It is not sufficient to store these files "somewhere."  It is also not sufficient to store them in a flat medium (e.g., a single directory).  Furthermore, it is not acceptable to store these files in various places; they must all be under one root directory (preferably called "INSTALL").  Do not use CDs for storing any type of installation information; they are not a reliable storage medium (no master copy of anything should be stored on a CD or DVD), they are easily lost, they are slow, they are difficult to copy, and they are only assessable to a single user at one time.  All installation information should be stored in a network-assessable location.
• asdf
• Audio
• Backup Tools
• CD DVD
• Drivers for Hardware
• Education
• Fonts
• Games
• Icons
• Master Settings
• Media
• Net
• Office
• Operating Systems
• Photo Utilities
• Portable Apps
• Programming
• Scripts
• Security
• Server Utilities
• System Utilities
• Tweaks
• Utilities General
• Video Utilities
• Windows Essentials
• zz_unfiled
• documents
• backing up
• email
• stop deleting
• passwords

 

 

 

 

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