Have you backed up your files lately?
Attached to my laptop is a hard drive of files. I try to do a back up once a month...usually on my monthly birthday date. Fortunately I had a backup when my mother board died last year and only lost a few items.
Some people back up to the cloud. (I do have some of my favorite family photos there as well.) Some people do both. If you haven't backed up your files please do it and save yourself grief.
But what do you do when you have multiples of the same files? Or begin to organize it? My solution is KISS...keep it simply simple.
For example, I started with a file that says, "Our family." In it I have a folder for my daughter, one for my in laws, one for my family, and one for our home. Then I sort my pictures and files to the person that is associated with it. When my grandparent's family had material-such as a newspaper article found on the web or a photo a distant cousin gives you, I simple place it into which side of the family it belongs. My husband's Fehlauer family is placed with his family; each one of my siblings have their own folder. School and genealogy items have their own separate folder.
I will admit that I didn't always do this. But since I have been doing this it has been simply simple to find my photos and genealogy files a breeze.
Now I'm off to rename my photos-year, month, date, place and subject!
