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I am so sick of computers and the endless files!

S

superadium

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 21, 2008
7
0
I can't keep track of it all my brain is going nuts over trying to manage this stuff.

I have 3 laptops (mb, mb, mbp), 4 desktops (mac pro, custom pc, dell, ibm) and over 25 external harddrives.

I'm using about 9.4TB total in data. music, graphics, a few movies, and thousands of documents, spreadsheets, and other nicknacks

i cant keep track of it all. i don't even know what is important anymore.

i dread the day when every harddrive fails

yet secretly i'd be happy.

i wish I just had ONE hdd to keep track of.

i'm sick of the thousands upon thousands of self created folders, and endless subfolders within those..

i hate compuyeters1!!!
 
well, i'm kinda in the same boat, yet i don't "hate computers". instead, i'm continually looking for a way to manage it all, so i got Leopard Server. yet i still haven't figured it out yet, so i still have my computers with a lot of redundant files on each, that is not organized at all.

if only i could get the server to work right...
 
I know what you mean. I filled my mac mini's 80gb hard drive in a matter of months. At least as mac users we have spotlight though!

I'd rather lots of files on my computer than be surrounded by lots of 'real' files and documents!
 
It's not computers you should hate, its you lack of organizational skills that is the problem. No offense, Im not much better. :) But it's not the computers fault.
 
You need to consolidate.

I had an iBook G3 12", iBook G4 14", Mini, HP Workstation, cheap Compaq as a server, 2 Thinkpads, and a Compaq LT.

I retired the iBooks and got a MacBook, I no longer store any files on the Mini (only used for light video editing and DVD ripping) - transferred files to the MacBook. The HP Workstation I use only for games - transferred the files to the server.

I used to put stuff just on the server too, now I'm trying to consolidate everything on the MacBook (adding files from the Windows laptops) and backup to the server.

When my Windows laptops die, I'll just replace it with just a cheap single one, or maybe just boot to Windows.

You have a ton more space used up though.

Try for 1 server, 1 gaming machine, 1 desktop Mac, 1 Mac laptop, 1 windows laptop.
 
I'm in a similar position, generally speaking, but just on a MUCH smaller scale.

I need to consolidate media files and will shortly be going down the NAS route. Just need to pick a NAS capable caddy and work out the easiest back-up route. Ideally I want an Ethernet capable HDD to connect to my Router and attach a USB drive to that to mirror/ghost/back-up all my files.
 
Remember when having 20GB of HD space was a big deal. All your files were small and you had your games on floppy drives. You wrote using Lotus 1-2-3 and didn't save an extra version of your music on the computer. Everything was dial-up so you couldn't download anything.

Over the last couple of years I've been getting rid of un-used programs. I had stuff back to Windows 95. Games I would never play again I gave away (most PC stuff) I still have a PPC iMac and about 10 games for it (old MacPlay stuff). My MacPro has all of my CDs (about 300GB) copied on it and one external HD with the music. I'm trying to clean up my iMac because it only has 512RAM/120 HD and I only use it to watch DVDs in the kitchen anyway. I mostly have photos on my Gateway PC, I love Webshots, and let the kids use it to write reports for school on it. My Macbook (250GB/4GB RAM) has only my favorite songs, under 10GB used for music so far and a few favorite movies. It also has a lot of ebooks on it. I have decided to only keep the best stuff that I use most often on my Macbook because I use it the most. The MacPro has everything on it plus Time Machine. One day I will copy all my Taxes and turn into a pdf files. I've already loaded all the family photos and sent CD copies to everyone who donated to the collection.

Do I get crazy trying to organize everything, Yes.
Do I hate my computers, No, never.
I am I having fun, Yes, most of the time.
 
superadium said:
I can't keep track of it all my brain is going nuts over trying to manage this stuff.

I have 3 laptops (mb, mb, mbp), 4 desktops (mac pro, custom pc, dell, ibm) and over 25 external harddrives.

I'm using about 9.4TB total in data. music, graphics, a few movies, and thousands of documents, spreadsheets, and other nicknacks

i cant keep track of it all. i don't even know what is important anymore.

i dread the day when every harddrive fails

yet secretly i'd be happy.

i wish I just had ONE hdd to keep track of.

i'm sick of the thousands upon thousands of self created folders, and endless subfolders within those..

i hate compuyeters1!!!
Click to expand...


You seriously need to look into building a server of some sort. You might spend a little money doing it but once it is done and set up the way it needs to be you will be so much happier. It will also give you an excuse to do some house cleaning.

Not knowing what size all the drives are and what exactly is on the drives it is hard to tell you what would be the best option.

I am planning on building a server using unRaid as the base. It allows you to mix IDE and SATA drives of any size. I would suggest you check unRaid out.
 
Well, that was a quick ban.

Yup, the op is BANNED! The ban-hamster strikes again!

Really, when archiving personal stuff, I find there is only one kind of stuff that needs archiving, and that's stuff I created myself or is irreplaceable.

So, all documents that I created, personal emails to me, photos I took.

Anything not created by me, or that is available on the internet can be thrown away. That includes most emails from e-groups and mailing lists.

Old projects can be archived too, or burnt to DVD and put away somewhere. I don't really use DVD all that much any more as it's small compared to a big drive.

Always worth keeping a copy of stuff I personally created on DVD as well as on a hard drive, as back-up. I recently consolidated 10 CDs of project files onto a single DVD. DL DVDs can hold a fair bit and are getting cheaper.

I have well over 1TB of files, but almost all of it is disposable. The stuff I personally created (my photos, email, my personal documents etc) takes no more than about 30GB and that is duplicated on 3 hard drives (2 external and 1 internal), and will soon also exist on 3x DL DVDs.

All the rest is ultimately disposable, and when I run out of space, I look for the largest folders using the FREE app OmniDiskSweeper and just deep-six them.

http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidisksweeper/
 
Shush! Don't ask or you'll get banned too. Discussing bans is against the holy MR Rules.

Walk softly and fear the gaze of the Deadly Lesser Spotted Ban-Hamster.
 
RedTomato said:
Shush! Don't ask or you'll get banned too. Discussing bans is against the holy MR Rules.

Walk softly and fear the gaze of the Deadly Lesser Spotted Ban-Hamster.
Click to expand...

LOL Im just curious, I don't see anything obvious in this post or his short post history :confused: Please don't ban me! Just wondering, you don't have to tell me LOL
 
I'm sick of them too!

prostuff1 said:
You seriously need to look into building a server of some sort.
Click to expand...

This is a pretty funny thought, give the guy who is sick of computers more computers! LOL

I'm sick of throwing up... I know drink some sour milk so you can throw up even more!

haha

It struck me as a funny thought while reading this so I wanted to share. hehe
:D
 
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