David ex Machina

“Data Conquest” - The act or process of conquering data within an overall strategy or plan. The many reasons and advantages to conquering your data: Data Organization Reduces Digital Disturbances There are myriads of file management activities performed daily that alone are short seconds of inefficiency, but combined together over time cause stress, reduce performance, and hinder proper data management. Here are some examples: Storing and Retrieving a File - Where should I save this downloaded file? The Downloads folder? It's a document so maybe in My Documents? Or how about the Desktop, so I don't have to look for it later? Not only are you wasting time answering these questions for each file you encounter, an inconsistent strategy for organizing your files leads to longer lookup times when searching for one. Cluttered Desktop - Most people solve the problems of an inconsistent organizational strategy from above by picking the most straightforward solution, the desktop. The d...

“Conquering Data” - the path(s) leading to optimally organizing and managing data in a secure and reliable manner Digital organization is a subliminal topic that everyone is aware of but usually never gets attention. As trivial and boring as it may seem, it turns out that the task is not simple and can really impact your life in the digital age. In this three part series I will describe the revelations, reasons, and methods to conquer your data. My Revelation: For years I ignored the safety and organization of my data. Sure I saved a snapshot of my data to an external hard drive every odd number of months ( i.e. whenever I sensed danger). I also stored my documents under the Windows organizational paradigm. But I never really felt at ease when deciding where a downloaded item should be placed. I could never easily find that random file I needed. And I definitely was not confident in my ability to restore my data if I experienced a system failure. The funny thing is that everyone...