Conquer Your Data (Part I)
“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 knows that computers crash, hard drives fail, and information can be lost; but most people do nothing about it. Experiences of myself and others would remind me of the fragility of my data, whether it was dropping a phone in water, spilling on a computer, losing a thesis, or accidentally erasing email. I was not deterred. I had somehow put myself under the illusion that my data was safe, that I would “eventually” setup a system so this would not happen to me before it was too late.
Over time, the truth in the back of my mind began to take precedence. If I organize my phone contacts information, I don't have to pay the mobile industry's scam fee for transferring that data onto my new phone. Organizing my music will make it easier to sync to iTunes or other media players. Hmm...
It became even clearer as I started to use multiple devices. A file would be on one computer that I forgot to transfer over, my USB stick was always outdated, each device began to have a specific purpose: "This computer has all my music," "I do all my word processing on my desktop," any of this ring a bell? Not to me at the time. My naïve self continued to “temporarily” store my files on my desktop as a lazy method of organization.
Why didn't I organize my data then?
If you know me, you know I exhibit a “pack rat” behavior, saving all records and files for my personal satisfaction. I spend an average of 10 tabs on a web browser and 8 open windows when using the computer. The last week and a half of my college life was occupied with scanning all of my college works into digital formats. I just have a natural hesitancy towards deletion. I figure in this digital age, where space is not a hindrance, why shouldn't I save all of my stuff?
Well I do just that, and I've accumulated a lot of data. At one point I exceeded the file synchronization limits of Foldershare before it became Windows Live Sync. This itself should have been a clear signal that maybe I was storing my data in an ineffective manner, but I pressed on by discontinuing the service. Thus, the distribution and amount of data made it difficult to know where all of my data resided, not to mention, even more difficult to organize.
The problem got compounded when I started mixing and matching operating systems. I can never remember the “Documents and Settings” in my folder path, or was it on my desktop? Wait that's the same path. Tack on a whole new set of machinery and file structures from work, and boom, I just fast-forwarded to the present.
I finally decided I had been lucky for long enough, and took the plunge to finally conquer my data!
The next part will discuss the reasons and advantages to conquer your data.
