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QUESTION: I need help! I am not sure how to file away my completed digital scrapbooking layouts. I had them by subject, but that got to be a lot of files, so them I tried filing them by years, but then I have to go through them all! What is a long-term solution? I'm getting rid of the JPG versions to save some space and want to keep just the PSD files. Does this make sense?
ANSWER: There are always different ways to name/organize. I know many digital scrapbookers have external hard drives (EHDs) to back-up their layouts and photos. I do, and I also use Carbonite. You can also think about having an online back-up system, too. I am the opposite of you - I actually keep the JPS and not the PSDs because they are a much bigger file to store, but that does mean I can't go back and change something on a layout because I don't have it in layers. It is mostly a personal preference.
ANSWER: You could move them to an EHD. I have two EHDs to back-up my files and save space on my C: drive. You could also burn the PSDs to a DVD and use the JPGs to make a contact sheet of the DVD contents. The PSDs take up way more room than JPGs. It's really a personal preference. I just moved over 100GB of scrapbooking supplies to my two EHDs to save room on my C: drive. It took almost a whole day, but my hard drive has gained some much-needed space!
ORIGINAL POSTER'S RESPONSE: I do have an EHD for back-ups; it's just that I don't know how to keep track of them. Sort by years or by person? After you've been doing this for a couple of years and you want to find a particular layout, what do you wish you had done?
ANSWER: I sort by year, but my mind works chronologically. I sort them by the year the photos were taken. Often, I won't actually put them in the folder until I've printed them so I don't have to go through them all to see what I've printed already. I save both the JPG and PSD files. I just bought bigger hard drives. Cards and recipes have their own folders, too. For older layouts (like my childhood) and heritage pages, I sort them into decades rather than individual years.
ANSWER: I save project files and JPG both in separate directories. I periodically move the project files onto the hard drive because they do take up a lot of room. I have been naming files by challenge or chat name (that's what I mostly do) and then year. I guess I haven't been doing this long enough, because I haven't had to break this up yet. It's a good question, though. Let us know what you come up with.
ANSWER: Well, when it comes to space, just buy new EHDs as needed. They make two terabyte EHDs now! I like to buy the ones that stand up like a book for storing. Personally I keep both types because I know I may need to do a do-over someday - haha! Plus, I use my own creations as templates and just change out photos and papers and such to come up with new LOs. You pay for other people's templates, so I figure I can use mine also free of charge!
ANSWER: Sometimes if I alter an embellishment - like making a ready-made tear two-sided - I'll just open up the PSD file of the layout and drag the parts I need onto my new page. I will sometimes change them up a bit to make them work for a submission call, too. I have used the PSD files on numerous occasions. I don't get rid of any of them.
ANSWER: I save my PSD files off to DVDs (plus I have Mozy). I post almost all of my layouts here at Scrap Girls, so it's easy enough to look through them here and then find the corresponding, dated DVD that they would be on. Also, if I've done an album, I make sure that the DVD has the album name on it, too.
QUESTION: It has been driving me crazy that I have been unable to see all my photos and SG stuff on my network drive by Picasa on either my desktop or laptop unless I had the drive directly connected to either computer. I just searched for it and found an answer, so I had to share it with you all!
The issue: Network drive does not show under the "Add folder to Picasa" tool.
The fix: Go to Tools> Options. On the General Tab, change "Save imported pictures in" and browse to your network drive. Click "OK." The file will now show up in your watched files in the Folder Manager. Do this on each computer.
Of course, the bonus is that when I take photos off the camera, now they go to the network drive - saves me an additional step of copying them.
* Note: It may take a bit to create the log, especially if the file is large like mine is.
ANSWER: Well, now... this is cool!
ANSWER: Thanks for the tip. I got really tired of dealing with Picasa for photos, and so now I download all my pics to iPhoto - it works out best for me, and I simply can drag the photo to the layout on which I am working. I know Picasa is powerful and extremely useful for many things, but it just drove me nuts trying to do all I wanted it to do. Maybe I will give your "fix" a try now. Thanks for letting us know.
ANSWER: Thanks for letting us know!
ANSWER: I actually went and checked that one out, and it makes sense.
But my question is: What's a network drive? I've had to pull most of my photos off my laptop (on an EHD and another computer and Mozy). But I need to track down what I want to scrap each time; a network drive sounds intriguing.
ANSWER: Another reason to love Picasa! I actually prefer it to ACDSee, which kind of makes me a little sad considering I paid $50 for ACDSee while Picasa is free!
ANSWER: There are a few different ways you could have a network drive.
- Wireless network in your home that links computers together. You have to set this up along with what is shared between computers. Each computer that is attached can be a network drive. (Mine are all connected.)
- Window's 7 HomeGroup. This is another type of network that typically works through wireless, and it's a snap to set up between computers; even lets you print from another computer (all connected).
- Wireless EHD. This is my network drive. It's a Western Digital 1T drive that all my computers are connected to and holds my first run back-up as well. (I have a redundant back-up drive, too.)
- PlayStations, Wii's, and Xboxes connected to a TV can be connected to a computer. This is cool for showing photos and layouts as your TV becomes a digital frame, so to speak. I can also listen to music on my EHD through my surround bar. Great for parties.
- A separate computer that is set up as a server.
QUESTION: Today – after continuing the scan forever! - Picasa has decided to stop showing the files on my EHD, where all of my scrap supplies are located. It has the drive listed as a "watched folder" but it won't display it.
I have the "tree view" on, have tried File> Add Folder to Picasa, and have no luck with that method either. I hope this makes sense.
The only folders I have are: "My Computer" and "Desktop." How can I get it to read my EHD again? I don't know what happened, and I for sure don't know how to fix it!
ANSWER: I don't have an answer for you, but someone will be along soon to help you!
ANSWER: Ummm... are you sure the EHD is turned on? It happens to me frequently.
ANSWER: Gosh, knock-on-wood, I haven't had any problems with Picasa recognizing my EHD. I hope you get this solved soon.
ANSWER: How frustrating. I personally think Picasa is a demon program, but I know other people use it just fine. Hope you can get this resolved!
ANSWER: Thanks all. My power hub went down. I restarted and am back in business. It's been good to me up until this week - and much easier than using ACDSee!
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