How to organize stuff on hdd

[qwertz325]

I've read that the speed of your HDD as well as the amount of space files take up depends on the way you organize them. What's the best way to do it?

Should I place all my ISO files in one folder or create a folder for each? What about avis?

Should I create folders for apps, data or just dump it all into root?

(C:\ dump everything there

or

c:\apps\
c:\iso & avi\)

Should I dump isos and avis in the same folder together or put them in seperate folders (or seperate folders for each individual iso and avi)?

I think I remember reading somewhere once that you shouldn't put a lot of files of the same type in a folder, but I can't remember the reasoning.

[paxious]

First, keep in mind there is no right or wrong way to organize your files.
Everyone has their own system and justifications for it.
Sure, you want to hear ideas but in the end you want something that works, and makes sense, for you.

How you organize your files won't directly affect performance in any noticeable way.
However proper partitioning and/or defraging can keep your OS and other frequently read files at the beginning of the drive where they can be accessed faster.

This image shows how performance drops from the beginning to the end of the drive. (blue line)
http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq36/paxbucket/WD6401AALS-00L3Bsingle.png
Folder structure makes no difference here. Simply how full the drive is.

One thing I think most can agree on is keeping your files (avi,iso,etc) off of the windows drive or partition.
Keeping them separate from windows and your installed apps/games makes backup, defrag, format, os-reinstall, etc. much less of a headache.

My preference is to keep file types like iso and avi separate unless they are directly related.
Group many files of the same type and similar content in one folder but name and nest them intelligently.

Here is an example..


C:\ (os, separate drive or partition)
Documents and Settings
Games
Diablo 3
Fallout 3
...
Program Files
Adobe
Firefox
...
...
Windows

D:\ (data, separate drive or partition)
Movies
HD Movies
300.avi
2001 A Space Odessey.avi
Sin City.avi
...
Screeners
The Dark Knight.avi
Religulous.avi
...
Game ISO
PC
Bioshock.iso
Far Cry 2.iso
...
Xbox
Gears of War.iso
Grand Theft Auto 4.iso
...
MP3 Music
(not opening this can of worms)
FLAC Music
(see above)
TV Shows
30 Rock
s01e02.avi
...
Dexter
s01e02.avi
...



Again, that is just one example. It is totally up to you.
The only thing I would recommend is separation from your OS partition/drive.

[Daynja]

Folder structure doesn't matter, do it however you want. There are defragmenting programs that can put certain files on the faster part of the drive though.

[XS Janus]

I organise mine in folders -movies, music, software, etc...
I'm thinking of paying someone to organize and tag my music and video files though. to much work :D

[DonDon]

Dexter is cool!

I've been wanting to organize my music for years. Just never seem to find the time to get around to it. I just dump everything into a music directory on my NAS and let Winamp do it's best effort at finding things for me.

Don

[Syntax Error]

Just keep the level of fragmentation of your files down and you should be fine.

[[H]adouken]

Don't think organizing folders will help at all if you have a lot of files, your HDD accesses files at the edge of the disk that aren't fragmented the fastest, so your best bet would be to get a program like O&O Defrag and sort by SPACE method or if you go time the COMPLETE/Name method.

[DrRetina]

Religulous <- sweet! :D

[Trepidati0n]

Always error on the side of "under fragmentation". As long as the files have a reasonable name "cntl-f" helps a ton (especially with indexing). Once you start making tons of directories to be "organized", it actually becomes harder to find shit.

[mryerse]

Use spacemonger to look for huge files you don't need/want. Freeing up space can improve performance.

[Joe Average]

And for the love of Pete, never load up a drive/partition more than 85% full, ok? It's bad... like, evil bad... like the kind of bad that makes the Clintons look like Ghandi and Mother Theresa, that bad, really... :D

[djBon2112]

My structure is pretty simple, it keeps it organized.

/mnt/raid
/mnt/raid/Backup
/mnt/raid/Movies
/mnt/raid/Movies/1080
/mnt/raid/Movies/720
/mnt/raid/Movies/SD
/mnt/raid/Music
/mnt/raid/Lossless
/mnt/raid/Lossy
(/mnt/raid/Music.unsorted) [when I have time this will be gone]
/mnt/raid/Other [applications, Linux ISOs, etc.]
/mnt/raid/Shared [random files and data that need to be shared]
/mnt/raid/Television (same substructure as Movies)
/mnt/raid/Unsorted [stuff I haven't sorted yet
/mnt/raid/Unsorted/Incomplete

[SuperChicken]

And for the love of Pete, never load up a drive/partition more than 85% full, ok? It's bad... like, evil bad... like the kind of bad that makes the Clintons look like Ghandi and Mother Theresa, that bad, really... :D

go on...

[mryerse]

My structure is pretty simple, it keeps it organized.

/mnt/raid/Music.unsorted) [when I have time this will be gone]
/mnt/raid/Unsorted [stuff I haven't sorted yet
/mnt/raid/Unsorted/Incomplete

Damn those unsorted folders that seem to lay there forever. I have too many of those in my picture library.

[XS Janus]

^LOL they really do don't they... :D
It seems when you label them as such you put them in the back of you mind and that's that.

Same happens to me after I backup my PC and format it. All those files never seem to go back to their former place but rather stay in BACKUP dir forever forgotten... :D

[mryerse]

Until the next upgrade 3 years later and you realize you never needed it and delete it.

[djBon2112]

Damn those unsorted folders that seem to lay there forever. I have too many of those in my picture library.

Haha yep... my "Unsorted" was the only folder on the array for the longest time :p It's now getting pretty full again, time for a sort. The problem is that I can't sort it until I've stopped seeding, which I still haven't done yet ;)

[mryerse]

Haha yep... my "Unsorted" was the only folder on the array for the longest time :p It's now getting pretty full again, time for a sort. The problem is that I can't sort it until I've stopped seeding, which I still haven't done yet ;)

I try to set the download location and file/folder name before I start downloading so that even while seeding it's in the right place. The problem is when they add the files to a .rar archive and it requires it's own folder. But at least you can extract the rar while it's seeding then delete the .rar when done seeding.

[djBon2112]

I try to set the download location and file/folder name before I start downloading so that even while seeding it's in the right place. The problem is when they add the files to a .rar archive and it requires it's own folder. But at least you can extract the rar while it's seeding then delete the .rar when done seeding.

That's my issue... some stuff they package all kinds of other crap with it, and I just want the one file (like a bunch of READMEs with the ISO).

[mryerse]

Not sure what client you're using, but with utorrent you can uncheck whatever files you don't when prior to beginning a download, so long as the files are not within a zip/rar archive. Yet I still end up not using the feature and with the extra files, deleting them later.

[djBon2112]

Not sure what client you're using, but with utorrent you can uncheck whatever files you don't when prior to beginning a download, so long as the files are not within a zip/rar archive. Yet I still end up not using the feature and with the extra files, deleting them later.

I'd love to be using uTorrent, but there's no Linux version of it yet ;)

I'm stuck with shitty kTorrent (on GNOME), which I find completely useless. It is SO slow. I use it, but I've got no idea how to use it.

[mryerse]

ic... I love utorrent. It is advertised to work in wine although I haven't tried it. There are also a few other clients known to work in Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu-unleashed.com/2008/04/top-linux-bittorrent-clients-for-ubuntu.html) including Azureus which I hear is very feature filled. Just tell me to stop :)

[ruu]

My giant unsorted music folder has surpassed my sorted music folder in size. I despair of ever getting it under control. T.T

OP, pay attention to what people have been saying about defragging and partitions, and you'll be fine. It's all good advice.

[djBon2112]

ic... I love utorrent. It is advertised to work in wine although I haven't tried it. There are also a few other clients known to work in Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu-unleashed.com/2008/04/top-linux-bittorrent-clients-for-ubuntu.html) including Azureus which I hear is very feature filled. Just tell me to stop :)

I hate running stuff in Wine, and, let's not even get into Azureus. No Java :p