Got Content? My home (content) improvement project

Saturday 1:20pm
Consolidate & move all media files to iMac.
Hmmm, how do I find and get rid of duplicates?


Do I really have a terabyte of music, videos and who knows what else?


1:45
Okay, this sucks – maybe I really do have a terabyte. I’ll just move it all and figure it out later.


2:00pm
I need an external drive – with at least a terabyte of space.


2:15
Arrive at Staples.


2:35
Am tempted to use the store PA system as I still can't find a store clerk and the cashiers are deeply involved in some sort of boyfriend crisis to notice that I've been standing in front of the Customer Service counter for 7 minutes... not that I was counting. Because if I was, I would have specified 7 minutes and 23 seconds...


2:36 
I'm advised that the phone system is not for public use. However, I'm able to quickly get a few questions answered and procure a Western Digital external drive that will work on both PC and Mac.


3:00pm
Back at home office and moving files to new drive. Okay, now – where was I? Right – media files. Move them all and I’ll deal with the duplicates once I have all media in a single location.


3:20
While media files are moving, I’ll go through temp and download folders to move or delete files …or did I already do that? Am I moving the same files again – but potentially to different folders and I’ll have multiple copies? How do I check that?


3:30
Search on a few files to see if I’ve already moved them, and if so – where? One Mac has 150 files and the other has less than 30. Who calls a file 154987_345_21456.pdf? Or 3398531745_5a8c79f42_z.jpg. Honestly?! That’s just cold.


I’m going to have to open all the files with a cryptic file name and see what it is, if I want to keep it, and if so, rename it and move it.


4:15
Cryptic file names suck. Clearly there must be an easier and faster way to do this?


5:00
Media files still copying. 180 files from download folder have been moved or deleted (feeling like Rock star. Not quite Gwen Stefani but better than Taylor Swift at last year’s MTV awards show. )


Open email with visions of grandeur to deal with the 2922 unread messages. On the bright side, that’s 4,000 less than what’s piling in my yahoo account. [Who’s sending me this stuff anyway??!]


5:10
Surely I must have a bottle of wine in the house somewhere….


5:12
Nope. Bummer


5:13
Back to email. This sucks. I’ve only conquered A-D.


5:47
Who are these people? I don’t want a Rolex, I’m not interested in marrying a self proclaimed super sexy single from overseas, I’m not suffering from ED… woah - DSW has free shipping this weekend??!


Deep breath - stay on target. Focus.
Media is still copying over to external – how long is this going to take??
Back to email... I can do this!


6:00
I wonder if DSW has these Fendi patent peep toe platform heels in size 8.5? Step away from the computer.




Play with cat.


6:05
Remove fruit fly catcher sticky tape from cat’s tail. Hope the hair loss isn’t going to be permanent.


I should organize my Documents folder
I need to organize my Documents folder
I will organize my Documents folder


6:12
Okay, here goes: Documents folder.
Why are there two folders with the same name on the same machine? Oh wait, there’s a third if I include my MacBook . Super. Just super. I’ll consolidate and organize. Hmmm, not enough memory to do that. On any of my machines. Right – I have to delete the media files that I copied over to the new drive.


6:25
Deleting dilemma… what if something goes wrong on new drive and the files don’t move properly? What if the new drive crashes and I lose everything because I deleted the source files from my machines? 27,654 songs now in my iTunes library. Hmmm, seems excessive. That’s a project for another weekend.


6:30
Find 500gig external drive to consolidate and move My Documents folders to single location. WHAT? “Destination folder is not large enough”… come’on!


6:45
Find second external drive – 320 gigs. I now have the terabyte drive for my media files, 500 gig for Documents folder and a third 320 gig for overflow. With keyboard, external speakers and printer already taking most of the USB ports, I have to find a second USB extension ‘thingy’ (note to self: a tradeshow trinket that is actually useful) to connect the third drive.




7:30
Wonder if Sharam or GlamScum have released new podcasts I can download…


8:00
My stomach advises that I’m hungry. Apparently the cat has forgiven me and also wants dinner.


8:10
Cat is fed. Corinne has ordered Thai food.


8:12
Copying is all-complete.
Now what?


I'm exhausted. Over 7 hours invested into managing my home computer(s) content. I need a content strategy. How does one person have nearly 2 terabytes of data and not really know what it all is?


7 hours just to organize my files and I still have to review it to see what I can get rid of, what I can archive and what I’m going to keep. How do companies approach this? If I’m using close to $600 of external storage and spent 7 hours just to move the information- not even organize it yet – how do companies manage this for hundreds…1000s…of employees? Do they have a content strategy? Can I borrow it?


No wonder there’s content chaos. I can’t even get my home content under control. I'm sure there's more efficient and technically superior way to have accomplished this - and YES! I'd love to hear how. Especially if it doesn't require me to invest in additional hardware. This home project is far from done and it's about as exciting as peeling fruit fly tape from my cat's tail.


Luckily - Thai food has just arrived! To be continued….