ProStorage Pro Tips: Take Time to Organize Your Daily Data

If you’re someone having to archive data, you likely have a lot of it to store. Whether it’s masses of data for a business, corporation or any other large entity, or you’re simply a digital hoarder who can’t let go of your files, and you know how quickly masses of information can pile up. Searching for a specific file or folder in a large, poorly-curated archive can lead you into a maze of folders-within-folders, full of defunct and forgotten files.

Lackluster organization is a common problem with data-keeping and data archiving, both in offices and at home. Having a system for organizing and keeping your data neat and accessible is an important factor of storage and archiving. If you’re looking to avoid an organizational nightmare, ProStorage can give you some advice.

Clear Labeling

It seems obvious, but it happens frequently, and it’s easy enough to forget to properly label a file before you move on to something else, especially in an office, with a lot of multitasking going on. Even at home, you could easily take for granted that since it’s yours anyway, there’s not much chance of losing it. Miscellaneous files soon pile up, however, and labeling them simply and clearly goes a long way to being able to dig them out again. Many people who write or create content for a living often cite this as one of the major pet peeves of their profession and simply being able to tell what file is what is a lot of help.

Color Coding

In a time crunch, even clearly named files can become a hassle since you still have to be careful that you’re reading the names right and that those files have been labeled correctly. If you can set aside the time and the patience, the ProStorage team recommends you color-code your files, depending on specific criteria. This can eliminate entire categories from your later searches, cutting drastically down on the time you have to spend searching. It also makes an easy and simple way to mark important tasks as to-do, in progress or complete.

Separate Formats

It’s tempting to have all your files in one place but a mixed-bag of file types – from audio, video, text, word processor documents, PDF files and more, is a confusing mess to look at once it gets big enough. Take the time to create folders for specific file types and organize any media mixed up into their own space. When you combine this proper labeling and color coding, finding a specific file without having to search suddenly becomes a simple task. This is also a way of avoiding the nasty habit of moving every file to your desktop so you can find it “easily.”

Dispose of Duplicates

In a lot of situations, files end up with duplicates sitting uselessly in a folder or on your desktop. It’s easy to forget about these files when you’re involved in something else, and when it comes time to find something, you’ll suddenly be opening redundant documents, blank audio or video files, or half-finished spreadsheets. This is potentially another time-consuming task initially, but sorting through your duplicate files and getting rid of them will make work a lot faster in the future.

Password Manager

If you’re storing or archiving important or sensitive information, you’re likely to find yourself using a lot of different passwords. The more complex a password, the better it is for security – but the harder it is to remember. Juggling passwords is a frustrating day-to-day task, but there are a number of password-managing programs available that will allow you to not only save passwords in one place but also auto-fill them instantly and even retrieve them remotely. Just keep in mind that these programs store your password data on the cloud, which can come with its own security risks, and many of them only offer features like remote access through paid subscriptions.

ProStorage for Pro Organization

These are all fairly simple steps that can free up a lot of time and space if they’re done regularly, and ProStorage knows how important it is to stay organized. If you’re looking for a way to organize your hard drives, take a look at our products and take these best practices and apply them to your physical media, too.