Wednesday, March 11, 2009
computer/pictures problem
I have put this off for a long time because I really don't know what to do about it so I figured I might be able to write it out and get some advice so here goes. Chris and I have a lap top and a computer that Chris had before him and I got married or even started dating so both of them are at least 6 to 7 years old, probably older. After having Nash, I took a ton of pictures. I had taken a lot before over the years and had them on the computer. Chris's cousin took like 400 when Nash was born and probably about the same amount for his new born pictures. So, back then I was not thinking and put all of them on my computer. Needless to say the computer filled up pretty fast with those and adding mine and then I started putting pictures on the lap top. Also, my previous camera I put it on I believe it's the VGA setting which apparently does not take up as much room as my new camera that is on I guess the JPG setting (not sure on that just know the pictures are huge). Well then the lap top started filling up. So, I thought about deleting some of those pictures of his newborn and hospital pictures because I have them on cd's and printed out and there are several that are really similar. So, that gave me room. So, now I am starting to put pictures back on the computer. To attempt to solve these problems, Chris bought me one of those Free Agent Go's because I saw them advertised on tv to store and back up pictures. This thing had little to no instructions other than just hooking it up to the computer and having it periodically save to the hard drive. Well, I don't know how to get them off of there or transfer them. Granted I have not tired all that hard to figure that out. Also, I bought a program from my aunt that helps organize pictures. We are supposed to be getting together for her to show me all the ends and outs of it. I guess my problem is that I want them to be all on one computer, organized, and on a computer that can hold them all. This project feels overwhelming to me. Because our computers are not the newest, I mentioned getting a new lap top to my husband and surprisingly he was okay with it. I HATE HATE HATE to spend money if I don't feel like it is needed. So, even though he does not care I need to know that it is needed and a good investment before I would feel okay about going ahead and getting one. So you people out there who are more organized than I have been with your pictures, know more about computers than I do, and have any suggestions on how to go about fixing my problem I would greatly appreciate any advice. I need to simply all of this. It is making me feel crazy and very unorganized which I hate and I really don't know how to go about fixing it which is making me put it off and making the problem worse. So ideally what I would like to do is take the pictures off of one or both computers (if we get a new lap top) put them all on one computer, go through them and be able to organize them with the program I bought from my aunt and still use the Free Agent to back them up. Also, need to know whether the new lap top is needed to do all of this with. Our computers work fine but are a little slow and have some minor quirks and apparently not a lot of storage. If you know anything about this, please let me know what you think.
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2 comments:
I'm sure you expected a post from me. Having worked on both of your computers in the past, I would HIGHLY recommend a new computer. A laptop would probably be more useful for you, as you would be able to work from your bedroom, living room or anywhere else in the house, still have internet and all that jazz.
Today's laptops (and computers in general) have enormous hard drives. Plenty big to store a just about anyone's needs. You already have the external hard drive which is very necessary for backing up files (I'm going to be buying a new one soon as I have filled up my 2nd and 3rd hard drives)
I'm not sure what software it is that you bought for organizing your pictures, but for my purposes, I have simply used new folders in Windows to organize different groups of pictures. At one point I was going to use labeling software, but it was just too much work. Folders worked just fine for me.
I would suggest reducing the size of the pictures that your camera takes. Most cameras, especially the style that you have takes pictures large enough to print into full size posters. Unless you plan on doing this, that large a picture is not useful. Even with my small camera, I have the size set to the middle size setting (1536x2048) and I've never needed an image that size. I'm sure you could probably reduce the size of each picture by 50% if not more. The pictures you have I would leave at the resolution they are as you can lose some clarity by resizing after the fact.
Hope some of the helps.
Oh, and as long as you watch the sale ads on Sunday, you can find a really good laptop from $500-$600...of course you can spend more and get some really fancy pants stuff...but the one we got (and paid about that much) has done and handled everything we've asked it to do.
I, too, just use folders in Windows to organize my photos. I mostly do it by year, but I keep some folders that are more topic-specific rather than by year (like of our pets!). And I'd agree that if your computers are 6 or 7 years old, it's about time for an update! Another thought for organizing your photos is Flickr, which is online. I believe a year's subscription is just $24 or so. I'm planning on signing up pretty soon--it'll make sharing baby pictures with the out-of-town friends and inlaws so much easier than having to email them.
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