File Format, File System
Our archive is stored as ordinary JPEG files in an ordinary collection of folders on an ordinary Windows PC, and they’re backed up continuously to an offsite location, as well as periodic on-site backups.
The most powerful and flexible storage systems for decades have been the general-purpose file systems implemented by Microsoft and Apple. Now that filenames and folder names can contain capitalization and spaces, and powerful search/sort operations are available for the most casual user, there is no reason to use a special purpose (i.e., proprietary) archive format for image files.
Folder Organization
Human capabilities for searching among related groups of things are astonishing. When human capabilities are given visibility into a file system on a computer by modern file browsers, the resulting hybrid (cyborg?) image retrieval system is unbeatable. Maybe you want to apply facial recognition to create an index to your photos by person. You’ll use a commercial app for that, but you’ll still need to have your images safely stored in a stable file system where they can be backed up and be reliably found.
Folder Names
Start by creating “album-sized” folders organized by date, with sortable, descriptive and readable names.
- Album-sized: 5-100 images
- Sortable Folder Names: starts with a date code like “20210317” (leading zeros on months and days are important to include)
- Descriptive Folder Names: “20210312 Restarting The Fountain”, or “20210300 January-March General Snapshots” are examples describing folder contents
- Readable Folder Names: Avoid cryptic names like “72-74$BksPics29” – better is “19740000 Barb Klines 1972-1974 School Pictures”
- Don’t use special characters like “.”, “,” and “‘” – stick to upper and lower case letters, digits and perhaps hyphens
Folder Structure
Organize your folders into a directory tree that groups related folders. If you have 400 pictures from your 2019 camping adventures, you can structure it like this:
- 2019
- 20190000 Camping Pictures
- 20190225 Winter Camping in Hiawatha National Forest
- 20190412 Canoe Camping in Arkansas Hill Country National Park
- 20190704 Summer Trailer Camping at Gary Indiana KOA
- 20191012 Tent Camping and Hiking at Gooseberry Falls Minnesota
- 20190000 Camping Pictures
Sorting Photos
Move your pictures into the right folders using your Windows or Mac file manager. You can select a view where you can see thumbnail images of the photos, and just drag them to the right folders. Sometimes you want to give an image file a special name to help find it in the future. Include a date code in the filename to help with sorting, and make the file names readable, like the folder names. But don’t take on the chore of a descriptive file name for each picture – you don’t have time.
The way we handle our albums, the file name determines the order of the pictures in the album – alphabetically. Most cameras apply a date code or serial number to the file name that is compatible with this. But if you have pictures from multiple sources or the files names have been changed, you may want to add a numeric prefix (e.g., “022-” on files to force them to sort correctly. Note that the leading zeroes are critical to this. See the downloads page for an application, PhotoTouch, that makes this easy and fast.