Grrrr ....Microsoft Libraries How does that work then ?

[peanut]

still haven't quite got my head around Win7 yet let alone that Windows 8

I am trying to organise my hard drive so that it is easy to back up and keep track of everything. I have upwards of 30Gb and 25+ folders a year to keep track of

ideally I want to create 6 No master folders (libraries)
1 Images
2 Video
3 Documents
4. Projects
5. Misc
6. Sound

Then I'll have various sub-folders in each Library or master folder
IE 1. PROJECTS
1.a XS650
1.b Lambretta LIS150
1.c Workshop Build

simples

Now if I create a Library called PROJECTS I need to add folders before I can use them yes .

So if I open up a library and select 'Include a Folder' and browse for the folder I want to include .
All that actually gets moved to the Library is a link or shortcut to the folder and a thumbnail of each file yes ?like a short cut link yes ? so I assume a Library acts like a gallery folder in Picasa is that right ?

So how do I back up the various files in each Library if the Libraries only contain folders with thumbnails in them ???

If I copy /paste a complete Library in Windows Explorer from my PC to an external hard drive will it transfer a thumbnail or the original image/file from its actual location on my hard drive ?

bluddy computers bane of my life !

 

[Brian902]

Peanut,
I found it confusing as well, but here is what I did.
Under Libraries is ;
Documents
Music
Pictures
etc

Under Documents create folders;
Home
Projects
Yamaha
Kawasaki
etc

Under Pictures create folders;
Apartment
House
Triumph
Kids
etc

Then to do backups, just select documents and back up the entire folder, same with pictures etc.

I see it as one master Library with sub-folders that have my sub-folders. And between the Documents folder and the Pictures folders I have everything backed up in to major folders.

Found out if you have Librariesocuments:My Documents and open My Documents and put a file in there then close and add another document in Librariesocuments, there will be time they one document will not show up in both places. So if it ever looks like you are missing files, look in both places manually and I'll be you will find it.

Anyway, almost 90% of what I save is in Librariesocuments in a folder and backing up the one Documents folders and all it's sub-folders does the trick for me.

Good Luck.

Don't you just love Windows!!!

 

[peanut]

crikey Brian its complicated for my poor head.

My Picture folder alone has over 36Gb in it just for this year ! I must make sure I get this absolutely right with no duplicated files whatsoever or I'll have thousands and thousands of files to check and move .

If I look in Windows Explorer I see the Libraries section but there are,... as standard several libraries ie My Docs, my Pics, my Vids, my this and that etc.

If I were to put all of those Libraries under just the one Library heading 'Documents '
then surely all my other Libraries like videos, sounds, etc will be duplicated as sub sections of one Library (Documents)

I thought it would be more straightforward to have 6x seperate Libraries then sub devide each Library .

............peanut scratches head and sighs..................

 

[Brian902]

I did it like this;

Top level is Libraries - just have the one

Then Folders - standard Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos etc

Then Sub-Folders - these are mine

Like over 200 in documents and 331 in pictures.

Backup the Folders individually and you have everything. For some reason Windows will not let you backup a library so I did not create any more libraries. Just sub-folders.

Easy to copy and past the Folder level into the next version of Windows. I'm hoping.

 

[Brian902]

You will notice in the first picture it shows 2 locations for Documents, which are My Documents and Public Documents sub-folders.

In the Pictures folder there is just the one location, the sub-folder My Pictures.

The confusion I found was in Documents when I add a file to the Document folder or to My Documents sub-folder. In some file look ups like adding a file to this forum, the browser does not search both folders, so you think you've accidentally deleted something. But you haven't, it just how the file browser goes looking in Windows. I hate it but then who likes Windows. ha ha ha

 

[peanut]

You will notice in the first picture it shows 2 locations for Documents, which are My Documents and Public Documents sub-folders.

In the Pictures folder there is just the one location, the sub-folder My Pictures.

The confusion I found was in Documents when I add a file to the Document folder or to My Documents sub-folder. In some file look ups like adding a file to this forum, the browser does not search both folders, so you think you've accidentally deleted something. But you haven't, it just how the file browser goes looking in Windows. I hate it but then who likes Windows. ha ha ha

exactly !

To make matters worse I recently uninstalled the paid version of a well known anti-virus software. What I had not realised was it had created a virtual user ...a duplicate of me and it left it behind ! grrrrrr

Now I have to format my drive to sort it out with a fresh install from scratch ...hence my reorganisation and back up of my drive.

Thanks for the tip about Windows not letting you back up all the Libraries . This is what I was afraid of .

I'll organise the drive as you have done and then i'll only need to back up a single Libary which should simplify things a bit.
Thanks for your help and advice Brian much appreciated


Mmm post script
I just noticed that you have your images in your 'Pictures' Library ? its not as a sub directory folder of your Documents Library but a seperate Library ?

 

[Brian902]

It's all in the wording.

Yes, in my main Library I have the ones that came with the system. That way I hoping the next version of windows will be the same.

Then in each type, Documents and Pictures etc, I store the folders for all that type of subject.