This page is a draft.

Principles.

domain-specific solutions

It is always better to use an appropriate, domain-specific tool for managing a type of files, than generic file-management. Examples:

  • photo management
  • multimedia management: e.g. Jellyfin (movies); Navidrome (music)
  • e-Books: Calibre

What does "appropriate" mean?

principles for generic files

When "domain-specific" fails.

organising files with calendar year folders (why?):

  1. they tend to reach a point where they will become static (no more content generated for that year)
  2. it's usually possible to determine the appropriate year for a file for some reason or another

when this breaks down

multi-year projects; stuff associated with annual periods that are offset from the calendar: UK tax year; academic years...

for tax years, choose the former date. why? because the files will start accumulating in that calendar year, before the second calendar year has started.

heirarchy of needs

  1. somewhere stable to store them (in my case, I opted for a NAS)
  2. Backups -- safe

who cares?

A useful filter.

Is this going to be of interest to anyone else?

I started trying to organise my files on a NAS before I was married with kids. A new dimension to consider is: who else should have access to this? Does the answer to that question change over time (kids grow up), or on some other criteria? How can they access it?

In terms of judging how important something is, this can be a useful filter: would anyone (wife, kids, extended family, wider world) care about this data besides me?

For data that should have an independent life to myself: can anyone else access it, practically or easily, especially if I am not around to help? Or to maintain machines and systems?