File organization

This is an overview of the partitions on my two hard drives. It is set up to boot (start Windows) from either one of them. Partitions (C:), (E:) and (F:) are on the first drive, and partitions (G:), (H:) and (I:) are on the second. (G) is the the primary boot partition.

Why all the partitions? To organize my files so that it is easier to find, manage and back them up. The first hard drive reflects a previous strategy, while the second one -- G, H and I -- is my current way of organizing things.

I want Windows, all the program files, and things like Firefox and Thunderbird profiles in one partition along with Windows. That way they will be included in the drive images that I make of that partition. I reduce the size of the boot partition, and thus the size of drive images by putting most other files in other partitions.

I do not use drive images to backup up the files in the other partitions. I use the Backup4all program for that. It's quicker and easier, and gives me more control of the backup schedule for different kinds of files.

The other reason is that backups are much smaller than a drive image would be. I also include key data from the G partition, for example, files in the "Program Data" folder, because my regular backups are more frequent than drive imaging. I want backups of those files to be as recent as possible.

Backup jobs

This image shows some of my backup "jobs" -- Key Data (F), TrueCrypt Wiebetech, TrueCrypt I, etc. -- plus an expanded view of the Key Data (F) job itself. Notice there are multiple jobs for each set of data. Key Data (F) backs up to one hard drive, Key Data (I) backs up to the other, and Key Data Wiebetech backs up to my external hard drive.

My "key data" starts with files for the CyberCoyote.org website (2005), and some database files for "quick" notes. These are all on the (F:\) drive. Next is key data from (G:\) -- mostly data that (some) programs generate -- and finally some key files in my documents. These the files that I back up most frequently.

Notice that while I don't have all my key files in one location, I do have them in a limited number. The backup program lets me create and save backup jobs that "remember" where all my key files are located. :-)

You can see folders from three partitions in the Key Data set. That's because I created the partitions at different times, and they aren't as well organized as they could be. ;-) That's why I have backup sets going to both internal drives. That way, my data gets backed up to separate drives.

In this view, the the "Data" group is expanded to show the data jobs. Data is just files, but I use that word to differentiate that group of jobs from the "Files" and "Configuration" job groups.

My Documents

Here's how I organize "My Documents". Comment: I use My Documents for just the files that I "generate" myself. They range from text files, to business records to webpages saved from the Internet. They do not include most files that I download (or upload), such as music, software or pictures. Those are backed up separately.

I've created "categories" (folders) that mean something to me, and that minimize the number of top level folders that I need. It's sort of a window on my world. :-)

You see some folders that end with ".archive". They contain older documents that I what to have handy, but that I do not need to back up. They are static -- I never change or add to them -- so I backed them up permanently in another location. The red checkmark means that they are "compressed" (zipped) folders.

Backup job for My Documents

You can see in this backup set (job) that I have not selected the folders that are static, because they never change. The nice thing about Backup4all is that if I add folders to My Documents, it automatically includes them too.

There is a slight disadvantage though. It may not be a folder that I wanted to add. Maybe because it contains huge, but replaceable files. That means I need to review my backup jobs from time-to-time to see if they still include what I want and nothing else.