External Hard Drive ???'s

[Randi_01]

First, do I need one? (I use PSE6 w/ Vista, with 2GB (is GB right hmmm?) on my laptop)

Second, what is it exactly???

Also, what brand and what size if I do get one???

Is it something I would travel with? Like put all my digi stuff on then move to another computer? Do I put my PSE 6 on it? As you can see I am confused and my???'s don't even flow...

As a side note, I read somewhere where someone said that the PSE6 organizer was a "cache hog"---well, I don't know what that means, but I do use the PSE6 organizer so now I am worried...will someone please explain???

Thank you to all of the wonderful ladies who will answer my confusing questions!

[littlekiwi]

Well I use an external hard drive for back up purposes really.

[guitargirl]

I use the organizer in PSE and haven't had a problem with it. I only use it for my scrapping supplies (not photos or layouts) and I've only got about 3G of supplies so far. Maybe it will slow down when I end up with more? But it's fine so far.

[Kathleen]

Hi, Randi. The 2GB is probably the amount of memory or RAM your computer has. Your C drive is a hard drive in your computer that stores all your digital stuff that you put on it, from your operating system, to program files, to all your digi scrap stuff. You would likely need an external hard drive to either (1) store your files because your C drive (your INTERNAL hard drive) isn't big enough, or (2) for back up purposes - everyone MUST have some type of back up, make a plan and do it today! External hard drives are any where from the size of a small flask, to the size of a hardcover book, and they connect to your computer via a USB connection. First, check out the size of your hard drive ... go to My Computer, click once on Local Disk C, then right click and choose Properties. You should get a nice little pie chart that shows how much of your disk is used and free. Report back, and maybe we can give you some advice on what you might need. You may see other drives, so also look if you have other "local disk" drives. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer?

As for PSE organizer, I used it very briefly in version 5, and felt if was very sluggish, would take way too much control of my files, and overall performance deteriorated on my computer (things got really slow) - this last part is typically what is meant by "cache hog" (I can think of a few other terms, but they aren't very nice).

Hope this helps.

~ Kathleen

[Teresa]

I use an 80G external hard drive for storage of all digital scrapping needs including the photoshop files. I can take this to another computer but without the one lone file for photoshop that lodged itself somewhere on my computer's hard drive, I can not run photoshop from this external hard drive on another computer. I can access all of my DSP files, my pictures, and my layouts.

Taking a cue from others, this external hard drive is velcroed to my laptop. I never lose it and it's always there as if it were an internal hard drive.

It is important to note that this is NOT my back up system. I have a seperate 120G external hard drive that I routinely dump everythhing onto. I also burn DVD's monthly to save off photos and DSP kits. Those DVD's just get chucked into a safe spot.

[Abby]

Kathleen described it really well - an external hard drive is like a big old cardboard box you can put your stuff in to keep it safe if something happens to your computer and it crashes (happens so often, to everyone, it's a sad thing)! That way, when you're back up and running, all your files, photos, and scrapping supplies are there on your External, ready to be put back on your clean, newly refurbished computer. People save to many different things, externals, cds, dvds, flash drives, whatever, it's all just to make sure you don't lose it permanently in case disaster strikes.

[AngieATC]

I keep all of my PSP stuff on my external HD. I used to keep all of my filters on there to but it kept bogging down PSP so I moved them back over to my computer. My external HD is mainly for storage and to backup my computer and that is all I use it for. I have a friend who swears by them and I have some that would not want one. The nice thing about having an external HD is that you can use it on different computers so if you need to go on a trip and you have a laptop you can use it on that if you normally use it on your desktop.

[Kathleen]

A few more thoughts on computers in general. I bought a new computer this past fall, and really wanted to make sure it was powerful enough for things I do every day, and would hold up for all my storage requirements today and the foreseeable future. I have lots of digital photos, scrap stuff and music, so drive space always seems to be in demand. The basic configuration I came up with:

Internal Hard Drives:
c drive: 120 GB, used for operating system, and programs
d drive: 500 GB, used for all "my stuff" - photos, documents, scrap stuff, etc.

External Hard Drives:
500 GB Western Digital MyBook: This is my back-up drive. I have a weekly routine that *automatically* backs up my entire d drive once a week. Many external hard drives come with some sort of backup software, so this becomes a very easy task.
160 GB iOmega: Smaller very portable hard drive that I can dump files on if I need them to be portable (my main computer is a desktop). This is my digital equivalent to a briefcase. You load it up with what you need right now, but it really isn't the permanent home for anything.

I know a lot of people back-up to CDs/DVDs, but personally I find it is just not reliable enough. I either didn't do it enough, or found I ended up with duplicates of some things, and not knowing where everything was. And it takes time to do!

~ Kathleen

[Tara]

As for PSE being a "cache hog" - that was my experience too. Once I got a decent number of kits and photos catalogued (all that work!) it made PSE run soooo slowly. It was unbearable. So I no longer use the organizer - just the editing program. I use ACDSee to categorize and sort my photos and scrapping supplies. I always advise people to stop using the PSE organizer before they get too far into it!

[Abby]

Ohhh me too - the organizer was sooooooo slow! ACDSee really does work so much faster and easier .. just have to go through the pain of categorizing all the 'stuff'!!

[gammie]

I swear by an external for all my scraping files. God help me if my computer was to crash then I would lose everything. This way everything is safe in another place. I started by copying everything to disc but that became a pain and started to take alot of space for storage which I really didn't have in a small apartment.

[Marriedin79]

So if I have many photos tagged in PSE Organizer, can I remove those tags in one action or do I have to do it to each photo?

[Kathleen]

Not sure about removing tags, but just a comment about hard drives.

Physcial hard drives are relatively the same if they are internal or external. An internal drive is attached inside your computer (desktop or laptop) and usually connected directly to the motherboard. An external hard drive is the same type of drive, just built into some sort of a case, with some sort of a way (usually USB) to connect to your computer. While external hard drives are extremely convenient in that you can take a lot of stuff with you, or from cone computer to another, they can also crash. So, if you are concerned about a crash, it could happen to either type of drive. The reality is if you can't afford to lose your data (or would be heartbroken if you did), you MUST back it up regularly and have the same data in (at least) TWO places.

I went for 12 years of computer use with my worst "failure" being a printer cable that just stopped working, to in a span of 1 year having two hard drives fail. The first one was a nightmare to recover from because I had no back-up. The second one was a piece of cake because I had a back-up that was days old.

~ Kathleen

[carlalee]

So if I have many photos tagged in PSE Organizer, can I remove those tags in one action or do I have to do it to each photo?
Not sure about this because I use CS2 but can't you just delete the catalog? -c-