Trying to get organised.

I can't offer specific suggestions as your requirements and setup are different from mine, but this is how I organize my images:

- two working HDD's. One contains raws, the other contains processed jpegs. Most of the time only the jpeg HDD is attached to the computer.

- Windows Explorer as my thumbnail program.

- all jpegs are organized into folders according to year, then place/activity, then month. E.G. 2011 > Home > 2011_12.

- all raws are organized according to camera, then year, then month. E.G. Leica > 2011 > 2011_12.

- all jpegs and raws include the camera name in the image name prefix, and I retain the camera's original file number and folder number. So a Ricoh GRD III image would be named 3_100_12345.jpeg

When I find a photo I'd like to edit in my jpeg HDD, I hook up the raw HDD and am easily able to find the image by looking in the appropriate folder. Organizing my raws by year and month makes them easy to find, as I will always know the date a jpeg was taken, and which camera was used.

I used to group my images into 700MB folders as I used to burn them to CD for backup. These days I just hook up extra HDD's and make complete disc copies, so I don't need to observe a folder size limit any more. Depending on how many photos and videos were in any given month, one folder can be several gig in size.

Although I use Lightroom for almost every editing purpose, I do not use it to organize or tag my images at all. One reason is because I move from laptop to desktop a lot, and also because neither computers are particularly powerful. A Lightroom catalogue with hundreds of thousands of images isn't exactly easy to manage. Also, my workflow means that I place all new images into one folder to process, and then move them to the appropriate folder for storage.
 
If you already have Photoshop, why don't you use Adobe Bridge?
Tried it, didnt like it much. Really, iPhoto 8.1.2 will do exactly what I need. I should never have updated. Tomorrow I will be syncing both iPhoto libraries, after I have uninstalled the newer iphoto and library from the iMac... (remember all photographs are backed up onto an external drive - which gets cloned nightly to another -, do not panic anyone, I wont be losing anything) and reinstalled iLife '09.

The thing is, I was well organised until I updated iphoto on both machines and it was after that, that things went to hell. And don't talk to me about Photostream. UGH! iCloud has, for me, become a pest. I'm not even using the email really, anymore.
 
I can't offer specific suggestions as your requirements and setup are different from mine, but this is how I organize my images:

- two working HDD's. One contains raws, the other contains processed jpegs. Most of the time only the jpeg HDD is attached to the computer.

- Windows Explorer as my thumbnail program...

Well, I'm on a mac, so Explorer isnt going to be useful here, hence the need for something which does work. I'm happy with the last version of iPhoto.

I like the notion of using 2 drives for files, one for RAW and the other for JPG. I have 2x2TB drives and I don't take nearly enough photographs to warrant sacrificing both to that particular use... I may partition one for the purpose though, and continue to clone nightly (thats my extra insurance). I have other drives backing up my internal. But NOT the laptop. I had initially intended to make the laptop my main machine and get a good external screen... but changed my mind and now find myself all over the place like a madwoman's breakfast.

Organisation is proceeding though, and more easily than I expected, once I made the decision about which path to take. From tomorrow, I'll be doing 90% of photographic work on the iMac.
 
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