Since you are using an external drive to move your photo files from one computer to another, it makes sense to organize the files on this drive to a system that fits your style, and when you get it organized, then merely copy the results to the other computers. The file system you need depends on how many photos you take or collect and how often. One system I use: Create folders (directories) for each year: yr2005 pic; yr2006 pic; etc. And then, within each year folder, create monthly folders. If there are months without photos, leave these out. They can be created later if needed. Include the date of the photo in the file name. The day-month-year format is recommended, e.g., 12Dec2008 Wabash River Bridge. If you take less than 100 photos per year, monthly folders may not be necessary. The system above works for general purpose photos that you shoot, but you may wish to create a different library for other purposes. For example, you collect photos for a genealogical work. You may want to organize by Surname, Subject. Example: SMITH> Cemeteries> Macedonia, Grayhill, Decker, Union, etc. SMITH> Obituaries SMITH> Census; Buildings; Autos; Possessions

I like all the ideas listed above, my only other suggestion is if you are making separate albums for different family members, is to separate the photos by person also. This made making all the X-mas gift albums I made this year, SO much easier. As for the double shots of the same pose, I stuck them in other family members files so they too could have photos of that person or place. Works great. I have two drawers that came out of a metal filing cabinet like libaries use for their index cards, and I separted the photos in it first, by person, with an index card separating their photos, then I got cheap 3 ring binders (used from garage sales) per person or album, and starting putting photos in that person's album (I made 15+ this year) in page protectors. I then went through sorted out doubles putting them in other family members binders. When ever I have a little extra time I choose paper to match the photos I have in that page protector and stickers or whatever embelishments I am adding to that page. That way I can get a lot done at a time when I finally do get to sit down and crop. HTH Love Penny

I have to tell you all about a nifty little photo case I ordered from QVC. Once a month Lisa Bearnson from Creating Keepsakes magazine gets on and does her thing. A few months back they had a photo case to store all your pictures. It is a large two sided case that comes with tabbed cards that you can use to seperate and label each grouping of pictures and plastic dividers that you can put anywhere you want them to be in the box (the box has slots to hold the plastic dividers ). The flip side is more shallow and will hold other things like templates and rulers. The case 13'X14" and mine probably has more than 500 pictures and still room for more (that's a rough guess!) I highly recommend buying this case. I think it cost around $20.00 plus S&H but it is well worth the cost. I even remember one lady calling in to the show and telling the two hosts that she had purchased the photo case from QVC a few months prior and her house was for some reason flooded and all the pictures survived and none were at all destroyed. It's not necessarily perfectly water tight, but it was one lady's neat story. I'm glad I made the decision to buy a case for my photos, it really makes organizing them much easier. I am not sure if they have any cases listed on their website but you can go to www.iqvc.com and type in creating keepsakes in the search box and it will give you what they currently have in stock. If they don't have the photo case at that time just keep watching for the Creating Keepsakes hour and maybe they will be selling it again. I know I have seen them demo this case at least twice within the last six months. Happy organizing!

Arcy, you stopped me in my tracks with your question! End game for me is to have a set of images that will remind me of my family, past experiences and people who are/were important in our lives. And to have them in some kind of order that will make it easy for me to share those images in various formats with other people who also will find them meaningful. Also based on several comments, maybe this isn't something I should be prioritizing as important to do right now. Just within the past few days, our timeline for retirement and moving has potentially moved up so it all may well be happening within the next 3-6 months. If I retire by then as others have mentioned, then sorting and cataloging photos is a great project for me! Right now what I MUST accomplish immediately is to get our house decluttered, cleared and in good repair to show potential buyers. Boxes of photos can be hauled down to the vacation house and put in a closet there till I get to them. One last thought-terriks, you quoted a friend "She decided that she would keep the original photos, and let her kids dispose of them if they want when she's gone." One of my highest priorities for this move is not to do that for anything in this house :). Having had to dig out not one but two houses overflowing with the possessions of people who left everything for someone else to deal with, I have resolved to look at this as the gift it is, being able to consciously pare down 30 years' worth of living and only keep what truly does have meaning, spark joy (gak) or have utility for us in our next stage of life. So those photos are going down, one way or another!