Keeping track of large numbers of files

[Washer]

I don't think i'm alone in this. I have thousands of music/video/picture files. Some are on dvds, some on large USB drives, some on my hard drive etc. Is there a more elegant way to arrange them than the typical "make a bunch of folders" style?

I don't even know what it should look like. Search certainly helps, but it's a pain trying to remember names. I'm probably not the only one who's had this problem.

[Xbehave]

The files will have to go in directories, but you can tag them over that

http://brib.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/howto-enable-tagging-in-ubuntu-gutsy-in-4-simple-steps/

Alternatively easytag is good for sorting out music tags (then any "big" media player e.g amarok will be able to find your tracks)
For photos theres picasa, im not sure about videos tho

[Washer]

yeah, that's not going to work. Tagging has a few major problems, the worst being there's no way in hell i'm ever going to finish tagging all this.

[JacobRogers]

I think some people have a habit of keeping things that they won't ever need. Personally I had a lot of random videos and stuff and then one day I was like "I don't really need the video for Lady Marmalade on my harddrive". And I went through and got rid of the crap that I don't really truely need stored locally.

As for pictures, I can relate even more because I hate hate hate throwing pictures away. So I have quite a few. But they're a joy to go through and tag!

[Washer]

Yeah, ok, maybe i'm a bit of a pack rat & maybe i torrent too much, but the solution shouldn't involve having to delete stuff. Eventually i'll have too much high quality stuff to keep track off then what?

Scheiner said something i liked - "Data is the pollution problem in the information age in the same way that pollution was the pollution problem in the industrial age."


This (http://www.eioba.com/a76031/5_reasons_why_online_bookmarking_is_the_wrong_tool ) is a similar problem - i think it explains why I hate tagging.