Happy Tuesday, all!
After getting ahead of myself a bit last week, deleting duplicates that I should have left intact, most of my archive cleanup progress over the last many days has been to re-sync the source files back into the triage location. Then, I can do what I should have done the first time: pre-sort large chunks of data into groups where some duplicates are allowed (i.e. programming projects) and groups where exactly one copy should exist. Getting back to the ready-to-sort stage was easy, thanks to (1) having just done it and (2) the wonderfully convenient FreeFileSync.
So, now I'm back to having around 4.1 million files to work through.
But I did start on the high-level grouping process as well, and I was struck by the consequence of digging through the files of my childhood: nostalgia.
In retrospect, it shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did; I knew there was a lot of old stuff in there. But I'd forgotten almost all of the specifics. It turns out that a digital trip down memory lane offers as many enjoyable stops along the way as a physical one.
Of course, one of the obvious categories of nostalgic data are scans of old photos, like this hastily labeled late-90's collage of my brothers and me, some gardening work, and one of the cats we had at the time:
I found many such treasures sprinkled through the folders I've sorted through already.
But I've also found so many more interesting digital artifacts:
- The very first BASIC program I wrote (or, more accurately, copied from an Usborne science book) when I was 8
- A haphazard collection of the very, very old computer games I used to play with my brothers
- Some music files from the mid-90's that I hadn't thought of for decades but immediately started humming when I saw the filenames
- Text transcripts of some CW (Morse code) conversations I had with a friend who was helping me practice to get my Ham radio license
- A school report documenting a trip we took to the Grand Canyon in 1999
These are examples, but there were dozens more like them. It was far too easy for me to tumble into the past and get lost there, instead of actually doing the data grouping I set out to do.
But that's fine. My data archive organization project has a specific goal, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the process. On the contrary, these "distractions" motivate me to keep digging through everything to see what else I might discover. Any extra motivation to do something I'd normally call "tedious work" is a definite win.
Now, I know that not everyone sitting on a giant pile of data can reasonably look forward to digital gems as fun as what I described above. Even so, rediscovering long-forgotten bits of your (digital) past is always an intriguing prospect.
What do you think you might find while hunting through your own old data? Anything inspiring, emotional, meaningful, enjoyable, hilarious, or even cringeworthy?
If you've done any such digital hunting before, I'd love to know the most fun (or awful, or otherwise memorable) thing you found. Let me know, if you're willing, and until next time...happy data-taming!