Photo Organization

I’ve been thinking a lot about photo organization and figuring out the best way to manage my collection. After exploring several methods, I’ve settled on a straightforward chronological system. Once I nailed that down, the next step was deciding on a logical file structure.

Currently, I believe the best approach is to use a numerical format for the year and month. This means organizing photos with the year (yyyy) as the parent folder and the month (mm) as the child. For example:

2024
  └── 11

Previously, I used folder names like 2024 | November, but this created issues with sorting in File Explorer. I also tried 2024 | 11 November, which solved the sorting problem but posed another challenge: importing photos into Lightroom. Lightroom doesn’t have an option to import directly into that folder structure, so I had to adapt and switch to yyyy/mm. This format works well for both chronological sorting in File Explorer and seamless imports into Lightroom.

Old vs. New Structure

Here’s what my old folder structure looked like, which wasn’t ideal for chronological sorting:

In contrast, my new structure looks much cleaner and works perfectly for sorting:

2024
  └── 11

Storage Upgrade

In addition to restructuring, I’ve decided to move my photo collection to a dedicated 2TB SSD, rather than keeping it on a mixed-use drive. This upgrade not only improves organization but also ensures faster access. Based on my current usage, 2TB should last me at least two years before it fills up.