In my experience the biggest culprit has always been lack of computer storage organization skills... not among the computer folk, but regular users. They don't seem to directory/sub-directory situation and put their firles who knows where and the second problem - naming conventions which make absolutely no sense. Next thing you know - supposedly missing data (which usually simply resides elsewhere).

Of course programs like Picasa (highly recommend it, btw) do a good job keeping track of staff regardless of human lack.

Personally I use a very simple system whereby the photos are segregated by categories and years if needed, so I have a folder with my son's name, a dash and a year when the...

In my experience the biggest culprit has always been lack of computer storage organization skills... not among the computer folk, but regular users. They don't seem to directory/sub-directory situation and put their firles who knows where and the second problem - naming conventions which make absolutely no sense. Next thing you know - supposedly missing data (which usually simply resides elsewhere).

Of course programs like Picasa (highly recommend it, btw) do a good job keeping track of staff regardless of human lack.

Personally I use a very simple system whereby the photos are segregated by categories and years if needed, so I have a folder with my son's name, a dash and a year when they were taken, since there are way too many to keep all years in one place. The photo names themselves are made up of year, month, day, dash and a sequential number. That's it - keeps everything easily sortable, portable and findable.