Pictures, Pictures Everywhere: Headache #3

I am still trudging through the process of setting up my new PC.  Transferring 7649 digital photos was a task I wasn't looking forward to.  For one, these photos are probably my most prize possessions on my computer and two, I have taken many pains to edit and organize them.  So, I was wary about the transfer going smoothly.  

But I am happy to report that all of my pictures (originals and edits), along with the folder organizational structure are happily residing on my new PC.  And I owe it all to Picasa!

Picasa is a free desktop photo editing and managing program that has a corresponding web-based sharing service (Picasa Web Albums).

The best features of Picasa are:

• Your photos are not 'stuck' in any photo sharing site.  All of your edits are saved right on your hard drive.  If you edit your photos in web services like Kodak, Shutterfly, etc. those edits are on their servers, not on your hard drive.  So if you want to do something else with those photos outside that site, you have to re-edit your photos.  That is a time-waster.
• And when you edit your photos, Picasa preserves a copy of the originals in a separate folder.   Because with every edit you make, the photo file loses resolution through file compression, it is important to keep an original size photo to use for future edits.  I found out the hard way how important this is...a few years ago (prior to using Picasa) I had a grahpic designer make our holiday cards.  But, she couldn't use one of my favorite photos because the only copy I had was one that had been edited multiple times and lacked the resolution to look good on a printed card.
• The editing features in Picasa are easy to use and they are automatically synched to your Picasa Web Album.  So no need to continually upload photos after further editing.  I love this time saving feature!
• I found that Picasa's organizational features are superior and more intuitive than Photoshop Elements.  You can rename, tag or move photos, as well as create, organize, and view your folders - no need for Windows.   

Back to getting my photos onto my new PC.  First, I did a 'help' search in Picasa prior to starting the process.  (I admit I don't always read instructions before diving right into some computer task).  But, luckily I did this time. Here are the easy steps I followed:

1. In Picasa on my old computer, I used the backup function to create just that...a backup saved onto an external hard drive.  Why not just copy and paste photos from one hard drive to another?  With the 'back up' function, not only were the photos transferred, but so were all of my Picasa 'albums', tags, starred items, and 'originals'.
2. Now this backup file has an executable program.  So when I plugged my external drive into my new PC, I double clicked on my backup file and it opened up a program that let me choose where, on my new PC, I wanted to unload my photo files. Once I picked a destination, my photos and corresponding folder structure were quickly uploaded. 
3. Notice I haven't mentioned installing Picasa on my new computer yet...It was not until I completed the first 2 steps did I then install Picasa.  Once installed and opened, Picasa promptly 'found' all of my photos, albums, favorites, etc. just like it was on my old computer.

Time invested in this project:  30 minutes!  No ibuprofen needed!