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I've made a short video on this topic which you can view below. Or keep reading for highlights and links about machine embroidery design file backup and organization.
Video Chapters:
00:00 Save Your Files!
03:02 Backup Designs
06:29 Organize Files & Iconizers
09:06 Recap - How do YOU organize files?
You NEED to download and save your designs on your own computer and not rely on shops and designers to store your files for you. Companies go out of business, technology can change, and hackers can destroy entire stores of design files. It's important you keep your designs safe in at least TWO places.
You can save and backup your designs to:
your computer hard drive (most people choose this as their first method)
A USB stick (which is NOT good for long-term storage)
Cloud storage (like iCloud, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox)
Links to the items shown in this video:
● PCmag article about Cloud Storage services for 2024 https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-...
● And PCmag article about external hard drives: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-...
● Here is the external hard drive I’m using. (this is an affiliate link to amazon and I will earn a commission if you purchase after clicking this link - thanks for helping out!) https://amzn.to/44QuYR9
To make your task of organizing your files easier, you might want to using iconizer or thumbnailer software. I'm linking the four titles I know about below but there are others.
Iconizer Software to help with organizing design files:
Embird Iconizer software to help organize your designs on your computer. $25 but requires $150 Embird manager software to run https://www.embird.net/iconizer/index.htm
Seirra free iconizer https://freesierrasoftware.com/site/
Embrilliance thumbnailer $40 to $45 Embrilliance Thumbnailer – Embrilliance Embroidery Software
SewIconz $25 https://www.sandscomputing.com/products-shop/sewiconz-embroidery-iconizer-thumbnailer/
This is not mentioned in the video, but you can also use online services to store and organize your files. These have free versions but typically charge a monthly fee to get the most benefits from them.
Brother offers a service and application called Artspira, while the SVP group who make Viking, Singer, and Pfaff machines use a service called MySewNet.