MEMORY KEEPING 101: WHY YOU SHOULD TRY VALET!
Valet – For Those Who Are Already Organized
For most people who are interested in FOREVER’s permanent online storage, the biggest obstacle to getting it done is their Media Mess, but there is another group. Their obstacle is that the images on their computer are already organized in folders and perhaps tagged.
There was a time when I would explain to these people that safe is better than at risk, even if it requires a little extra work. And besides, if you’ve got it organized on your computer, part of the work is already done. They’d just need to bring it over in smaller batches.
I was one of those people who had already organized their photos on their computer before I found FOREVER, so I was speaking from experience, but that didn’t really make it much better. Moving a photo cache of decades and keeping the already instituted organization to it was daunting.
Then Came Valet!
My first purpose for owning FOREVER storage was our real estate photography company. We’d killed one external drive and lost about 12 months of photos. I needed safe. Besides, I was up to date on my scrapbooks, so even if I lost my personal photos, I hate a physical backup.
Then we sold the company. I needed to get the archive to the new owner with all the organization and tagging intact. Thankfully, as if they’d done it just for me, that’s when FOREVER introduced Valet. It was designed primarily for professional photo organizers, but an amateur version was offered at a reduced price.
My first Valet operation was to download the archive from FOREVER to a disk, so I couldn’t use the free demo, which only allows uploads, not downloads. I had to invest in the software, right off.
We’re talking years and years of real estate photography, but it was done so fast I was amazed and I knew was never going to migrate files from one place to another without Valet. Once the new owner verified he had our stash, I saved some of the archive for the sake of nostalgia and started deleting the rest. I couldn’t wait to upload my my personal photos.
Valet was brand new to FOREVER, so I admit I was a little apprehensive about migrating from my computer to FOREVER. From FOREVER to a disk was one thing, this was something else. Other Ambassadors were raving about it, but I couldn’t help but be skeptical. To boot, even though the photos on my computer were organized, I had some ideas about how to reorganize them, which would take better advantage of FOREVER’s features.
The day came for the migration and just as it had been with the real estate photos, Valet finished the job in record time – even though I’d moved the cache over in several batches rather than just letting Valet do it’s thing. I’m sure if I had moved all of it right as it had been, things would have been fine, but I do love the new organization.
So Is Valet Something You Need?
If the photos on your computer are organized and you want to move them into FOREVER, then Valet is the best way to do it. Spend some time getting it just like you want it – maybe adding photos from your phone or other devices. Then when you get everything just so, get the free 30 Day Trial version of Valet. I’m guessing you’ll be through in a couple of hours, but you’ll have 29 more days to play with it. As I said, you can only upload with the demo, but for most people, that’s all they really want and you probably won’t need Valet again after the job is done – standard or pro version.
Or Maybe You Will!
Perhaps you are the family historian and while all of your photos are organized, you are also collecting items from others. If this is you, according to the the size of your family and the state of their files, you may, you may be able to use the standard version to help. As long as you are uploading to your own FOREVER account, you can log in on any computer and do so. The pro version is for downloading to and from other FOREVER accounts.
The Future of Valet
So, Valet just came out in May, but improvements are already in the works. While the current version is focused on images stored on devices, they are working on making it work with other cloud formats, so that if you have at risk images on Google Photos, Dropbox, i-cloud and other places, bringing them home to FOREVER will be a one step process. I love Valet just the way it is, but I’m really excited about that improvement. Believe me, I will keep you abreast of any developments I learn of. In the meantime, you can try Valet with this link: https://www.forever.com/ambassador/jane-sadek/valet .
jane sadek 