Project file structures

[ampdoctor]

I've been doing a bit of housekeeping on my hard drive over the weekend and started thinking about project file structures and standardizing my methodology.  Invariably when I start working  on a project these are the types of files I wind up with...

design specification docs
rough sketches and ideas
revision notes
prototype testing notes
schematic diagrams
board layouts
2d and 3d cad files
gerber files
bills of materials
supplier lists
etc...

If I'm not really methodical about things or worse if I get side tracked with real life and a project gets put on the back burner, things can turn into a real cluster f*ck in a hurry. 

Usually I set things up as follows;
<project name>
---><backup>
---><documentation>
---><mechanical drawings>
---------><graphics files>
---------><2d cad>
----------------><parts>
---------><3d cad>
----------------><parts>
---><eda files>
---------><schematics>
---------><layouts>
---------><gerbers>

So I was wondering what systems different people here are using or might recommend.  I'm not talking about industry standards for certification or corporate systems but rather for hobby and personal projects that keep things tidy and easy to find and backup.

[Thor-Arne]

I simply use:

project name/
project name/gerber/
project name/docs/
project name/docs/drawings/

So basically the same as you.

During the development I put the files in a rar/zip archive if I have to start over.

[Mike Warren]

Code: [Select]

E:\Dev
  \Projects
    \Project Name
      \Docs
      \Firmware
        \Version1
      \Hardware
        \rev0
          \Plots
          \Reports
      \Software
        \Version1
          \Docs
          \Exe
          \Source

But my projects are always fairly small, 1 person designs.

Not all folders will be in all projects. Some have no software, or the software is a completely separate project, and some are pure hardware, no firmware or software.

[MacAttak]

Folder structure is mostly a matter of personal preference.

One thing that I do though (and this applies to more than just elec designs - I also do the same with all personal software and 3d models of printed mechanical parts) is I have a GitHub account with a private repository. This is really cheap ($7/mo for the "micro" plan), and gives me off-site backup as well as full version tracking along with meaningful version comments. Private repositories are only visible to you.

There is a lot of peace of mind that comes with having fully versioned off-site copies of everything.

This also gives me a handy way to share files between my Mac (where I do most design / coding) and my PC (which runs my 3D printer and can be used for testing software).

[IanJ]

Hi,

The bit that always gets me is what to do with datasheets downloaded.........i.e. do I make a folder under my project, or do I file away under some generic folder so they are easily available under some other projects that happen to use the same IC's.
In the end I usually do a bit of both actually, but it annoys me that I've probably downloaded the same datasheet countless times..

Data storage is on a QNAP (raid 1) NAS.

Ian.

[Kremmen]

I am a semi keen amateur photographer and to maintain my pics archive i use IMatch from Photools. They recently published the beta version of IMatch v5 that will classify any kinds of (document) files on your computer. IMatch has a very comprehensive categorization feature allowing you to associate a file with arbitrarily many categories.
As i also have 10 000 article papers, datasheets, app notes, e-books and similar on disk i have created a second database for those, containing a comprehensive categorization tree. That lets me quickly locate say all books pertaining to theory and design of oscillators or, SMPS app notes from Linear Tech or, standards texts related to EU EMI directives and so on. Never mind where those files might be physically located on disk. It is a real time saver and often lets me find a document i didn't recall having in the first place.
http://www.photools.com/

[Noize]

Here is a free private repositary:  O0
https://bitbucket.org/

One thing that I do though (and this applies to more than just elec designs - I also do the same with all personal software and 3d models of printed mechanical parts) is I have a GitHub account with a private repository. This is really cheap ($7/mo for the "micro" plan), and gives me off-site backup as well as full version tracking along with meaningful version comments. Private repositories are only visible to you.

There is a lot of peace of mind that comes with having fully versioned off-site copies of everything.

This also gives me a handy way to share files between my Mac (where I do most design / coding) and my PC (which runs my 3D printer and can be used for testing software).