Author Topic: Speed up scanning  (Read 7756 times)

theSchmett

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Speed up scanning
« on: October 06, 2014, 07:23:36 PM »
I have a very mustachian computer. An iMac, circa 2006, purchased used (from someone I know) for $200 and some good beer. I upgraded the RAM, and got to work.

It is mostly perfectly usable. But I'm trying to go paperless. I spent more on my printer and full duplex scanner than I did on the iMac, got an Epson WF-3540, but it is esselloh. Slow.

Will upgrading the compy help speed things up?

okashira

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2014, 07:59:29 PM »
Yes. That thing is way too old and power consumption would be higher the a modern laptop. A mustachain computer would be a $200-$350 "deal" or used haswell (Intel i3 i5 i7 2013 or newer) based laptop , that you can plug in a monitor keyboard and mouse. Low power, quick and cheap.

That iMac is pretty outdated....

Greg

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2014, 09:57:06 PM »
I think the limiting factor is the scanner.  Good scans just take time.  Using a camera is faster.

theSchmett

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2015, 02:23:07 PM »
Turns out my new i5 yet I think quite mustachian has sped up scanning CONSIDERABLY.

It  may be the SSD. It may be the post-processing I was asking the computer to do going by much much faster.

Either way... Around $600 after rebates, quad core i5, 120GB SSD, full size MoBo allows for massive RAM expansion and has several/many expansion slots, USB ports etc...

If I don't start editing video again or some other incredibly intensive task, this setup should keep me going for a long long time. This price includes a wonderful pro level 23" Asus screen with an excellent warranty and tons of inputs.

Yes, you can do a modern computer for far less, but I wanted the i5, the full size mobo, and this only used a $20 operating system, and I can also boot into Ubuntu. (I also get Windows free through work but nah-ah no thanks).

m8547

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2015, 09:50:07 PM »
I think the limiting factor is the scanner.  Good scans just take time.  Using a camera is faster.

A camera is the way to go. I can scan a hundred pages in ten minutes. The images don't come out quite as nice, but they are fine for how often I need to look at them.

arebelspy

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2015, 09:28:06 AM »
See if you can borrow a laptop from someone to test if it's the scanner or your computer.

EDIT: Duh, you already got a new computer and it did help.  Mission accomplished.

How do you like the Epson scanner?  Does it do duplex?  Can it autofeed 10+ pages?
« Last Edit: January 07, 2015, 09:29:38 AM by arebelspy »
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ScroogeMcDutch

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2015, 09:37:39 AM »
I use a Fujitsu Scansnap ix500 scanner for going paperless. They're expensive, but very very good for going paperless. It's not mustachian, as you could do similar things with a camera or 2 in 1 printer, and so forth, but I don't want to run the risk of having a pile of paper somewhere that I still need to scan, but don't do as it would take too much time.

arebelspy

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2015, 09:46:49 AM »
I use a Fujitsu Scansnap ix500 scanner for going paperless. They're expensive, but very very good for going paperless. It's not mustachian, as you could do similar things with a camera or 2 in 1 printer, and so forth, but I don't want to run the risk of having a pile of paper somewhere that I still need to scan, but don't do as it would take too much time.

I just bought that exact model yesterday on Amazon (used).  I have 2 1/2 file cabinets of stuff I need to scan and shred before I can FIRE, so I figured buying something nice will help make that task easier, and then I can resell fro around what I paid for it.

What was your organization system?  Did you scan to Evernote (or something similar) or just PDF and organize in folders?  What scanning software did you use?  (The used one I bought said it doesn't come with the normally packaged Adobe Acrobat Pro software, unfortunately.)
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

James

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2015, 09:50:57 AM »
I use a Fujitsu Scansnap ix500 scanner for going paperless. They're expensive, but very very good for going paperless. It's not mustachian, as you could do similar things with a camera or 2 in 1 printer, and so forth, but I don't want to run the risk of having a pile of paper somewhere that I still need to scan, but don't do as it would take too much time.

I just bought that exact model yesterday on Amazon (used).  I have 2 1/2 file cabinets of stuff I need to scan and shred before I can FIRE, so I figured buying something nice will help make that task easier, and then I can resell fro around what I paid for it.

What was your organization system?  Did you scan to Evernote (or something similar) or just PDF and organize in folders?  What scanning software did you use?  (The used one I bought said it doesn't come with the normally packaged Adobe Acrobat Pro software, unfortunately.)


Curious about the answers to these questions also, and share your experience as you go arebelspy. I hope to go paperless soon, but don't want to jump until I know the full system I will switch to. I know good systems have been out for a while, just haven't put it all together for myself yet.

arebelspy

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2015, 10:11:49 AM »
Curious about the answers to these questions also, and share your experience as you go arebelspy. I hope to go paperless soon, but don't want to jump until I know the full system I will switch to. I know good systems have been out for a while, just haven't put it all together for myself yet.

Yeah, I wanted to go paperless for aesthetic reasons, but planning to FIRE and move has made it necessary. I'll be posting about it, I'm sure.  The reviews of the ScanSnap ix500 are quite good.  :)
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Guses

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2015, 12:52:05 PM »
I have a 100$ laser scanner copier that is able to scan pages in duplex manually (i.e., scan the stack one way then scan the stack again the other). It is pretty quick like 10-20 PPM or more. I think it's a Brother DCP-7040 or something similar.

May I ask what you guys are scanning that requires such hardware?

I just scan my bills and important receipts + tax stuff. Maybe 50 pages per year. Nothing that really needs anything crazy.

I also have a full size cabinet with a bunch of papers that I keep. I only needed to open it once this year to find a product manual and it turned out to be faster to find the manual on the web than in the cabinet.... Makes me think about whether keeping all this information is even worthwhile.


arebelspy

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #11 on: January 07, 2015, 01:28:57 PM »
May I ask what you guys are scanning that requires such hardware?

I just scan my bills and important receipts + tax stuff. Maybe 50 pages per year. Nothing that really needs anything crazy.

I also have a full size cabinet with a bunch of papers that I keep.

What you listed following the question.  Years of paperwork.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Guses

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #12 on: January 07, 2015, 02:09:26 PM »
What you listed following the question.  Years of paperwork.

Do you expect to refer to this paperwork at some point in the future?

I did a purge recently where I went through a stack of paper and decided what needed scanning vs what was "transient" information. Turns out that only a few pages needed to be scanned. I shredded the rest.

 

TerriM

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #13 on: January 07, 2015, 02:11:45 PM »
I use a Fujitsu Scansnap ix500 scanner for going paperless. They're expensive, but very very good for going paperless. It's not mustachian, as you could do similar things with a camera or 2 in 1 printer, and so forth, but I don't want to run the risk of having a pile of paper somewhere that I still need to scan, but don't do as it would take too much time.

Husband loves this one too.  Small, folds up, double sided, does color.  He's a happy man. 

arebelspy

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #14 on: January 07, 2015, 02:15:29 PM »
What you listed following the question.  Years of paperwork.

Do you expect to refer to this paperwork at some point in the future?

I did a purge recently where I went through a stack of paper and decided what needed scanning vs what was "transient" information. Turns out that only a few pages needed to be scanned. I shredded the rest.

Yes.  Anything that I won't need will be shredded without scanning.

A lot of it is real estate paperwork.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

ScroogeMcDutch

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #15 on: January 07, 2015, 03:51:38 PM »
I use a Fujitsu Scansnap ix500 scanner for going paperless. They're expensive, but very very good for going paperless. It's not mustachian, as you could do similar things with a camera or 2 in 1 printer, and so forth, but I don't want to run the risk of having a pile of paper somewhere that I still need to scan, but don't do as it would take too much time.

I just bought that exact model yesterday on Amazon (used).  I have 2 1/2 file cabinets of stuff I need to scan and shred before I can FIRE, so I figured buying something nice will help make that task easier, and then I can resell fro around what I paid for it.

What was your organization system?  Did you scan to Evernote (or something similar) or just PDF and organize in folders?  What scanning software did you use?  (The used one I bought said it doesn't come with the normally packaged Adobe Acrobat Pro software, unfortunately.)

I tried Evernote, I tried some other systems I saw online, until I got the hang of it for me personally. All in all it will be something you will likely have to experiment with. I usually am not the greatest at creating a good filing structure for these things, but really spent the time on this as I know if it doesn't work in my natural flow it will be a waste of effort and a ton of work to change after the fact. I now use simple file structures, and rename each of the scanned file to the following format:

YYYYMMDD <<Company Name>> <<Brief Description>> [Optional: additional information].pdf

YYYYMMDD is the date that is stamped on the document, not the date I scanned it.
Company Name is the company I sent something to, or received from
Brief Description is usually the title of the document, but sometimes I have to make something up

And then I add in additional information at the end if needed. It's not ideal, as it requires me to check every scan as to what is in there. I am going to experiment a bit with OS X and it's superior PDF search functions, but so far am a Windows user so a bit uncomfortable in OS X still (actually mostly on managing files, which is pretty crucial in this process). All in all, on the name of the file I can recognise mostly what it is about, but wouldn't mind tagging functionality or something similar.

The folder structure I use is on the first tree legal entities / combinations and interests. This means I have a folder for my LLC, my previous company, one for myself. I also have one with good books and articles I wanted to keep, although Evernote would also serve that purpose very well. Second tree for the LLC is administration per year, and 'global' things like communication and contracts that do not make sense to file under the administration for a year. In my private folder I have then subfolders for insurance, living, working, finance, pension, studies etc etc. About 95% of what I scan has a natural place now, but there's always some small things that I want to keep, but don't have a good place for, so there's also an Other folder in each of the first tree folders.

For software I used the standard software that came with it. It can be found at the fujitsu site: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/software/ix500.html

The scanner does OCR, straightening, and cropping automatically with the scansnap manager software and I didn't feel the need to tweak it much.

Evernote could work as well as a storing and referencing mechanism. I didn't have a particular strong reason against using Evernote, but it didn't sit well with me to have all my private financial, health, etc etc data sitting on foreign servers and by using Evernote for the paperless purpose, it would also mean I couldn't use it well for other purposes either (not that I am using it intensively at the moment). I also had some trouble with tagging that similar terms would mean slightly different things between private and LLC data. I currently just store on my private cloud, using a NAS and it synchs to my laptop and desktop.

I bought the ScanSnap mostly because I had several years of archive to process and am keeping it because I still have quite a few pages I need to scan monthly (say 20-30ish) and I don't want to spend too much time on that. I expect the scanner to serve my needs until it dies, which should be quite a while :)


I still have a final hurdle to go over, and that is to actually destroy the paper archive. It's just sitting around in boxes at the moment, but there's still a nagging "what-if" feeling before destroying it. But, as I am moving in less than a month, that moment is coming closer and closer ;)

Please let me know if you want to know anything else and I'll answer more questions tomorrow.

arebelspy

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #16 on: January 08, 2015, 08:39:11 AM »
Great info, thanks so much!

For software I used the standard software that came with it. It can be found at the fujitsu site: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/peripheral/scanners/software/ix500.html

Would that be the ScanSnap Manager? Or ScanSnap Organizer?  Or Acrobat (which came with it if you bought the retail, new, version)?
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

ScroogeMcDutch

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Re: Speed up scanning
« Reply #17 on: January 09, 2015, 02:31:50 AM »
Pretty sure it's Scansnap Manager. I can't check at this moment as I am away from home, but I believe that's the one that scans, processes, and so forth. You may be able to request the other software as well with the request form and your serial number.