Good ways to store genealogy?

Question

I want to know if there is a good way to store genealogy on an external hardrive. It is very important that i not lose any of the files i create, so i am considering backing them up onto an external hard drive. I seem to have bad luck with this. Suggestions?

Answer 1

The best way is to print a hard copy.

Next I suggest sending the entire file to a gmail account. This way if your computer crashes, or bites the dust you will have your hard copy as well as a copy to download from your gmail account.

This is the methold I use with a very large data base of family history.

Answer 2

Any decent genealogy program will let you back up your data base(s), and also export a GEDCOM. I have a ZIP drive, a technology which is older than thumb drives and newer than 1.4 MB diskettes. A ZIP drive "Cassette" will hold 100MB, which is more than enough until you get a 1.5 MB photo of each of 300 ancestors.

I back my data up and copy it to the ZIP drive once a month, or after a long session with the census, whichever comes first.

I rotate through four of them. I keep the three oldest version in my sock drawer, at the other end of the house from the computer. If I was paranoid I would keep one at work, 15 miles from the computer.

You can copy backup files to CD or ZIP drives or thumb drives. You can copy GEDCOM files to all of the above and to 1.4 MB Diskettes, if your PC still reads and writes same. (Many new ones do not.)

With CDs costing 50 cents or less, i tmight be easiest to just burn one every couple of weeks, along with your tax info, the journal you want your kids to read, your address book and anything else you wouldn't want to lose if your hard drive crashed. Keep the CDs at least one room away from the computer; the further the better, in case of fire, flood or vandals.

Answer 3

Have you tried the website tribalpages.com? You can store all your info on there and save it each day. I don't know if this is of any use to you?

The other way to do it, is once it is on your hard drive, download it every day (if you make changes everyday) onto a memory stick.

They are the two ways I do it anyway.

Answer 4

This is the ultimate question. But it's down to everyone's individual preference.

I store my family tree and other documents on my laptop, but every week I make a backup of the information on my flash drive (a portable memory stick). I carry that with me, so that it's not normally in the same place as my laptop. I also have a copy of my family tree on Genes Reunited, which holds much less detail, but every individual's core information is still there. If I lose my detailed tree, at least I still have my online tree, and can build it up again.

I also have a folder of documents, including certificates, census returns etc. I invested in acid-free A4 pockets, and this helps preserve the documents. I found them on Ebay (about 200 pockets for £5/$10). THEN I record my research in an A4 notebook.

I only started the notebook recently though, so am currently trawling through all my notes trying to make sense out of them. My hope is that the notebook will be something future generations can refer to as well, so I've written it really neatly, making thorough explanations for things I think are obvious, but others may not.

You may think that having the information written in a notebook will be awkward and hard to trawl through when you're looking for something specific, so that's why I put a note at the top of each page, detailing which surnames, places or subjects are on that page. It makes it so much easier.

It's a spiralbound notebook, because I heard glue-bound books can cause problems in the future with the glue going mucky or deteriorating quicker.

Answer 5

The only way I know to do this with LITTLE RISK of loss is to use a word processor. ALL of the major ancestry programs, unless you upload it to the net, the slightest problem with either your computer or the program and all your material is lost.

I have had that experience twice; after that, I store ALL my information in typed form or scanned documents/photos/maps, etc.

The only disadvantage that I am unaware of for this method is that it does not offer an alphabetical listing for all ancestors...which, to me, is no biggy, because most of the names in my tree are BEFORE surnames, so no loss.