NEWGEN-L Archives

From: "Sally Rolls Pavia" <>
Subject: Do You Have Backup?
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 09:57:55 -0700

Twigs & Trees with Rhonda: Do You Have Backup? -
How They Got There
by Rhonda R. McClure
August 10, 2000

See Rhonda's Previous Columns
I have often referred to genealogy as the safe man's mystery, so why am I
now asking you if you have back up? Well you can relax, I am not referring
to someone making sure you are safe, at least not in the sense of a police
show you see on television. The back up I am talking about is for your
computer and is to ensure that all that hard work you have done is safe.
While you may be saying it won't happen to you, I am here to assure you that
it will. At some point, usually when you can least afford it, something will
happen to your database and you will be stuck.

Newbies and Experienced
Genealogists come in one of two brands when it comes to computers. There is
the newcomers to computers who are still intimidated by those nasty machines
and then you have the computer experts. Both of these groups have
something
in common though — neither one seems to think about backing up the data on
their computers. And there are a few ways to do this.

In the old days, which in computers means about ten years ago, it was easy
to back up the hard drive onto floppies. That was back when a 20 megabyte
hard drive was a big deal. Today we have 13 and 16 gigabyte hard drives. It
is impossible to back these up to floppy disks. But backing up is very
important.

Back-up Options
Backing up offers you the chance to recover data should something happen.
Computers are machines built by humans. This pretty much guarantees they
will have a hiccup or two. And that hiccup is almost certain to take place
about three days after you have just finished entering about 400 new
individuals into your genealogy database. So how do you avoid this
catastrophe?

You will want to look into backup systems. With writable CD-ROMs, you may
already have a backup system available. Or you may want to look into a tape
back-up system. Finally for those with smaller hard drives, one of the Zip
or Jaz drives might be an alternative.

What's Best for You
Deciding what is the best option for you will depend largely on your
computer system and your computer knowledge. If you are not very secure in
your abilities where your computer is concerned, you will not want anything
that is going to require opening your computer, unless you get someone else
to do it. You also want to keep in mind what is involved in creating the
backup. Will your complete hard drive fit on one disk or will you need to
have multiple disks?

One of the best ways to learn about the different options for backing up is
through computer magazines. There are a variety of magazines you can
purchase at your local bookstore that will frequently review backup products
And sometimes you will find that they do a feature article comparing the
different products side by side.

In Conclusion
Regardless of what system you decide on, be sure to actually do it.
Computers are not fail-free. At some point you will find that you need that
backup. I don't want you to be one of those people who is lamenting that
they "should have" backed up their data.

See Rhonda's Previous Columns
Rhonda R. McClure is a professional genealogist specializing in celebrity
trees and computerized genealogy. She has been involved in online genealogy
for fifteen years. She is the author of the award-winning "The Complete
Idiot's
Guide to Online Genealogy," now in its second edition. She is the author of
four how-to guides on Family Tree Maker. In late 2001, she wrote "The
Genealogist's Computer Companion." She is a contributing editor to Biography
Magazine with her "Celebrity Roots" column and a contributing writer to The
History Channel Magazine. Her latest book is "Finding Your Famous and
Infamous Ancestors." She may be contacted at .


Sally Rolls Pavia
Sun City, AZ

“We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds."
List Owner:
Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES
"All incoming and outgoing email checked by Norton Anti-Virus"

.

This thread:

• Do You Have Backup? by "Sally Rolls Pavia" <>