Flash Drives

First, share your research! I had the pleasure of spending time with a cousin that I got re-acquainted with through genealogy. We each had new research since the last time we met. Both of us had backed-up our research results (screen prints, census records, vital records, photos, etc.) on flash (thumb) drives. It was a simple task to copy the folders to each other’s flash drives using our computers. Now, we can each review lines and data that we may not have found on our own.

This brings another hint to mind. I have a bunch of flash drives. Some are physically quite small but all are just large enough for me to paste on a small return address label. This way, if I leave a drive connected to another computer or lose one, I have a chance of seeing it again. I also suggest you put a text file on each drive with your contact information. I call mine “1OwnerInfo.” This way, if someone opens the drive to see what is on it, this file shows up at the top of the list. (I’d be happier if I had a more clever name but this is what I’m using now.)

This brings to mind a caution for those people who might plug their flash drives into PC’s and Mac’s, and tablets. Make sure that you DO NOT format the flash drive with the NTFS format for PC’s. If you do not know what that means, then you are not likely to do it. PC’s can format a disk with two different formats NTFS and FAT32. The NTFS format is not readable on Mac’s and tablets. You can check which format your device is using from the drive properties.

In general, on a PC, the internal hard drives are and should be NTFS drives. Removable hard drives are also better as NTFS drives but flash drives are so portable among operating systems that FAT32 is a better choice.

Well, glad I had a chance to share this with you and thank you for your time.

Happy Hunting!

Finding Your Roots and other videos

I cannot believe it’s been 2 weeks since I last Blogged here! I apologize and promise to do better in the future. I know how frustrating it is to find a blog and then not get updates.

So – does this mean I have not been doing any genealogy research? NO! I’ve been catching up on the new season of “Who do you think you are” and awaiting a new program on PBS with Henry Louis Gates Jr. This PBS host is the best so don’t miss it!

This is a new 10 part series starting March 25^th called “Finding Your Roots.” See a preview (33 seconds) at http://video.pbs.org/video/2189457832

I’ve also been catching up on the many new webinars at http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/webinars.asp

The people at Legacy Family Tree have a webinar on March 7^th on preparing for the April 2^nd release of the 1940 census. I’ve blogged on this topic previously and don’t want you to miss this webinar. If you cannot watch it on the 7^th it will be available for free online for the 10 days after that date and the purchase price is very reasonable if you miss the free period.

Our Grand Strand Genealogy Club had a great presentation on how to prepare for the 1940 census release. Gail Reynolds is our resident expert and leads classes for the local Osher LifeLong Learning Institute (OLLI.) So – if you are not lucky enough to have Gail in your neighborhood, maybe you have an OLLI program in your town with genealogy classes.

A list of Institutes is available at: http://www.osherfoundation.org/index.php?olli_list

This is a great program for adult education. The classes offered differ by school but since genealogy is one of the fastest growing hobbies, there are probably classes available near you. If there is an OLLI near you and they don’t have genealogy classes, then you should think about teaching one! I’ve found that all of the genealogists I’ve met have lots of information to share about the process of finding ancestors.

Our genealogy club has a website and blog. The website is at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~scgsgc

And the tips blog is at: http://gsgc-tandt.blogspot.com/

This should keep you all busy until next week!

Thanks for your time.

Happy Hunting!

Go to RootsTech 2012 virtually

Get on Rootstech.org as soon as you finish reading this notice. In fact, forget me, go there now! (Don’t forget to come back, please.)

RootsTech 2012 is the technology genealogy conference that is happening NOW in Salt Lake City, Utah. This conference is from Feb 2-4. The website has the syllabi for every scheduled session. Often each syllabus is a complete outline of the topics for each session – complete with websites and book titles for your research. The guide is also available there so you can see what we are missing. These are both .pdf downloads and are free.

Some of the session are streaming LIVE. I participated in the “Genealogy Idol” session and have 2 full pages of notes on technology and favorite websites and blogs of the four Idol contestants. If you see a session you are interested in on the full list and RootsTech is not streaming it, there is a chance that the sponsor of the session is! Go to the sponsor's website and search for the session name or RootsTech. That's how I was able to watch the "Genealogy Idol" session.

There are also constant Twitter feeds at #rootstech. There are also iPhone/iPad, Android, and Blackberry apps if you happen to be there and want to schedule your conference sessions.

Go to Rootstech.org (not .com) and the first page has the live sessions. If you go there and no session is currently running, you will see one of the welcome sessions. Don't forget to scroll down to see the other resources including the downloads.

I could not find the list of live sessions on the website for the conference but Eastman had it.(of course) The times are Mountain Standard Time

Friday, February 3

·         8:30-9:30 am, Exabyte Social Clouds and Other Monstrosities (Keynote Address) by Josh Coates

·         9:45-10:45 am, Publish Your Genealogy Online by Laura G. Prescott

·         11:00 am-12:00 pm, Optimize Your Site for Search Engines by Robert Gardner

·         1:45-2:45 pm, Genealogists “Go Mobile” by Sandra Crowly

·         3:00-4:00 pm, Google’s Toolbar and Genealogy by Dave Barney

Saturday, February 4

·         8:30-9:30 am, Making the Most of Technology to Further the Family History Industry (Keynote Address) by Tim Sullivan and Ancestry.com Panel

·         9:45-10:45 am Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 by Lisa Louise Cooke

·         11:00 am-12:00 pm, Future of FamilySearch Family Tree by Ron Tanner

·         1:45-2:45 pm, Privacy in a Collaborative Environment by Noah Tatuk

Happy Hunting!

Don’t forget to go to Rootstech.org  - the laundry, dusting, errands, lawn, etc can wait!