Tidbits and Hints

Today’s blog is little tidbits of information that don’t fit into their own full blog topics. They are just hints. Some I’ve picked up along the way from other people. Some are from my own experience. I wish I could have learned some of these from others instead of having to learn them the hard way. I’m hoping to save you some of the pain that experience can bring with it.

First, as was a topic of one of my earlier posts, backup your data. I have a bit more to add to that, though. I have multiple external hard drives and flash drives. I take care of my family’s computers and they expect me to protect their data and magically know which drive has the latest version of their files. They are woefully misguided. Most automatic backup software creates proprietary files that people cannot read by just opening them. You’ll have to know what software was used to create the backup, first, in order to figure out what is in the archive. You’ll also need to still have the software installed in order to read the files.

I recommend creating a text document with Word, WordPad, NotePad, etc. and put this file on the backup device. Make note of what you backed up, when, and what program was last used – even if you just dragged and dropped the files. Don’t forget to include which computer the data came from! This will become more important to you if you get a new computer and need data from the old one. That’s what I’m dealing with, today. See – I didn’t create that little text file and now I’m not sure which drive has the data I’m looking for. Paper sticky notes on the drives can also help but that does not work on flash drives and they fall off too easily, anyway.

The second hint for today is to use a digital camera, phone camera, or navigation unit to record the longitude and latitude of headstones, family homes, and other geographic landmarks that are pertinent to your family history trips. If you took the time to find a grave marker, make it easier for the next generation or even yourself, to find it again by recording its co-ordinates. Roads move, landmarks can be destroyed or moved, buildings get built. If you take the time to record the longitude and latitude in your records, then there will be no question about where the family burial plot is. This information is particularly useful in the mid-west when farmers buried headstones to preserve them. The burial yard is still there but without knowing where it is no one can find it again.  

The third hint for today requires that you still have older living relatives. Don’t assume that you know where people came from. Ask if they remember hearing any accents around their homes or at holiday gatherings. These accents may lead you to other parts of the world or even regions in your own country. Also, ask what foods were served. I have relatives with Irish surnames but all of the holiday foods were Hungarian.

The fourth hint for today goes along with the third one. Are there any colloquial expressions or sayings in your family? In my family I always remember hearing “Outen the light” – that’s pure Pennsylvania Dutch. Now that I’m in the South  - it’s “Cut off the light.” These regionalized idiomatic expressions can lead you to where a family might have originated.

Thank you for your time and Happy Hunting!

It's Just a Matter of Time

It's just a matter of time until your data file with all of your genealogy information in it blows up. I know, I just know, you have your important files backed up some place else - RIGHT???? I'm sure some of you are nodding yes and feeling pretty smug. I also imagine some of you are thinking that it's something you had not thought about, lately.


Well, here is the truth. Hard drives fail, computers break, laptops get stolen, viruses spread. I know you know these things but what may be more dangerous and much more likely is a program failure. I use Family Tree Maker 2011 software and have backed up my data daily for ages. It's also nice to know that the program itself does a back-up for you just in case you don't. 


Why do you care? Well . . . 
Software programs can have bugs that make them fail or malfunction. Computer hard drives can also malfunction. If this malfunction happens when you are saving or changing a lot of information - like global name or location changes - your data can be scrambled and become unusable. 


Think of your family history files as a sequence of 3x5 cards all neatly arranged in drawers. (it's much more complicated and powerful than that but stay with me) What would happen if you dropped that file drawer upside down on the floor? OK,OK, after the crying, gnashing of teeth, and possible unprintable expletives; you'd try to put it all back together and might even be successful.


If your computer data file gets scrambled, though, the computer would not be able to figure out what cards went with which people. That is why programs have a repair feature hidden somewhere in the menus to re-index the database. If the re-index/compact function does not fix the problems, then you have to use a back-up of your file. 


So, back-up your family history files on a daily basis and keep prior versions of these back-ups just in case your data file gets damaged and you need to restore the older file. 


Why do you need to keep older copies, also? Well - I hate to tell you this but .....
   sometimes the file damage has been around for awhile and the newest back-up file might be broken, too.


So - It's only a matter of time.
BACK-UP your data! Know where it is. Keep a copy away from the computer.


Happy researching