Organize Now!
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- aggie80
- persefone
- aggie80
- persefone
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» aggie80 - Organization and the CD
Backups are very important. The software I use (Family Tree Maker) has an automatic feature that creates a backup file everytime you close the current file. All well and good if you mess something up, or even if the current file gets corrupted, but useless if you lose the entire hard drive!If you are like me, there is no hope of fitting your file on a 3.5 floppy disk. I recommend either a ZIP or Jazz drive, or, my current favorite, a CD read/write drive. A blank CD, if bought in bulk, cost less than $2. About every other month or so, I back up my file to a CD, along with all of my scanned pictures, my websites, my correspondance log (you don't have one? Shame! As Eva, said, it is important! I made one after I literally ordered the same file twice! (They cashed both checks, too!)) and any documents and emails I have put together.
The added advantage of this is that I also have a portable copy of all that information. To insure that I can reference on any computer, I also save a GEDCOM copy of the data and store my documents as text files. That way I can look at them with any web browser, any text editor and any family tree program.
(Note: I also use the GEDCOM to import the data onto my Palm. I have the key data on my entire family in my pocket! Great for unexpected reference opportunities and answering questions in unexpected places!)
Mark W. Swarthout, Esq.
The Swarthout/Swartout/Swartwout Web Site - http://swarthoutfamily.org
Lander County Coordinator - NVGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~nvlander/
Assistant State Coordinator - Nevada GenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~nvgenweb/
Contributing Editor - Suite101.com - North American Genealogical History
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/nort...
-- posted by aggie80
» persefone - Re: Organization and the CD
In response to message posted by aggie80:I'm glad I'm not the only one who has had messed up ordering files! What I love the best is when I order a document and then find out I can get the info from LDS 
I'm the kind of person who is very bad at taking all that time to backup my data when nothing is going wrong. The best thing for me has been to install two hard drives in my computer. Check with your friends who are buying new computers-- they might let you have their old hard drive. All I have to do is copy and paste and I instantly have a backup!
Do check to see that your backup file can be opened. Copying files directly (rather than using a backup feature on a piece of software) isn't always effective.
What are you using to read the Gedcom files on your Palm? I've tried out a couple programs but haven't found anything I really liked... The best I found (I can't remember the name) let you read, but not edit, the files...
Eva
-- posted by persefone
» aggie80 - Palm Software
I have been using GEDStar, originally called GEDPalm. Yes, it is a read only program, but I seldom take notes!I know that that sounds really strange, but I use the copy machine and my digital camera so that there is little chance of a transcription error and bad hand writing.
And it is really important when you want something in a foreign language and aren't familiar with writing it. Leaving off various umlats and the like can have a big effect on the information!
Mark W. Swarthout, Esq.
The Swarthout/Swartout/Swartwout Web Site - http://swarthoutfamily.org
Lander County Coordinator - NVGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~nvlander/
Assistant State Coordinator - Nevada GenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~nvgenweb/
Contributing Editor - Suite101.com - North American Genealogical History
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/nort...
-- posted by aggie80
» persefone - Re: Palm Software
In response to message posted by aggie80:I'm certainly going to try the digital camera idea! I usually make photocopies, if I can, and I have one of those keyboards for my Visor for taking notes... but the digital camera would be so much easier. Gee, I wish I had my digital camera two years ago. I managed to get the subscriber's version of T. E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom through inter-library loan. It's about a third longer than the edition that ended up being published. Anyways, I had wanted to compare that version with the one that ended up getting published... but I couldn't take the book out of the library *or* make copies. I copied some passages on paper, dictated some into a recorder, typed parts on a borrowed laptop. A digital camera would have been real handy then.
-- posted by persefone
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