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Back up Genealogy Data & Media life span!

Technology

Tim Firkowski

Thursday, 09 June 2016

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A few weeks ago I had my computer break down. Of course I panicked because I was in the middle of a bunch of work, but I could breath a little sigh of relief because I did have a backup of my working hard drive and data drives. It is still a little disconcerting to be without the computer.

I brought the computer to the shop and it was checked out. The hard drive was fine, but the main board was going to need to be replaced, but due to the age (it just turned "vintage" to Apple's standards) It was not going to be economical to repair. I found a place that had a rebuilt of my laptop for a reasonable price and purchased it. THANK GOD! I did the hard drive swap and I was in business.... No problems. I am glad that the hard drive was good and ready to go for the transplant, but if it had bit the dust, I would at least have my backup hard drive.

I thought that this was a good time to write a Blog post to give others a head up about the dangers of loosing years maybe decades of research. ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA! You will want to have back ups of all your genealogy data and this is not just limited to electonic copies. Make copies of any paper records you have and if possible, store those paper copies in another place other than where you have your "originals", I always print out 2 copies of paperwork related to my client work.

In regards to electronic storage, Make more than one copy & again it is good to have a copy stored away from originals if possible. There are many online data storage sources, but as with anything these days, nothing is truely safe, so do not rely solely on online companies to keep your precious data safe. I have heard of a few problems from my fellow genealogists that can attest to this. All data storage has a limited life span, whether it is thumb drive, hard drive, DVD/CD storage. Many people think that once it is backed up on these media platforms all their worries are over..... NO they have a limited life span.... Here is a link to an article that talks about storage life span.

I like to use portable hard drives for my back up and I use two different types. It is important to know the difference between the two different hard drives that can be used for back up. One type of drive is bootable and can hold the operating system in order to be able to run your computer, the other type is not bootable & will hold DATA only. Bootable drives tend to cost just a little more than the data drives, but it is well worth it to have a working copy of your regular hard drive.

Here are the two models of portable hard drives that I use. The 500 GB Drive is my bootable drive & have 3 of them. The 1 TB drive is for data only & I am very happy with both types and models. These drives are available in other capacities to meet your exact needs. If you don't need one now, keep your eye peeled on Amazon, because they often go on sale.

I still have some older hard drives that I have backed up to & will keep those until they die, but not to worry I have backed up those "old" backup hard drives to newer ones, and as time passes I will progressively backup my backups, just to keep things safe.

I also found it useful to have a backup bootable hard drive for a few of the different operating systems that I have used. The reason for this is sometimes the old software I liked is not available for the newer operating system or I am not willing at this point to pay for 20 upgrades of the software. When needed I boot up the portable hard drive with my old operating system and work on whatever project I need the old software for.

Having a backup is like having your own digital archive! Just think how much you love all the records that you have been able to find, because someone has archived all those old documents. In addition to keeping the backup for yourself, if for any reason you were to leave this earth, you also stand a better chance of having that data available for future generations.

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About the author

Tim Firkowski

I have been doing genealogy research since 2002 & have worked full time as a Professional Genealogist since 2008. I specialize in Polish and American-Canadian Genealogy. As a member of APG, I was the 2010/2011 President of the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG). I have Certificates of Completion for studies in "Foundations of Forensic Genealogy" and "Advanced Forensic Genealogy Techniques". I have been a volunteer librarian at the local Family History Center, and a genealogy research consultant at “Ask the Expert” Ancestry Road Shows. I have traveled to Poland numerous times & researched in churches and archives. At conferences and special events, you may find me dressed up in my Sherlock Holmes outfit, or my Kujawy (the folk costume from the region in Poland where my ancestors came from).