BACKING UP YOUR DATA
©2008 by Donald R. Snow
Sections of the Class Notes
This page was last updated 2008-04-07.
Return to the Hyde
Park Family History Centre Home Page or the Events
Page or the Utah
Valley PAF Users Group Home Page or Don's
Class Listings Page .
WELCOME AND WHAT THIS CLASS IS ALL ABOUT
- Instructors are Elder and Sister Donald R. and Diane
M. Snow of the England London Mission, Hyde Park Family History Centre (snowd@math.byu.edu, dms34@juno.com)
- These notes with active Internet links are posted on the
Utah Valley PAF Users Group website http://uvpafug.org
under Class
Outlines , Don's
Listings , and are linked on the Hyde Park Family History
Centre website http://www.hydeparkfhc.org
under Events
. Many other class notes for family history are linked on
both sites also.
- This class will discuss the importance of and
ideas about backing up your genealogy and other data, since sooner or later
your computer or storage mechanism will become fouled up.
WHAT TO BACKUP AND WHAT CAN HAPPEN TO YOUR DATA
- Data vs programs -- data is irreplacable, so
should be backed up; programs are replacable and
you need the installation files and CDs, but don't need to back these
up
- Freeware vs commercial backups -- various programs
that help with doing backups of whatever you specify at scheduled times
and to wherever you set it to be saved
-
Large data sets take longer to backup -- uploading an entire directory to the Internet may take several hours or days
- Various levels of backups -- see below
PAF AND OTHER GENEALOGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM BACKUPS
- Backing up database
- Can backup PAF database onto a flash drive, can
then restore it anywhere you want to work on it and have the latest
version, e.g. at home or at the family history centre
- Get in habit of always backing up to flash drive
when finished working for the day
- Think of the flash drive as having your
original, so you never start working without restoring from flash
drive -- then you are always working on the latest version
- Restoring PAF file from a backup
-
Open PAF, go to File/Restore and navigate to where the
backup is (PAF backups are [name].zip)
-
Click on the backup name to put the name in
the box below, then click Restore
- Double clicking on the backup name starts the
restoring immediately
-
Can rename a PAF file while it is
open by clicking on File/Save As
- Naming files and backups
-
Suggest adding the date at end
of name of file, e.g. Snow-2008-04-08
- Reason is it doesn't wipe out old backup, good to
keep 2 or 3 generations of backups, at least -- then when
data gets scrambled you can go back a generation or two and you won't have lost
everything, just the last work session
- Writing date as YYYY-MM-DDD makes the current
version alphabetize at the end so you always know which is the latest
version
- Offline Storage
- Floppy disks -- can't buy computers with floppy
drives in them now, but can buy a USB floppy drive to plug into a USB port
- Flash drives -- the most useful to back up onto,
but easy to lose
- External hard drives -- can get super large
external USB hard drives, e.g. 500 gig
- CD's and DVD's -- are usually read-only, so you
can't write to them again
THINGS TO CONSIDER
- Hard copy -- if on acid-free paper and stored well,
will probably last the longest
- Microfilm, microfiche, and microcards -- started in
1937, no longer made now
- Magnetic media
- Foppies, hard drives, flash or thumb drives
- Magnetic media can be erased accidently by placing
near a magnet, e.g. a radio speaker
- Optical media
- CDs and DVDs -- was thought these
would last longer much longer, but recent tests show they may
deteriorate in 2 years
- For archival use get good quality CDs or
DVDs
- Operating systems
- DOS, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux
- Will there be an operating system available
to read the media you use?
- Data migration to new systems and new media
- New technologies
- Nickel plate -- stamping the letters into metal
plates - readable with any magnifying instrument
-
Levels of backups
- Backups on same computer -- helpful if data gets scrambled, but not
if computer or hard drive goes down
- Backups on flash drives or external hard drive --
helpful if you don't lose the flash drive or the hard drive isn't in the
same house with a fire, for example
- Backups to computer/hard drives at location not in same
building -- CD copies given to children in different states, for example
- Backups online -- available from any computer, but
what if that company goes out of business
-
Need backups in at least two places
-
Types of backups
- Full backup of everything or full backup of just data
- Afterwards backup only the changes -- called
incremental backup
- May be wise to save data periodically while
working, so you can recover from a problem
if it happens, an inadvertent delete, for example
- Data recovery -- can sometimes get data off a crashed
hard drive, but not always -- may cost you lots of money
ONLINE STORAGE
- Can email copies to yourself, family, and friends for backups
- Free genealogy data websites
- Web 2.0 philosophy is that programs and data are all
on the Internet and not on your own computer -- New FamilySearch is an example
being worked on now
- But give consideration to what if you can't get
access to the Internet
- Some URL's for online storage and programs
- Freeware programs to download an entire website for security and/or for offline browsing
-- many take up a lot of hard drive space
ARTICLES ABOUT BACKUPS
CONCLUSIONS
- Good backup procedures are needed for all computer work.
- Decide what you are going to do and how you are going
to do it, before you lose irreplacable data.
ASSIGNMENT
- Change your PAF or other genealogy database to have the
date on the end, e.g. Snow-2008-04-07, to see how to do it in your program.
- Think through which files on your computer are
programs (don't usually need to back these up, but keep the installation CDs in a safe place) and which parts are data (these need backing up).
- Open up an account on some free online file storage website
and upload a copy of your genealogy backup.
Return to the Hyde
Park Family History Centre Home Page or the Events
Page or the Utah
Valley PAF Users Group Home Page or Don's
Class Listings Page .