BACKING UP YOUR DATA
©2008 by Donald R. Snow
Sections of the Class Notes
This page was last updated 2008-05-21.
Return to the Hyde
Park Family History Centre Home Page or the Events
Page or the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page or Don's
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WELCOME AND WHAT THIS CLASS IS ALL ABOUT
- Instructors are Elder and Sister Donald R.
and Diane M. Snow of the England London Mission, London Family History Centre (snowd@math.byu.edu, dms34@juno.com)
- These notes with active Internet links are posted on the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group website http://uvtagg.org under Class
Outlines , Don's
Listings , and are linked on the London 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, programs are replacable -- so back
up data, but know where your installation CD's are for the
programs
- Freeware vs commercial backups --
various programs that help do 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
- Good habit is to back up to flash drive when finished working for the day, regardless of
the computer you are working on
- 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
- Extension of file tells you the kind of file
- [ ].paf = PAF file; [ ].zip
= PAF backup file; backup file is contains everything, but is only about
one-tenth the size
- You open .paf files, but
restore .zip files.
- Two ways to open a .paf file (PAF file)
- (1) Double click on file name (if
computer has .paf files associated with PAF program), or
- (2) Open PAF, click Open, navigate to where PAF
file is stored, and click on it
- One way to restore a .zip (PAF backup file)
-
Open PAF, go to File/Restore, navigate to
where backup is, and double-click on the backup name (first
click puts name in the box below and second click is equivalent
to clicking in the Restore box)
-
Idea - rename the PAF file with today's
date when you first open it so it will relect the date you worked on it
-
Do this by clicking File/Save-As and
rename it
-
Suggest adding the date in the form [file
name]-2008-05-22
- Reason
is that when clicking on Backup
later, it won't wipe out old backup
- Good idea to keep 2 or 3 generations
of backups so when data gets scrambled you can go back a generation or
two and you will have only lost last work session, not entire file
- Writing date as YYYY-MM-DDD makes the
current version alphabetize at the end and you can go immediately to latest
version
- Offline backup storage, i.e. not on Internet
- 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 may
not be able to write to them again -- PAF file will say "Read Only" if
saved on a CD or DVD (and you have to change the attributes to
be able to save changes)
THINGS TO CONSIDER
- Hard copy -- will probably last the longest, if on
acid-free paper and stored well
- Microfilm, microfiche, and microcards -- started
in 1937, no longer manufactured now
- Magnetic media -- floppies, hard drives, flash or
thumb drives
- Easiest to use, but can be erased accidently
by placing near a magnet, e.g. a radio speaker
-
May last longer than some CD's now
- Optical media
- CDs and DVDs -- was
thought these would last much longer, but recent tests show they may
deteriorate in 2 years
- Buy good quality CDs or DVDs, if using for
archiving
- Operating systems
- DOS, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux
- Need to consider "migrating the data to new systems" since hardware
and software changes with time, too
- New technologies
- Nickel plate -- stamping the letters into metal
plates - readable with any magnifying instrument
-
Levels and
locations of backups
- Backups on same computer -- helpful if data gets scrambled, but not
if computer or hard drive goes bad
- Backups on flash drives or external hard drive -- helpful if you
don't lose the flash drive or if the external hard drive isn't in the same
house when there is a fire, for example
- Backups to computer/hard drives at locations not in same building
-- give CD copies to your 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, full backup
of just the data, then do incremental backups of
changes onl
- Usually wise to save data periodically while
working, so you can recover from a problem,
e.g. an inadvertent delete, if it happens
- Data recovery -- can sometimes get data off a crashed hard drive, but not always,
and may cost you lots of money - cheaper to do regular backups
ONLINE STORAGE
- Backup idea -- email copies to yourself, family,
and friends for backups -- be sure to include date on file so you can tell
when made
- 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-2008-05-22, 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 Technology and Genealogy Group Home Page or Don's
Class Listings Page .