One of my most tedious project to complete before moving was to backup my genealogy databases, photographs, and research files. I have a flash drive which improved this task greatly. I’ve done the multiple CD backup before many times. I’m glad to not have to repeat it.
Each time I do a backup, the thought occurs to me that there must be an easier way. The genealogy databases were very easy. RootsMagic makes it easy to create a backup. There was no problem copying those to my flash drive.
But there there is the Pictures folder. And, then there is all the research and documents all over my computer. Oh, and why did I decide to organize some folders differently since my last backup?
The Pictures took a long time, but it went fairly smoothly. There were a few duplicates to ignore. No big deal.
The genealogy research folder was much more difficult. When I tried to paste it over to my flash drive directory, I immediately was given the equivalent of a computer smiting. I could not copy the whole folder because there wasn’t enough room on my flash drive. Despite the fact that there were many duplicate files that I would not be copying, it refused to even consider the main folder.
I keep my documents by main surname, then by family groups. So one folder might be Breilh, then the subfolders would be the ancestors and their families (or the descendants and their families). This translates into 38 main surname folders. About a month later, or maybe 2 hours, I was done. I ended up transferring one group of folders at a time because I was not sure how far it would let me go.
I wish there was an easier way to do this. I am sure there is some software that can analyze your external drive and detect which files don’t need to be moved, and then be able to do it without panicking first. With my time constraints, I had to do it the cumbersome way. Next time!
At any rate, with an afternoon wasted, all my files are backed up. I now have a backup of everything. I only need to worry that I don’t lose my flash drive before I get moved into my new place. (Do I really need something else to worry about???)
Peace of mind – knowing that is all safe & backed up is a wonderful thing. When we built my new desktop a last year I had to move my “picture” file manually using my flash drive, and boy what a chore that was. Not something you want to have to do alot. Congrats on getting the job done!
Karen, you know it! Knowing I have a back up of my genealogy data let’s me breath a sigh of relief. My computer crash 2-3 years ago. I lost everything in the gap between backups. Photos are tedious because the files can be so large.
Hi, I purchased a software called http://allwaysync.com/ to use to back up my computer to a 250 external hard drive. It was $20 which covers a lifetime subscription. You can try it out for free if you have less than 10,000 files I believe was the cutoff. It is great because you can set it up to exclude files. It analyzes your files first, lets you review them, and choose to exclude some on the fly if you wish, and then syncs them with your backed up device. I take my external drive everywhere with me and sync it with my laptop almost every day. Good luck!
Yes, I use a synching program, too, and then its much easier to keep my laptop up to date with my desktop and my external drive. It does an automatic backup once a week. I also back up once a day to an online source. I use my cable internet provider to backup my genealogy file for free. I’m thinking of paying extra for enough space to back up my file, photos, iTunes, documents, and blog via the internet, too.