Hi all: On Feb. 01, 2003 Bette Richards wrote ... > >Recently, another correspondent wrote telling me that their computer > >crashed and they lost all their data. I was as usual happy to provide > >the Bunker data for her. However, this always reminds me to back up > >everything and do it often. I lost all my data once too. It was >backed >up and all I had to do is reload it. > >Presently I have a zip drive on which I can load my data and pictures > >which are numerous. The pictures take up lots of room no matter where >I >store them. > >Although I backup my files frequently, what happens if my house burns > >down? I can't put the disks in my car. I live in Arizona and the >disks >don't particularly take to the 180 degrees the inside of my car >can get on >one of our nice warm summer days. I have solved this >problem by sending a >backup disk to a friend out of state. Since she >is also a Bunker and >member of BFA the disk is there if something >happens to me. > >Since I sent her the disk, I have entered hundreds of new records or >made >changes in current files. Some information will still get lost. >Today I >read a suggestion on the Ancestry newsletter that it is really >cheap to >rent a safety deposit box in a bank and store back up disks >there. I >think that is a good idea. But, I must remember to tell >someone where >they are and be sure they have access to the box too. I >also plan on >burning CD's for this. It is less bulky than the zip >disks. > >I hope all of you are backing up your data some place. Just because >your >program automatically backs up the files in another file does not >mean you >have safely backed up the files. If you computer gets hit by >a worm or >virus the internal back up files will go too. If your house >burns down >the computer will melt and probably not operate too well. >Do an external >back up to a floppy disk, zip disk of CD and then keep >it away from your >computer. In a different building. Across town. > >:-0 > >Bette > I have to weigh in here. My genealogy data file is the *M*O*S*T* important file on my PC. I have upwards of 1,250 hours invested in the research that produced that file. I do PC support for a living, so I consider my personal time worth $20 per hour (what I figure I'd make after taxes if I was consulting instead of doing genealogy research). A back of the envelope calculation makes my data file worth $25,000. If you have something with that sort of dollar value, you probably insure it. The insurance policy for computer data files is periodic backups. My data file changes very frequently, so I back it up once a week. And as Bette suggested, there are two copies of the file in the event my home PC crashes. One is at my office, and one is at my sister's. Please heed Bette's advice. Take the time to develop a backup plan; write it down, as a sort of checklist if you will. Then execute the plan. I cringe at the thought that someone on this list has information about Erwin Leroy Bunker (son of Hiram Bunker and Mary Clair) and that this valuable information gets lost because of a lost or currupt data file. Please do regular backups. And one additional tip. Every now and then, *T*E*S*T* your backup. There is nothing more useless that a backup (on ZIP disk, on a CD-ROM, on a cartridge tape) that is unreadable. At my day job, I routinely take a backup tape and select a file from it, and restore it to disk. Then I do a byte-wise compare against the original file. Some times paranoia pays dividends. ;-) Best regards - Kipp - _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail