I appreciate all the answers I've received regarding backing up my FO files. But, I'm still confused. Do/should I backup to a zip disk? If so, would I need a special program to unzip them if I ever needed them? I also have a CD burner. Would/should I burn a CD and if so do I then need a special program to use the CD? As y'all can tell, I'm really confused on this issue. Please bear with me.

Hi, When you do a normal backup as when you exit Family Origins, it ask to backup the file, when you choose yes FO then creates a zipped Backup by default, I believe. This file would then be copied to your CD-RW Drive, for safe storage off of your Hard Drive. Then if your database crashes for some God Aweful reason, you can do a File>Restore> from this CD Drive. I hope this helps. HAVE A GREAT DAY!!! Jim Mahan --- http://james.mahan.tripod.com --- http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm-cgi?db=jrmahan --- http://mahanscadsolutions.com --- "WE WILL NOT WAIVER, WE WILL NOT TIRE, WE WILL NOT FALTER; --- AND WE WILL NOT FAIL. PEACE AND FREEDOM WILL PREVAIL." --- --- President GEORGE W. BUSH --- "ALL INCOMING AND OUTGOING E-MAIL IS SCANNED WITH NORTON ANTI-VIRUS" ----- Original Message ----- From: "gilbert9" <gilbert9@flash.net> To: <FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2002 2:28 PM Subject: [FO] Backing Up Files > I appreciate all the answers I've received regarding backing up my FO files. But, I'm still confused. Do/should I backup to a zip disk? If so, would I need a special program to unzip them if I ever needed them? > > I also have a CD burner. Would/should I burn a CD and if so do I then need a special program to use the CD? > > As y'all can tell, I'm really confused on this issue. Please bear with me. > > > ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== > The "Family Origins® Wish List" http://formalsoft.com/wishlist.htm > ??? FAQ ??? -- http://www.graabek.com/fow/fofaq.html > >

----- Original Message ----- From: "gilbert9" <gilbert9@flash.net> To: <FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2002 5:28 PM Subject: [FO] Backing Up Files > I appreciate all the answers I've received regarding backing up my FO files. But, I'm still confused. Do/should I backup to a zip disk? If so, would I need a special program to unzip them if I ever needed them? > The *best* place is *SEVERAL* places (in the event of corruption or crash)... so save a backup to your Hard drive, a Zip disk, and even a floppy, if it fits. You can also use your CD burner (see below) > I also have a CD burner. Would/should I burn a CD and if so do I then need a special program to use the CD? > When a CD burner is first installed... it *should* have software that typically allows two choices, Music or Data. In order to create Data "files and folders" on a CD, the program typically uses some form of what is called "packet writing". Usually this support is installed and setup to load when your computer first boots up. Then all "save" operations from programs like FO or MS Word, etc. operate just like using your Hard drive or another drive, such as your Zip disk (choose a drive letter and make a folder, then save a file to that folder) If you attempt to save a file to the CD burner and get an error message, it may not be loading this support "automatically". If that is the case, you should go to your "Start Menu-->Programs" and find those associated with the burner and familiarize yourself with them *and* use the Help button. > As y'all can tell, I'm really confused on this issue. Please bear with me. > Ask away and the folks here will help, of that I'm positive!

In case some of the backup information lately was confusing to some (myself included), I just gave it a try and wrote down the steps that successfully allowed me to Backup to a CD-R and Restore the database to FO v.10. This is using Windows XP. 1. Put a CD-R in the burner 2. Make a normal backup to a Genealogy folder in My Documents (you can store this where you wish) 3. Went to that file using My Computer and highlighted the ZIP file I'd just backed up, clicked Copy To, clicked on the burner drive and a box popped up telling me I had files to copy to the D drive. 4. Went to the D drive (burner) and there's the ZIP file - "Files ready to be written to the CD" - Data files have to be copied, then written to the CD in 2 steps. 5. Clicked CD Writing Tasks, write to the CD, and the CD Writing Wizard comes up and named the CD "December 30" which then wrote my Backup (ZIP) file to the CD 6.Closed the CD tray which had popped open when the burn was complete. 7.Opened FO and closed the database in the window 8.Went to the FO File menu and selected Restore 9. Bing, bang, boom - piece of cake, just like I do all the time with a floppy back and forth to my laptop to keep the databases identical. 10 - Note that you can't simply go to the CD and double click on the ZIP file - you always have to RESTORE a BACKUP from within Family Origins! So, thanks to everyone who offered help to the list. If someone doesn't have the same setup (Win XP and FO v.10) maybe another kind soul will help with how it works on their machine. Remember, I did it all with XP, using My Computer to work between my C and D drives. If you have separate CD burner software such as Adaptec Easy CD Creator, that came on my PC, but I can't get it to work<G>. Hope you all have a great new year. Tim Millar Cape Cod