We have a customer who dropped into the shop to pickup a new version 10 of Family Origins yesterday. She had been a Family Origins 4.0 user but had taken a break from genealogy for a few years. In the meantime she lost her original Family Origins program (version 4.x)... but had kept her three different backup files. The current version of Family Origins will not open the old backup files. Some research on my part reveals that the backup file type for FO versions prior to 5.0 was .fob . The backup file type for version 5 and newer is .zip. Neither we nor our customer have a pre-version 5 copy of Family Origins, so are unable to get the files open. Does anyone know of a fix for this, or an application that will allow the .fob to be opened as a GEDCOM or any other modern filetype that can be then converted to either a GEDCOM or a .fow file. I tried TMG (The Master Genealogist) but its Genbridge doesn't work with any backup file of FO. Also tried to open the files as dbase and then via excel and Access to no avail. Changing the file extension to a .txt file opened but most of the result was a jumbled mess of characters. Any ideas??? Rick Roberts Global Genealogy & History Shoppe 13 Charles St., (Charles & Main) Milton, Ontario, Canada L9T 2G5 http://globalgenealogy.com

Rick I have just had a problem similar to this but with version 5 not 4. I had been using version 7 when my hard drive failed and lost all programs but not data. I had a backup as a GEDCOM but had entered considerable data since that time. because I could not find the disc to load version 7 I had to revert to loading an earlier version (5) which I still had the discs for but it would not open the newer files. I downloaded the trial version 8 from the FO website which read my file no problems and then exported a GEDCOM of the entire database. I was then able to set up the earlier version 5 and import the GEDCOM into the earlier version until I obtain version 10. Incidentally the safest backup is a GEDCOM because it can be read by any program. My suggestion is that if someone can provide her with version 4 she can then create a GEDCOM which she will then be able to import into the later version. If your client still has the original files IE not the backup version 5 should open them. Try changing the name to the file from .fob to .fow. but from a copy. I see Don has version 4 so this should be able to solve the problems. regards Chris Bartlett We have a customer who dropped into the shop to pickup a new version 10 of Family Origins yesterday. She had been a Family Origins 4.0 user but had taken a break from genealogy for a few years. In the meantime she lost her original Family Origins program (version 4.x)... but had kept her three different backup files. The current version of Family Origins will not open the old backup files. Some research on my part reveals that the backup file type for FO versions prior to 5.0 was .fob . The backup file type for version 5 and newer is .zip. Neither we nor our customer have a pre-version 5 copy of Family Origins, so are unable to get the files open. Does anyone know of a fix for this, or an application that will allow the .fob to be opened as a GEDCOM or any other modern filetype that can be then converted to either a GEDCOM or a .fow file. I tried TMG (The Master Genealogist) but its Genbridge doesn't work with any backup file of FO. Also tried to open the files as dbase and then via excel and Access to no avail. Changing the file extension to a .txt file opened but most of the result was a jumbled mess of characters. Any ideas??? Rick Roberts Global Genealogy & History Shoppe 13 Charles St., (Charles & Main) Milton, Ontario, Canada L9T 2G5 http://globalgenealogy.com ==== FAMILY-ORIGINS-USERS Mailing List ==== The "Family Origins® Wish List" http://formalsoft.com/wishlist.htm ??? FAQ ??? -- http://www.graabek.com/fow/fofaq.html --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.375 / Virus Database: 210 - Release Date: 10/07/02 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.375 / Virus Database: 210 - Release Date: 10/07/02