Dear Dick, I have had two geneology software programs on two different systems that have crashed. The first one was 6 years ago with about 380 people entered. The last was 6 months ago with well over 800 people entered. Stupid me, with a degree in CIS even, didn't back up either time. Woe is me! Like you it was the only program that crashed. Don't understand it, but it's kind of like life, you don't have to understand, you just have to live it and go on when it doesn't do what you want it to. Jacque On Sun, 13 Aug 2000 15:42:17 -0500 bass103@juno.com writes: > boy in 1982 did they have computers back then?? > On Sat, 12 Aug 2000 23:51:58 -0700 "R. W. Smith" <dws@cet.com> > writes: > >Debbie; > >You just said the magic word, I have had few major crashes since I > >started with my first computer in '82, and quickly learned to have > >copies of everything including programs (its legal to make a > personal > >backup copy and recommended by most software companies.) All the > >crashes except the last two were totally unrecoverable, i.e. > replace > >the > >drive and reinstall all software and backup files. The time before > > >last > >I had a "current" backup tape and a boot disk. The last time I had > > >just > >installed a extra hard drive (a full twin) and used the "DriveCopy" > >program. Although most computers are very reliable it is only a > >question of when, not if, it is going down. My last was strange > >because > >the only program and files that crashed were my genealogy files. > >It's important that a backup system is used and a copy kept in a > safe, > >protected place. > >The alternate is time consuming reconstruction! and a lot of > Maalox. > >Incidentally, some of the newer computers (all price ranges) have a > >minimal power supply, and if to much extra components are install > it > >will cause all sorts of weird problems, mostly heat related due to > the > >overworked p/s. > > > >Dick Smith > >Biggers and more > >dws@cet.com > >Spokane > > > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Debbie Jennings" <debj@comsys.net> > >To: <INOWEN-L@rootsweb.com> > >Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2000 9:45 PM > >Subject: [INOWEN] Thanks > > > > > >> > >> The cause for all I do with my files is 3 computer crashes have > >taught > >me to > >> protect my files in whatever way I could. > >> I have developed ways to do this through careful thought and > trial > >and > >> error. > > > > > > > >==== INOWEN Mailing List ==== > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! > Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! > Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. > > > ==== INOWEN Mailing List ==== > To get the most out of your posting please use your subject lines > effectively and don't recycle others. > ^v^ <*)))))))>< Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it. ><(((((((*> ^v^ ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

Jacque, Actually I misspoke on the last crash, the windows system went also. I could boot via a diskette but could not start windows 98 and the Genealogy program although I could access the harddrive. So I switched cables and drive jumpers and rebooted with the new drive (It is a mirror image including the boot sector). Then, I just copied the files which hadn't been backed up yet. Considering that 10gb drives were on sale for $99 US, I bought two. There's enough room for all sorts of records to be kept. I still export a backup copy of FTM database to a floppy and/or another computer just in case. I have a difficult time making people understand (especially a work) the importance of backing up. They don't understand at work that I have more important things to do than recovering data and working on computers. At home I would rather spend time with the grand children or trying to find an elusive ancient relative. I firmly believe it's all Bill Gates fault;(, and have asked one of our small local computer business operators to set me up a Pentium II with Linux on it:;). All I'll need is Star Office, Word Perfect for Linux, a Photo/graphics program and a Genealogy program. Will let every one know how it works and how reliable it is. Of course the problem is probably of our own making most of the time, its the other 10% that "bugs" me. With a proper backup system a person should be able to reformat a hard drive and reinstall (i.e. the windows backup file) in a matter of hours. In general I have been told (from ancient ages when computers were slow and had 48kb of memory, one or two floppy drives and an external Winchester of 5mgb) to run a 5 day cycle (business). Basically that meant enough floppies to do a full backup once a week, an incremental backup every evening for two weeks running, and then repeat. That would give one complete backup cycle always on hand. Unfortunately, with the sizes of programs and harddrives ( and large database files) that is a little impractical. Some of the large portable or removable drives are worth considering. An extra hard drive is a reasonable solution for a full backup but even when compressed it takes considerable time. What I am considering is doing the incremental backups and datafile saves to a standard CD-ROM r/rw drive, a full backup to a spare drive maybe once a month or when a new program is added/or deleted. The media is more durable than diskettes. The new dvd CD-ROM r/rw drives are still to high priced for me. A standard CD-ROM r/rw can be had locally for between 130 and 250 or so. That makes it very practical at 600 to 650 megabytes of data. No matter what you do--all of you--devise a workable solution to the problem and stick to it. Dick Smith Biggers and more dws@cet.com ----- Original Message ----- From: <diamondfire46@juno.com> To: <INOWEN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, August 14, 2000 3:52 PM Subject: Re: [INOWEN] Thanks > Dear Dick, > I have had two geneology software programs on two different systems that > have crashed. The first one was 6 years ago with about 380 people > entered. The last was 6 months ago with well over 800 people entered. > Stupid me, with a degree in CIS even, didn't back up either time. Woe is > me! Like you it was the only program that crashed. Don't understand it, > but it's kind of like life, you don't have to understand, you just have > to live it and go on when it doesn't do what you want it to. > Jacque