I was quite surprised about an hour after I sent my message to get an email from Rod Neep (the founder of Archive CD Books) which contained the following which I am forwarding with his blessing "What you stated here in your reply is spot on! As the founder of Archive CD Books I can tell you (and you may forward this to the mailing list if you wish) that all of the CDs contained simple PDF files, and any PDF reader can be used to view the contents. There is no special software required, and none is included on the CDs. They will run on any old PC right up to current Windows 10 operating systems, and also Apple Mac computers. I am no longer involved in Archive CD Books, as I retired many years ago, but the principle of the CDs that I established is that they could run on any computer that is capable of displaying PDF files. Historically, the earlier CDs did not have an "autostart", (automatically playing when they were inserted into the CD drive), although some later ones may have. It is true that CDs can sometimes degenerate with age depending on storage conditions, and the way that they have been handled, and you are correct in saying that the best thing to do is to copy all of the files (and sub folders) from each CD into its own individual folder on a hard drive. If the original poster can see the files on the CD using explorer then the contents of the CD should be fine! If the computer has a PDF reader installed (and most modern ones come with one) then all that is needed is to double click on the PDF file to make it run" Regards John Hanson Researcher, The Halsted Trust Website - www.halstedresearch.org.uk -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John Hanson via Sent: 08 January 2016 12:06 To: 'Penny Trueman'; [email protected] Subject: Re: [LAN] Old genealogy DVD's/CD's Penny Is it the fact that you can't read the DVD/CD. Having been in the computer industry for over 30 years and also covered the IT for the SoG for many years I know the problems of CD's failing - it has been documented many times over. New machines can also cause problems with drives that will not recognise some of the old formats. It is the reason that I copied all of my DVD/CD's onto an external hard drive many years ago. With material like Archive CD Books it isn't an issue as they are all in PDF files. That you can see the files and they will not open. Then it is possible that the appropriate program hasn't been loaded It could also of course be that you are expecting it to autoplay and it isn't - that could be an issue with the operating system and you need to check the settings. Regards John Hanson Researcher, The Halsted Trust Website - www.halstedresearch.org.uk -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Penny Trueman via Sent: 08 January 2016 00:37 To: [email protected] Subject: [LAN] Old genealogy DVD's/CD's HI list, When I say 'old' I'm not talking era's, obviously. But it is annoying when you have paid out good money in the past (like you would for a book) only to find that the DVD/CD won't play on modern systems. Can anyone advise me how to get these going again? Or to extract the information therefrom? e.g stuff from what was Archive Books and is now ArchiveBooks Ireland (etc.)? Best Wishes, Penny :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: Buy or sell family research items on the GEN-MAT-UKI mailing list. No fees! The list's administrator can be contacted at [email protected] :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: Buy or sell family research items on the GEN-MAT-UKI mailing list. No fees! The list's administrator can be contacted at [email protected] :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Rather than Archive Books, the old Ancestry Data CD's probably won't work because they needed a specific program to run them.  That was never updated after Ancestry put all its info online and could make you pay to get it.   Thank you to John Hanson who gave so much time and effort to digitize so many records for all of us to use. On Sat, 9 Jan 2016 07:03:02 -0000, John Hanson via wrote: I was quite surprised about an hour after I sent my message to get an email from Rod Neep (the founder of Archive CD Books) which contained the following which I am forwarding with his blessing "What you stated here in your reply is spot on! As the founder of Archive CD Books I can tell you (and you may forward this to the mailing list if you wish) that all of the CDs contained simple PDF files, and any PDF reader can be used to view the contents. There is no special software required, and none is included on the CDs. They will run on any old PC right up to current Windows 10 operating systems, and also Apple Mac computers. I am no longer involved in Archive CD Books, as I retired many years ago, but the principle of the CDs that I established is that they could run on any computer that is capable of displaying PDF files. Historically, the earlier CDs did not have an "autostart", (automatically playing when they were inserted into the CD drive), although some later ones may have. It is true that CDs can sometimes degenerate with age depending on storage conditions, and the way that they have been handled, and you are correct in saying that the best thing to do is to copy all of the files (and sub folders) from each CD into its own individual folder on a hard drive. If the original poster can see the files on the CD using explorer then the contents of the CD should be fine! If the computer has a PDF reader installed (and most modern ones come with one) then all that is needed is to double click on the PDF file to make it run" Regards John Hanson Researcher, The Halsted Trust Website - www.halstedresearch.org.uk

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement with old CD's. Still having problems with those issued by Shropshire Gen. Soc. (incompatible programme), however the PDF files are now 'sussed', and I've even been able to access at least one ancestry CD. Best wishes, Penny On Sat, Jan 9, 2016 at 7:03 AM, John Hanson <[email protected]> wrote: > I was quite surprised about an hour after I sent my message to get an email > from Rod Neep (the founder of Archive CD Books) which contained the > following which I am forwarding with his blessing > > "What you stated here in your reply is spot on! As the founder of Archive > CD > Books I can tell you (and you may forward this to the mailing list if you > wish) that all of the CDs contained simple PDF files, and any PDF reader > can > be used to view the contents. There is no special software required, and > none is included on the CDs. They will run on any old PC right up to > current > Windows 10 operating systems, and also Apple Mac computers. > > I am no longer involved in Archive CD Books, as I retired many years ago, > but the principle of the CDs that I established is that they could run on > any computer that is capable of displaying PDF files. Historically, the > earlier CDs did not have an "autostart", (automatically playing when they > were inserted into the CD drive), although some later ones may have. > > It is true that CDs can sometimes degenerate with age depending on storage > conditions, and the way that they have been handled, and you are correct in > saying that the best thing to do is to copy all of the files (and sub > folders) from each CD into its own individual folder on a hard drive. If > the > original poster can see the files on the CD using explorer then the > contents > of the CD should be fine! If the computer has a PDF reader installed (and > most modern ones come with one) then all that is needed is to double click > on the PDF file to make it run" > > Regards > John Hanson > Researcher, The Halsted Trust > Website - www.halstedresearch.org.uk > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of John Hanson via > Sent: 08 January 2016 12:06 > To: 'Penny Trueman'; [email protected] > Subject: Re: [LAN] Old genealogy DVD's/CD's > > Penny > Is it the fact that you can't read the DVD/CD. > Having been in the computer industry for over 30 years and also covered the > IT for the SoG for many years I know the problems of CD's failing - it has > been documented many times over. New machines can also cause problems with > drives that will not recognise some of the old formats. > > It is the reason that I copied all of my DVD/CD's onto an external hard > drive many years ago. With material like Archive CD Books it isn't an issue > as they are all in PDF files. > > That you can see the files and they will not open. Then it is possible that > the appropriate program hasn't been loaded > > It could also of course be that you are expecting it to autoplay and it > isn't - that could be an issue with the operating system and you need to > check the settings. > > Regards > John Hanson > Researcher, The Halsted Trust > Website - www.halstedresearch.org.uk > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of Penny Trueman via > Sent: 08 January 2016 00:37 > To: [email protected] > Subject: [LAN] Old genealogy DVD's/CD's > > HI list, > When I say 'old' I'm not talking era's, obviously. > But it is annoying when you have paid out good money in the past (like you > would for a book) only to find that the DVD/CD won't play on modern > systems. > Can anyone advise me how to get these going again? Or to extract the > information therefrom? > e.g stuff from what was Archive Books and is now ArchiveBooks Ireland > (etc.)? > Best Wishes, Penny > > > > :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: > > Buy or sell family research items on the GEN-MAT-UKI mailing list. No > fees! > > > The list's administrator can be contacted at [email protected] > > :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: > > Buy or sell family research items on the GEN-MAT-UKI mailing list. No > fees! > > > The list's administrator can be contacted at [email protected] > > :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > >