Hi Listers, The list has been kind of quiet. Since the winter days are keeping a lot of us at home between necessary visits to work, school and grocery stores, what is everyone doing for genealogical fun? I have been going over my paper files, checking that all my notes are on my computer somewhere. And I don't mean my on-line family tree, but in family files on my hard drive that I can back up. Those of us who depend on Ancestry, etc for on-line research may forget an occasional census record, military record or a possible date or name we need to confirm. It's so easy to download it and forget to make a copy. I have had multiple computer crashes because of an accidental button pushed by a grandchild that deleted a part of a program (how I never figured out) and it was just fortunate that I have a month old backup on a separate drive. It has made me paranoid ever since. This periodical checking makes me feel better and occasionally reveals something that sets the light bulb in my head off like a beacon. I have also developed a paper for each of my contacts. I copy the e-mails between us and hold them under the last name in a "Family Research File". My memory ain't what it used to be and I always had trouble with it anyway, so these e-mail copies are necessary when someone mails back a year later asking if I uncovered anything new. I would have no idea without the mailings kept, but want my e-mail file restrained within reason. So tell us all what you are doing. Diane

Hello Diane, Believe it or not, it's very chilly and yucky here in my part of California, too. We have the heater set at 71 and I'm still bundled up in my fleece lounge/pajamas with a robe on top. I usually do genealogy every day... snopping around and finding new info. I have a tribalpages website. They back it up for me and it only costs about $29 a year, I think. You can get a free one, too, and I slowly upgraded it, so I'd have more space. Everything I have is there, so all I have to do is look when someone wants something. Luckily, I like to type; it relaxes me. If you'd like to take a look, it's http://osman.tribalpages.com I usually get a hit from someone now and then and that's the most fun for me! ~Blessings, Bev ----- Original Message ----- From: "Diane Nichols" <150atf@salsgiver.com> To: <paallegh@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 5:13 PM Subject: [ALL] winter days > Hi Listers, > > > > The list has been kind of quiet. Since the winter days are keeping a lot > of > us at home between necessary visits to work, school and grocery stores, > what > is everyone doing for genealogical fun? > > > > I have been going over my paper files, checking that all my notes are on > my > computer somewhere. And I don't mean my on-line family tree, but in > family > files on my hard drive that I can back up. Those of us who depend on > Ancestry, etc for on-line research may forget an occasional census record, > military record or a possible date or name we need to confirm. It's so > easy > to download it and forget to make a copy. > > > > I have had multiple computer crashes because of an accidental button > pushed > by a grandchild that deleted a part of a program (how I never figured out) > and it was just fortunate that I have a month old backup on a separate > drive. It has made me paranoid ever since. This periodical checking > makes > me feel better and occasionally reveals something that sets the light bulb > in my head off like a beacon. > > > > I have also developed a paper for each of my contacts. I copy the e-mails > between us and hold them under the last name in a "Family Research File". > My memory ain't what it used to be and I always had trouble with it > anyway, > so these e-mail copies are necessary when someone mails back a year later > asking if I uncovered anything new. I would have no idea without the > mailings kept, but want my e-mail file restrained within reason. > > > > So tell us all what you are doing. > > > > Diane > > > > > > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > > Visit our Allegheny County, PA Website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~paallegh/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PAALLEGH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi group: You can find external usb hard drives of various sizes very cheap these days. You should try to find one the same size, or larger, as your built in drive. I picked up a 320gB Maxtor One Touch drive for about $80 two years ago. It can be set up to automatically back up your entire hard drive periodically. I set mine for weekly. Once my drive is backed up, I wait until I shut down the computer, I then disconnect the back up drive and unplug the power and usb connection, which prevents damage from a lightning strike. About once a week I plug it back in, at which time it notices it missed a backup and automatically does the latest backup. Larry