If You Get A Strange E-mail From Me ...

If anyone has received a strange email from me, I apologize. My yahoo e-mail account was hacked earlier today. At the moment, I guess I'll have to ask people to not contact me through my yahoo email. I have changed my password, but I do not know what else I need to do.  Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

Data Back-Up Day: My Experience with Data Loss

As you may of may not remember, about nine months ago, I experienced a major loss in my genealogy data when I had a problem with my flash drive, and a few months before that incident, I experienced another close call with data loss when my computer crashed. So, I am no stranger to experiencing data loss.

So, what have I done since my two experiences with data loss? Well, I have burned CDs of my photos and school work that were on my flash drives, in addition to keeping the files on my flash drives. I have also burned family history information on to CDs. To prevent any data loss that might occur as a result of a computer crash, I have also backed up my files on my laptop, and I have burned the files of my most important applications and drivers onto three CDs. In short, I've made sure that I've backed up my data onto CDs so that I have a back-up in case I experience something similar to has already happened. I think I have done as much as I can, but I do appreciate any further advice on how to protect my data from loss. Thanks.

No! Ancestry's New Search Is Worse ...

I just happened to notice The Ancestry Insider's post on Ancestry discontinuing their old search and switching to the new search. At the moment, I personally believe the new search is inferior to the old search. When I was looking through the free newspapers last week, I noticed that new search would not eliminate any newspapers, even if I specified the name of a state in the keyword section. I would still get too many irrelevant matches. Obviously, it was frustrating for me to have to try to sort through everything that the new search brought up, and in the end I had to switch back to the old search. With the old search, it was easier for me to narrow down the number of matches since I could specify the state that I wanted. I could not do that with the new search.

I did try the new search once before the historical newspaper database was available, and again, I was not impressed with the new search. I still had the same problem with the new search as I did when I looked through the newspaper database. Even if I had specified a state for an ancestor, the new search still brought up similar names for other states. It seemed as though it did not matter whether I narrowed down the search; I still got too many irrelevant matches.

I personally believe that if Ancestry were to switch over to the new search today, it would be a mistake. The new search is much worse than the old one, and I think many genealogists would be upset with a search engine that was worse than the old one. Many customers would be dissatisfied with Ancestry, and would feel as though they were getting less for their money. (Ancestry subscriptions are expensive enough already.) Besides, I don't understand why Ancestry needs to change the old search. The old search seems to do a fairly decent job. Unless the new search is improved and made to be better than the old search, there is no point in changing the search. Why fix something that's not broke, and why replace it with something much worse and much inferior to the old one?

Another Lesson Learned the Hard Way ...

As you might have remembered, in March, I posted an article on the importance making sure that one backs up his or her information after my computer crashed. Well, I'm really embarrassed to mention this, but I did not completely learn my lesson the first. No, my computer did not crash this time. Instead, my genealogy information was accidentally erased from the flash drive I had it on yesterday. I was trying to fix a problem with my flash drive, and everything on the drive was completely erased. So, now, I'm going to have to reinstall the family tree maker and re-enter all of the information that I have been working on for the past four years. Plus, I'll have to rescan some pictures that I did not add to my other flash drive the last time. Oh, well. I will definitely, though, make sure I back-up the information on to another device or program after I redo everything. If you have information on a flash drive, make sure you back it up on something else so that you do not have to redo work.

Technology Lessons Learned ...

Yesterday, I happened to read one of the quick tips on Ancestry's blog. Of course, I did not read this article without a little bitterness? Why? Well, my computer crashed yesterday afternoon. I did not lose any files except for a few computer programs, but the worst part about this incident was that my computer was new. (I just got this laptop for Christmas.) I'm not sure what exactly caused the crash, but I was finally able to fix it after 8 and half hours. Unfortunately, I had not backed my computer up, so I could not use the roll back option on my computer. (Actually there are two different back-up programs on my computer: one with windows and the other with the company that made the laptop.) So, what did I have to do? I had to go back to the factory settings of my computer and reset it. Needless to say, after fixing my computer, I backed it up.

So, what did I learn? Well, always back-up your computer, even if it is new. I hadn't backed up my laptop because it was new, and that was my mistake. It could have been worse for me. I did not lose files because I already keep my school work and other files on flash drives, so I did not lose those. (Of course, it is always a good idea to back up those files to a CD.) So, please learn from my mistake and to take the time to back up your computer.

More on Genealogy Tech ...

A couple of days ago, FootnoteMaven left a question on my recent Carnival of Genealogy post asking about backing up files that are on flash drives. To be honest, when I wrote the post, I didn't think about the possibility for the failure of a flash drive. I have backed up photos on my flash drives to CDs in the past, and it is probably a very good idea to create CDs that back up one's files. Of course, I also keep paper copies of my research in case of a failure. I think it is a good idea to keep in mind, though, that flash drives can fail. Speaking of losing files, I almost thought I lost some of my files on one of my flash drives recently. Needless to say, I did a back up of those files in case something did happen.

Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The carnival of genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next carnival is on writing a tribute to a women who has influenced your life.

Some Useful Technology For Genealogy?

"What technology do you most rely on for your genealogy and family history research?" Well, that happens to be the question for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, and I'll confess, it is not a question that I can easily answer. I could only choose three items, one each from the categories of hardware, software and website. So, which three items did I choose? Here's my choices:

Hardware: For the hardware category, I would have to say that a ubs 2.0 flash drive has been one of the items I have relied the most on. (I couldn't choose my computer.) I have a flash drive that I use to store my genealogy software and family tree. Of course, I must state that this flash drive is also password protected. I would not put my family tree on a flash drive that did not have a password-protected component to it. There are many different ubs drives out there at different prices and storage capacities. The flash drive that I use for my genealogy has 256 MB of space on it. I keep my genealogy files and genealogy software on this flash drive. (I must state that I have other flash drives that I use for school.)

Software: For the software category, I would have to nominate the genealogy program that I use. I use Family Trees Quick and Easy, version 5. How did I come to choose this program? Well, a few years ago, my college's bookstore was selling some computer programs for five dollars or less, and I happened to notice that one of the programs was a family tree program. Since I already knew what the price for other family trees programs were being sold at, I bought the program because it was such a bargain. Even though I have tried some other free and demo versions of family trees, I have never been impressed by those programs. I like the program that I use, and I am happy with the program.

Website: For me, this category was the most difficult for me to make a decision. For the moment, I think I'll have to go with Rootsweb's message boards. As there are many different categories and topics for queries, I think many novice genealogist could find a lot of information on how to do genealogy research or where to find records. (I had a hard time coming up with this answer as there are many websites and blogs that I visit, and this was best I could do at the moment.)

So there are my three choices. Do you agree or disagree with me? As always you can leave a comment.

Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The latest edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next carnival is on technology. What hardware, software and website do you use primarily in your research?