Genealogy Chat

I have learnt this lesson the hard way this weekend. My 7 year old computer, (with no CD RW) gave up the ghost and burnt out power source. .......Result no more family tree, no e-mail contacts or correspondence , no more old family photos etc etc. To say I was distraught is putting it mildly!! All those hours of painstaking work. Luckily some data on the hard drive may be retrievable at a cost, but I urge you to please back up your work and regularly too. I will not be making this mistake again!!

It can't be repeated too often. Although I back up onto a second computer, a very cheap option is a memory stick: just copy 'My documents' onto it once a week. I bought a 1 Gb stick for £23 from Comet over the weekend. That will not normally include e-mails but you can get an e-mail backup programme which will regularly copy the files to 'My documents' so that when you back up they will be included.

Now I am going to sound really thick but this is something I have been dreading happening to me, I just dont know what I should do.... I have a CD RW so does that mean I can copy files etc. onto discs?? If anyone could sort of point me in the right direction I would be very grateful. Shaz x

Shaz Yes you can (and MUST !)

Thank you Brian.... I will have a go at this and see how I get on!! Shaz x

I agree DO, DO, DO, back up. Our hard drive went last year and we lost everything, fortunately I did have a few old bits on floppys, and I keep a hard copy of my family history, but it took ages to retype it on our pc when got put a second hand old hard drive in as a temporary measure. And of course I lost all those emails containing extra info and the addresses. Got our new pc now and have been busy redoing my family tree maker, and keeping it backed up with a memory stick, the 128mb is only £9.99 in Argos, and I'm keeping it just for Family History. Got the 256mb one for £11.99 and that's for the rest of the stuff. I'll have to see if I can work out how to copy the emails to it, but so far haven't managed to. Josie

Well I'm a bit useless with this sort of stuff and keep meaning to ask my older kids. I'm starting college next month and will be doing IT as part of the course and planned on finding out there but its sods law that something will happen and I'll be kicking myself so I am going to bite the bullet and have a go... where do I start is the question..lol

Re emails can you not create a folder 'family tree' on your email account? thats where i keep mine so if my hard drive ever goes bang then i can still see my old emails. Penny

Yes I know all about this.....my computer crash about a month ago....but....I was a good girl.....my tree, photos, everything of important was already backed up on my stick....the secret is to ALWAYS put your stick in, whenever you use your family tree, and you will have no worries.....I also lost my favourties Grrrrrr, but I didn't lose my emails, they aren't stored on the computer, so you should be able to read then on any computer, even if yours crashes.......use your stick is the secret.....lol......Lilly

You could use the files and settings transfer wizard or, if you have an additional hard drive (external or internal) chances are it came with back up software.

Incidentally, if yopu are running XP Pro it has a back-up utility built in. XP Home edition does include a utility on the original disk: 1. Insert your Windows CD into the drive 2. If it doesn't autorun go to My Computer and double click the CD icon which will take you to the Welcome screen. 3. Select Perform Additional Tasks. 4. Click Browse this CD. 5. In Windows Explorer, double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup. 6. Double click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility. The on-screen instructions should be straightforward.

Errol I have XP Home Edition...

as a after though, if you are flat broke, why not open up a h*tm*il account, there is an inbox storage of 250 MB, and there in a increased attachment box of 10MB.......Lilly

Shaz, if you follow the instructions above you should be able to install the back-up utility. If you get stuck give me a shout - I'll be popping in and out this evening.

Tikal All is not lost if it's only the power supply that's failed. Provided the hard drive is still working you (or someone that knows what they are doing <g>) can install it as a slave drive in another computer. I stress that they need to know what they are doing. Usually the drive has a label with the necessary setup info on it. Otherwise the info. can usually be found on the web. J

Thankyou Errol.... I may have to shout..lol

John and Tikal Have you considered just replacing the power supply (often referred to as a PSU)? It is a relatively easy task and means you don't have to transfer your hard drive. Units cost about £25 upwards depending on what type you require. If you feel confident taking the case off, then the unit is easy to identify - it is a metal box with a fan in it and, of course, the socket for the power cable. If you unbolt it you can take it to your local shop for a replacement.

Margaret - plug the memory stick into your USB socket and merely drag files across onto it or copy and paste. When you drag, if there is a little plus sign next to the file then you are copying rather than moving. You can do all this from My Computer.

Smart thinking (for a sheep) Errol. Taking the PSU to a computer shop will ensure you get enough power leads with the correct plugs on. J

Thanks Tikal - you reminded me haven't done a back up for a while!!