Nearly all the things I would have said about using flash drives has been
pretty well covered by all the posters. I would add a few items from
experience.
I use my flash drive extensively for general purposes. Quick and easy
transport and transferal. They are so useful that they are banned in
certain "sensitive" facilities (National Security and other confidential
private data areas.) I like to keep that drive "clean" - nothing remains
of permanent importance. Then my laptop died - either the power supply or
the controller for the fan malfunctioned - the fan comes on and runs for two
seconds, then stops. So the hard drive overheated and although only 10% of
the drive got fried, it was the boot sector that got hit. This happened
the day before the evening I was planning on backing up my Legacy work up to
that point onto an external drive. So I had to re-enter about eighty
individuals fresh - after I got a replacement desktop. Grrr. Although
by that time I'd practiced enough that I had a feel for efficient entering
and use of consistent formatting, use of Notes, Events and Sources. Better
to start fresh anyway, rather than tracking "re-do's." (I thought 80 was
a lot then - 1830 gets me nearly complete (No one knows where "Susy Hill
(1763-1831)" came from.) Now to add the pictures, etc.
The laptop drive is easily replaceable, but unless I fix the fan problem, no
point in toasting another drive. But if I do get it working again - or
replaced, I would consider using a separate flash drive dedicated solely to
Legacy work. And a separate "general purpose" flash drive for
non-Legacy work. Label them - name and a phone number (I use my work
phone - if I lose it, I want it back, but I don't necessarily want the
finder to know where I live - same as with car and house keys - don't want
the finder to know what lock they go to.) Mark one "Legacy" or "Family"
or some such. Maybe pick a distinctive style so they don't get confused.
I expect makers to get fancy with their cases - fashion patterns and such.
(I saw one advertised in the shape of a thumb - some call these 'thumb
drives.")
I also use external drives extensively. I have an enormous number of
photos - digital camera and video camcorder - and I'm slowly digitizing all
my (fifty+) years of photography. So I need/use at least 100 Gig and 150
Gig Externals. If I had any money, I'd get several more - their prices
are much better this year than in the past. Some have 500 Gig - I think I
even saw a Terra drive. - I'd rather have five separate 100 Gig "not all
eggs in one basket." Power, plugs and cords - I got more cords and wires
than I can worry about - lots and lots of power strips.
Absent a dedicated Legacy flash drive, I use an external drive to save away
the .fdb files. And periodic burning to CDs or DVDs to store off-site.
Flash drive for taking PDFs to a facility with a laser printer (my ink jet
cartridges are too expensive and the ink is not waterproof.)
If the smaller capacity flash drives become cheap enough, writing the
database and every possible Report, Chart, etc. customized for each
particular relative could be a nice birthday, anniversary, wedding, reunion,
etc. gift. They keep what they want, complain about corrections/errors -
and can re-use the drive for whatever.
Regards,
Wm. Hathaway
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Bashford" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <LegacyUserGroup@legacyfamilytree.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Transfer files between computers. (a caution)
None of this will be of any help if your house burns down or gets hit by a
tornado. No matter how many copies you have IN the house, you'll be out
of luck.
Buy an extra flash drive ... back up to that at least once a month ... and
get it out of the house. Take it to the office ... leave it at a friend's
house a few miles away ... put it in a safe deposit box ... etc ... etc.
Bob
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