A Backup Reminder

Wikimedia Commons contributors, "File:Burned laptop secumem 11.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Burned_laptop_secumem_11.jpg&oldid=1072269636 (accessed August 27, 2025).

When was the last time you backed up your important genealogy and family history related information stored on your computer?

• Was it today?
• Possibly yesterday?
• Hopefully last week?
• A month ago?
• Can't remember?
• Never? 

If you have been actively working on your genealogy research and you also store the information on your computer, I'm really hoping it was one of the first three options.

In my case, I have over 120 GB of genealogy related information and, of course, a lot of personal information that I don't want to lose in the case of a disaster or an act of stupidity¹.

There are a number of ways out there to make sure your own data is protected from loss and each have their own pluses and minuses. I'm not going to go into the details about the various ways to back up your information. But I will share what I do to safeguard what I have saved on my computer. 

First of all, no matter how you do your backup, it important that your backed up information is placed somewhere other than where it came from. For example, I use Legacy Family Tree for my genealogy database on my desktop computer. It has a built-in backup system that I use. However, instead of saving that backup to the same hard disk where my database is, I send it to a folder on Dropbox. That folder is actually somewhere out in the Internet on servers maintained by Dropbox.

Second, try to have your backups stored in more than one place. It could be in the cloud, on an external hard disk, on USB memory sticks, or another computer.

Finally, do your backups on a regular basis. 

Since I am a Windows user, I can't speak to the options that Mac users have.

So, how do I backup up my important data?

I use two programs, both have free versions for home or non-commercial users:

1. SyncBackFree by 2BrightSparks.
2. Paragon Backup & Recovery Community Edition by Paragon Software.

In SyncBackFree, I have created several backup tasks that I can quickly and easily click to backup my genealogy information. 

• The first backup task I have within SyncBackFree is to copy the information to Google Drive. I spend about $50 CDN a year to get 200 GB of storage space on Google Drive. I generally use this task after a busy day or two of research since I don't want to have to redo my research again. Much like with Dropbox, this backup is stored somewhere out on the Internet on servers owned and maintained by Google.
• The other task I have within SyncBackFree is to mirror my genealogy files to a USB memory stick. I actually have two USB memory sticks² that I rotate between. I try to do this every week or so depending the amount of research I've been doing. I keep the USB memory sticks on my desk so that I can quickly grab them if I have to suddenly leave my home in case of natural disaster or fire. I really don't want to lose 20+ years of research! I also use these USB memory sticks to copy my genealogy information from my desktop to my laptop. 

The difference between what I send to Google Drive and what is placed on the USB memory sticks, it that my Google Drive backup generally only holds my genealogy database and the directories of the images of the records I've downloaded. That's about 80 GB of files. What is stored on my USB memory sticks is all that plus the other folders that are important but not critical for my genealogy research.

Once a month I also backup my whole computer to an external hard disk using the Paragon Backup & Recovery software. This hard disk is only connected to my computer when I'm doing a backup. That way, if I ever get attacked by ransomware that encrypts my desktop's hard disk, they can't get to that external hard disk and those backups. To make sure I do this backup on a regular basis, I have set up a calendar task for the first of every month to remind me to do it.

Great, I now have the information backed up — I hope!

But I've been burned in the past when it comes to backups where I though the information was being safeguarded on magnetic tape (yes, I'm that old) but it turned out I was dreadfully wrong. It turned out that tape had a crinkle on the edge and I couldn't restore information from it. Now, at least once a year, I also attempt to restore a file or two from a backup I've created with Paragon Backup & Recovery. Aside from making sure the data is being backed up, it also refreshes my poor brain on how to do a restore when I'm not in a panic³.

I don't really have to do the same for the backups I've created with SyncBackFree since that software just copies the files to where I tell it. That means I can drag and drop those backed up files from my Google Drive or USB memory stick to my computer without too much thinking⁴.

 

There are all kinds of options for backing up your important information. There are programs out there that automagically copy your information to the cloud or to connected external hard disks without you having to do anything. You set it up and it does it's job. You can also save all your work to the cloud by default using OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. and not have any data solely on your laptop, tablet, or desktop system.

As an aside, why don't I just use the built-in Windows backup since it is free? For a long time, before Windows 11, I did. But I found the version on Windows 11 just didn't give me the flexibility that I wanted. So, I looked at a number of programs and Paragon Backup & Restore had the features (and price) that fit my needs.

 

Yes, I can be a bit paranoid when it comes to backing up my computer. But that's from over 30 years of working in IT and getting burned when the backups didn't work.

All I ask from you is to... 

Back up your information now!

 

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1. Yes, I have foolishly, although accidentally, deleted a whole directory of genealogy data and then emptied the recycle bin. Thank goodness for having backups!
2. I have a third USB memory stick on standby for when one of the other USB memory sticks finally dies at the most inopportune time.
3. And you are always in a panic when trying to restore files that you may have just lost.
4. I do have to remember that I want to copy and not move the files though.