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!

 

---

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.

 

Don't Be That Fool!

Backup Reminder

A Laughing Fool. Netherlandish oil painting
(possibly Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen) ca. 1500.
[Public Domain Image.]

Even though it is April Fools' Day, don't you be that fool. Take the time today to back up all your valuable, and in some cases, irreplaceable genealogy and family history data.

A few possible ways to make copies of your electronic information include:

• copying to cloud storage such as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Apple iDrive, Dropbox, etc.
• synchronizing to an offsite backup provider like Carbonite, Backblaze, CrashPlan, Mozy, etc.
• backing up to an external hard disk
• copying to USB Memory sticks

If possible, ensure that one of your backup processes¹ includes sending the information to someone outside of your home just in case the disaster that leads you to need to recover the data also damaged your home or place of business. This could be as simple as making a copy on a USB stick and giving it to a friend or family member.

Don't forget to make sure that you test out the process you use to restore that information from your backup. It doesn't help you if you have a backup and no way to get the data back to your computer.

As for those that do all their work on paper, what is your backup plan? Have you photocopied all of your work and given it to someone outside of your home?

---

1. Yes, processes. You should be using at least 2 different types of backups with preferably at least one stored offsite.

Easy Backups to USB Flash Drive

Backup Reminder

USB Flash Drive

I periodically get asked how I do my backups on my Microsoft Windows 10 based system¹. Besides doing a monthly backup of my computer to an externally connected hard drive I also do a periodic backup of only my genealogy information to a USB memory stick/thumb drive/flash drive. Today's post will cover just how I do that copying to the USB flash drive.

Now I could easily just copy and paste the contents of my genealogy folder to the flash drive. I actually used to do that when I only had a small amount of information to copy. However, I now have over 57 GB² of various images, digitized books, and other related files in my genealogy folder. Some of that information I don't need or want to have backed up since it can be very easily recreated from the original sources³. That still leaves about 49 GB of information to be backed up. If I manually copied all the files I want backed up it would take several hours. Instead I use a free program called SyncBackFree by 2BrightSparks to handle my backups to the USB flash drive.

Why SyncBackFree? First of all, it is free. When on a tight budget, free is often a good thing. Secondly, it doesn't use some fancy proprietary format for storing the backup in. The files on my USB flash drive can be accessed from any modern Windows (maybe even Mac) computer just like any other file. This is a great benefit when it comes to recovering the files after a disaster since all I have to do is copy the genealogy folder on my USB flash drive to my computer's hard disk.

Screen capture of SyncBackFree profiles

As you can see I have two profiles created to do my backups. I have two profiles since I have two USB flash drives that I use to hold the backups and I rotate between the drives. Each USB flash drive has been assigned a specific drive letter⁴. That way I have two different backups available that were taken at different times.

So what does one of these profiles look like?

Screen capture of SyncBackFree profile for creating a mirror backup

As you might have noticed in the screen capture of my profile list, I actually am not making a backup of my genealogy folder but I am mirroring the contents of the folder to my USB flash drive.

Mirroring? What the heck is that?

In a backup, you often have a copy of all the files that you ever had starting from a specific point in time. In a mirror, it is only what exists when you make the copy. For the purposes of my genealogy only backup to the USB flash drive, I just want a snapshot of what I have now. Since I have two USB flash drives that I rotate through, I do have one older copy I can easily access if need be.

I have also only specific sub-folders selected when it does the mirror copy of my genealogy folder. These are often folders that don't change very often or can be recreated from other sources. These excluded folders are backed up when I do my full backup of my computer each month.

Screen capture of SyncBackFree profile File & Folder Selection screen

With how I've defined my profile in SyncBackFree it usually only takes minutes to make a mirror copy of my genealogy folder since only changes are sent to the USB flash drive.

I don't have this kind of backup running automatically. However, anytime I make a large number of changes or additions to my master database I make a backup of my genealogy directory. Sometimes I make a copy of my genealogy folder just because I haven't run a backup for several days. For me, it is as simple as connecting the USB flash drive to my computer, checking to see which drive letter it is, selecting the correct profile, and clicking Run. SyncBackFree will even tell me it there were problems doing the backup.

Remember, this isn't the only way to backup your information. Find the tools and methods that work for you. Just make sure that you do your backups on a regular basis!

---

1. Sorry Mac users, I don't have a solution for you. I've been a Windows user for way too many years.
2. Yes, 57 gigabytes of information.
3. My Family Tree Maker sub-folder is my backup of my Ancestry data. I don't use Family Tree Maker to enter information into my tree since I use Legacy Family Tree as my master database but I want to backup the information I have put onto my Ancestry cousin-bait tree.
4. See https://www.howtogeek.com/96298/assign-a-static-drive-letter-to-a-usb-drive-in-windows-7/ for how to do this.

Reminder - Backups and Disasters

Backup

Backup

Backup

Power Outage map for part of Ottawa retrieved 23 Sep 2018 14h45.

As some of you might be aware, on Friday, September 21st, 2018, the Ottawa region was hit with not just one but two tornadoes so this post really hits home for me. I was lucky enough to not be on the path of the twisters but the winds and rains around me were intense. However, I live in one of the areas in Ottawa that were the hardest hit by the power outage and without electricity or running water (no power, no working pumps in my building to get the water up 20+ floors) I had to leave my place and take shelter with family.

I know we all make backups of our important digital information¹ but have you ever thought about if you can get to that information after a disaster whether it be flood, fire, power outage, or a combination thereof?

Here are a few suggestions...

1. Backup and backup often.

2. Store at least one backup some distance from where you live. Some possible ideas include:
- Give it to a fellow genealogist to hold for you
- Give it to a family member
- Put it in a safety deposit box
- Save it to an Internet cloud service

3. Test your backups. Do you know how to get the information back on to your old or new computer?


I do #1 and #3 often but I seem to constantly fail on #2. However, over the next week or so I plan to rectify that situation!


This reminder just doesn't apply to copies of your digital data. For those with binders of genealogical and family history information have you thought about how to protect and preserve your information when disaster strikes?

Backup

Backup

Backup

---

1. You do, don't you? If not, stop reading this right now and make a backup! Really, do it now!

Backing Up What is Important

It is the first of the month and I wonder, have you backed up your valuable genealogy (and also personal) information?

PHOTO CREDIT: Roman Czarny ,"White Kettle Droping Water on Silver Laptop Computer"; posted at Pexels ("https://www.pexels.com/photo/laptop-guide-computer-levitation-74039/ : downloaded 3 Feb 2017); used under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) License.

I'm not just talking about the information on your computer where you might have pictures and electronic copies of documents that you have spent numerous hours finding and saving.

If you are someone that prefers keeping all your information in binders on shelves (or on the floor) of your home what is your backup strategy? Keep in mind that natural and human created disasters can happen at any time. Fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes happen all the time around the world.

• Have you recently, like in the past year, made photocopies of the pages in those binders and sent those copies to another family member for safe keeping?
• Have you digitized those one-of-a-kind photographs and saved the resulting image files somewhere other than your home computer?

At least with using binders, computer viruses and other malicious software can't destroy your years of research work. If you are someone like me that saves their almost exclusively in the computer, when was the last time you backed up those files? Are those backups kept in the same house as the computer?

Here is the strategy I try to use for backing up my computer files:

• Any time I make a large number of updates to my tree or at the end of a day of research:
• I backup the changes to a 64 GB USB memory stick¹ using the free version of 2BrightSparks' SyncBackFree. With a few clicks any changes are updated on the memory stick and it only takes a few minutes. I have two USB memory sticks are rotate between for my quick backups.
• I also use the backup option in my genealogy software, in my case Legacy Family Tree, to create a backup of my database. This automatically is saved in my free Dropbox account.
• Once a month I backup all the personal information on my computer to an external hard disk. That drive is not connected to my computer unless I am doing a backup.
• Periodically, but never often enough, I take one of my USB memory sticks to the bank and store it in my safety deposit box.

Since I also use Ancestry for cousin bait and automated searching I backup my trees stored on Ancestry just in case. Even though I use Legacy Family Tree for my primary database I have purchased Family Tree Maker so I can synchronize the Ancestry copy of my family tree and related documents to my home computer.

---

1. Yes I have over 32 GB of genealogy related files including digital copies of out of copyright books.

February Backup Reminder

Each week I read in the various genealogy related groups on Facebook another tale of woe from someone that has lost all their research due to a computer crash. My first reaction, although I never post it, is where the heck is your backup?

Just like you should always wear a seat belt when riding in a car then, along the same lines, you should always make backups of the information stored in your computer. In both cases those actions won't prevent a crash but the recovery time will hopefully be lessened.

Over a year ago I wrote several posts about the various backups methods that you can use. If you aren't making backups of your valuable genealogical and personal information on your computer then take the time to read the posts and put into place a backup plan. Those articles are:

• Backups - Part I (An Overview) 
• Backups - Part II (Local backups) 
• Backups - Part III (Cloud Storage) 
• Backups - Part IV (Wrap up)

Don't be the next victim of lost genealogy data!

Backup Now!

"Burned harddisk secumem 03" by secumem is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

September Backup Reminder

For those in the Northern Hemisphere either the children are already back to school after a fun summer or they will be going back in the next several days. So maybe you will have a little bit of time to yourself to make sure you have all your valuable genealogy (and other information) backed up.

photograph by Gino, distributed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license

If you are using a computer to record all that information see my posts below for tips on how you can make backups:

Backups - Part I (An Overview)
Backups - Part II (Local backups)
Backups - Part III (Cloud Storage) 
Backups - Part IV (Wrap up)

But for those not using a computer to record and track all your various genealogy records what are you doing about all your shelves of work that you have painstakingly gathered over the many years? How are you making sure they aren't lost due to some sort of disaster? It would be awful to lose a wall of binders and books to a fire, flood, tornado or hurricane.

photograph by Ada Be, distributed under CC BY 2.0 license

It is something to think about. How do you back up binders? I look forward to your comments.

Summer Days and Backups

BACK UP YOUR DATA!

Just a friendly reminder that even during these relaxing summer months it is still important to make backups of your valuable genealogical (and other) information that you have saved to your computer.

There are various ways to make those backups and I've written about them before in a 4 part series:

Backups - Part I (An Overview)
Backups - Part II (Local backups)
Backups - Part III (Cloud Storage)
Backups - Part IV (Wrap up)

Backups - Part IV (Wrap up)

In "Backups - Part II (Local backups)" and "Backups - Part III (Cloud Storage)" I wrote about two places where you can store the backups of your irreplaceable genealogy data. Today, as a wrap up, I have some simple tips that will make your life easier when it comes to protecting your information.

1. Backup before making any changes.

Before you make changes to the information in your genealogy software or do mass changes to files make a backup of that information. Each genealogy software package comes with the option to backup the information in a separate file ... make use of it.

2. Backup after making changes.

In this case I'm talking about when you've spent hours researching and entering in the information found. Before you head off to bed make a backup.

3. Verify your backups.

You have religiously backed up your information but is it really backed up? Try periodically restoring a file or two from your backup. In addition to making sure that the information is backed up you will also learn how to do a restore. It is much easier and less stressful to recover your lost data when you aren't trying to figure out how to restore the information for the very first time.

4. You can never have enough backups.

The one time you need to restore your information is the time you find out that your last (and only) backup had failed. So backup your information using different ways. Save it to local media AND also to a cloud-based service. Two copies are always better than one.

5. Keep copies of your backups outside of your home.

Natural disasters do strike. So keep a copy of your backed up information somewhere other than beside your computer. A bank's safety deposit box is a great place to keep it safe.

6. Make doing backups a habit.

Remind yourself to do backups by putting a repeating task or event into your calender. If you use Google Calendar have it send you a reminder by e-mail or SMS. In my case I back up my whole computer on the first of the month. If I've made a number of changes to my tree I back it up and synchronize it to my folders on Dropbox.

Murphy's Law usually comes into play when it comes to backups. The time you don't do a backup is when you have a computer failure or some sort of disaster occurs. So the final tip is ...

Backup   Backup   Backup

Backups - Part III (Cloud Storage)

In "Backups - Part II (Local Backups)" I wrote about backing up your valuable and irreplaceable genealogy data to local storage media like USB flash drives. In today's post I will touch upon saving a copy of your information out in the Internet AKA "cloud".

Whereas with local storage once you have bought the media you own it but with cloud-based storage you might have to pay on-going fees. Additionally, high-speed Internet is highly recommended since trying to send a gigabyte of information over dial-up might just take a little while. The other drawback with cloud storage is you might not be able to get to your backed up information when you want to. It might be that your Internet provider is having problems or the file hosting service is not available due to a failure.

There are a number of places out on the Internet where you can easily save a backup of your information. For a long list of file hosting services I refer you to the "Comparison of file hosting services" on Wikipedia. Below are three of the better known known services.

Dropbox

Dropbox provides you initially with 2 GB of free storage but you can easily increase that to 18 GB via referrals of friends (500 MB per) or by following Dropbox on social media. You can purchase 100 GB of space for $99. The nice thing about Dropbox is that, in addition to web access, they support a large number of clients for desktops, laptops and smart phones.

Google Drive

Google Drive comes with 15 GB of free storage and you can buy 100 GB of space for $60. In addition to file storage the space is used for your Google Docs, Google+ photos and Gmail. Like Dropbox there are a number of ways to access your information ... from the web to using clients on your desktop, laptop or mobile device.

Microsoft SkyDrive

Microsoft's SkyDrive has 7 GB of free space and for $50 you can purchase 100 GB of space. If you already have Windows 8.1 you have Microsoft SkyDrive and, much like the other two, there are clients for Windows, Mac, and mobile devices.

Backups - Part II (Local backups)

Way back in December I posted "Backups - Part I (An Overview)" as a reminder as to why you should do periodic backups of your valuable information. In reference to this blog, I will be considering your valuable information to be all that genealogical data that you have accumulated over many years of research.

There are two places you can store your backed up information, either locally or out on the Internet or "cloud".

When I say locally I mean on some sort of media you can actually put your hands on whether it be magnetic tape, CD/DVD, USB flash drive (AKA memory sticks) or an external hard disk. The advantage with local storage is that once you have bought it you own it and don't have to keep paying for the usage. The big disadvantage with local back up storage is that if you keep it in the same location as your data there is a chance it may be lost in a natural or man-made disaster (fire, flood, earthquake, etc.). You can mitigate that risk of loss by keeping your backup media somewhere off site. This is where the physical size of the USB flash drive is so useful. It is small enough to fit in a bank's safety deposit box or to give to a friend for safe storage. Today's USB flash drives are inexpensive and can easily store up to 64 GB of information.

As to how to back up that information onto local backup storage you can use built in backup software (eg. Windows Backup), copying data via your file manager (Windows Explorer), or via third party software. In my case, I use a wonderful product called SyncBackFree to copy any changes to files (added, deleted, or modified) to my USB flash drives. It is quick and simple to use and, even better, it is free.

Just make it a habit to back up your information on a regular basis.

Backups - Part I (An Overview)

You have just spent the past two days working hard on your family tree and it is late at night. Do you a) go to bed or b) back up your work then go to bed? If you answered 'b' then I'm already preaching to the choir but for the rest of you you might want to read on.

We've all heard the warnings and think it will never happen to us so we keep putting it off until it is too late.What am I talking about?

Backups

Making a back up of all your hard work is like having an insurance policy. You really hope you don't need it but if something bad happens it is such a wonderful feeling to know you are covered. A back up can be as simple as copying your files to a USB memory stick or dropping those same files into a folder on Dropbox (as an example one of many Internet based storage sites).

No matter how you do it at least back up all your important files, genealogy and others, at least once a month. Personally I backup the information on my desktop and laptop to an external hard disk on the first of the month. Also, after a day's work of research I will make a copy of all my genealogy files to a USB thumb drive.

So set up a reminder in your calendar to do a back up. If your genealogy software has a reminder function, put it in there also. Even better, if your genealogy software can automatically backup your database then set it to do so when you shut it down for the night.

But for your sake and sanity please:

BACK UP YOUR DATA