gedcom files.....

gordie · Post by **gordie** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:42 pm

Hi Folks,
I'm at present inputing information on my family tree into Legacy. I have a lot of stuff on Genesreunited and the site tells me I can export it as a Gedcom File to Legacy.This would save me a lot of typing, particularly as I'm a bit hamfisted in that department. Has anybody tried exporting from GR to Legacy and if so what are the pitfalls?. I'm a bit reluctant to try it at the moment as a few weeks ago I managed to wipe out my whole tree on GR while trying to correct an incorrect entry (don't ask) and had to rebuild it from hard copy,hence the desire to have the family tree in my wee electronic box instead of in cyberspace.
All the Best,
Gordie

Post by **Ina** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 4:03 am

Only advice I can give you is always make a backup copy before you make a GEDCOM. I've copied a GEDCOM into my Family Tree Maker program with no problems.

Good luck.

Ina

gordie · Post by **gordie** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 9:29 pm

Hi Ina,
thanks for the advice.
Gordie

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:09 am

Hello Gordie

I dont think you should have any problems importing the .Ged file.
I had to do the very same thing on Saturday after frying my HDD.
In my case the only sad fact is that it was an old copy, so I have a bit of work to do to get it back up to date. (I use Legacy).

gordie · Post by **gordie** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:12 pm

Hi Stewie,
Thanks for that, I feel a bit more confident now so I'll give it a go.
Gordie

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:28 pm

Geordie

Once you have everything on your own 'put make a new GEDCOM, - several copies, - and take one to work, or a neighbour's house, or just somewhere different.

And before you do anything else, check that the GEDCOM file can be imported back into whatever software is involved. (Set up a new directory in whcih to try this with blank data files.) Great to have one out there somewhere in cyberspace, but will that site be about in 5 years

Don't want to sound cynical, but

.....................

David

gordie · Post by **gordie** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:33 pm

Hi David,
A man after my own heart, belt and braces and bit of rope spare just in case. Yes you can't be too careful I tend to back up everything important and then back that up just in case and then I wonder about that as well.
Thanks for that.
All the Best,
Gordie

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:55 pm

gordie wrote:Hi David,
A man after my own heart, belt and braces and bit of rope spare just in case. Yes you can't be too careful I tend to back up everything important and then back that up just in case and then I wonder about that as well.
Thanks for that.
All the Best,
Gordie

Based on experience on PCs back to my first encounter with an IBM PC in 1986, followed soon after by the purchase of an Amstrad 1512, - no hard disk, - just two 5.25 floppies, - I can still write a marvellous DOS batch file to create a virtual hard disk in memory, - and, until you have seen the speed of response of such a virtual HDD you wouldn't believe it.

Prior to that, my computing experience goes back to mainframes in the mid 1960s ..........

All leading to a belt and braces and beyond philosophy which

I cannot but confess I haven't always managed to implement to the required degree, - until recently that is, when I acquired for a reasonable price, two 80Gb external HDDs which come with "one touch" software, i.e. after the initial setup, one touch of the button on the 80Gb Maxtor drives, - one on my desktop setup, and one on my separate laptop setup, - regularly switched around, - and the whole HDD is backed up on an incremental basis, - and if ever the house had to be abandoned in a hurry, one of these HDDs would be grabbed on the way out, while a copy of one is with a neighbour !!

As far as my own tree is concerned, apart from regular backup to CD, this is also backed up by regular exchange with a number of cousins.

My whole backup philosophy is based on the reality that it's not a question of if a hard disk will go wrong, or when software will result in the dreaded white on blue fatal error message screen, but only a question of when, and I can give you a few examples over the last 20 years

David

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:08 am

Hello Davie

I also had a couple of copies at other sources, brother, sister, neice.

But as sods law would have it

, my neice had to reformat her computer earlier this year and I didnt know. My sisters comp is playing silly games and my neice thinks it has a virus. But I also realised that they too had the older version, as I had just recently added a number of long losts onto the file.

The Saturday my HDD fried, was the very day I was doing a file clean out, and was in the process of putting the new ged file on CD

Talk about sods law!!!!!

But I can bet you I am backing up with every additional entry I make to the new file. And is that taking some time!!!!!

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:53 am

StewL wrote:Hello Davie

I also had a couple of copies at other sources, brother, sister, neice.

But as sods law would have it , my neice had to reformat her computer earlier this year and I didnt know. My sisters comp is playing silly games and my neice thinks it has a virus. But I also realised that they too had the older version, as I had just recently added a number of long losts onto the file.

The Saturday my HDD fried, was the very day I was doing a file clean out, and was in the process of putting the new ged file on CD
Talk about sods law!!!!!

But I can bet you I am backing up with every additional entry I make to the new file. And is that taking some time!!!!!

Hi Stew

Sod's Law indeed, or, to run the risk of being judged to be guilty of being politically incorrect in terms of referring to the XXth appendix to Murphy's Law as applied to genealogy and family history research, which states "Whatever you do in terms of backups locally and remotely will ultimately be defeated by gremlins"

David