Genealogy Year-End Backups

Genealogy Year-End Backups

Because I can't remember the things I think I can remember I keep a steno pad notebook for note taking. At the bottom of each page I write a label for the page and the date I used the page.

Today, 7 Jan 2018, I created a page for recording my RootsMagic Backup. My goal was to accomplish year-end (seven days late) backup of my genealogy files.

The RootsMagic program maintains a list of the last ten genealogy files I accessed on my C: hard drive.  A prudent backup strategy demands backing up to media external to the computer itself.

RootsMagic Steps

• I ran the RootsMagic Backup Tools on each of the ten genealogy files to insure file integrity. 

• I backed up each of the ten files to my laptop hard drive to create a backup with today's date.

• I deleted all but the last three backups of each file from the hard drive, to free up hard drive space.

External Backups

• I copied the ten latest backups to my genealogy thumb drive (with the green happy face sticker).

• I copied the ten latest backups to my 30GB Dell external hard drive.

• I uploaded the ten latest backups to my Box account cloud storage. 

Storage Used

I used Properties to check how much available storage remains on the thumb drive, the external drive and the Box account. There was plenty of space left, so I didn't consider deleting old backup files from those three media.

Storage Strategy

The end result of this backup strategy is I have four backups of the ten genealogy files I'm actively accessing, three reside in our house and one is in the cloud.

Dick Henthorn
7 Jan 2018