Backing-Up Family Files

Each day individuals spend a major amount of time working on the Family History and/or Genealogy, some perhaps as often as time will allow. At the end of the day Ancestral Quest is closed down and it is often assumed that all will be there tomorrow or the next time you open that particular program.

Unfortunately it isn't always so. Individuals around the world have turned on their computers only to find that there has been a hard disk failure. This is a scary situation as we rely on computers as a storage place of valuable data including our ancestral families, photos and documents.

To add to this dilema, the multiple digital devices used on a daily basis to store pictures of family and friends at different gatherings, perhaps photos of tombstones from visiting the cemetery and a host of other media is stored on a large variety devices.

Without a schedule or a regular habit, years of research can be gone in moment. 

Currently the back-up process requires an individual to go to "File" and click on "Backup" as follows:

At this point you'll have to decide where to save it to. It is advisable to store backups on an external drive and/or a USB Flash Drive, this way you'll be able to have your data, etc. 

On the top right side, click the down arrow to expand your choices of where to save your backup file. I have an external drive so have chosen this as my backup location. Once you select the location, you click on "Backup" and it is complete. This is the message you will receive:

This completes your backup of your family file data. If you have multiple family files, it is suggested you do this to each of them. It is recommended to do a backup each time you finish using the program. If you do a backup once a week and have to resort to going back to that particular date, then all you have done since then would be lost if you had problem with your computer.

This simple backup can save your years of research!

Remember Ancestral Quest is fully FamilySearch Certified!

Comments and questions are always welcome!

Happy Ancestraling...Claire ;)

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