Genealogy Chat

After a heart stopping moment this morning when I thought all my data had gone I rushed out bought a memory stick.......I didn't really know what I needed and the man in the shop said a 256MB would be fine........ Will that be enought or should I have got something bigger? A complete novice here as you can tell. Linda

Hi Linda From my experience, that will be more than enough. I think memory sticks are a wonderful invention. Patricia

Linda, a 256mb stick will be fine. I have a 512mb stick for my family tree, currently using 60% of the memory with 11 gedcoms (a full gedcom, a gr one and one for trible pages puls gedcoms that i've been sent for checking.), loads of photos, scans of certificates and census images PLUS some journal articals for uni.

Thanks a lot, I just want mine for my Tree so I will have lots of room by the sounds of it Linda

Thanks to all of you for reminding me that I should be saving my research on to a memory stick. I went and bought one today, as I have done a lot of work on Tribal pages. Excuse me please, if I sound like the proverbial village idiot, but someone just give me instructions on how to ise this contraption. Thanking you all in advance.

Scuse me for being thick but what is 'Trible Pages' and how do you save your TREE to a stick or hard drive!! Derek

That should be ample capacity. I sent this to Linda earlier and you may find it useful: ok I''m assuming you are using Windows XP. If that is the case simply plug the memory stick into an available USB port and give the computer time to recognise it. Once installed it should appear under My Computer which you access from the Start menu (or you may have an icon for My Computer on your desktop). To copy files onto it open the document and from the File menu at the top left select 'Save As'. A box will open and at the top there is a drop down menu called 'Save in'. On that menu you should now be able to find your memory stick - it will probably be listed as something like 'Removable Disk (E:)' or similar. Select it and you can now save the selected document to your memory stick. Alternatively, you can use the drag and drop method. To do this, open My Computer so that you can see the memory stick (again, it will be called 'Removable Disk (E:)' or similar), then point at the file in question, press and hold the left mouse button, drag the file over to your memory stick and release the button. It may take a few attempts to get used to this method. Whenever using the drag and drop method, if you hold down the Ctrl key (bottom left of keyboard) it will copy the file rather than move it so this method is often recommended if you wish to keep the original on your computer and use the memory stick purely for copies - just remember to update them regularly. To open a file on the memory stick, you can either do it from the File menu, selecting Open and navigating to it under the drop down 'Look in' menu or by opening My Computer, double clicking on your memory stick and then double clicking on the file you wish to open.

Hi Christine Plug your new memory stick in your pc''s USB port and wait till it configures its self,ie it will say new hardware detected please wait.Then you should get a pop up saying your device is ready for use. I assume your operating system is windows XP . If using windows 98 ,you may have to install separate drivers, but if using XP then your pc will do it for you. Once your stick is ready for use. From the GR home page click import/export tree. Then click on export. your tree on GR will be emailed to your address where your GR mail is sent to you.It some times can take an hour. Open the message and you should see an attachment that is called your family tree gedcom file.Right click this attachment and save target as- - ,select your new memory stick from the list and ok. Thats it - your tree is saved to the stick as a gedcom file. I generally save my tree to the stick once a week, you can rename the file as a date if you wish so that you know which file is the current one. If you have any tree building software in your pc( I use ancestry''s family tree builder) it should be able to read a ged com file .How ever you would have to save it to your hard drive first by clicking my computer, click your new memory stick, right click on the gedcom file,then copy . open my documents or any other place you wish to store the gedcom in your pc and then click paste. Your tree is now saved into your hard drive aswell as the stick. If you then open it , it should open up with the tree building program in your pc if you have any. Is that clear as mud. Simon

Thanks Errol, No problems on using stick etc I use it all the time but my problem (should have explained better) is where is my Family Tree located? is it a file on my Hard Drive or is it on this web site only? If web site there is no Save option or do you mean the Gedcom file? regards Derek

Simon - there is absolutely no need to copy from the memory stick to the hard drive - you can open a file directly from the memory stick. However, I recommend that you work purely from your hard drive and use the memory stick just for back-up purposes - say once a week or more often if you make major changes to the file in question. Derek - yes the Gedcom file.

Hi Errol May be I have a glitch in my pc because I tried to open from the stick and It would not let me. Thanks for this ,I know then that it is possible and I will try and sort it. Simon

Derek - I think that Linda & the others are talking about saving their trees that are stored on their PC's, i.e. that have been generated by family tree software such as FTM. If you want to save your GR tree to a memory stick, then you need to first download your GR data as a Gedcom. To do this, click on ''Import/Export tree'' then ''Export gedcom''. Your data will then be sent to your email address in Gedcom format. Once the email arrives, open it and save the attachment to your memory stick. If you are using the GR tree to generate and store your data, then you most certainly should back up your data in this way on a regular basis. This is from GR's terms and conditions: ''We will not be liable to you or any third party for any loss not reasonably foreseeable by us when this agreement commences, for any indirect or consequential loss or damage, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, profit, revenue or business, howsoever caused (whether arising out of any negligence or breach of these terms and conditions or otherwise).'' So GR explicitly disclaims any responsibility for your data. If this site goes and you haven't got a backup, then all your hard work is lost. Cheers, Richard

Thanks Errol, My total misunderstanding!! Time to relax the brain, off to bed. nite! Derek

Thanks Richard, Already saving gedcom to stick, total misunderstanding on my part. cheers Derek

great idea, heart stopping moment has already occurred with the worst results. thanks for the tip yvette

I would just like to thank everyone for their help in using the memory stick. It appears to have transferred to the stick, but I have not tried to open it yet. For Derek, Tribalpages(.).com is another family tree site which was recommended to me. It is a great site, although solitary. I like Genes because you can communicate with a lot of helpful people. However, I do find Tribalpages easy to use, lots of pictures and narrative can be added to put meat on the bones of your ancestors. It would be disaster for me if I lost it. A special thank you to Simon and Patricia who have pm'd me.

And don't forget, back up regularly. Especially if you update, add or amend your tree or file. It is no good backing up today then adding 100 new names in the next two weeks. Your backup will become 'out of date' with each addition/amendment you make to your file, so backup regularly and after any major changes to your programmes. Glen

Saving for me...Got the stick but not used it yet!

i need this info so i'm adding my name so i can check back,,,,moe

nudge for later