Lost Genealogy Files

+6 votes
309 views
In the process of having computer repairs I have lost all my genealogy files.  They were on Family Seach and were thousands!!!! Grrr!.  Where would I start to re-do all of them ?
in Genealogy Help by Christine Smith G2G Crew (990 points)
They were on the FamilySearch website?
You can also call Family Search (# on website) when you cannot access your files on their site. They will help you with sign-in, password, etc.
It is sometimes possible to retrieve files from a crashed hard drive. There are companies that do this … it used to be an expensive endeavor, without guarantee of success.

Best of luck.

8 Answers

+9 votes
 
Best answer
If they were on FamilySearch, just log on to that website.  FS doesn't delete profiles just because you have had a compute malfunction.
by Living Kelts G2G6 Pilot (545k points)
selected by Leila Keller
Thanks for the star, Leila.
+5 votes
Thankyou  I am trying now.

Also Familly Tree Maker ?  What chance to find them?

Christine
by Christine Smith G2G Crew (990 points)
Family Tree Maker should be synced to your Ancestry dot com tree, IF you have an Ancestry account. That's the way I have my FTM set up. It syncs both directions. I sync it every time I add 15 or 20 people (or sometimes more often, just in case) so that it is always available to restore. See my answer below about backups.

Just as an aside... your profile shows your gender as male, in case you aren't.

Wishing you good luck on your data recovery.
+4 votes
Thanks to all.  My main files were on Family Tree Maker and it's too late for that.

Can anyone suggest which program would be best to start again as I believe I could pick up enough to get going from here and from Family Search and also from Wiki Tree ?
by Christine Smith G2G Crew (990 points)
You might consider a desk top genealogy program that will synchronize FamilySearch. Options include Ancestral Quest, Legacy (not completely sure about this), and RootsMagic (version 7 did, and version 8 just came out; I assume the functionality was maintained).
+7 votes
Also, backup, backup, backup. Please consider something as simple and inexpensive as an external hard drive connected to one of your USB ports. Windows 10 has a backup program included. It also keeps the Windows 7 version (which I prefer). Not trying to sell one but I have a Western Digital Mybook 6T external drive for my backup drive. I think I paid about $120 for it 4 years ago.
by Luther Brown G2G6 Pilot (545k points)
+5 votes
Maybe people haven't thought of this, but for about $128 a year, you can get 2 terabytes of space on Dropbox. (There are other services that do the same thing.) You can install their app on your computer, and it will automatically sync your files.

So, you can have a complete automatic backup of your hard drive for about $10 a month. If you use a MAC, Apple does it for 99 cents a month.
by Paul Schmehl G2G6 Pilot (147k points)
Google Drive is about the same price ($9.99) which is where a lot of my stuff is saved for the purpose of portability.

I also kept my 1TB hard drive when I replaced it with a 1TB solid disk. I bought an inexpensive SATA USB-C enclosure for the hard drive and use that for my backup drive.

I use Google Drive when I sync them all, so essentially I have a hard backup and a cloud backup of my high speed drive.
+3 votes
I'm confused about what these files are.  Do you have profiles of all those people on Wikitree?  Do they have citations to Family Search sources?  Do they have trees on Family Search?  Then the documents are there.  I never download a document or file from Family Search.  If Family Search disappears tomorrow, I might be sorry, but that will take an EMP, so as long as North Korea behaves, it can all stay there.
by J. Crook G2G6 Pilot (226k points)
Thankyou for your answer.  I have lost all of my Family Tree Maker files and I must now seek to find all my genealogy from my hard copy and perhaps from here.
+5 votes
Christine,             I am Deanna Tucker. Bill Tuckers daughter and granddaughter of Dena and Spot. I have quite a bit of research on the Tucker side of the family if you need to know anything I will be glad to help.    Deanna
by Deanna Tucker G2G3 (3.1k points)
That’s what this is about… we’re all family!
Thankyou so much Deanna, and Matthew.  Once I decide on which program to get (desktop) - any input welcomed by the way.

I will certainly be asking Deanna.  Much appreciated.

Christine
+4 votes
Situations like this is why I made the decision to put all of my genealogy information online and in WikiTree. I know that doesn't help you now, but I hope that you're working towards that goal too.
by Eric Weddington G2G6 Pilot (514k points)

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