Genealogy Organization?

Ronny Dorge: > if it was okay to save my files and notes electronically? If not, why?Yes, if you back up to CD or Zip disk or thumb drive as religiously as you brush your teeth, AND put every 4th copy of the backup somewhere it will survive if your house burns down. The two best places are in your desk at work, if you have an office, or with your best neighbor - someone you borrow a cup of sugar from on occasion. Your safe deposit box is a perfect place, but it takes longer.I put my 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the back of the house, figuring if the front burns but the back doesn't, I'll lose my computer but not the data.Once a month on other bulletin boards I see someone whose hard drive failed (they all do, in time) and lost 1, 5, 10 years of work.The best tip I can give - use the "source" option for every fact. I tend to put it on the individual, not the fact, but I use it. One of my fellow warm, witty, well-read and devilishly handsome top 10 has a saying; "Genealogy without s! ources is mythology". Sources prove you are not making things up and help you, if you stop on one line for a while, then pick it up again, to know how you got the data....Show more

Mitchell Pickens: I have several boxes and bookshelves for hard copy, which is generally in a state of disarray, just like my bookmarks on my computer browser. I really need to get the old family photos and 19th Century documents into a fire-safe.Most of my database and documentation are on my computer. I am not worried about losing it, because after a scary crash I signed up to http://www.carbonite.com and have found the $50 a year to be worth the insurance. My back-ups are always current.Chances are you'll be working with both hard copy and electronic data: keeping organized is a royal pain, depending upon your personality, but it's got to be done. Some other tips are found at http://www.familysearch.org , http://www.tedpack.org , and the subscription sites. Local libraries usually have b! ooks about how to do genealogy. It's all about methodology, wi! th a bit of CSI work thrown in.My only tips are: Keep your computer stuff & genealogy programs on your own computer, don't rely on "on-line" only software, join a local genealogy society, and hit up http:www.books.google.com for free pdf downloads of historical books so that you can zero in on the history of the people you are researching.Oh---and other people's trees are only as valid as their source citations.Have a blast....Show more

Noah Deni: I've already scanned some birth and death certificates. And I have joined all of those except for rootsweb.

Gerardo Greist: Of course you can save records electronically but as you go along you will accumulate birth certificates, death certificate, marriage certificates, pension records, etc. You will need to file these.I assume you have genealogy software. If not, get it.Have you joined ancestry.com? Have you searched rootsweb.com? (Be sure to subscribe to some of their mailing lists.) familysearch.org?...Show mo! re

Raelene Cunnick: Having records electronically makes things very handy, but it is good to have a paper copy available. You never know when something will go haywire with that electronic device called a computer.