I fully understand what you are saying about the need for not instructing Legacy users on basic Windows operations. That's partly why I used the words "rudimentary" and "very simple statement" in my post. But I guess Legacy has to draw the line somewhere otherwise the Help files get overly complicated. The only other point that I would make is that since users can easily use Windows to create the same backups of Legacy but for some reason the programmers thought it necessary to move the creation of ZIP files as a function within Legacy. It's in that regard, that I thought a brief mention of their use might be helpful. Otherwise, be prepared for this same questions being posted on this LUG every so often about how many, how long, how to delete, etc.
We kind of agree and disagree at the same time. I guess the programming priorities are definitely elsewhere at this time as they should be. Brian in CA -----Original Message----- From: Brian/Support [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 3:03 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Backup files from Legacy Family Tree I do not feel that Legacy should, in its Help Topics, try to instruct users on basic Windows or computer usage topics. Making a backup/recovery plan for all your computer data, including Legacy files is a general computer user topic. No one plan of retention will meet everyone's needs. Our help files stress the importance of having and making regular backups and I feel that is sufficient. Part of the backup and recovery planning process should consider all the risks to your data and include a plan for immediate recovery after a computer crash (most recent backup from each work session), longer term recovery from historical copies of older backups if it is determined that a previously unsuspected problem has resulted in corrupted data (an import that created multiple duplicate records or an incorrect merge which deleted someone who should have been retained and corrupted the data on the retained person) and catastrophic recovery in the event of a house fire or natural disaster that makes all locally held copies unavailable by storing regular backups off site. Other considerations are where and on what media backups are stored. Backups on a hard drive (or any media) which has failed are no longer backups they are lost data or can only be recovered by expensive data recovery services. Off site storage could be as simple as a copy on CD, Memory stick or DVD in a safety deposit box or as complex as multiple internet-based storage options like One Drive, Dropbox, Carbonite etc. Brian Customer Support Millennia Corporation [email protected] http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com On 21/05/2015 1:25 PM, Brian L. Lightfoot wrote: > The answer all depends upon just how comfortable you feel with one, two, six, > or any other number of these backup ZIP files. It seems a common number to > keep is somewhere around the number 6. I would add that technically only one > is really needed but you never know where a Legacy file might have become > corrupt thus it’s possible that your only one backup could contain a > corrupted family file. And your next question should be just how often one > should backup. The answer should be every time you add data and then exit the > program. If you are working in Legacy for several hours, it might be a good > idea to create a backup every hour or so. > > I know this question and answer seems rudimentary for many users but > the Legacy Help file fails to address this. Unless I’m missing > something, I wish the Help file would make a very simple statement > concerning keeping these ZIP files plus mention the fact that these > extra backups can be deleted by using Windows Explorer. (Help 8-1257 : > 31115) > > Brian in CA > > From: P. Rickert [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 9:56 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [LegacyUG] Backup files from Legacy Family Tree > > Hello, > > I am subscribed to this mailing list, but I have asked questions before and > was told I could not post, and no one has told me why. > > Anyway my question is; Do I need to keep all the zip files that get backed up > when I exit Legacy FT? > > Penny Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://support.legacyfamilytree.com Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
