Jay, The maximum size that an Access database can handle is 2 GB. The closer you get to this size, the slower the database will run. 19,000 names shouldn't even be close to that size - I have one file on my computer with 19,785 individuals and it's only 35 MB - unless you have a *lot* of notes, events, sources, etc in that file. One of our beta testers has over 150,000 names in his file and runs it on WinME!
The best way to handle a file when you're importing lots of other files into it is to merge after each one. Of course, that suggestion doesn't help you now! That will make the file smaller as you go along rather than having one humoungous file that you need to pare down. Other suggestions are: Run File > File Maintenance > Check/Repair on the file (this could take a long time for a file of your size) or just run File > File Maintenance > Compact Family File. The check/repair compacts but also does a lot of other things. Just compacting might help. Make sure no other programs are running when you're working in the huge file. Shut down as much as you possibly can. Do a fresh reboot before doing the merge, shut down other programs that load on start-up without opening them and then go into Legacy to work on the file. Make sure you have plenty of RAM - you might even want to upgrade to 1 GB - to help speed things along. Also, you want to have a lot of free hard drive space so Windows can expand the swap file as needed (you should have Windows set to manage the swap file rather than set a limit on it) How many other files you have on the computer, Legacy or otherwise, has no bearing on how a particular Legacy Family File works within the program. Thanks for using Legacy. Sherry Customer Support Millennia Corporation [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com We are changing the world of genealogy! When replying to this message, please include all previous correspondence. Thanks. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jay L. Snider Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 1:27 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [LegacyUG] Largte Files After four years of downloading GEDCOM files off of the Internet, I now have at least sixty Legacy Files, on my home computer. The average file contains a little over 19,000 names. The biggest is 1.7 GB in size. These files are the consolidation of a multitude of many little files. So naturally, there is a lot of duplicate names and data in them. Last night, I was working on a consolidated legacy file of 15,000 names. So I clicked on the merge button, and them clicked on the find duplicates button, and my system froze up on me. I guess the file was too big for Legacy to process, or there is an accumulation of too many legacy files on my computer. I bought this Legacy software because I really like it auto merge function. I also have a hobby of searching the Internet for genealogical information, for my family, friends and neighbors. I thought the Legacy software would be a help to me in getting rid of duplicate names, so I can boil a big file down to a small file. At this point, I'm frustrated, disappointed and angry at Legacy. All total, my collection of names on Legacy files is about 2.3 GB. I believe that my computer should be able to handle the load. Its a Pentium 4 (1.3 GH) with 512 MB ram and 250 GB on the hard drive. Can anybody out there please tell me how to get Legacy to do its job, or provide me with a solution to this problem? I'm desperate. How small or big can a Legacy file be and still have the auto-merge function work as it should? Does anybody know? If I can't get this problem resolved soon, then I will have to start looking for another genealogy software package. Does anybody have any idea's about which software package that might be. I really need something with an auto-merge function that I can have trust and confidence it, and let my computer run all night long if need be. How do all the genealogy software packages on the market compare with Legacy in the auto-merge function only. Are there any out there that can do as good a job or better at auto-merging as Legacy? If so, what are they and can they handle files with over 19,000 names? I feel like this is one of those times when it's better to be more accurate, than fast. Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
