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Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: ankerdine on Monday 28 July 14 21:46 BST (UK)
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I wanted to transfer my family history information from Genes Reunited to Find My Past so I uploaded my Gedcom from one to another.
At first glance I noticed that lots of ancestors who should be dead are "living" having been born in 2014.
Is there a link to a previous thread on this query>
Judy
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That's weird!
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Not only weird but annoying! I'll have to go through the 1200 or so names and check their births.
Judy
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It is VERY weird and VERY annoying. And extremely frustrating when I discovered the reason. The problem has been caused not by the FindMyPast import, but the Genes export, and originates from when a previous developer introduced two fields for storing date of birth and death. One for year and the other for date. Some people add the year ONLY to the year field, some people split, and some do both and even some people enter DIFFERENT year values between the two fields, e.g. year of birth 1879 and date of birth 5 Oct 1875. So it gets very confusing. The current GEDCOM export on Genes uses the date field. I am currently in the process of testing a new GEDCOM export on Genes which will do its best to get the complete date from using the information entered in both fields and will include other missing information added into your Genes tree. This should hopefully be available in the next few weeks. With regard to transferring your tree from Genes to FindMyPast, don't worry as you will be able to transfer it again after the new GEDCOM export is in place.
Phil (Technical Lead - Findmypast/Genes Reunited Family Tree Team)
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Hi Paul
Welcome to Rootschat ;D
I must say, it's very brave of you sticking your head above the parapet - answering the question on one hand and displaying your job desciption on the other.
This topic has been read over 100 times so there must be some interest in it and maybe more will find their way here as internet search engines pick up the topics here very quickly.
Dawn
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Welcome from me, too! ;D
And thanks for the honesty!
As an IT professional myself, I really appreciate your honesty in telling us how this happened.
It's far easier for us to understand, rather than a fobbed-off excuse, or complete silence!
Thank you, very much! ;D ;D
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Phil, are your responses/opinions here going to be 'official ones' or, as on Genes, will they be 'your own personal ones'?
Just asking, as I know that on Genes, you have a 'disclaimer' added to your signature line. If needs be, you can add a 'signature line' here on rootschat too.
And I agree with KGarrard really appreciate your honesty in telling us how this happened.
It's far easier for us to understand, rather than a fobbed-off excuse, or complete silence!
....would that more were so brave.
ps
dawnsh.... methinks an edit to the name you welcomed Phil with might be needed ;)
Posted by: dawnsh « on: Today at 08:13 »
Hi Paul
Welcome to Rootschat ;D
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The question and indeed Phil's reply show why researchers should compile their "trees" on their computer at home before uploading to any on line site.
If one compiles the tree on ones own computer control stays at home.
It is much like any step in family history the researcher always makes the final decision.
I am not saying one should not upload trees to on line sites, there are advantages in doing so but please make sure you have the master copy of your work in an environment controlled by you rather than someone else (and make back ups).
Cheers
Guy
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Thanks for the welcomes. For those familiar with my posts of old on Genes Reunited, I will always be honest and as helpful as best I can. And do my best to correct code errors where I'm able and capable of helping. And the opinions will also always be my personal ones, just like my blog. I leave official opinions to others.
I do agree with the advice on keeping copies of your personal data in different places. But remember your home PC can crash. My own laptop failed miserably about 12 months ago, and I lost everything that was on it at the time. Fortunately my family tree data had been backed up elsewhere!
Where you do most of your work should be your primary location, and for me that was always the desktop apps, but I also stored copies on Genes and Ancestry. I now use Findmypast for my primary source, mainly because I'm 100% comfortable with its safety (I wrote much of the system and I manage it on a daily basis), but also I find the interface more clear. [but it can still be improved!] I still have copies all over the place for hints, sharing, etc., and with the release of export, and improvements to import, I am also happier to move things about. My aim of the GEDCOM work was to try and capture 100% of data going in and out. Quite a challenge as every system deals with data in slightly different ways. The only advice I give is just don't forget where you put your tree, and I (personally) also recommend keeping the tree "private", and letting users contact you for access.
Hope the advice helps.
Phil Moir
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snip
I do agree with the advice on keeping copies of your personal data in different places. But remember your home PC can crash. My own laptop failed miserably about 12 months ago, and I lost everything that was on it at the time. Fortunately my family tree data had been backed up elsewhere!
snip
Hope the advice helps.
Phil Moir
One very simple way of adding an extra layer of protection for ones files is to backup daily/weekly/monthly (whatever suites your style of working) on to a plug in hard drive.
Keep this hard drive disconnected from the computer unless you want to back up or recover the data.
This helps to protect the data from a system crash that affects the installed drives.
It may also be used to share data pictures etc. with relatives when visiting.
Cheers
Guy
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Guy - I used to back up regularly to a large hard drive connected to my husband's PC, but my husband thought it would be easier if I had a smaller hard drive plugged into my lap top that backs up continuously. Are you saying I shouldn't have it permanently plugged in, but just do a back up weekly?
Liz
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If that suits you then fine.
I don't like automatic back ups as backups can and do get corrupted sometimes and unless checked one could be storing a load of rubbish.
More than one person has attempted to restore a file from a back up only to find it doesn't work.
I prefer a manual back ups but my regime may sound too fussy for some.
Cheers
Guy
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I personally wouldn't rely on a single external hard drive because, as with any hard drive, they can fail. OK there is really only a small chance you could lose your external hard drive at the same time as your desktop/laptop hard drive, but it is possible. I tend to use two and alternate which one is used for a manual backup, neither are left connected permanently to the laptop though, but that is just my personal choice. I managed to kill an external hard drive a few years ago when I inadvertently knocked it when it was copying files off a previous laptop. It fell over and bent the controller head so the hard drive was unusable so I lost what was on it.
Obviously, anyone's backup solution is their choice but its worth remembering that hard drives, as with USB memory sticks, can die just as easily as an internal hard drive and with the price of external drives not that high these days, it may be worth investing in a second one to alternate backups. I would personally purchase a different model and/or make to an existing one just in case there is a fault with the particular model, but then perhaps I'm a little to paranoid about these things. ;D That said, although I alternate backups to different external hard drives, I probably don't backup as often as I should. :-\
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Thank you all for your responses, especially Paul.
Not being too IT literate I'll wait and see what develops.
Been away so that's was the reason for not dropping in before.
Judy