Backup & Restore - how to backup Legacy 7.5 files

Backing Up a Family File in Legacy Family Tree 7.5

It is very important that you make regular backup copies of your family files as you work on them. All computers eventually fail in one way or another. Sometimes the hard drives fail, sometimes the memory goes bad, sometimes the motherboard goes out. And we have had users loose family files in hurricanes, house fires and other disasters. When one of these things happens, you will be very happy if you have a current backup of your important files or you will feel terrible if you don't). This goes for all of the information that you keep on your computer, not just your family files. Make regular backup copies of anything that you don't want to lose.

If not already done, we recommend that you set your Legacy options to automatically prompt for backups each time you exit the program. Here’s how:

1. Click Options on the menu bar and select Customize from the options menu.

2. At the Customize screen, click on the Other tab.

3. Next click the Turn on or off Optional Reminder Messages button, then select the Prompts/Reminders tab and check mark the box to Automatically Prompt for Backup.  Close the screen and click the Save button.

Now each time you quit the Legacy program, you will see a message asking if you want to backup the family file(s) you had open. Just click the Backup button and the process will start.
The data-type files are backed up in one file and the multimedia files are backed up in a second file. These files have a .zip extension.

To backup a Legacy 7.5 Legacy Family File:

1. Choose Backup Family File... from the File menu or choose to backup up when prompted as you exit Legacy. The Backup Family File dialog appears.

3. Check mark Data Files. There are several files that are used to record what you are doing in Legacy.  Other files that are created when needed are:

• Legacy Family File (data) - This is the file with the .fdb extension and it is your primary file is all-important. There is one of these for every family file you have created.

• Research Guidance result files - These are created when you ask Legacy to show you where to search next for more information.

• Relationships - These are the relationships created by selecting Tools > Set Relationships.

• Clipboard files - These are to-do, event, and source entries that you have copied to their respective clipboards.

• Focus Group settings - These are groups that you have created for reports, searches, and exports.

Select the file types that you would like to include in your backup by putting a check (or removing the check) in the box to the left.

3. Next click the Select Name and Location for Data Backup button and choose where you would like to create the backup file and what you would like to name it. We recommend that you indicate in the name of the file that it contains the Data from your family file, as opposed to the multimedia. Including the date of the backup is also helpful. For example, "Anderson Family Legacy Data, 12 Dec 2013"  In the example below, the Sample family file is being backed up to a Cruzer USB flash drive. Legacy uses a standard Windows screen for selecting the backup location, which in the above example is Computer > Cruzer (H:). If you do not know how to navigate to the place where you want your family file saved, please Click Here.

The backup file can be put on your hard drive, an external USB hard drive, a flash drive (memory stick)* or even a rewritable CD disk. (If you create a copy on your hard drive, you should copy it to a CD or transfer a copy to a different computer or upload it to an Internet backup service, or in some other way get a copy off of your computer. Sending a copy to a family member or close friend is also a good way to make sure that you will have access to it if your computer goes down.) * Memory sticks are good short-term uses like transferring files from one computer to another but are not recommended for long-term storage.

When done, click Save. The screen will close and you will be returned to the Backup Family File Screen. Note: This only saves the information about the name for your backup file and where it will be created. It does not do the actual backing up at this point. That does not happen until the last step. You can see at a glance the currently set path (location) and the Data backup file name in this screen.

4. You will then be prompted about setting the location for your Media backup to the same location as your family file. Click Yes. Also check mark Media Files.