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READERS' FEEDBACK: 30 October
2006
-- External hard drives for backup
-- Converting VHS tapes to DVD
-- .pdf conversions
-- DNA & finding the parents
-- African American website
-- Paper copies
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EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES FOR BACKUP
From: Tom
Re:
DearMYRTLE,
I also like that idea of using external hard drives with USB connections. Since
the price has come down I have purchased two external hard drives with 250
gigabytes of capacity and taking some good advice will dedicate one of them to
be only used to back up my files and not used for any other reason. This should
lengthen the life of the hard drives as daily use can subject them to failure.
For some programs I'm using flash drives with USB connections.
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CONVERTING VHS TAPES TO DVD
From:
NHBigRed@aol.com
DearMYRTLE,
In issue 19 you mentioned saving your Dad's VHS tapes to DVDs to preserve them.
Good idea but don't throw away those tapes as you can make another DVD copy if
the first copy goes bad for some reason. The DVDs are not as permanent as we
might think. We have mentioned all the reasons that they go bad and what we
have to do before so will not go into that again. And for those who use anything
but a VHS tape to DVD machine - when you get done copying the tapes be sure and
*FINALIZE* the DVD as it will be useless on another DVD player if that is not
done. We learn the hard way sometimes. Seems like it is harder to do than
taping was.
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.PDF CONVERSIONS
From: Sharon Gorohoff
DearMYRTLE,
Just a note regarding the question you answered from Bernard Frink regarding
converting PDF files. I purchased a program by ScanSoft called "PDF Converter"
over a year ago (version 3.. They now have version 4 which will take a saved PDF
file and convert it to Microsoft Office documents, (which are then editable!)
This program can view, edit & create custom PDF documents, if needed, and is
compatible with (but does not require) Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The new version (4) is sold at CompUSA
(among other stores which carry software) for about $50.00. Check it out to see
if it might be useful, I don't use all of the features, but I have used it to
print and edit my "book" created with FamilyTreeMaker, and find that it worked
well for me.
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DNA & FINDING THE PARENTS
From: Max Blankfeld [mailto:max@familytreedna.com]
DearMYRTLE,
I read today about "DNA and finding the parents" in your web site.
Family Tree DNA is the largest company in the world for genetic genealogy
purposes. Because of that, we also have by far the largest databases that allow
people that have tested to find matches. We have over 115,000 records in our
databases, which is 3 times as much as the other labs combined. For example, in
your column the person is saying "I have hit a brick wall searching for my
husband's grandfather, William James TAYLOR". Our database has 241 Taylor that
have tested with us and we also have a surname project for the Taylor family,
which tries to do exactly what this person is looking for, going beyond the
brick wall.
I would love if you could post this information in
your page. By the way, we are the DNA testing company that
Ancestry.com is affiliated with, and we also do the tests for
the public participation of the National Geographic's Genographic Project.
Here's our latest press-release:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-12
-2006/0004450409&EDATE=
Max Blankfeld
http://www.FamilyTreeDNA.com
"History Unearthed Daily"
max@familytreedna.com
713-868-1438
NOTE FROM MYRT: I've continued to write back and forth with Max. Ol' Myrt is
recording an interview with FamilyTreeDNA founder Bennett Greenspan later this
week for release in next week's DearMYRTLE's FAMILY HISTORY HOUR podcast. Should
be interesting.
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AFRICAN AMERICAN WEBSITE
From:
Margmcdo@aol.com
Re: LDS Church launches African American Resource Site
DearMYRTLE,
Your email on African American Resources came at the right time. However, the
first <web> address you listed tells me that the page is not there. The one at
the bottom of the page is fine and I have copied it. However, the family I am
working on starts much before the Civil War, 1816/1817. Do you have any
suggestions?
NOTE FROM MYRT: Some of the most well-regarded experts in African American
Research spoke at the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society's recent
conference. As the FamilySearch.org web page explains, the audio/video copies of their presentations will be available at
their new African American Resources page:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/default.asp?page=home/welcome/site_resources.asp
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PAPER COPIES
From:
CJK1043@aol.com
DearMYRTLE,
There is nothing like old-fashioned paper records keep in notebooks. Put them in
[archivally safe] plastic sleeves. Of course, the side effect is we get buried
in paper. <smile>
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Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
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