Digital Storage for Family Historians

Carole Riley

Digital Storagenew ways of storing information

Digital Storage

1. Digitise (Scan)2. Backup3. Synchronise4. Find

1. Why digitise?

Backups. If your house burned down, what would you lose?• Paper files• Documents• Photographs• Slides• Audio tapes, videos• Writing in progress

Why digitise?

Sharing.Don’t send originals• Paper files• Documents• Photographs• Slides• Audio tapes, videos

• Flatbed– Original documents– Photographs

• Document scanner– Photocopies– Lecture notes, etc

• FlipPal– Photographs– Postcards– Large documents

Scanners

Paper files

• Certificates • Photocopies of probate packets and other

original documents• Letters, diaries• Photographs• Albums

Paper files

• Research notes • Printouts and photocopies• Request slips• Interview notes• Lecture notes

Photographs (and slides)

• Scan and store originals

• Share copies

Photographs

• Size measured by pixels eg 1748x1160• Resolution measured by Dots Per Inch

- dpi• Absolute minimum 300dpi• Maximum determined by the size of

file you can handle

How to scan photographs

• Flatbed scanner, FlipPal• Scan as TIF if possible• Scan as JPG if necessary, then save as

Slide scanner

Plustek OpticFilm 8100, about $400

Kaiser Baas PhotoMaker, about $80

Photo editing

• Rotate image• Crop edges• Fix faded colour

• Always keep the original TIF as the ‘master’ and don’t touch it!

• Save copy as JPG for display• Save copy to edit (TIF or JPG)• Can edit JPG but will lose detail every time

Free photo editorsStitching• Microsoft ICE (google it) Online• PicMonkey http://www.picmonkey.com/• Pixlr Editor http://pixlr.com/editor/ Windows• FastStone Image Viewer http://www.faststone.org/ • Paint.NET http://www.getpaint.net/ Mac• iPhoto

Audio/video

• Audio cassettes, video cassettes• Transfer to digital format as soon as

possible!• Buy or rent equipment, or pay someone

eBay user ozauctionbroker$16.50, free postage!

2. Backup your computer

All computers eventually die.Usually it’s the hard drive, where all your information is stored.Be ready!

Photo: Flickr user Ultrahi

Backup 3 2 1

A real backup has at least:• 3 copies• 2 different formats – Hard drive, CDs, cloud storage

• 1 separate location– In a different building, in the cloud

The only real test is – can you restore from it?

Local storage

• External hard drives– Portable vs External

• CDs and DVDs• Flash drives short term only• Can’t rely on one format forever– Remember floppy disks?– CDs deteriorate or become corrupted– Hard drives die or become corrupted

• Must keep migrating to new technology

Online Backups

• Install a program on your computer• Most create a new folder on your

computer– Only files in that folder will be backed up

• Copies the files to a remote server – ‘the cloud’

• Many keep multiple versions• Prices coming down all the time

Online Backups

• Some backup to a schedule, eg daily• Some synchronise and save to the

cloud as you change the file• Watch your upload/download limit– Initial load may take days/weeks– Move a bit at a time– Do you have offpeak? Run at night, pause

during the day– Ask your internet service provider for a better

3. Synchronise

Instant copying of files• Up to the cloud – Dropbox– Google Drive– OneDrive– MozySync

• Down to additional computers• Accessible to tablets/phones (requires

internet connection)• To tablet/phone (selective) - Dropsync

Some examplesMozy MozySync Dropbox GDrive OneDrive Sugarsync

Free option No 2GB* 16GB** 15GB No

100GB US$9.99/m 125GB No $1.99/m $2/m $9.99/m

1000GB (1TB)

No $10.99/m $9.99/m $12/m*** No

Sync No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Dedicated folder

No Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Backup any folder

Yes No No No No Yes

* Add more by recommending to others, up to 16GB

** Storage shared with Gmail, Google+ Photos

*** 1TB each for up to 5 people in household, includes Office 365 for 5 computers and 5 tablets

4. Find

Hard drive• Folder structure• File naming

‘Note’ database Evernote, OneNote• Search by text or tag • Search within files• Search handwriting (not perfect!)• Search voice messages

My folder structure

!Family Surname• BDMs• Censuses• Correspondence• Directories• Electoral Rolls• Gazettes• Immigration

• Interviews• Land• Military Service• Newspapers• People• Probate

Evernote

• Take notes– Text, images, audio, video, attach files– Checklists, reminders

• Keep web pages and links• Store documents, pictures, PDFs, etc• Store emails (forward from Outlook, etc)• Organise into notebooks, categorise with

tags• Keep everything from everywhere!

Evernote

• Search– Within notebook– By tag– By text, handwriting (not perfect!)

• Synchronise– Windows/Mac– Tablets, phones

• Share– Individual notebooks

Family research

• Collect in one place– Notes (text, checklists, handwritten, scanned)– Websites– Emails from family researchers– Scanned documents

• Search across all types of records– Within documents, not just title (to 100 pages)– Text in photographs– By tag, text, saved searches– Within notebook or across all notebooks– Find name, place, type of record…

• Android or iPhone/iPad• Access notes when away from your

computer (needs internet connection)• Can selectively sync some notebooks

(Premium)• Take notes, photographs, scans, handwriting,

voice• ‘Share’ content from other apps to Evernote• ‘Document camera’

How I organise my notebooks

• To Do – things I need immediately – shopping lists, etc

• Business – Client notes, bank statements, etc• Documentation - receipts, bank statements,

insurance policies, etc• Family – one notebook per surname• Genealogy – notes, lectures, websites, etc• Volunteering – SAG, APG, etc• Personal – health, recipes, etc• Writing and speaking – bios, blurbs, etc

OneNote

• Microsoft – part of Office• Now free with Windows 8• Sync between devices• Notebooks, tabs, pages• Excellent handwriting tools• Can write anywhere on the page

Questions?

Digital Storage for Family Historians

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