Do you have duplicated files and folders on your Mac?

I have a problem.  I am quite pedantic about backups and keeping things safe to the point my Mac was over run with duplicates without me realising it.

Over the past week I backed up to Time Machine, reformatted the drive, installed El Capitan and restored my files.

Now came the time to tidy them up as I upgraded to 2016 Microsoft Office which included 1TB of storage on OneDrive.  Whilst moving files and folders around I realised there were duplicates that had crept in.

I found the BEST app!  The Duplicate Finder (normally $9.99 but free at the moment, so even better).

Over the years I have tried a few duplicate finders but none were comparable to this one.  Easy to use and accurate as all get out.  The only thing I could wish for is that you could set the parameters to exclude certain file extensions.  It does have a filter once searched, but it would be easier to tell it not to search for example .mp3 and .wav files.

I do highly recommend it, go grab it for yourself and give it a whirl, I'll be surprised if you didn't find it useful.

If you are interested, in my genealogy folder alone there were 976 duplicates!  That freed up 21gb of space and I'll be tackling the rest progressively.  And yes, everything will ultimately be moved to the "cloud" and synced back to Mac.  Then I will be able to access anything on my iPad when away from home.  Chuckling here, I can't help myself, Time Machine backups stay, and so does a synced copy of the essential stuff to an external drive where "older" non essential's and the dubious reside. :D

https://itunes.apple.com/app/the-duplicate-finder/id654667344?mt=12

What is an .iso file and how can it be used for genealogy?

I don't presume to be an expert around computers but I do like to educate myself and learn when I am challenged.  This happened to me over the past week when my 2010 MacBook Pro started to have real problems when my available space dropped to less than 40gb out of a 500gb drive.

Updated, a few people have asked for complete instructions so I have added them, scroll straight to the bottom.

Joining the Genealogy Do-Over Challenge

If you have followed me here and over at Facebook you'll know that I have had some database issues and disasters over the years, this past year I have spent the time attempting to 'fix' the problems and I feel as though I am getting nowhere fast.

However, 2015 is a whole new year and I am tired of wasting my time trying to 'fix' it, so I am going to join Thomas McEntee and throw it all out and start fresh, oh boy this is going to be a HUGE and wondrous journey.  Completely re-sourcing every single item, along with new ones, one person at a time.

If you are game and would like to join me, see here

http://www.geneabloggers.com/announcing-genealogy-doover/

A lesson in how 'Ancestry' and 'Shaky Leaves' can be very dangerous to the health of your family tree

Since Ancestry.com introduced the "Shaky Leaves" I have developed a love-hate relationship with them.  If you use it to look up other tree's you are bound to find a lot, and I mean a LOT of misinformation, however, on the plus side if you use it to comb the site for sources, genuine real sources from Immigration, Convict or BDM Indexes and find what you need, it's a bonus and will help you grow your tree in the right direction.

To give you an example, today whilst searching any new documents for my GGG Grandfather George Robert Miller's marriages I had forgot to untick the 'Family trees', being curious I had a look to see who had him/them in their tree.  I spotted one that had Mary Ann (Deliser) Miller with a place of birth as Kent, England, as far as I am aware no researcher to date has found her documented arrival to Australia or where she was born, if you have please reveal yourself!  I was excited, WOW, then I looked again, and again. This tree had her being born in 1822, convicted in 1815 at Middlesex and marrying George Miller in 1833 (unsourced), interesting.  Then I spot she has 2 George Miller's attached as her husband and some children are doubled up.  Even more interesting, Mary is living back in Kent in 1851 after her death in 1849.  Seriously scary misinformation, so I clicked on the "Member Connect" button to see that there are 11 other family tree's this person has gathered information from or is connected to.  Oh boy, what a mess.

George is already a difficult person to sort out, see a previous post laying out the children and the names used for their mothers http://www.dixie9.com/2009/05/george-robert-miller-debate.html.

My lesson to you, PLEASE stop and research the information before adding it to your tree, just because it's on Ancestry does not mean it is correct.  You can't just enter your name and have your family history revealed to you like the ads indicate, it's not that simple!  The tree's on ancestry are the work of individual people that have gathered information over the years, some correct, some incorrect, some speculative.  Make notes and source the information for yourself to prove in your own mind that the information is correct.  The thing is, I can also understand how it happens, the sheer excitement of connecting the dots and thinking wow! and having a whole family line unfold right in front of your eyes.  Just slow down, keep your tree private until you have sourced your information ie gathered the documents to prove the dates, and then when it's ready share your tree with the correct information.

Below is the family group sheet of Mary Ann (Deliser) Miller as mentioned above so you can see for yourself, the identity of the family tree has been removed.

Here is the family according to current research, as I have it recorded:

updated live from WikiTree

Australian Deathcare Industry by Aussie Rhonda

It is with regret that I inform I have removed my links database to the death industry in Australia "Australian Deathcare Industry by Aussie Rhonda".

My apologies to those that used it, I have decided to channel my time in other directions.

Genealogy's Star: Flash Drive Disaster -- Genealogists Beware!!!

About two years ago I had spent the day scanning all my folders of certificates and documents, it was an ambitious task, but one that I really wanted to do, at the end of the session I started the eject procedure for the flash drive, but it would not complete, it hung forever to the point I pulled the flash drive out beginning my own demise.. when I popped the flash drive in my home computer it wouldn't register, absolutely nothing could resurrect that little sucker, hours and hours of lost work and a very valuable lesson learned... Some really sound advice here so you don't repeat my mistake,  have a read and learn for your own sanity - Genealogy's Star: Flash Drive Disaster -- Genealogists Beware!!!

Switching genealogy programs is not a fruitful process

I have discovered that my database is a complete and utter mess, switching programs has not been a fruitful process (for me).  Many moons ago I started out with FTM, them moved to Legacy (which I loved), however now I am Macified I went back to FTM and then switched to Reunion. Sadly between the latter two my files are a MESS, not completely corrupted but well on the way. Mainly all to do with my fastidious sourcing which is now swapped around, or attached to the wrong people.  We won't mention the multiples of duplicates from the dreaded TreeSync (FTM).

There is only one thing for it, I am starting afresh.  From scratch. So now is the perfect time to send me through any updates that need doing, or people to add!  I do believe this is going to be a protracted process.

Now to decide, will I do it in FTM Mac or Reunion or purchase a straight out gedcom program and stick totally to gedcom to save corruptions?

Thoughts welcome!

Changes at dixie9.com

Hello fellow researchers.  You have entered a new era, I have switched to the blogger platform for its ease of use, ease to maintain (I hope), and no more server issues.

The switch was made last night, I discovered this morning the links to images are kaput, will be fixing them over the weekend, so feel free to pop back.

Missing images

Well it has been a while people.  During a routine check of the site I discovered that due to server changes a lot of the images were missing.  Not anymore, they have (hopefully) been fixed.  If you spot any that are still missing please drop me a note and let me know

I have some ideas on new pages, so check back soon!  Hint = ANZAC

Hope you are all having success with your research!

Tip: How to create a font of your own handwriting

Oh how I wish I had found this a couple of weeks ago!  I would have used it to do my Christmas Cards! Read on to learn how to create your own font!