TABLE OF CONTENTS  [Hide]

Portable Scanner
Office Scanner 
Microfilm Scanner
Portable Projector
Backup Strategies
Online Backup
Portable Backup

Portable Scanner

Recommended - Docupen R700

8 1/2 inch long wand that you roll down a page, scanning the imagine.
It can store up to 120 pages, less at higher resolution. It connects to your
computer via standard USB to download images and recharge the batteries

Jodee Inscho [jinscho@goes.com], "[APG] Docupen hand scanner," APG-L, discussion list, 7 Jan 2008 (http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Genealogical_Societies/APG.html).

Office Scanner 

Microfilm Scanner

Howard Bybee howard_bybee@byu.edu, "[Genealib] Microfilm Scanning," GENEALIB, discussion list, 27 Jun 2008, (http://mailman.acomp.usf.edu/pipermail/genealib/)

Portable Projector

Projecting a Good Image. Pamela Boyer Porter. FGS Forum 18(1):27-28. Spr 2006.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/ - a review and information site for anyone interested in projectors

Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:36:24 -0400
From: "robert mclaren" <bobmclaren@earthlink.net>
Subject: [APG] Projector
To: "APG-L" <APG-L@rootsweb.com>, "Debra Braverman"
    <debraverman@hotmail.com>
Message-ID: <410-220087013233624214@earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Last summer I requested any suggestions/advice on buying a projector and many of you responded.  I would especially like to thank Pamela Borter for sending me a copy of her article from the Spring 2006 issue of the FGS Forum and Bill Daniels for a copy of his article.  I note Pamela's advice as follows"  "For general use in meeting rooms that vary from hotel conference centers to church basements to to small spaces in libraries, speakers would be well adviced to pruchase a projector with the highest lumens and contrast they can afford in a small, portable unit.  A 2- to 3-pound projector with 1,000 to 1,500 ANSI lumensand a contrast ratio of about 2000:1 can be had for about #1,299 and up."

Unfortunately, I did not follow through on the purchase since I became too busy to fully investigate the options.  However, this spring I returned to the hunt and searched for projectors.  Since I would be traveling with this projector and using it in a variety of rooms, I decided to fully follow Pamela's advice.  The unit I ended up with is the Optoma EP1691.

This projector weighs 3.2 pounds and has dimensions of 8.66 x 2.79 x 7 inches -- a small and light weight projector.
It has a brightness of 2,500 lumens (although one review measured it at 2,000 lumens).  This appeared to be sufficient.  Bill's article notes that 1,500 to 2,000 lumens should handle a large room and 300 people and up.
It has a contrast ratio of 2,500:1 -- again sufficient.
The projection distance is 3.9" to 39.1" and the image size (diagonal) is 34.67" to 254.22", which appears to be sufficient to handle a wide range of room sizes.
The native resolution is 1280 x 768 (WXGA) and the maximum resolution is 1680 x 1050 (WXGA)
The projector also has Keystone correction (+/- 30 degrees vertical), and an IR remote.

As I said, I purchased this in the spring and have now used it several times -- in facilities ranging from a small room to a hotel conference room.  The major problem with the larger rooms was the size of the screen they had.  The projector could handle larger sizes than what the screen allowed.

One reivew did ding this projector for noise, but that hasn't been a problem for me.  A problem has been figuring out the menu options.  The directions that came with the projector are minimum.  I think I have figured out all the options, but I'm not sure on a few.

The cost of the projector was right at $1,000.  All-in-all, I'm satisfied and, once again, I would like to thank this list for all the help and advice I received (with an apology for not acknowledging this help earlier).

Backup Strategies

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 08:18:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ray Beere Johnson II <raybeere@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [APG] online backup services
To: APG Posting <APG@rootsweb.com>
Message-ID: <621326.87695.qm@web31602.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hello;
    Although online backup services provide a possible alternative, and a good one IF you are unable or unwilling to follow better practices, there are various concerns. What if the company goes bankrupt? What about the quality of the servers they provide? Are backups distributed, more than one copy, on different servers, so a local disaster that wipes out a server farm won't take your backup with it? Finally, if the company is doing everything right today, how do you monitor their day to day decisions to make sure they don't adopt cost-cutting measures in the future that would negatively impact their ability to provide good service in certain situations? (Remember, even S3 has had significant outages. These were temporary, but S3 has much broader funding than most online backup services can hope for.)
    A good backup strategy would include several levels: first, 'mirror' your hard drive to another, external drive. That means, if your computer or hard drive crashes, you can just restore the mirror. It is also useless if fire, tornado, or anything else destroys your home or office.
    For that; the first step is a full backup of everything on your hard drive, on one of two media: REWRITABLE discs, OR GOLD, SCRATCH RESISTANT, optical discs. IN EITHER CASE, CONTROL OF TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY within reasonable limits is CRITICAL. For this reason, and to locate them in a safe, offsite, but accessible location, rent a safe deposit box. Store the most recent set(s) there.
    Final level: what you MOST want to protect is your data, which SHOULD be in OPEN SOURCE formats. PDF, RTF, GED are all okay, say, DOC, WPD, FTM, etc. are NOT SUITABLE. Good formats are ones nearly any program can open, and they don't take up much space (relatively speaking). (Since the GEDCOM format has so many variations, the solution is to 'print' your entire file as a PDF file. Then, if you import a GEDCOM file and find the results unsatisfactory, you will at least have a reference for what was lost.)
    What do you do about your data? Make a backup job, batch file, or whatever will WORK and copy all these files, updating them as needed. Then, make backups of JUST YOUR DATA to flash drives. This is THE most reliable form of digital storage - so far. Use a good brand - personally, I recommend Imation Clip drives; reliable flash memory AND protection for the connector itself. If the connector fails, the drive is ruined. For that reason, I DON'T recommend retractable connectors, since they are more likely to fail.) Stick one flash drive in your safe deposit box, keep another on your person at all times.
    There are still scenarios where these three steps might not be enough - but in most of those scenarios, your data is not what you'd be worried about, anymore... For most people, in most cases, this strategy should cover you well enough.

From: "Anne Roach" <RoachA@familysearch.org>
Subject: Re: [APG] online backup services/Virtual Storage
To: apg@rootsweb.com, "Kevin Sholder" <ks100004@sbcglobal.net>
Message-ID: <20080603T100307Z_5AE4000D0000@familysearch.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Thanks - Here is one more on in-home storage that may be helpful that I wrote last year (see session 3). http://www.fht.byu.edu/prev_workshops/workshop07/ It might be too basic for you, but will be a good overview for those looking at the vulnerabilities of various devices. The National Institute of Standards and Technologies did a study on optical disk deterioration that will be helpful for those of you who store info on CDs and DVDs. Copy and paste into your browser:  nvl.nist.gov/pub/nistpubs/jres/109/5/j95sla.pdf

Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:46:47 -0500
From: Neal Underwood <neal4@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [APG] online backup services/Virtual Storage
To: apg@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.20080604004647.009f2210@mail.comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


Just a couple additional thoughts about the subject:

Hard drives will eventually fail.  Sometimes there will be a warning in the
form of odd noises or bad behavior, other times they crash suddenly for no
apparent reason.  Last fall I got around to disposing of a collection of
six drives that failed over the years.  Because I had stored personal
information I needed to take the time to open the cases and destroy the
platters.  They failed suddenly and completely, so I was not able to
perform a security erase.  Fortunately, I always had current backups.

Magnetic media may deteriorate faster than people expect.  I have had newer
(less than five years old) brand-name 3.5" diskettes become unreadable and
unusable.  My 5.25" floppy diskettes from the mid-1980's are now generally
unreadable.  All were stored in a typical household environment.

In addition to weekly full backups to separate hard drives and various
removeable media, every day (sometimes multiple times daily), I do a backup
to a separate hard drive of just the files that changed that day - known an
incremental backup.  Hard drives are certain to fail at the most
inconvenient time, like just after spending the whole day entering data.
My incremental backup takes less than a minute for selected directories.
Most backup software has options to select full or incremental backups but
I just use a simple DOS command that copies files based on the status of
the archive bit, for example: 

  XCOPY  C:\GENEALOGY\*.* D:\BACKUP\GENEALOGY\*.* /S /M

This command will copy all modified files in the named and all its
subdirectories.  I have not tried Karen's Replicator (free program from
karenware.com) but have seen positive comments posted elsewhere.

Online Backup

"A Great Online Backup Solution" by Pam Cerutti in the NGS Upfront online publication yesterday (Jun 2, 2008)

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 09:16:54 -0600
From: "Anne Roach" <RoachA@familysearch.org>
Subject: Re: [APG] online backup services/Virtual Storage
To: apg@rootsweb.com, "MARIETA GRISSOM" <marieta.grissom@msn.com>
Message-ID: <20080603T091654Z_5AE4000D0000@familysearch.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

I did some research on the security of various virtual storage providers in March this year. It is fairly technical, but you may appreciate the findings. Check http://www.fht.byu.edu/prev_workshops/workshop08/ and click on the Adobe document under my name. (Anne Roach)

Mozy

free service - up to 2GB

home - $4.95/mo

Recommended by

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 10:31:56 -0400
From: "Cheryl Brown Abernathy" <pastlane@embarqmail.com>
Subject: Re: [APG] online backup services

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 08:15:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kevin Sholder <ks100004@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [APG] online backup services
To: apg@rootsweb.com
Message-ID: <920670.87649.qm@web83511.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Marieta,

I currently use Mozy at home and love it.  I also use the free version, but currently have 4.5GB to use for free.  A little known secret is that also Mozy has a referral program that you can gain an extra 256MB of free space over the 2GB starting size for every person that you refer and uses the application at least once.  Here goes the shameless plug, if you also use the referral code from another person you start out with 2.25GB of free space.

Simply go to https://mozy.com/home and choose the free option on the bottom left hand side and you are on your way.  During the sign up process they will ask you for the referral code towards the bottom of the screen.

I will not post my referral code here, but if anyone is interested please contact me off list.

Now I currently only use this for my most precious information that I can not afford to lose, as I also use other backup strategies, that have already been outlined.  Mozy is a great product and I would recommend it, even if you only use the 2GB (2.25GB with referral) free version.

It is simple to set up and install, but would will want to have some type of high speed connection otherwise it will take to long to do your backups.  I backup every night about 275MB (only changed data) and it takes about 4 hours using my DSL connection.  When you run your first back up it will take several hours.  But once that is complete it doesn't take to long.

As a side note there is another online service called "Carbonite" that is similar to Mozy, but they do not have a free version.

Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:40:31 -0700
From: Susan Masse <smasse@wvi.com>
Subject: Re: [APG] online backup services
To: MARIETA GRISSOM <marieta.grissom@msn.com>, <apg@rootsweb.com>
Message-ID: <20080603214031.F163B634E5@gateway.wvi.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I have been using Mozy for almost a year and have no complaints. So
far I have only restored "test" files to reassure myself that all is
working well. The files restore perfectly each time.

The only problem I have encountered is minor -- the automatic backup
occasionally fails to make a connection. Since I run the backup while
I am still using the computer, I just set it off manually if the
message comes up. I currently only use about 15% of the allowed space
for a free account. I heard about the service from a genealogy
software list I subscribe to, and users from that list were very
complimentary about Mozy. That's why I tried it.

The setup is extremely easy -- their web site guides you through a
small software installation. Configuration was very intuitive. I use
the option to tell me every time an automatic backup fails so I can
keep up to date. Looking back through the history file, in the last
90 days it has failed to make the connection only 4 times.

I also like the idea that I can pull an archived file back from
anyplace I can get internet access.

Portable Backup

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 09:38:56 -0500
From: "Rondina Muncy" <rondina.muncy@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [APG] online backup services
To: "MARIETA GRISSOM" <marieta.grissom@msn.com>
Cc: APG <apg@rootsweb.com>
Message-ID:
    <393ff0080806030738p2e8915f1s7cc094c233294d1@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Marieta,

I have a computer with a slide-in hard drive by HP. These two "external"
hard drives slide into the CPU.  I backup at least twice a week. Living in
tornado alley, I have the same thoughts as you do. I keep one in my safe
deposit box and one at home. This gives me two external drives that get
switched once a week at the bank. The bank location is five minutes away and
has hand-print security. It literally takes me ten minutes from the time I
back out of the driveway to switch the back-up hard drives. Please note that
I leave one slide-in drive in the computer, however, it is not plugged in to
the slot. If my computer crashes, I have my work saved through my last
back-up. These HP Personal Media drives are 8 inches by 1.25 inches and come
with the cords to back up directly to an HP computer if you don't have the
hard drive "door" built in.

I am not good at networking skills, so when I travel I take a back-up hard
drive on the plane with me and have total access to my files. When I return
I will copy "over" my hard drive on my desktop to bring it up to date.

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 09:46:51 -0500
From: "Cheryl Rothwell" <historysleuth@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [APG] online backup services
To: "MARIETA GRISSOM" <marieta.grissom@msn.com>
Cc: apg@rootsweb.com
Message-ID:
    <d3447b420806030746h1206d8dlb526c1bba8e083a6@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I live in hurricane heaven. I do not save documents to the computer but
rather to WD passport hard drives. They fit in your pocket or purse or
briefcase. For a variety of reasons, including keeping the IRS happy, I have
three, one for genealogy, one for legal and one for personal. Most folks
could have one. Every day they backup seamlessly to a 300 GB hard drive
using Karen's Replicator, a free program from karenware.com. Once a week
that backup drive backups to a My Book. This is all done without a thought
after the initial easy setup.

I take the WD passport drives with me. You know hurricanes are coming so the
MyBook goes to the bank deposit box. I do that when I go out of town too,
like to IHGR next week. The interim backup drive generally goes in the
"waterproof" home safe. I grew up in tornado country -- you'd want to make a
few adjustments to the system because you have little warning. The other day
when we had a rare tornado warning I grabbed the WD passport drives and the
dogs. <g>