Preserving perishable Reunion files ? via PDF?

[Cristopher Nash]

Genealogists

[donworth]

Re: Preserving perishable Reunion files

Actually, I wouldn't trust Adobe PDF files to be around for any great length of time either. They are a proprietary format, after all, require special software to read them, and do not preserve the structure of the data as a database.

If you really want a universal archival format in digital form, I would think a GED file would be best. It is a text file, so it should always be possible to convert it into a database again.

The other big problem is finding media that will still be around in 30 years (or more). Remember 8" floppies? I still have some in the garage - but a lot of good they are doing for me now. While there are some CD and DVD media that claim to last for a hundred years, your best bet would be to continually copy your files forward to new storage media as it evolves. And to spread copies around to as many relatives, genealogical societies, libraries, etc. as will take them.

...and to print everything in a hardcopy book. :-)

[ttl]

Re: Preserving perishable Reunion files

I would wholeheartedly agree that a gedcom file would be the most complete and lowest common denominator digital format available, with perhaps an html family website coming in at a not so close second.

I myself have higher hopes for PDF and JPG as potentially long-term compatible formats, with an expectation that if they are superseded in popularity or capability, that they'll be subsumed in a future standard, much as the DVD is a part of the Bluray standard.

If you will indulge me, here's a lift from another thread about the benefits of paper as a backup:

[QUOTE]There

[Tom Robinson]

Re: Preserving perishable Reunion files

Actually, I wouldn't trust Adobe PDF files to be around for any great length of time either. They are a proprietary format, after all, require special software to read them, and do not preserve the structure of the data as a database.

If you really want a universal archival format in digital form, I would think a GED file would be best. It is a text file, so it should always be possible to convert it into a database again.

I would definitely keep a copy in GEDCOM format--as you say, it's a structured text file.

But the PDF format hasn't been proprietary since 2008: since then it's been a open standard, and anybody who wants to can write a program to read or write PDF files--and there's a lot of them out there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF

Cheers

[John M. Leggett]

Re: Preserving perishable Reunion files

I would definitely keep a copy in GEDCOM format--as you say, it's a structured text file.

But the PDF format hasn't been proprietary since 2008: since then it's been a open standard, and anybody who wants to can write a program to read or write PDF files--and there's a lot of them out there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF

Cheers

Furthermore, on a Mac, anything you can print can just as easily become a PDF file. Note the PDF button at the lower left of the page that appears when you press Command-P. It is very simple, then, to create a PDF file, save it and then print it on paper!

[Barton M]

Re: Preserving perishable Reunion files

For these purposes, having something close to a "print everything" report would be handy.

[Tom Robinson]

Re: Preserving perishable Reunion files

For these purposes, having something close to a "print everything" report would be handy.

A 'Person Sheet' report for 'All people', with Destination set to printer, then saved as a PDF should capture (almost?) everything, if you include all fields in the 'Layout'.