Will iFamily explode?

General discussion of iFamily for Leopard and Genealogy
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Bee
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Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:56 pm
Location: Australia
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Will iFamily explode?

Post by Bee » Fri Nov 13, 2009 1:32 am

I have been using iFamily for a year now -- exactly the same length of time I have been &#39doing genealogy&#39. I am adding a new Source for each new Event. To each Source I am dragging a screen captured image of the &#39evidence&#39 or proof of the source so that I can quickly refer to it whenever I need to. This can be from BMD sites, or Census data, or elsewhere.

My query is: How robust is iFamily? Can it survive this demand I am making on it as the years go on and I have at least one screen cap for each person?

Or is it going to all just go poof one dark and gloomy night?

Also: I bought Elizabeth Shown Mills EVIDENCE EXPLAINED text for correct citations while I was in the States. How beautiful is that bit of work?

What a combination: Evidence and iFamily!

:)

Bee

Joe
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Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:36 pm
Location: Sisters, Oregon, USA

Saving Document Images

Post by Joe » Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:55 pm

I&#39m interested too. ALso, is it a good idea to save .jpg and/or .pdf images of documents (like census pages) within iFamily? Will a lot of these may make the program run slow? What&#39s the normal way to do this? I suppose you could just save the internet link, but then you&#39d lose the data if the web site closed down.
Joe

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Warwick Wilson
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Post by Warwick Wilson » Mon Nov 23, 2009 11:50 am

Hi Bee,

Thank you for your post.

When you drag an image or document into iFamily, a full size copy of each is created in the /iFamilyData/Pictures/ folder by default.

iFamily pictures and documents are also stored as small thumbnail files within the iFamily database itself but should not overly impact on the speed of the database retrievals or the file size.

To see the size of your files, please navigate to the iFamilyData folder using finder and locate your database name with the FtkSql extension, the largest file I have on record is about 150MB but this is the exception and not the norm. (There was one case of a file with an unidentifiable recurrence which caused the file to grow exponentially which I am still attempting to resolve.)

One thing I have noticed is that the source pictures are sometimes not included in the Gedcom Pictures export. If you are using a lot of images in your sources it is advisable to keep a backup of your entire /iFamilyData/Pictures folder until this problem is resolved in a future release.

Cheers,
Warwick.

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Geordielass
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Location: Woodbridge, Suffolk, England
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Post by Geordielass » Mon Dec 07, 2009 6:37 pm

Hello All

I&#39ve been using iFamily for nearly 3 years and my FtkSql file currently stands at 595MB!

I save pictures, census reports and all manner of interesting bits & pieces to the picture panes for individuals. I don&#39t have any issued with the speed at which iFamily works - occasionally it&#39s a bit slow but not very often.

I use Time Machine to ensure that everything is properly backed up and to ensure that none of my precious work is lost. I&#39ve also got my tree on Ancestry & Genes Reunited - in an absolute emergency I could export a gedcom back from either of them but I can&#39t imagine iFamily ever letting me down.

Keep on researching and building your trees
Enid
Expat Geordie researching: Atkinson; Burn; Archer & Thompson - Dunston & Whickham.
Bell; Shanks & Fawcett - South Shields & Usworth Co. Durham;
Walmsley- Bolton Lancs & Usworth Co.Durham);
Donnelly - Armagh & Whickham

Bee
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Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:56 pm
Location: Australia
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Post by Bee » Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:35 am

Thanks Warren and Geordielass.

My FtkSkl is small but my Picture folder is getting into the 400 MB mark and I am still only a beginner!

And I do backup -- tho&#39 I have lost bits of work (the worst was 6 good weeks where I didn&#39t back up: was in the process of backing up when my lovely laptop fried. Sob.) -- so I hope I have learned my lesson.

As a beginner, though, I stuff up. I now see I have 3 iFamily Data Folders. <!> I will have to rationalise those and try to make sure I don&#39t delete anything, or move anthing, that is important in the process.

I wish I knew what I was doing. Sigh.

Isn&#39t this a crazy mad addiction this genealogy caper? Does it ever wear off?

:)

Bee

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Geordielass
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Location: Woodbridge, Suffolk, England
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Post by Geordielass » Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:39 am

Hello Bee

After nearly 10 years of searching I&#39m still addicted, probably more now than I ever was in he beginning!

Don&#39t worry about the file size - my pictures are 3.81 GB!

It may help you to invest in a stand-alone hard drive - I&#39ve got a 500 GB one just for iFamily and any associated bits & pieces - that way if my computer ever has a problem i&#39ve still got iFamily isolated!

Good luck with sorting out your files.
Cheers
Enid
Enid
Expat Geordie researching: Atkinson; Burn; Archer & Thompson - Dunston & Whickham.
Bell; Shanks & Fawcett - South Shields & Usworth Co. Durham;
Walmsley- Bolton Lancs & Usworth Co.Durham);
Donnelly - Armagh & Whickham

Bee
Posts: 22
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:56 pm
Location: Australia
Contact:

Post by Bee » Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:27 am

Yep, Enid, doing that now as I recently have acquired a lovely little hard drive just for genealogy.

Chuffed. (Love that you are bursting the bank with big picture gigs, and that it is holding up! Reassuring to hear.)

:)

B

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