July 2013 Self Seekers Newsletter

SELF SEEKERS:

THE SELF FAMILY ASSOCIATION QUARTERLY ONLINE NEWSLETTER SUPPLEMENT*

Co-Hosts
Tim W. Seawolf Self
Barbara Ann Peck
[email protected]
Volume 16, no. 3 July 2013
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WELCOME

Welcome to volume 16, no. 3 of the quarterly online newsletter supplement to "Self Portraits: The Self Family NetLetter," the Website dedicated to Self family research at http://www.selfroots.com

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SELF PORTRAITS

Time Passes. Things change. Last April we were worried about connections to the Internet and crashing computers. They were an extreme headache, then and now. Fortunately, both of us have brand new cutting-edge computers that help a lot. The connection problems still continue, though, so if it takes a day or two or even three to get back to you, that's why. Here in the city, we have a fast DSL line; but in the Desert, we rely on our iPhone tethering (hot spot) or our Virgin Mobile device. Wireless is great, but satellites go crazy and the Internet nodes have been besieged by extreme weather all over the world. We are dealing with unbelievable heat right now while others are underwater or swirling in tornadoes. Yet none of this has the same gravity as losing a parent. Barbara's mother passed away at the end of April 2013 at age 94. She had been ill for some time, but in between falls and hospital stays, she was her same old Self. If you had talked with her on the phone, you would have thought that she was fifty years younger--no little old lady voice for her. She was always encouraging, asking "Did you get some work done today?" even though she didn't understand all that much about genealogy and virtually nothing about computers. We have dedicated our "Self Portraits" site to her, and we also devote this issue of "Self Seekers."
To Mother
Mary Margaret Nichols
January 21, 1919 - April 29, 2013

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BACKUPS

by Barbara Peck
edited by Tim Seawolf-Self

INTRODUCTION

Ever since I first touched a computer keyboard, I have conscientiously conserved my resources. Back in the Days of DOS, I was careful not to overload my floppy disks and my two 10MB hard drives. Along with that habit, I cultivated the practice of backing up all of my data, often two, three, or more times. If one of the media became corrupted, I would first run ChkDsk and then go through the tedious process of defragging; and if those jobs failed to fix the problem, I would just smile and pull out one of my backups and continue working. Today, as I sit in front of my new 64-bit Windows 8 laptop with 16 GB RAM, a 1 TB hard disk, and a screen big enough to display at least 200 icons, I'm still compulsive about saving space, saving energy, and saving my work.

BACKUPS

Over the past thirty years, I have used a variety of methods to back up my data. At first, I kept two sets of floppy disks, one designated as a working copy and one as a backup. Using floppy disks was fine as long as there was just one document to overwrite. The problems came when I worked on several documents and then couldn't remember which ones needed to be backed up. Eventually I realized that the date/time stamp was included for a reason when a file was saved. So even when I got my first pair of hard disks, I continued to copy my work to my backup floppies religiously. If a floppy disk became unreadable or corrupted, I would first try to save it, and if the rescue attempt failed, I'd make a new one immediately so that I didn't lose any data in the meantime.

CD-ROMs were my next tools. They held a lot of data for their day, taking the place of quite a few floppy disks. Then came the "flash" or "thumb" drives. And finally, I bought an external hard disk just for backup purposes rather than as an extension of my C: drive. One day, a year or two later, we were shopping in an electronics store, and I saw my first automatic backup drive. I just had to have that to save time wasted doing manual or ridiculously coded backups. Which brings us to today: my new computer has three external drives--one is manual, one is a half TB automatic, and one is a 4TB automatic backup. I keep several copies of all our genealogy work at all times. Ours is the only set of files in this unique format, and while the cost of hardware is not cheap, this data is priceless.

PROBLEMS

I've never really had many problems with backups, except when I forget to do them. In the old days, the floppy disks often "went bad" when you used them too many times. But inserting a new, unused floppy into the drive, formatting, and re-saving solved that problem in a hurry. Usually a corrupted floppy disk could be salvaged simply by re-formatting it. When CD-ROMS became cheap, I bought the rewritable kind. They lasted a lot longer than floppies and were good for keeping incremental backups, too. An external hard disk was the best solution, but it was a good idea to run CHKDSK (or, at one time, SCANDISK) and DEFRAG every so often to avoid data corruption.

I was busy patting mySelf on the back for being so conscientious with our files when I was the recent victim of the dreaded computer crash. My computer wasn't all that old--maybe about 5 or 6 years or so--and I had maintained it well. But the video card was something I couldn't control, and it began to produce a red tinge on the screen, then a flicker, then shaking, and finally it died. I worked with desktops for my entire career, so I'm not at all used to laptops. The video card could be replaced by someone else, but it really wasn't worth it to pay for an upgrade for an old 2GB RAM machine. So I ordered a new, "cutting edge" computer and waited for it to arrive, secure in the belief of perfect backups when it came time to restore data. And when that time arrived, I was shocked to discover that some very important files were nowhere to be found.

Our Microsoft Access database files contained all the names and e-mail addresses of our Self cousins, both current and past (invalid or deceased). Our Cardfile held all the names, addresses, and phone numbers of our friends and personal correspondents as well as some telephone passwords, social security information, and other miscellaneous information. Finally, we had saved all of our business e-mail correspondence in our computer-based Windows Outlook Express. Finally, our list of "Favorites" in Internet Explorer had six folders full of Self Websites that we had come across in our work but had not had time to check out yet. They were being saved for the future. These files were all included in our automatic backup which added new files each time the computer was idle for five minutes as well as in our oldest external drive which received a full backup each Wednesday evening. They were never skipped because they were essential to our operations. So what happened? Why couldn't we retrieve this information?

HIDDEN SECRETS

Half-Truths

No matter whether you use an automatic backup drive or whether you do your backups manually to an external drive or any other media, make sure you check the results of each backup immediately. I learned this lesson the hard way. While I was confident that my drives held all my data, they were actually doing just half the job. No drive is supposed to leave a folder half-finished, but this is what happened on both of mine when it came to e-mail messages and favorites. I really did check the backed up versions of their folders, but I admit I just opened them and peered inside. I didn't go beyond the first screenful of information. We all take it for granted that electronic devices work correctly all the time--and we all know better. I think cloud computing has a new fan!

Compatibility

Whenever you buy a new computer or upgrade to the latest operating system, don't be surprised if some of your programs no longer work. The compatibility issue can happen with any program, not just Microsoft products. Legacy games are particularly vulnerable. But even freeware and shareware often conflict with more recent standards. It's true that you can go through a complicated process to force many older programs to work in a new environment much as they did in the old. But before you go through all that, check out updated versions of the software.

For example, I went into a panic when I discovered that Netscape had literally gone out of business. Now, if all I wanted was a browser, the solution would have been easy: I already use several of them. But what I wanted was Netscape 7.1 or 7.2, the last versions that contained their editor. Our sites have relied on this simple but powerful Web editor for over 16 years, and it was always easy to get from Netscape's archive. My new computer cannot handle Netscape, even though I found that I could download the old browser after going through several confusing pages of various websites. And there will be no updated version in the future. Fortunately, I found a Web editor called "KompoZer" which is not just as good as the one included in Netscape but is almost exactly the same with some new features added. So do take the time to look for suitable new programs. They may not be fancy, but they will eliminate the steep learning curves at expensive prices for many of the "bells and whistles" you'll never use.

SUMMARY

Backing up your data is essential. And you can never have too many backups of data that is, for all intents and purposes, irreplaceable. I use three backup drives. Two are automatic which means that you modify or accept the factory parameters and then let the drive do its work. It will access your hard disk every so many minutes, collecting and preserving changes and additions you have made to your data. I am using both an HP backup (1/2 terrabyte) and a Seagate backup (4 TB). When I will be away from my computer overnight, I take the smaller of the two drives with me just in case something should happen at home that will destroy all of my hard work. A dead video card can be as devastating and damaging as an earthquake, so please keep current copies of everything you do--and check them over frequently to make sure that everything is saved.
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(Next: Reliable Data on the Web)

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PLEASE CONTRIBUTE BIOGRAPHIES AND PHOTOS

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DEAD ENDS
part 14
"U-V"
by Barbara Peck and Tim Seawolf-Self

When we began "SelfSite at RootsWeb," our objective was to present as much unrelated Self data as possible in the hopes that these individuals and families would be recognized by someone out there. Because the Selfs married into many other surnames, it's just possible that a person surfing the Web could come across a Self connection that was previously unknown to them. We divided the entries into two groups: "Loose Ends" and "Dead Ends." The Loose Ends are Selfs for whom we have no ready ancestry. The Dead Ends are marriages of Self descendants for whom we are seeking descendants. We've decided to reprint the "Dead Ends" bit by bit in this netletter to make it easier for you to go through them and to give visitors to our sites one more point of access. Also there have been additions, deletions, and corrections. Please check your records to see if any of these couples are in your database. As always, information you may provide to us is for posterity. Living people will not be put on the Web.

Correction Notice: The April 2013 "Dead Ends" section contains surnames beginning with "T" and not "Y" as written

UGLOW, Charles E. and TUNNELL, Ommie May married before 1920 probably in Garden Valley, TX
UNDERWOOD, John and SELF, Sarah married 1781 in Norwich, Norfolk, England
UNDERWOOD, Monroe and SELF, Lulu Dean married 12 May 1894 in Clay County, AR
UNKNOWN, William and HUDGINS, Barzele married about 1811 possibly in Orange County, NC
UTZLER/UTSLER, Christian and SELF, Nancy married 13 Sep 1811 in Rockingham County, VA
VAN METER, John W. and SELF, Mary Ann J. married 28 May 1891 in Grant County, WV
VAN PRYOR, Unknown and SELF, Lillian married about 1900, probably in NC
VANSANT, Joel T. and SELF, Mary J. married 24 Jun 1867 in Madison County, IL
VARNUM, Adam and SELF, Mary D. married 9 Apr 1835 in Greene County, TN
VAUGHN, Henry Clinton and PEOPLES, Lillie Mae married 1918, probably in AL
VAUGHN, Major A. and HENDRICKS, Edna Jewell married 1911, probably in AL
VAUGHN, Robert and SELF, J. Paralee married about 1900, probably in Blount County, AL
VAUGHN, Troy E. and WILSON, Edith married before 1920, probably in MO
VEATCH, Thomas and SELF, Polly married 10 Oct 1901 in Frederick County, MD.
VERE, Robert and SELF, Ann married unknown in Tatterford, Norfolk, England
VERNON, William and SELF, Rachel married 13 Jan 1825 in Jefferson County, AL
VICK, Clyde and SELF, Mattie married about 1903 probably in VA
VINCENT, Albert and UNKNOWN, Helen married before 1920, probably in OK
VINCENT, James and SELF, Mary married unknown in Diss, Norfolk, England

(Next: Dead Ends "W")

Maybe your ancestors used to tell stories about life in the "old days," stories you remember hearing as a child. Please tell us about them. We will even supply editing and formatting; but we'd all love to know about daily life in the Self families of old--and you may be able to help. Please contact us. And please state that your story is specifically for the newsletter.

LOOSE ENDS

Please go to our "Loose Ends" subsection at our SelfSite at RootsWeb.

DEAD ENDS

Please go to our "Dead Ends" subsection at our SelfSite at RootsWeb.

SELFS IN SPACE

What would you like to see here? This space is reserved for any topic of interest to Self cousins. Express YourSelf!!

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