How To Backup and Restore Legacy Family Tree Files
Looking to protect your genealogy research? This helpful guide shows you how to backup Legacy files and safely restore them when needed.
When it comes to preserving your family history, your research is too valuable to risk losing. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned genealogist, one of the most important habits you can develop is regularly backup Legacy files. Legacy Family Tree is powerful genealogy software, but like any program, it’s still vulnerable to technical issues like hardware failure, system crashes, or accidental deletions. That’s why knowing how to create backup and restore them when needed is essential.
Why Backup Legacy Files?
Computers can fail without warning. Hard drives crash, software glitches happen, and sometimes natural disasters like floods or fires destroy everything. Without a backup, you could lose years of research and documentation. Regular backups give you peace of mind, knowing that your Legacy files are safe and can be restored quickly.
How to Backup Legacy Files
Creating a backup in Legacy Family Tree is simple:
- Open Legacy and click on the File tab from the top ribbon.
- Select Backup File from the dropdown menu.
- Choose the file location (preferably an external hard drive or cloud service).
- Click Start Backup and let the software save a copy of your work.
It’s recommended to save your backups in multiple locations—on your computer, an external drive, and a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox for added security.
How to Restore Legacy Files
If something goes wrong or you need to move your files to a new device, here’s how to restore them:
- Open Legacy and go to the File menu.
- Click Restore File.
- Locate your backup file (in .zip format) and follow the prompts to load it.
Within minutes, your data will be back, and you’ll be ready to continue your research.
Final Thoughts
Don’t wait for a disaster to think about backups. Get into the habit of saving your work regularly, especially after making significant changes. Whether you use Legacy 9.0 or the latest version, taking time to backup Legacy files can save you from future stress and heartache. Your family history deserves to be preserved, and proper backups ensure that it is.