Organize Your Family Documents

Do you have a 3-2-1 back up plan for your photos? A 3-2-1 plan is

• Having at least three copies of your data.
• Storing the copies on two different media.
• Keeping one backup copy offsite.

When I say; have at least three copies, I mean, besides your original photos, you should have two additional copies. Why two? Well, the more copies you have, the less risk of loss. Did you know that by having your photos on two different systems, the probability of failure is 1/10,000?

Storing the copies on two different media. So one copy could be on your computer and the other could be to a hard drive or USB stick.

The last step is to keep your backup copy offsite. You want to keep a backup copy to ensure that you have your photos stored outside your home if something terrible happens (and we hope that nothing ever does).

After you’ve gotten Your Poop In A Group and scanned all your photos. Either with a scanning app on your smartphone, with a Flip-Pal™ (if you’re lucky enough to have one), or on a flatbed scanner.

Then you want to upload them to your computer and then to an external hard drive. You can Google External Hard Drive on Amazon and spend the day browsing, but Seagate is the one I use.

Finally, for my offsite storage, I use FOREVER Storage. It was because of FOREVER Storage that I signed up as an Ambassador. They commit to protecting your photos for your lifetime plus 100 years. I know that sounds unbelievable but FOREVER backs that promise up with the FOREVER Guarantee Fund.

So I have bequeathed them to one of my sons (the other has access) and FOREVER promises that they are my photos, no theirs and that they will ensure that they are backed up and stored with the latest technology. Because this whole promise is backup by the FOREVER® Guarantee Fund. You don’t ever have to worry if something should happen to the company itself. That’s what sold me.

If you’re interested in learning more about FOREVER Storage or other products, you can always ask me via email (info@familyhistoryhound.com) or you can check out my FOREVER Ambassador page HERE. Be sure to go to DEALS as there are often specials onFOREVER Storage.

Kind regards,
Ellen T-J

P.S. If you’re on Facebook then please be sure to join my Group called; Getting Your Poop In A Group

Conversion Boxes

Do you want to reclaim your memories lost in outdated devices? Or perhaps you want your printed photos and albums digitized and don’t have the time to do it yourself? I can help you so you will get full access to your digital files at full-resolution. We can discuss which conversion box size is perfect for you? Contact me or Buy Now. Be sure to check the DEALS page for the latest specials.

Permanent Storage

Are you looking for a permanent digital home that will last for generations? Do you want to own your storage instead of renting it? With FOREVER Storage, you get privacy and security for your memories as well as enjoying them at full-resolution. There is no data mining, no advertising, and no compression. Click Buy Now, or if you’re not sure what package is right for you, contact me. Be sure to check the DEALS page for the latest specials.

Create Something Beautiful

Are you looking for quick and simple photo books, canvases, metal prints, cards, or other photo gifts? FOREVER has products that are professionally designed templates that you can just fill with your photos and “tada… you have something unique and beautiful”. Contact me or click DEALS and see what works of art you can create for a special price.

Digital Software

Are you the creative type? Do you want the flexibility to create your own photo books designed using your own photos and digital art kits of your choice? FOREVER Artisan is incredible software. I love it to just create an art journal to track my daily thoughts. Learn more about FOREVER Artisan HERE.

Or maybe you want to manage your photos on your own computer? With FOREVER Historian, you can organize your photos for ease of access right on your computer. Create album and tag photos so you can find that special photo of someone you love. Learn more about FOREVER Historian HERE.

Be sure to check the DEALS page to see if there is special pricing for either of these software packages or Contact me.

Events

What would be better than a day or a weekend where you can gather with others to learn new things, make progress on your photo goals, and make new friends. Beginners are welcome! Limited space.

FOREVER Basics with the Hound

Family History Book – Three Ways (Coming Soon)

I’ve mentioned FOREVER Artisan and how much I love using it. But now there is FOREVER Artisan 6, and it’s now available as a subscription.

This is the world’s best digital scrapbooking and design software, helping you bring your memories to life as photo books, cards, wall art, and much more.

I encourage you to download the FREE trial program to get a feel for it. Over two decades of design tool innovation makes this software an easy choice for beginners and advanced users alike.

What I like about Artisan is that it’s so easy to be creative. I am often amazed that “I made that”.

Here are some of my projects…

Use FOREVER Artisan 6 to Share Your Story, or be like me and have your own Art Journal to relax and show your creative side. Create scrapbooks, photo books, cards, calendars, and mugs. I’m even using it to create my own family history book.

Tip: If you decide to purchase an Artisan 6 subscription, be sure to check out  Pixels2Pages. P2P is a group of Pixies who are experts on Artisan, and they provide videos, blueprints, and how-to explanations that will help you learn Artisan. Have a look at P2P HERE. You can always join for one month for free to see what it’s all about. But even if you don’t, be sure to check it out, as there is a free portion of the site that can help you get started.

If you have Artisan 6, then you’ll want to, at the very least, check out the Pixels2Pages site to take advantage of their FREE getting starting information and see what a P2P membership can offer.

But another idea is to try P2P for one month and get a feel for how much you can learn about your program just by having a membership. I have a membership, and I know it has helped my art look so much better than if I just tried to learn the program independently.

Another advantage of P2P is that there are new blueprints each month that are exclusive for P2P members.

And four times a year, there are crop events available to everyone, but the FREE art is just for P2P members. Another added bonus of your membership. Here are two pages created by a friend of mine that explains it beautifully to learn more about these crops. (You can click on the image, and it will appear larger)

(FOREVER Historian has been updated… watch this space for new information)

I use FOREVER Historian to store all the photos on my computer. This gives me the ability to sort, tag, and organize my photos offline.

But rest assured, I use the 3-2-1 backup rule, which means you should: Have at least three copies of your data. Store the copies on two different media. Keep one backup copy offsite (my FOREVER Storage).

Collect a lifetime of memories in a single Vault in FOREVER Historian. Easy access to your photos when you’re creating a FOREVER Artisan project. I love how I can make corrections right from my photos and store them as a second image.

Not sure? Download a free trial of FOREVER Historian HERE. Check the DEALS page to see if there is a special on FOREVER Historian.

I’d love to be your FOREVER Ambassador

Just like you, I always like to make an informed decision. I know I do because when I bought a car I went over all the details to make sure I was getting what would work best for me at the best price.

So I wanted to let you know all the facts about FOREVER Storage

• The Guarantee – FOREVER will protect your photos for your lifetime + 100 years, and it’s backed by a **Permanent Investment Fund **. That might sound boring. Still, it means that FOREVER invests the money so the money will be there for the future even if FOREVER didn’t exist. Find out about the fund HERE.
• There is No data mining and No advertising. It’s your content. So you own your content and retain all rights. You may already have a photo storage system that’s FREE. But you should wonder; “what’s in it for them”? Are they data mining my photos?
• Don’t rent your storage. Own it. Buy it, and it’s all yours. Even if you opt for a monthly plan, you still own it after one year.
• Your photos are preserved in full-resolution with no compression. FOREVER does not compress your photos and always saves them as full-resolution photo files, just like the day you took them. Whether you’re paying for your photo storage or if it’s free, you may want to look at whether that company is compressing your photos.
• The FOREVER Fund is used to ensure that the technology used is keeping your photos up-to-date in your lifetime and for 100 years after.

Now I feel better. I’ve let you know my thoughts and it’s up to you whether you decide that FOREVER Storage is right for you. If you’d like to read more or check the pricing. Go to FOREVER Storage.

Note: Remember when you sign up for a NEW account Here you’ll get a 2GB account for FREE to try out and you’ll receive $15 (for the remainder of 2020 receive $20) to spend in the next 60 days. That means you can test drive your account and then use the $15 $20 to buy the plan that works for your collection. Always go to DEALS to see the latest offer. As your Ambassador I’m always ready to help you with your collection through a screen share or telephone call.

Thank you for your interest in Saving Your Genealogy FOREVER.

This is where we will be working on preserving your family history records on the FOREVER site for generations to come. This is a work in progress, and I welcome your feedback.

If you go to this link, you’ll find a video overview of the process I’m using for Saving Your Genealogy FOREVER.

If you haven’t already signed up for FOREVER, then you can do that here. You’ll receive a 2GB account and $20 to spend in the next 60 days.

As I explain in the video, you’re fine with a free account initially. Still, to preserve your genealogy for generations to come, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid account eventually to ensure that it’s preserved for the future. You can use your $20 to save on your FOREVER Storage account, and even if there is a promotion, you can use both your Welcome coupon and any others as the coupons are stackable.

Once you have your account, I encourage you to go to the FOREVER main page, and you’ll see in the center a box called “Getting Started with FOREVER.” There you’ll find lots of helpful cards to walk you through just about anything you’d like to do at FOREVER and of course you can always ask me.

When you watch the video, I’ll talk about my numbering system. Below you’ll see the categories I talked about and my example for my parent’s album. This is the same numbering system I use for all direct line albums.

So in the case of my parents, I have the main folder.

01 Thompson/Middlebrough Genealogy. (This represents the couple, and then nested below are the following folders.)

• 01 Thompson/Middlebrough Census

• 01 Thompson/Middlebrough Certificates

• 01 Thompson/Middlebrough DNA

• 01 Thompson/Middlebrough Family Group Sheets

• 01 Thompson/Middlebrough Directories and Newspapers

• 01 Thompson/Middlebrough Misc. Genealogy Documents

• 01 Thompson/Middlebrough Pictures (Genealogy)

• 01 Thompson/Middlebrough Research Log

 You may choose to have a FAN Club folder within a couples folder for other family members who have married descendants of the direct line couple or are related to the family. It’s really your call. Whatever makes sense to you.

These are the categories I have for each couple. But there may be other nested albums you require for all your couple or just some. Some examples might be military, recipes, travel, and the list can go on.

It all depends on the needs of that couple. For instance, I have a nested album on my great-grandmother’s line for all the documents I’ve collected for “The Empress of Ireland.” She and her daughter traveled to Canada on that ship.

You could also have an album for things you want to put in a book I mentioned in the video. By creating an album called “The Book,” you can then take things you have in another album and put those things into “The Book” album. It doesn’t take any additional space to put your things in more than one place”.

Below is an overview of my Genealogy/Family History Album on FOREVER. It shows all the nested surname albums, and as mentioned above, each of the surnames will have the nested albums for all the documents as outlined.

Stay tuned for Step Two.

As I continued with my scanning project, I’d come across items that I couldn’t scan. You know the things I’m talking about; VHS tapes, cassette tapes, and some photo negatives. 

One of those items I knew was a VHS tape of when my son was at the skating rink where the Edmonton Oiler’s skated back in the days when they were at Rexall Arena.

There was a cassette tape of my dad talking and telling a story and the negatives look like they were from a trip we’d made with my two sons and we’d passed through Vegas many years ago. No, they didn’t go gambling they went on a rafting trip with their grandfather by the Hoover Dam.

These are all items that I can’t handle with my Flip-Pal®(sorry, the Flip-Pal is no longer available). But as a FOREVER Ambassador, I have a solution, I can buy a FOREVER Box.

The boxes come in three sizes; small, medium, and large. Each box includes a value of scanning, and you purchase three-way shipping at checkout. (Fill the box because even if you go over the paid amount FOREVER will give you a call and let you know.) 

What’s three-way shipping? The box is shipped to you; and you fill it up with your videos, cassettes, negatives, and photos. Then the box is shipped to FOREVER Scanning, and once it’s converted they will load it in your FREE account or paid account at FOREVER, and they will also load it on a USB stick. Then all your items are returned to you. The shipping is via Fed Ex.

I know what your thinking. Is it safe to ship these precious items? Well, I worked in the oil and gas industry for 24 years, as a Purchasing Manager and I only recall one package ever being lost, and we shipped things every day all around the world. Sometimes several times a day (oh and by the way that one thing was found awhile later). 

Yes, there are other places that you can have your conversion done, but when you look at the prices and you considering the shipping it’s not that different, and for me, I like that it’s safely put in my FOREVER Storage account for my family and me to enjoy for years to come. 

To find out more for yourself. Just go to Scanning after you reach my FOREVER page. Click HERE. If you haven’t signed up for a FREE 2GB account, then do that because you’ll receive a $15 (for the remainder of 2020 you’ll now receive $20) coupon to use on your storage purchase. When you sign up with me as your Ambassador, then I’ll be there to help you with your photo collection. Be sure to check DEALS because the conversion boxes are often on sale.

#FOREVER #Memories #Gettingmypoopinagroup #GenealogyFOREVER #PhotosFOREVER

Have You Heard The News? On June 1, 2021, all of your new photos will count against your free Google storage. On November 11, 2020, Google announced that they were changing its storage policies for free accounts — and not for the better.

They have to because 4 trillion photos and videos, including yours, are stored there, and 28 billion new photos and videos are uploaded every week.

Currently, every Google Account comes with 15 GB of free storage but starting June 1, 2021, all new photos and videos backed up in high quality will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with your Google Account.

That’s huge news because you know how many photos you take. I take quite a few but I know there are some of you out there that take a lot more than me…(you know who you are).

So what can you do? According to the email, if you upload your items before June 21, 2021, you will be exempt from these counting toward your 15GB, and they will offer new tools in the future.
Further, in their information, they say that once you reach your storage limit, you can either subscribe to Google One (where available) for additional storage or delete content to continue with the free storage option in Photos. If you’re over quota for 24 months, your content may be impacted.
They don’t say what impacted means.

Here’s what I think.. Now might be the time to look at other alternatives for your files and photos.

Here are two of the things I already do.

I invite you to give FOREVER Storage a try. You’ll receive 2GB of storage, and when you confirm your email, you’ll receive $20 to spend in the next 60 days. If you should decide that FOREVER Storage is right for you, always go to DEALS to see the latest offer.

PS I’m just an email away if you have any questions
PSS If you’re already a FOREVER Storage user… Congratulations.

You’ve heard me talk about how you can organize your photos in just 15 minutes a day. Here are some ideas to find the time for your photo collection on FOREVER. (Sign up and receive 2GB of FOREVER Storage and start organizing your collection today. )