Using Cloud Storage

Don't Let Disasters Destroy Your Hard Work

There is a surprisingly accessible way to ensure that your genealogy research is safe from flooding or fires, and that’s by storing it in the cloud. Cloud genealogy is a handy way to store your research remotely on servers that you can access anytime and from anywhere you have an internet connection. Time was that genealogists had paper files and copies, and that’s about it. If something happened to your research, whether it be lost or stolen, disintegrated over time, or destroyed by flooding or fire, that was it—there was nothing left.

Computers now provide better opportunities to organize and store your research, but they can crash. Floppy discs have gone the way of the 8-track, and even CDs and DVDs are nearly obsolete. While an external hard drive is a great backup plan, it can easily be stolen or lost. That’s why cloud storage, which keeps your work from being held all in one place, provides a great backup solution.

It’s not just your personal research that might suffer. Think about all the lost records from World War II, the National Archives of Ireland fire, or the far-too-many instances of courthouse fires. Who doesn’t dream of having another copy of those records somewhere? The biggest advantage of cloud genealogy is that it’s easily accessible. It doesn’t take much to retrieve your information, even if the worst happens to your original copies. 

Get Your Head in the Cloud

There are plenty of ways to access and use the cloud. In fact, chances are, you’re using the cloud in some way, shape, or form every time you log on to your computer.

1. Do you watch movies or television on sites such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon?

2. Do you use Google or other search engines to look up directions or find new restaurants?

3. Do you keep in touch with friends using Facebook or some other form of social media?

4. Do you have an online tree at Ancestry.com or FamilySearch?

You're using the cloud if you answered yes to any of those. Number four means you’re already performing cloud genealogy. Even if your phone or computer breaks down, you can access that same information on a different device, even from the other side of the planet. And you can do so instantly.

Cloud genealogy isn’t just about storing your work away as a backup in case something happens to your working copies. Programs like Evernote and Google Drive allow you to store and access records, take notes, and even create sources. You can use Evernote’s recording feature to interview relatives and take a photo of a record in a relative’s possession. Google Drive has a My Maps feature that can help you mark migration patterns and places where your ancestors lived.

When it comes to our research, there are plenty of apps and websites you can sign up for, and many of them are free. Google and Dropbox, are just two of the ways you can keep your research safe. You have to choose which system (or systems) works best for you.

Sharing Your Research

And if that’s not enough, there’s the ability to share your work with others. You don’t have to put it on Facebook, though you can—why not create a family group to swap photos and your latest finds? Then, not only are you storing your records, you’re actively researching. You can find new cousins through social media sites or a family website, and they might have intel you don’t.

Cloud genealogy doesn’t have to be complicated when you have the skills and knowledge to make the right choices.

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