Family Historian User Group

A friend of mine is preparing to help his dad move his files from FTM for Mac to a new computer, and is asking for advice. Presumably he is thinking he would export a GEDCOM which would then be read / imported by a more modern program such as Reunion. However, he is concerned about how much data might be lost in the process.

Am I correct in assuming the problems will be:

1) multimedia, especially if it is embedded in the FTM file rather than linked externally

2) some variation of the well-known issues with the way FTM handles GEDCOM (NB to Jane -- I have downloaded GedFix for Family Tree Maker for experimentation with my own Windows FTM files here -- thanks!)

3) I just realized that this Mac version is so old, there's no telling what version of GEDCOM it understands
[eek]

My initial idea was to have my friend run a test with the GEDCOM file from the Calico Pie site which was made for the GEDCOM compliance test of FH, or one of the similar files created by other GEDCOM utility writers. However, if that version of FTM uses an old version of GEDCOM, that won't help -- nor will the modern utilties.

I'll continue to do my own research, of course, but if anyone here has any tips which I can pass along to my friend, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks!

Jan

ID:2507

Get your friend to export the data to a gedcom file and send it to you (e-mail is the easiest way to get it off the Mac), you can then load it into FH, which will tell you exactly what it does not understand and tag any problem information.

You are correct on Pictures they will not be exported in older versions of FTM, I am not sure about the new FTM 2008 version.

I don't know much about FTM but wouldn't it have a facility to allow upgrading of the database when the program version changes. Then it just becomes a matter of installing FTM on the new computer and transferring the database as is to the new computer.

If however, you are talking about transferring the database from FTM to FH via GedCom, then you can use GenView (http://www.mudcreeksoftware.com/) which can read FTM files directly. It can also create GedCom files, but the best use of GenView would be to allow reading of the original files to add any information lost during transfer.

You may ignore the rest, bit of an essay!

GedCom is a specification for the communication of genealogical information. However it's primary aim was/is to send data to the LDS, with genealogical information transfer a lesser aim. As such, it wasn't designed to ensure complete transfer of data with no loss between different programs. With many different interpretations of GedCom and some programs having errors, there is no guarantee of data loss.

The best way of ensuring no loss of data is transferring direct from the database (ie. GenView). The next best thing is to transcribe manually all information from one system to the other. The third best way is to place as much information in textual form (notes) rather than using a progam's database structure. Using fields and other structural formats helps in organising and searching data, but not necessarily when it comes to transferring via old fashioned out of date GedCom.

Apparently installing the old program on the new computer is not an option -- as of OS X the operating system is quite different, and while some Macs had the ability to run the older programs, I'm told that the newest ones no longer have that feature.

I suppose Reunion might be able to read his father's old file directly, but given the age of the software, I was expecting he'd have to transfer the data some other way.

Apologies if my post is unclear -- while I have a Mac, I use it for other things, so I haven't played with Reunion (though I do have a trial copy, thanks to a Your Family Tree cover disc....)

Jan

Apparently installing the old program on the new computer is not an option -- as of OS X the operating system is quite different, and while some Macs had the ability to run the older programs, I'm told that the newest ones no longer have that feature.

Actually when I said to install FTM on the new computer, I meant to install the latest version of FTM. Then let the new version of FTM read the old database file.

I don't think FTM is available for Mac's any more. What could be done is to move the file to a PC and use a version to convert it, how ever these questions might be better asked on a Mac or Reunion site where there are Mac experts available.

Certainly it would be better to ask on a Mac site, and I'm sure my friend will do so.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.