Ever hear of the 3-2-1 backup method for photos? Well, the same backup method can be applied to genealogy!

Just in case you haven’t heard of the 3-2-1 backup method, here are the basics:  You should have a total of 3 types of back-up. 

• You should have photos and documents backed up on at least 2 types of media and/or in another format.  
• The third type (the 1 in 3-2-1) should be kept off site, physically and/or in a digital cloud.

The general idea is that if for some reason one type gets damaged, destroyed or stolen, you have another one available.  This results in being reassured that the fruits of your research labor are preserved.

In case you’re wondering about how I’ve approached this backup method, here’s what that looks like:

1. Flash drive or a USB drive.  I actually have two 16-GB flash drives–one for photos and one for family history book project documents and images related to those documents.
2. External hard drive.  I use a Seagate photo drive.
3. The off site backup – ForeverⓇ.  I have two accounts–one for regular photos and one for genealogy or family history book project images that are either scanned or photographed.  File types up to 4GB in size supported include .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, .tiff, .tif and .webp for images and .pdf documents.  So far, I have 12GB which so far has held a lot, but if I need more space, I know I can get it.  

If you want to know more about ForeverⓇ storage, go to Forever.com. You can get 2 GB free to try out with a $20 coupon thrown in.