What to name Back Ups and SyncLogs ?

I have changed how I name my Back Up files and SyncLog files. I have a number of Family Tree Maker files and I Compact, Back Up and SyncNow several times a day, on one or more files.

I am now backing up to Dropbox from my Desktop PC, but had been from my Laptop. I keep the most recent Back Ups there, then about every month, I'll Move those files to my External Family Tree Maker drive.

In the Dropbox folder, there are two subfolders. One for Back Ups and the other for the SyncLogs. I ALWAYS Export the SyncLog to a PDF file, so that is where they go. I can do that now from both computer. 

If I have read the information correctly about FTM2017, then my Working files will also be in Dropbox.

I have my way of Naming the Family Tree Maker Files.  I have the basic filename, so I know which family that is. My main working file is "Master". I append that with the Version of Family Tree Maker AND the build number. For example: Master_2014_1-1510. With any updates, I go to the Select Tree, in the Upper Left of the Plan Workspace, and rename the tree there to the new / update that I may have installed. That command renames the file and media folder.

I have done this for a long time and archive them by the basic file name, to a basic filename folder on my External Drive. That lets me know what version of Family Tree Maker last worked on the file. Maybe it's over kill, but it is working. This "master file" I have had since Version 3.4, in the DOS days and have been very good to me.

Now, to the topic at hand. Up until now, I use the DEFAULT filename that Family Tree Maker gives me, that is YYYY-MM-DD, which is great. Not only do I know the file, the version of Family Tree Maker, The last 4 number of the Version Number (1510), but the DATE when the back up was done, for sorting purposes. I had just be adding a character after the DD.

My new policy is to add the 24 Hour (military) Time after the date. 2017-04-10-0001. or one minute after midnight.

So, when I do the Compact and Back Up utility, I see this. (2017-04-09-2345). The Custom directory points to Dropbox, FTM2014\Back_Ups

I check mark ALL of the options, and they are set by default that way, 

In File Explorer, its easy to MOVE the files from the Dropbox, Back Up folder to my External Drive and that filenames folder.

Oh, in case you are wondering, that External Drive is also backed up by my Cloud Back Up service.

The SyncLog is the same format. 

Although the SyncLog and Back Ups are in different folders, the date and time to both will be within a couple of minutes of one another so I can recover pretty quickly if something happens.

My SyncLog folder is kinda empty at the moment, but I will be ready when FTM2017 rolls out.

Just how I "do stuff"

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Copyright © 2017 by H R Worthington