Transmitting files

[Wiley 0]

I need to send my files, TMG .szq file plus external exhibits folder, to another family member on a regular basis. As reported by Windows the current .sqz is 44.6MB, the external exhibits folder is 38.6MB. The problem I am encountering is that the files are to too big to attach to an email message. Email errors out.

 

I have tried zipping both the .sqz plus the exhibits folders into a new folder, tried sending individualy zipped, tried sending individualy unzipped. All failed.

 

I do understand that zipping a .sqz and photos gains little if anything. Also, I would prefer not to have to put them on a memory stick and snail mail them.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Jim Byram 0]

You can't email files that large. There are alternatives.

 

One, you can use a service such as WhaleMail. I understand there are free services like WhaleMail but you're going to need to locate one by searching.

 

Alternatively, you can use your own server space. Your Internet account might include a small amount of server space. You can use that as a transfer point for the files.

[Terry Reigel 0]

44MB seems very large for a backup that doesn't include exhibits. I'd suggest you be sure that "External Exhibits" is not checked on Step 3 of the backup wizard and that Compression is set to "Slowest" on Step 7. If that reduces your backup to a manageable size you could send the exhibits in smaller bundles or use one of the methods Jim suggests, or by snail mail. There should be no need to send all the exhibits after the first time - you could just send the new ones.

[Virginia Blakelock 0]

Maybe a cloud storage solution like Dropbox. You can upload your files to a folder in Dropbox and share just that folder with the other person by giving them access to your Dropbox. See Dick Eastman's newsletter here.

 

Virginia

[Mike Talbot 0]

Maybe a cloud storage solution like Dropbox. You can upload your files to a folder in Dropbox and share just that folder with the other person by giving them access to your Dropbox. See Dick Eastman's newsletter here.

 

Virginia

 

What a great idea for sharing files, Virginia! It sounds good for changing computers and for the added security of maintaining an extra off-site backup, too.

 

Dropbox website is:

https://www.dropbox.com/features

 

BTW, Terry my v7 SQZ backup file is 200+megs, without exhibits. The upgrade from TMG v4 to v5 increased the SQZ filesize by almost an order of magnitude.

 

Thanks again, Virginia,

[Terry Reigel 0]

BTW, Terry my v7 SQZ backup file is 200+megs, without exhibits. The upgrade from TMG v4 to v5 increased the SQZ filesize by almost an order of magnitude.

Mike,

 

That's very strange. My v7 backup is 5 MB, with 16,000 people, 22,000 names, 30,000 events, and 99,000 citations to 2500 sources. Why is yours 40 times bigger? Is your project that much bigger, or is it something else? Maybe lots of thumbnails? Have you looked at the backup to see which file(s) are so large?

 

In mine the big hitters are:

 

N.DBF - Name database - 1MB

S.DBF - Source Citation database - 0.8MB

s.fpt - Source Citation memos - 0.7MB

G.DBF - Event database - 0.5MB

g.fpt - Event memos - 0.5MB

 

From their it drops off pretty quickly.

 

BTW, that's mine is not much bigger than it was in v4 - my last one there was 3MB, which actually seems smaller considering how many people and information I've added since then.

[Wiley 0]

I'd suggest you be sure that "External Exhibits" is not checked on Step 3 of the backup wizard and that Compression is set to "Slowest" on Step 7.

 

That was it! (Being 'stupid smart' I had checked every box so I wouldn't forget anything.) That reduced the size to 5.9MB. Once I go through unchecking the other 'stupid smart' stuff it may reduce the size somewhat more.

 

Thank you.

 

Jim, Virginia your suggestions about Server space and dropbox WILL be investigated as at some point I'll probably need to use them.

 

Thanks all!

 

-----

ETA: Going through all the stuff and unchecking reduced the size to 884KB.

Edited January 28, 2010 by Wiley

[Mike Talbot 0]

BTW, Terry my v7 SQZ backup file is 200+megs, without exhibits. The upgrade from TMG v4 to v5 increased the SQZ filesize by almost an order of magnitude.

Mike,

 

That's very strange. My v7 backup is 5 MB, with 16,000 people, 22,000 names, 30,000 events, and 99,000 citations to 2500 sources. Why is yours 40 times bigger? Is your project that much bigger, or is it something else? Maybe lots of thumbnails? Have you looked at the backup to see which file(s) are so large?

 

In mine the big hitters are:

 

N.DBF - Name database - 1MB

S.DBF - Source Citation database - 0.8MB

s.fpt - Source Citation memos - 0.7MB

G.DBF - Event database - 0.5MB

g.fpt - Event memos - 0.5MB

 

From their it drops off pretty quickly.

 

BTW, that's mine is not much bigger than it was in v4 - my last one there was 3MB, which actually seems smaller considering how many people and information I've added since then.

For comparison:

83,000 people

84,000 names

165,000 events

210,000 citations

12,000 exhibits (separate backup - about 0.7 gigs mostly JPGs, less than 10% smaller if ZIPped)

200 sources

 

Thanks, Terry, and a good question. The above could explain a FACTOR OF 5, BUT NOT 40. There seems to be something that happened to mine upon the upgrade from v4 to v5 (almost that order of magnitude). I need to do some sleuthing. Regularly use optimize and VFI. Ideas? Could the exhibit thumbnails be a big part of the explaination?

 

With memory so cheap, I never gave it much thought, before. It can't be the exhibits since ZIPped, they are 3 x larger, alone, than the entire SQZ backup file.

 

My old genealogy program (pre-2000) files ZIP backup was 1.2 megs combined in 2 data sets for about 38,000 people (citations and exhibits were not supported at all).

 

Best wishes and thanks again,

[Mike Talbot 0]

PS Terry:

 

My N.DBF file is 36 MB

other TMG files are about proportionally larger than yours.

 

That is about a factor of 40. Ideas?

 

I can live with it, but curious.

Mike