Genealogy Chat

Hi All Thats it FTM has gone the whole lot of it! We have just tried to uninstall to reinstall and it says access denied, so thats the lot gone Caboot! 2 years of hard work down drain, although I still have all the information in folders etc. This was the FTM 2005 de-luxe bought at PC world 18 months ago and thanks to my partner upgrading the computer its all gone. Does anyone have any ideas what to do next? I am still waiting for an answer from online help. Much appreciated and sorry to bother you all again. Regards Yvonne

Hi Yvonne, Sit down, deep breath, large G&T, oh, and shut the windows and doors so the neighbours don`t hear your screems of frustration. That is one reason why I keep EVERYTHING on a hard copy. Kathlyn

Don't panic (BUT - Dump the Partner!!!) I am not very technical but I believe FTM does all these back-ups every time you add something, SO - I think it will be all on your Computer somewhere. There are lots of people on here who know what to do so just don't do anything until they tell you. Dea Xxx

I think we have touched on this before. Your data is completely separate to your program so your research is not lost. First thing to do now is to find your data file and save a copy somewhere safe such as in 'My Document' Unless you changed the settings, the data will be somewhere in the FTW folder that holds all the Family Tree Maker files and programs. Try and find a folder called FTW. This will be in C:\ or C:\program files Change your explorer to Details View, sort by Type and look for files with a type of FTW Family File and FTW Backup File. These are the files that contain your hard won research which you need to save copies of, so when you are back up and running, you can get back to see them. You mention a message access denied. At what stage do you get this?

Presumably if you buy FTM 2006 you will be able to import the FTM2005 data file(s) into it. Kate.

Hi Everyone I do have backups on the computer, its just that my partner upgraded everything to Windows 2007 (a load of Rubbish) he put the stuff on disc and we had more problems, so he decided we should unistall and reinstall from basics. which is ok for me cos I can input everything in (wouldnt take me long as Im a typist) I cant go into details its too long and complicated. But thanks anyway everyone Ill have a look at them, Come to think of it Dea, he has been digging a whole in the garden which puts me a good position to put him in tonight, hopefully no one will notice he has vanished. Best Wishes Yvonne

In answer to Kate's question, yes you can load 2005 files into 2006, but they are converted in the process. You can't however go back to 2005 directly once converted, without going through the gedcom route.

Hi Peter I get the message that Critical components are missing on to start up FTM it says .. unistall and reinstall, but usually on start up we get a amunyi convertor driver required it is installed automatically we found this when we did system restored and seen amunyi driver installed at certain times, on the unistall you get repair, modify and unistall tried all 3 same things happened When tried to unistall FTM it couldnt find components of FTM and effectively would not allow us to install FTM tried to uninstall using a file shredder application (absolute) but was shredded with errors but still showing 51mb, Dont know what all this means but my partner told me what to type. Thanks Peter much appreciated. Yvonne

Yikes! Put him in that hole! Kate.

Hi Gillian Yes we did a back up file, but even on the hard drive now it wont let you open it as the message keeps coming up, my partner said the discs should be ok. and I cant remember whether he has tried to install them or not. Were leaving it for tonight now and he will have another go tomorrow if hes not buried in the hole he has dug. I know it sounds a bit strange but I really miss my ancestors. If all comes to all I will get in touch with a friend who has his own IT company and hopefully he will come round and sort it. oooh Men (apologies to those on here) Many thanks to one and all for your help its really much appreciated but Im at the end of my tether. Best Wishes Yvonne

Well, look at it this way.....if your relationship survives this it will survive anything. It would break my heart to lose all my hard work.

yvonne i am thinking about you i know if you dont get it sorted then all those names and dates will be going round in your head. hope it sorts itself out i know it feels good to know where all your rellies are ! they will soon be back. love linda x x

By Windows 2007, I assume you mean the Windows Vista Beta? Brave move!! It's called a Beta version for a reason - it's not a final version so it will have bugs in it!! When you backed up your files on to disk, was this before or after the new version of Windows was installed? As people have already said, the data file would be kept separate from FTM program files. Hopefully it was the data file you backed up on to disk. Are any other programs playing up? If it were me, I'd reformat the drive, install the original version of Windows that was on it, and don't put Vista on again. I won't be upgrading to Vista until several months after the final version is released, because I don't want the hassle a buggy operating system will cause. Good luck