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Using a Flash Drive as a Research Tool

9/1/2012

 
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When you are doing research and find something that you want to keep, you have options as to how to save it. You can print it, or you can save it to a Flash Drive. These are easily purchased at stores such as Walmart, Kmart, Costco, Target, Best Buy, etc. Hopefully you have seen them and know what they are, but are you . . .

using them effectively.  At the FamilySearch Library, anyone would be glad to answer any questions you have in using a flash drive.

Consider the following reasons to save your research finds to a Flash Drive instead of  paper.

1.      You can save anything that could have been printed to it.

2.      You do not have to pay for the paper you use.

3.      You can change it size, crop or enlarge it, change its font, edit it to your liking  
           before printing.

4.      You can printed your items off at any time, any where,  and as many times as   
          you wish.

5.      You will know exactly where the information is.

6.      You can easily name and store your chosen information in a titled folder or  
          in a list format.

7.      You can download it to any other compute devices of your choice.

8.      You can protect your information by saving it in one or multiple locations.

9.      You can share it easily with others through email, or download it to their    
          computer device.

10.   You can easily carry it with you.

11.   If you use a program such as DropBox, you can also save it immediately to it.

Can a paper copy alone offer you this many options?  If you are not sure how to use the flash drive, read the following steps. 
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Connect your flash drive. You might want to ask what drive the flash drive will use.

Copying records to your flash drive is quite easy. When the image is in front of you on the computer screen, you can either go up to the File menu and select “Save As” or you can right-click on the image and select the Save option from there. The options as to where you will save the information will come up. Find the drive in which you have your flash drive. It may be in a different letter than it is at home. Look for wording such as “external drive” to help identify the drive letter being used. Once you locate it, click on it. Its drive name should appear at the top of the page/window on your computer. The flash drive’s contents should be visible on the screen. Next, at the bottom of the page name the article you wish to save. Click the save button.  

Later, when you are at home, you can load the image into a folder on your personal computer. From there you can zoom in on difficult words, crop the image, and tweak the quality for easier readability. This process also allows you to e-mail the record to other family members and download it on shared Internet databases for collaboration purposes. And the next time you come to the Family History Library or a family history center, instead of hauling all of your paper records, you can simply bring your flash drive and have it all there to refer to and share with the research consultants at the counter.


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