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If you’ve ever accidentally deleted your genealogical data while working with it or had a computer hard drive failure, you felt lucky if you had a backup that was not very old. Publishing the results of your research on WorldConnect (WC) can be viewed as a backup of the valuable data you have accumulated over many years.

WC is one of the few web sites that allow you to not only submit your research in the form of a GEDCOM file, but also retrieve or delete the same file that you uploaded. Further, WC features allow you to control which of your data is allowed to be viewed by the public. You can select whether or not the Notes or Sources will be displayed, allowing you to prevent the display of sensitive information you may have included. The ability to determine how or whether to display names on living individuals and determine what the cutoff age is to consider someone no longer living when no death date is included allows additional control. None of these controls affect the content of the GEDCOM file you uploaded. They only effect what others can find.

One of the best features of WC is the ability to replace your data with the latest version of your research on a regular basis. You just upload your updated GEDCOM file to replace the one you sent previously. The database is indexed every one or two days, so there is little delay in others finding your latest details. You can update your data as often as you like. The more frequently you update, the better it is for using it as a backup. Since the data is not located on your computer it is safe from fire or other disasters that may affect your home.

Look for Part 2 of this discussion for some precautions you need to take when using WC as one of your backup methods.