How do we preserve our Genealogical research for the future?

charliemis

I have spent a lot of time and money over the last 15 yeaars researching my Italian ancestors and have assembled a substantial amount of data. I have made reports, charts and even compiled a 100+ page document about my family's history. I have a huge computer database with over 8000 individuals, 2600 marriages, 100,000 text records in Family Tree Maker covering 18 generations. Now I need a plan to make sure this info is in a "usable" form and is maintained by future generations to be passed on to the next one. I have worked in the IT Industry most of my life and one thing is certain - technology changes, aand usually doesn't look back at the last iteration ---- hardware and software continues to evolve. My FTM s/w is the version from 2006 (and limping along on WIN7 because I didn't like the newer versions which I purchased and I also hate WIN8 and WIN10) so it is on borrowed time. Paper is too cumbersome, so I am trying to reduce the amount of files, etc. GEDCOM is far from a perfect data type and who knows if PDFs are a long-term solution....I plan to add a codicil to my will leaving the docs, S/W, etc to my Grandchildren, but I want to make sure it is manageable and more importantly, in readable/usable format.
I am curious how others are addressing this issue
Question

nuccia

I've been going through all my files and am having a similar issue. I did create a few emails just to send myself copies of my files since I'm always afraid of losing all the data. I have created a colour coded file system as well and I plan to donate much of my research to a local library. I have burned discs (which I keep in my safe deposit box) and update each January. I've saved copies on my external and USB drives - again all of which I update each January. None of these are perfect but for now it will have to do.