TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2002-02 > 1012577693


From: Lee Hoffman <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] New User / Import Question / Database Question
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 10:34:53 -0500
References: <20020131132227.21947.qmail@web13401.mail.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <3C5AA010.3A7621EB@bellatlantic.net>


bob gillis wrote:
>Kelly Harmon wrote:
> > With 3000+ name entries >
> snip
> >As for my database question, I'm beginning to believe,
> > based on information here, that I need to split my
> > family names into different databases, split along the
> > surnames of my grandparents. Should I, or shouldn't
> > I? Is this an easy process? What are the pros and
> > cons?>
>
>With 3000+ names (and do you mean names or people?) I do not agree with
>Cliff Soderbeck. With that number of people and many more, you only
>need one data set. You can find any person easily with the pick list
>and other methods of differentiating between similar people.
>
>You can make a separate data set for a portion of your main data set to
>send to people or make a web site.
>
>Splitting and recombining are prone to errors.
>
>bob gillis
>
>Lee Hoffman has 35,000 names in one data set.

True! Although it is getting closer to 36,000 now. There are many other
who have well over 100,000 persons in a single data set.

There are a number of good reasons for having all your data in a single
data set. George W. King has said that he can think of no
disadvantages. In my cases, I would agree with him. In other cases,
there may be a couple. Both relate to the computer system being
used: (1) with large data sets and low resource computers, TMG is somewhat
slow although this slowness usually is not of great significance and
depends on the users practices, and (2) at present, with TMG v4x in certain
computers with very large data sets (greater than 100,000), there have been
a few reports of some problems. This is expected to be "fixed" with the
release of TMG v5.0.

The only other reason that I can think of for not keeping all information
in a single data set is personal preference or convenience of
operation. If one or more lines are constantly being updated and being
distributed from/to other researchers, the user may prefer to keep separate
data sets. Now, all lines _could_ be maintained in a single data set and
any particular line split out to a sub-data set as needed, but the user may
_prefer_ to operate with multiple data sets. Of course, a lot may depend
on the size of the combined data set (say if the family and its lines were
extremely large).

So as with nearly everything else in TMG, it really comes down to personal
preference. My preference is a single data set (everything is in one place
and I can often find connections and relationships easier this way). But
circumstances may dictate differently to others.

----------
Lee Hoffman/KY
E-mail:
TMG Tips: <http://www.tmgtips.com>;
My website: <http://www.tmgtips.com/lhoffman>;
--------------
A user of the best genealogy program, The Master Genealogist (TMG)


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