Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Transferring Raw DNA Data, Lisa Louise Cooke


We had a great meeting yesterday and enjoyed seeing people we hadn’t seen for a while.  It was truly my vision of “friends helping friends do genealogy”.

We focused on DNA.  Usually I say start at AncestryDNA and do everything you can there.  Then start transferring your raw DNA to other testing sites.  Transferring to other sites is especially important for unknown parentage and for recent ancestors from non-US countries. It's called "fishing in all the ponds."  You never know where your critical match may have tested.

Today we are suggesting everyone transfer raw DNA data to MyHeritage.  MyHeritage currently has free upload and access to all their tools but this will end December 1.  Uploading after that will be free but some tools will have charges.  Uploading before December 1 grandfathers you in…everything free forever.  (We hope!)

How to Transfer…The short version: You can do everything without a membership or a tree.  At AncestryDNA go to Settings in the upper right corner, then Download Raw DNA Data.  Follow the directions including entering your password and responding to an email.  At MyHeritage go to the DNA tab and in the drop-down menu go to Upload Raw Data.

When you create a raw DNA download file, save it.  You can use this file to transfer to other testing sites.  It never changes.  It is a zip file; don’t unzip it.

If you have tested at multiple services, just pick one.  Don’t transfer from all the places you have tested.

The long version:  Thomas MacEntee wrote a post in January 2018 that covers all the testing companies and how to download and upload. It’s more detailed and has links to the instructions at the sites.  Enjoy it here:  https://abundantgenealogy.com/dna-download-uploading-dna-test-data/

Our next Genies meeting is Monday, October 15.  Meanwhile, if you are looking for a road trip, one of my favorite speakers Lisa Louise Cooke will be in Port Townsend for the fall seminar of the Puget Sound Genealogical Society on next Saturday, September 22.  I like her because she is so practical and so technical and funny.  Her topics have to do with Google, Organization, Cold Case Techniques and Future Technology.  What more could you ask?  It’s all day for $55 including lunch and all the details are here: http://www.pusogensoc.org/psgs/seminar2018/   

See you soon.

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