MyHeritage acquires BackupMyTree.com

We're pleased to announce the acquisition of the popular family tree backup service, BackupMyTree.com.

This is part of our continued efforts to expand the range of family history oriented services we offer to our customers worldwide.

With the acquisition of BackupMyTree, we add a comprehensive free backup service renowned for providing peace of mind to genealogists around the world. Already protecting over nine terabytes of precious family tree data, we are sure that BackupMyTree will continue to grow in popularity.

The BackupMyTree.com homepage (click to enlarge)

BackupMyTree’s software automatically finds family tree files on your computer and then creates an off-site backup of your data. Other features include wide compatibility with major genealogy applications, anywhere access and multiple revision history - extremely useful if you update your family tree often.

The service is used by some of the world’s most experienced genealogists to complement and secure years of painstaking research for posterity.

At MyHeritage, we know just how important protecting data contained within our family trees is, which is why we introduced our own backup service around a year ago. There is little overlap between these backup services, and they complement each other beautifully. For those interested in the differences between BackupMyTree and the MyHeritage backup service, here is a useful comparison:

* Both services, once started, provide genealogists with ongoing, automatic backup of their family tree data without having to take any special actions.
* Both provide high value and high reliability and allow restoration of the latest version, or prior versions, at any point in time.
* Both services provide extra security by encrypting the backups.
* BackupMyTree is free, whereas the MyHeritage backup service costs $3/month.
* The MyHeritage backup service also protects photos and all other files referenced within the family tree, but BackupMyTree currently does not.
* BackupMyTree is a desktop backup service, backing up family tree files on your computer, from any major genealogy software provider.
* The MyHeritage backup service is an online backup service, backing up family trees you have on MyHeritage.com itself.

BackupMyTree is a welcome addition to our range of products and we look forward to maintaining the service and keeping it completely free.

This is actually the second company that we've purchased from serial entrepreneur Cliff Shaw, having acquired Pearl Street Software, makers of GenCircles.com and Family Tree Legends, in 2007. Cliff and his team are now shifting their focus to their latest venture, genealogy search engine Mocavo.com .

If you're an existing BackupMyTree user and have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact our friendly support team on our help center.

And for all our MyHeritage.com users - we'll be looking at ways for allowing BackupMyTree to benefit you in the near future.