Ancestry Raw Data upload epic failure

[lavenderblue]

Hi

To upload my Ancestry data to Family Finder, so far I have tried:

1. uploading the .zip file
2. uploading the extracted text file
3. re-downloading and uploading the new .zip file
4. uploading the new extracted text file
5. changing browsers
6. changing file names before upload
7. using the my123 template to change the header, then zipping and uploading (didnt want to upload my file to them)
8. removing excess spaces in the file header.

I have noticed that the Ancestry raw data file header is not delimited by lines (I tried that too) and the alleles are not numbers but are one of the four amino acid letters.

Is there anything else I should try? My experience of ftDNA is not proving so worthwhile to date. Any advice much appreciated.

Many thanks.

[betadams]

Try this tool (by another poster)

http://www.mapmy23.com/tools/ancestry_ftdna_fix.php

[lavenderblue]

Converter - privacy concern

Hi

Thank you for the suggestion. I had investigated that option but I was concerned about the need to upload the raw data file.

I did download the template and use it to try to modify the header of my raw data file, but without success.

I did note, however, that the information in the alleles columns in the template consisted of numbers, while my Ancestry data file contained letters relating to the 4 amino acids in DNA (the 'rungs' of the ladder).

So I am still hoping for a fix.

I am doing an education presentation on DNA testing shortly and had hoped to include my experiences with ftDNA - sadly, that's not working for me at the moment.

Fingers crossed I can find a solution.

Cheers

[ltd-jean-pull]

Hi

I am doing an education presentation on DNA testing shortly and had hoped to include my experiences with ftDNA - sadly, that's not working for me at the moment.

If you're unwilling to upload your DNA so the mapmy23 tool converts the file you could instead purchase a FamilyFinder test from FamilyTreeDNA.

[lavenderblue]

An option, but not ideal

Hi

Thank you for your suggestion. The problem is that I am not just looking into this functionality for myself.

I am relating my experiences to others, so it would not just be my own financial outlay to consider.

The Fathers Day sale notwithstanding (which is about to expire), there is greater cost and time delay in undertaking a Family Finder test rather than simply uploading what has already been paid for and is ready to unlock at a lower cost.

I had hoped to upload my Ancestry raw data to ftDNA, then download the segment information so I can make use of DNA Painter - again, this is unlikely to be possible given the upload issues.

Cheers

[Canadian Cousin]

Is this really an issue?

If I understand correctly, you have privacy concerns about uploading your Ancestry DNA file to the mapmy23 converter tool. I'm curious to know if you also avoid uploading your raw data to GEDmatch for the same reason. Everyone has to decide for themselves what their comfort level is when it comes to sending personal information over the Internet, but it seems to me that if you want to find DNA matches with potential relatives, you have to be willing to assume a certain level of risk. I also wanted to upload my Ancestry DNA file to FTDNA this past weekend, and when it wasn't being accepted, I did a little research and found the mapmy23 tool. My zip file was converted in about 30 seconds and the upload to FTDNA proceeded smoothly thereafter.

If you're going to be giving a presentation on DNA testing, it's certainly worthwhile discussing potential privacy concerns. However, while using an online utility like that provided on the mapmy23 site is not guaranteed to be 100% secure, I suspect that hundreds if not thousands of people have made that decision with no reports of data breaches that I'm aware of. No one should be forced to do something that they're not comfortable with, but equally don't project your own fears onto those attending your presentation.

Whether it's FTDNA's responsibility to make sure that they can ingest Ancestry's zip files (which they let us do for free), or Ancestry's responsibility to ensure that their files are compatible with their competitors' upload utilities, is a question I'll let someone else try to answer. But I think it's marvelous that someone else has stepped up and provided a free, simple solution that most people are comfortable in using. To my way of thinking, you really have little cause for complaint.

Good luck with your presentation!

[prairielad]

You are not uploading raw data file but using your browser to convert file. File never leaves your computer.

It is a script that runs in the browser

That is my understanding..you can verify by contacting creator

[lavenderblue]

GEDMatch and converter

Hi and thank you for your responses.

Yes, I will definitely be talking about GEDMatch and privacy, referring people to GEDMatch’s privacy statement and considerations surrounding the use of GEDMatch.

While I appreciate that uploading Ancestry data to ftDNA is free, there is a cost involved in making full use of the material. And the service being offered/promoted by ftDNA is problematic without further intervention which may (or may not) contain inherent risks.

Re the utility, I have PM’d the creator and am waiting on a response. Yes, it is wonderful that someone has tried to offer a solution for everyone caught in the middle of this dilemma. However, given that these files go to the very heart of our chemical makeup, I am concerned that if the datafile is only being opened in the browser as a local file, why then does the button say Upload?

I did download the utility template and endeavoured to transpose it into my datafile, but without success. It was interesting to note that my original datafile header ran without line breaks, and allele references were letters representing the 4 amino acids in DNA - perhaps those are the latest roadblocks introduced by Ancestry which the utility converts both to a ftDNA-friendly format.

I have also contacted Ancestry to suggest they need more user-friendly tools and download formats.

I have another Ancestry DNA file I can try ... maybe that will be more successful.

[chrisbonisa]

Hello, I'm the author of the mapmy23 site and tool. I can answer some questions here:

Your file gets uploaded to the server into a secure location, inaccessible to the browser itself, only available through the pages/scripts running on the server. It is not processed by the browser but by the server.

There is no identifying information in the file linking it back to you and hence the server doesn't actually know who's dna it is. This is unlike places like GEDmatch or others where you give them your email address or create a login to identify yourself so I would say its more secure than others from damage that can be done from a data breach.

The resulting results url where you download the file is not a simple number incremented for each file uploaded and hence brute forcing to even see results would take eons for someone to see and even then they wouldn't be able to download the file, only see the results page.

You can actually share the results url with others but they will not be able to download the converted file.

The file is then compared to a blank template and generates a new file which is the one you download.

The reason its so fast is its using the server grade CPUs(dual hexacore xeons) and alot of memory(256gb) along with a sql version of the blank template to convert it on the server instead of on your local computer. Its possible to do it locally on your computer with tools built by other people so I've built this one not to replace those but to be much simpler and do the hard part for you.

13283 raw dna files have been uploaded from October 2016 until now.