Splitting Database into ""Branch" sub-databases

I created a single DB and now have 400 people in it. I have a few questions about going forward:

  1. Is there a practical maximum size recommended for a database?
  2. How would I split my single DB into multiple “sub” DBs?
  3. Once split, how do I make them they “link” together?
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  1. The database size is pretty much limited by your hardware. There are people with hundreds of thousands of persons in the database.

  2. Splitting a database really doesn’t need to be done, and some would suggest that you not do so as you may miss some connections. I, for example, have several instances where persons on my father’s side married persons on my mother’s side. If you do elect to split them, one normal way to do this is to open a blank database side by side with your main database, then you drag and drop the line(s) you want into the new database.

  3. They don’t link together. The will each be a standalone database which may have persons that are included in your other databases.

I can open a blank database side by side with the main database in RM7, but cannot find a way to do so in RM8. Can you help me please?

RM8 will open the second database in a new window, not the side-by-side view seen in RM7. To open the second database, go to the File Tab>Open a RootsMagic 8 file>Browse for file if it is not already listed in the “Recent Files.” You can minimize one or both files and arrange to view side by side. In a Windows based program, F5 will switch between databases.

Actually if you want a blank database, click File > Create a New Rootsmagic file, then specify where to create it and give it a name. Then, as @alainemk said, it will open in a new window. You can then size them of move them however you wish in order to work with them. Then her instructions will be correct in the future if you wish to open the new database and another at the same time.

Thankyou both for quick answer. I can now see the new database, and can drag and drop the pedigree and family views but not the descendant. Any ideas?

I maintain all of my 3-1/2 decades worth of projects in a single RM database. I’ve attached a screencap of my RM7 File Properties. With 442,513 records, it is a big database. Not too large for SQL, however, which is theoretically capable of managing BILLIONS of records.
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So, why do I keep a single database?

  1. No hunting around for “which file is this family in?”
  2. One of my longterm goals is to seek interconnections between researched family lines. That’s natural to a single database, definitely not natural to a multiple-database storage scheme.
  3. Just today I uncovered a connection between research I’m doing for a friend in St. Clair County MI with a family-in-law in Calhoun County MI. That’s just KEWL !!!
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