How to Download DNA Raw Data from LivingDNA
Requirements:
- Know your Living DNA login and password
- Have access to a secure computer with the ability to store and protect the data if you want an archival copy or delete the data after uploading to another drive or test site
Instructions:
Step 1 – Login to LivingDNA.com
Step 2 – Select the test you want to View”
If you manage more than one DNA test at this site, make sure you note whose test you’re downloading so you can rename the downloaded file in a meaningful way at the end of this process and not mix up different people’s test data.
Step 3 -Select Download Raw Data from the left sidebar menu
Step 4 – Review the information and if you agree, select the Consent box
Step 5 – Three blue Download boxes will appear, select one or more of these choices: autosomal, mtDNA, and/or Y-DNA
If you select more than one DNA download, each download will appear as a separate file.
Step 6 – Find and Rename the raw data download file(s)
The downloaded file(s) will appear at the bottom of your browser page. If you select the file(s) from here, you will open the file(s). Go to your Downloads directory and find the file(s) and rename it/them. You may want to save it/them somewhere other than your Downloads directory.
My Living DNA downloads look like this on the browser page (blurred for privacy):
and this is how the files look in my Downloads directory (I blurred the filenames for privacy reasons).
Step 7 – Safely archive this raw DNA data OR upload the raw DNA data to another testing site
If you want to upload this data to another DNA testing site, login to that testing site and follow their directions for uploading DNA from other test sites.
I downloaded my 3 raw data files from ‘livingdna’ and tried uploading to GEDmatch. It accepted the autosumal result but said that the y-dna and mt-dna were too short. I am most interested in my parental ancestry and I am a male. Any thoughts?
Thank you
Simon Rose
Simon,
My understanding is the YDNA and mtDNA included in your testing at LivingDNA or 23andMe aren’t robust enough for genetic matching; they’re only useful to determine your haplogroup and where your paternal or maternal ancestry came from a very long time ago.
If you want to use your YDNA and mtDNA to help determine which of your atDNA genetic matches are from your paternal line or maternal line (and it’s still not guaranteed that will show up), you’ll need to test at FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA), the only testing company that does broad enough YDNA tests and full-sequence mtDNA tests to make them useful for genetic matching. They’re having a sale on YDNA tests now, but they’re still pricey. I manage my Uncle’s YDNA 37 marker kit and he only has 11 YDNA matches but he has 7,400 autosomal DNA matches. I think part of that is not many people have YDNA tested and part is he needed a higher-marker test to return more matches–you can check out their explanation on YDNA at their site. I’ve done mtDNA testing there and I have 44 mtDNA matches and 6,500 autosomal DNA matches there. Here’s a link to their mtDNA test.
If you’re most interested in your paternal ancestry and believe YDNA testing will help, you’ll probably need to consider the more expensive big-Y or 111 marker test to get more match results. You can sign up for Your DNA Guide‘s email list and she offers tips on YDNA testing and has a course on how to use it. It might be worth the investment to know if you’ll get the results you’re hoping for.
And of course, if you have known paternal relatives who are willing to do an autosomal test, it might be cheaper to offer to pay for their atDNA test at a company where you can see their results and use them to help filter your paternal matches. (Or vice-versa, test maternal relatives and for your closer matches who are shared matches with your maternal line you might hypothesize those aren’t related to your father–just a guess to start with though.) I”m able to distinguish maternal vs. paternal matches (roughly) based on the few relatives who’ve tested on each side of my family. This may not be an option for you, but if it is, many more people have done atDNA testing and will show up in your matches.
Best with your research!
Alyson