Backup problems - HELP PLEASE!

You can post your screenshot here if you want as long as it is less than

300k the message will go through.

Since your data files are located in the My Document\Quicken folder the backups will be in My Documents\Quicken\BACKUP. Open that folder with windows explorer and check the dates on the qdf files. The default number of auto-backups is 5. You can also include the date in the backup name. The filename1.qdf *should* be the last backup file the program automatically made but confirm that by sorting the list by date. You may need to change the explorer view to "details" to see the file dates.

What type of problem are you having?

I thought I was responding on a different list. I would not post the screenshot here. This is a text only newsgroup.

No, but there are websites that will allow you to post pictures for free. You can post the screenshot there and provide a link here.

Photobucket is one you might look at, there are others.

Laura: When I start Quicken and go to Open - it shows a multitude of databases - last year I remember it only showing one - how can I have this show only the one database which is now being used? It is showing backups from 123107,

13108 etc etc Thanks!

When you open up Quicken go to File. At the bottom of that screen you will see the last files opened. Make note of the full path of the file. I would use windows explorer to move the others to the BACKUP folder where they belong.

In the future, remember to use the File>>open command to OPEN your files and File>>Restore to open up a backup file.

I'd like to make a suggestion.

Do not put any user-created backup files in the same folder with Quicken-automatically-created backup files: keep the Quicken auto backup folder, "BACKUP", solely for Quicken's auto-backups.

Having separate folders for user-generated and Quicken-generated backups makes it easy to distinguish between them and easier to avoid getting confused (as when some folks chose to give their Quicken data a name that ends in a single digit).

Definitely.

When exiting Quicken and we are prompted to make a backup one of the options is to append the mmddyyyy to the file name. Which folder would you put these backups into? Currently all of my backups go to the BACKUP folder. Is this okay? I know that these are all backups.

"Laura" wrote in news:MRUIj.124272$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

That's what I do (appending mmddyyyy to the file name), but the backups do go to a different computer.

"Terri" wrote in news:CvGdnShxJvrJIW7anZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

I'd like to make 2 suggestions:

1) Make a listing of all *.qdf files, so you get to know the directory tree(s) that you are using now. I have just found another nice program from karenware that I missed so far,which is "directory printer". Very versatile, and it will print to csv as well as printer. I also use Replicator for copying files at regular intervals. All Karen's programs are freeware. See 2) I use shortcuts to the *.qdf file(s) I work with to start Quicken. That means you'll always start up the same file in its last incarnation.

I was thinking more of the poster you were replying to when I made my suggestion ... and hoping to prevent potential confusion. I suspect that those who fully understand the concept of backup/restore, and Quicken's backup procedures, will be able to select and make use of the backup files they make and that Quicken makes.

I do not use the option to append the date to the backup file name. I put the backups I create into folders of their own; where the folders identify what I need to know, in a general way, about the backups I create. When I want to "restore" (or otherwise get access to) a backup I made, I have no trouble finding it ... and if I want to "restore" it (or copy it), I never have to worry about modifying the name to exclude the date).

Having said that, even if I used the Quicken option to append the date to the backup file name, I would find it simpler to keep the BACKUP folder limited to those backups that Quicken created automatically.

[I can also imagine logic for putting all Quicken backups, no matter how initiated, into one folder. Some of my approaches take into account the fact that as I get older, I get more forgetful; sometimes forgetting how I originally intended to do things. But I think some of my approaches might also benefit those younger folk who don't always pay close attention to the appropriate approach to procedures like backup/restore.]

I think this sounds confusing when I read it again.

I was trying to say that users who are already comfortable with their backup/restore philosophies, should not need to worry a lot about my suggestion. If they have tested the backup/restore approach the are using, and it works for them ... they can probably ignore my suggestion.

While I very much like the way my backup approach works for me, and while I think it would provide the same benefit to others; I do not intend to suggest that it is the only way, or the best way for all.

Drumstick