I just reformatted my computer....backed up the Quicken files to a zip drive, second HD and even copied the whole Quicken file off C/Programs before zeroing the drive....now when I reinstalled the software and use the backed up files I get everything back up to 2006....from there to last weeks date is not shown or to be found....I am at wits end and my other is about to shot me for losing our financial info.....I let her do the backing up but what does that matter....in worst case scenario, can I somehow use the copy of the Quicken fold I backed up...any help would be really appreciated..
Since all of the transaction data stored in Quicken is in a single file, frequently named QDATA.QDF, AND since you're missing recent data ... the implication is that after you re-installed Q you either restored from an OLD data file, or you in some other manner opened an OLD data file.
Try restoring (NOT opening) from the zip drive. Try restoring from the second HD, etc.
Keep looking, in the various places where you put the info, for files with a QDF extension ... all indications are that you've just got the wrong one.
Dan - I think that the OP needs to restore the complete fileset taken at the time of the backup, not just the .QDF file. Admittedly, some of the others in the same fileset (like the .qph's) might not be needed, but perhaps .idx is an important file (the index file). Depending on how they program Q, the index file might be critical and can't be rebuilt.
My point is that when the OP finds his latest .qdf file, he should consider copying over the entire fileset at the time he took his backups.
The QPH file is the price history file; if one has prices older than 5 years, or prices for securities not downloadable via Quicken quote downloads, then the price history can be fairly important.
The index file is totally unnecessary; if not present, Quicken rebuilds it.
Basically, I agree.
But the QDF file contains the most important, and hardest to reconstruct, data. If you were only going to have one file out of the fileset, the QDF file is the one to have.
I meant to add that there is no QPH file for Q2000 (so the op shouldn't be worried at not finding one); that came along later ... either Q2001 or Q2002.
I suggest you run a File>Validate on a copy of your data file. Also, a Super Validate function (hold down shift while clicking on the command). This function should pick up the pieces and make a useable fileset out of them, but it can't do magic. For instance if you turned off your computer while a file was being saved, it's not going to invent missing data.
Thanks for the amplification John. Serious question, what if the index file is present, but several versions downleveled from the singlely-restored QDF? Is Q smart enough to 'know' the two don't go together?
I always assume that one deals with a Quicken fileset; I never assume one combines files from one fileset with files from another fileset (though there are situations when one can do that, if one knows what one is doing: see below).
Looking at this thread, as I originally understood it, the user may not have had all the files available that make up a legitmate fileset.
My comments related as follows:
1.) If you have a QDF file and no other files (from your Quicken "fileset"), you can regain the vast majority of your original Quicken data from just that QDF file - Quicken will "open" that file (and may "restore" it; I haven't tried it).
2.) If you have a current-enough version of Quicken; you may be able to, and should try to, recover your most recent QPH file (even if it does not correlate directly to the QDF file (not part of the fileset that the QDF file came from): QPH files will "attach" to any QDF file that knows about QPH files ... Quicken versions later than Q2000, I think; but defintely Quicken versions Q2002 and later).
3.) The IDX file has never mattered in any verson of Quicken that I have used.
If you are suggesting the there might be a problem if you had a Quicken fileset that contained an IDX file that was totally unrelated to the other files in the fileset; I can't answer your question. But then: I can't think how that would happen.
Just in the way that the OP might have inadvertently made this happen.
Suppose the fileset was several days/weeks old, and the OP *only* copied the .qdf file as he originally was told all he to do. Then, the other files in the fileset MIGHT be downleveled (this is all hypothetical of course). I was just curious if you've ever had any experience with a 'mish-mush' of files that do indeed 'complete' the entire fileset in name only, but their dates (and thus, data consistently) are all out of whack!
If you only copy the qdf file, you don't have ANY "idx" file.
The only way to produce the result you opined would be to copy a qdf file from one fileset, then copy an idx file from another fileset.
It's not impossible to do: I just can't imagine the conditions under which someone would do that.
[And even if you did that very strange thing: I'm not convinced that it would create a problem for Quicken. Since it's so unlikely, I'm not much interested in trying to check it out.]
I made ABSOLUTELY no such statement. I repeatedly said RESTORE, RESTORE. You're the one who keeps bringing up the TOTALLY ERRONEOUS practice of copying Q files, rather than using the backup/restore procedures.
Danbrown - relax! I said 'hypothetical a while back on these subsequent questions!
I was just curious**IF** one had a mish-mash of .qdf and .idx files with the same filename what the implications might be. As John Pollard suggested, I might try it myself using some copies of my own files just for the hell of it.
(I keep daily backups of all my Q data files for 3 months, so for me, it's easy to set up such a test scenario.)
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