Well - I apologize to you all for still being here and posting the same problem. After reading so much info on 2006, I find I have NO QDATA files at all! My files are in C:\Documents and Settings\mynamei\My Documents\Quicken and then there is a folder called BackUp but I see no Qdata files. I see QEL, DQF, IDX and some FXLOG.DAR I am so frustrated and interestingly enough, have been using Quicken for years so I am not new to this and never had problems in years past. It is only now that this problem is starting. Grrr - I am embarrased but want to straighten this out before I turn gray (grayer!!) Thanks!
If you have a folder called 'BACKUP' in your Quicken data folder, that's where the Quicken backups are. You say you "see" files called "QEL, DQF, IDX ", (probably mean QDF by the way). I doubt that's the full name. What you listed are the filetypes (ie: the 3 letters after the dot in a filename) of Quicken files (like QDATA.QDF, QDATA.QEL, etc.). But one does NOT need to use the default filename (the letters in front of the dot) of 'QDATA'. Since I maintain 4 people's books on mine, I have four peoples names (like JOAN.*, BOB.*, TOM.* where * are the filetypes (eg: BOB.QEL, TOM.QDF, etc.) in mine. Maybe you too changed the default, thus you won't see 'QDATA.*' files either?
So what's the *full* filenames of those .QEL, .QDF, .IDX , etc. files in your backup folder?
(Am as I am sure you know, this BACKUP folder is the folder that Quicken uses for its automatic backups; you can also use any location you wish for backups that YOU create with the backup command (FILE-->BACKUP) where you get to 'browse' to select a directory to put your manual backups in.)
"Terri" wrote in news:47ednZxkOOwmAmPanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
I think you need to search for all "*.qdf" files (without the quotes) on your drive(s).
A part of the names you provided looks like a backup file where you let Quicken add the date of the backup to the file(s), although my backup files look like "filename_20080410.QDF", for today's backup.
I think the file(s) without the added date that are most recent are yor last modified file(s). Once you have the "filename.qdf" you will need to get all the files of the file set. Normally in the same folder, but I would also search for "filename.*". Note that the timestamps may not all be the same, because some files are left unchanged.
I would make sure that you end up with just 1 directory of user-initiated backups, and not a whole bunch of nested backup folders.
Han's suggestion is good. Is your file you mentioned "A-Name07_12312007KP.IDX" really "A-Name07_12312007BKP.IDX"? ( Note the added 'B')? You need to be precise in what you are typing so avoid us going down the wrong path.
It looks to me that your might be putting your initiated backups in the same folder as Quicken's automatic backups. Quicken usually appends a single digit to the end of the file name; so that a set of backups for a fileset named 'JOE' would be something like: JOE1.QDF, JOE1.QEL, JOE1.IDX,..., then the next automatic set would be JOE2.QDF, JOE2.QEL, JOE2.IDX,...etc.
As Han said, you can allow Quicken to put a datestamp on the fileset (like A-Name07_12312007BKP.QDF has in it.) But using the Joe example above, your backup names would be something like JOE_20080113.QDF, JOE_20080113.QEL, JOE_20080113.IDX, ...etc.
So you got me how those 'BKP' letters got appended to AFTER the datestamp and before the filetype (as in A-Name07_12312007BKP.IDX). I wonder if you happen to be using any sort of automatic backup software perhaps that appends their own 'BKP' labels to filenames perhaps?
Do you remember specifically naming your fileset 'A-Name07' by the way avoiding the QDATA default name?
Well - have done some searches and it seems that in the Backup File there are QEL, QDF and IDX files but they do NOT say backup - they say A-name-08_03312008.IDX, the same for .QDF and the same for >QEL. Nothing says copy or backup ..
"Terri" wrote in news:csCdnTy9kr-qLGLanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
This suggests your original filename is A-name-08, and you backed up on
3/31/2008. Please note that there is an apparent typo above, at least I think you meant .QEL, not >QEL. Computers do not correct typos at the filename level. DAMHIKT (look up on acronymfinder.com)
Then you are ok. The names of the 'backup' files that Quicken automatically produce do NOT say backup; they are simply the same fileset names in the 'BACKUP' folder. So you are ok and you found your automatically created backups which was, I think, your original post.
Now, note, these are NOT the same as USER-SPECIFIED backups which you can create (see my original post on 4/10), append a date/time stamp information on the filename, and place ANYWHERE on your computer (or network if you have mapped drives, I would also believe). Many of us do these user-specified backups regularly to keep a set off of the same drive as your 'real' files to deal with media failure problems - if you lost your single harddrive (typically, c:), you'd lose both your 'real' data as well as the Quicken automatic files since, as you see now, they are contained in the subfolder 'BACKUP' on the same drive.
Not quite. QDATA.QDF becomes QDATA1.QDF - and other files are similarly renamed by appending a single numeral to the end of the original filename, before the extension.
The first automatic backup is made about a week after Quicken is installed and run for the first time. All the files in the QDATA.* fileset are copied to the automatically-created \Quicken\BACKUP folder as QDATA1.QDF, QDATA1.QEL, etc. A week later, all the QDATA1.* files are renamed QDATA2.QDF, etc., before the current QDATA files are saved as the new QDATA1 set. The next week, the QDATA2 files become QDATA3, QDATA1 files are renamed QDATA2, and so on. After the 5th week, QDATA5 files are deleted before QDATA4 is renamed to QDATA5. From that point on, we should always have 5 complete backup filesets, dated a week apart, with the latest set named QDATA1.
These are default filenames, of course. If YOUR Quicken file is named Terri.QDF, then your latest backup will be Terri1.QDF. And you can choose to keep up to 9 sets of weekly automatic backups, or as few as 1 (see Edit | Preferences | Quicken Program | Backups).
I strongly recommend that you keep your filenames no longer than 7 characters, saving room for the single digit that Quicken will add. (While Windows allows Long File Names, Quicken limits them to 8 characters, plus the extension, a carryover from MS-DOS days.) And make sure the final character is not a numeral. It gets very confusing when trying to remember whether RCW21 is the 21st version of RCW or the 1st backup of RCW2. Or if RCW2 is the second backup of RCW or the current version of the RCW2 file, created when we started over because the original RCW file was damaged. (Yep, that's the voice of experience talkin'.)
Of course, you're right. Lost my head. In my obvious excitement of thinking the OP really didn't lose their backups, I was so excited and missed this nuance you correctly describe.
Maybe between the 3 of us we can get Terri REALLY confused! ;^}
Thanks for the correction Han. I still don't think it's a good idea (or even necessary?) to have a Quicken file(set) name longer than 7 characters, even if the latest versions allow it.
I'll be gone to the Microsoft MVP Summit in Redmond/Seattle all this week. Feel free to talk among yourselves. I'll be in the hometown of Windows. I'll be surrounded by computers - and I won't have a computer with me!
"R. C. White" wrote in news:PPudncS5XozxMp_VnZ2dnUVZ_hKdnZ2d@grandecom:
Ask "them" to get the Vista SP1 update to work properly, please!!!
I don't think you will be going up there for the Vista stuff, but I do want anyone and everyone there to realize that Vista seems to be an even bigger goof then Windows ME, at least for me. From the volume of problems on the relevant MS newsgroup, I am not alone, and the MVPs there simply repeating the steps and phone and chat support options is not helpful to either. If SP1 does not want to download or install, or gives an error, better analysis of what is wrong is sorely needed. I should not have to spend a fruitless hour with chat support either (however friendly).
Assuming you haven't deleted any transactions, you can simply scroll back in whatever register you're interested in to any point in time. If you wish to look at your portfolio, you can enter a date directly on that screen. If you wish to see a report that contains more than one register on your screen, you can product a report (like ACCOUNT BALANCES) and specify a date that you wish it to report on.
You don't need a "backup" to do any of this.
This is, by the way, why many say never to bother to delete transactions in your active Quicken file so you can go back in time whenever and how ever you like.
"Terri" wrote in news:rN2dnQ36wPxLdZ7VnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
You use Windows explorer to find mydata_20071231.qdf and double click on it. Just realize you are opening a backed up file set of that date, so you may want to first rename mydata_20071231.qdf and all other files that match mydata_20071231.*
You two answered the technical question of how to view a backup; but I wonder what her REAL question was? Was it really to view the actual backup file (for whatever reason), or see data relating to her finances as of a particular date in the past? I'm willing to bet the latter....
I would go one step further... I would use the Explorer to copy the backup fileset that you're interested in to some working folder and then use the Restore function on that copy. I'm old school and pretty AR - once a backup is created it should never be disturbed. Geo.
Andrew: You are right - I only want to see data relating to the year 2007 to check a particular payment.....
So - what steps do I take to do that? This is becoming such a big deal and I am certain it is so simply. I do not want to keep the 2007b file active, only want to peek and close! Terri
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